Princess Beatrice's charity Big Change announces new education projects

Princess Beatrice's wedding plans might have been hampered because of the controversy surrounding her father Prince Andrew, but her philanthropic work has been achieving new milestones.

Big Change, a charitable organisation founded by the princess and five of her friends, announced a series of new partnerships and education projects on January 23, according to Big Change's website.

Each of the newly announced projects will seek to transform education and tackle challenges at their root cause, reports Hello!

According to its website, Big Change aims to transform the education system "so that every young person can thrive in life, not just exams." The organisation wants to promote a new common purpose for learning that prepares young people for life, work and citizenship, to prepare a change-ready system that can support broader learning outcomes, and to engage all sections of society to support learning at school, in the home, and the community.

Beatrice and her friends- Sam Branson, Isabella Branson, Holly Branson, Phil Nevin, and Sam Richardson, founded the charity in a bid to help improve the lives of young people and reimagine education. In September 2012, the princess and her fellow founders climbed Mont Blanc for Big Change's first fundraising project, "The Big Climb."

"When you think about the scale of education reform that is needed and, what it will take to create a modern education system that is fit for purpose, it's it can be quite overwhelming. That's why we're bringing together innovative people who are that have some of the answers working on solutions and helping them scale their innovative ideas," the charity explained in a statement.

The new projects that Big Change has announced include the Big Leadership Adventure, Lighthouse, EasyPeasy, The Difference, Big Education Conversation, and Rekindle.

Big Leadership Adventure is a two-year programme that strives to drive systemic education change through leaders "committed to going on a personal and professional journey of being a change maker." Whereas Lighthouse is a charity with which the Big Change has collaborated to ensure that children in the residential care system get the same education opportunities as everyone else.

EasyPeasy aims to create vibrant home learning environments, while Rekindle is a supplementary school for young people aged 13-16 years old in South Manchester. Another project of the organisation is titled ImpactEd, a non-profit organisation that aims to improve pupil outcomes and life chances by addressing "evaluation deficit."

Meanwhile, Big Education Conversation (BEC) is activating local place-based communities to engage them with the guiding question: how can we better prepare young people for their futures?