September. The end of the summer holidays. Groans around the country as seemingly endless sunny days grind to an abrupt halt. Yelps of pain as we squeeze into new shoes which rub painfully against our heels. Excitement as we put new pens into a new pencil case and wonder why on earth we need to pack a set square (seriously, have you ever needed one as an adult?).

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s back to school time…

@davemcglashan

Come on, settle down. Single file please. No gum in the assembly hall. Sit down in an orderly fashion! A special announcement to start the term: congratulations to Frankie and Jackie Hodge, who got married on the 29th August. Frankie is a Fellow from our Fellowship course in Scotland in 2003, and Jackie was on the same course the following year. We think that this is the first ever SSE wedding. Here’s to a long, happy and entrepreneurial marriage! If you’d like to see a picture, turn your attention to the overhead projector at the front, if I can get the damn thing to work.

Some decorum in the hall please. I’d like you all to give a hearty round of applause to our assembly’s special guests. Our friends from Nesta will now talk about ‘Evaluating impact in the social sector: a practical perspective‘. Pay attention at the back please. The talk will serve as an excellent introduction to our Measuring Social Impact course on September 17th + 18th to which a number of you have already signed up. 10 house points for those people. For those of you not yet registered to attend, please do so soon – it will be full of lots of practical tips for how you can begin to measure your own social impact.

The Maths department would like your help raising funds to purchase ‘Number Rumbler’, a brand new ‘brain-fizzing, fun game for families with 6-12 year olds’ developed by SSE Fellow Alexandra Fitzsimmons. You can lend your support and buy a game here.

We have a number of school trips coming up this year. Our first will be a visit to Winchester on Tuesday 8th September, where we’ll be joining Fellows from the 2013/14 SSE Hampshire cohort for the ‘Airbrick Social‘, a networking group for social entrepreneurs. At a later date we’ll be heading to Sheffield to visit the brand new Sheffield Social Enterprise Network. Sign up here to register your interest in that one. And remember to get a note from your parents confirming that you are allowed to come.

The school bursar (it’s a posh school) would like to draw your attention to Beehive, a brand new website to match up charities and social enterprises with the funders most likely to give them funding. It’s still in beta, but looks like a tool with a lot of potential.

Straight after assembly the first lesson of the day will be Geography, and this week we’ll be studying Scotland, focussing on the Social Enterprise in Scotland: Census 2015. There are some extra-curricular activities too; Social Investment Scotland are running a whole series of workshops across Scotland covering all aspects of social investment for eager eavers amongst you.

Homework Club has a new location for this term. It will be taking place in Romford, to ‘The Retailery’, a brand new business hub for entrepreneurs providing affordable office and retail space but also offering meeting room services, hot desking areas and business support. For further information please contact [email protected].

Business studies students should pay close attention to ‘The Concept of Communication and Its Importance for Marketing and Products‘.

The school governors highly recommend this article on the Guardian website: Six ways to keep your trustees on board.

Finally, some homework. Matt Spry of consultancy Emergent has written a series of articles looking a topics such as bid writing, social value, and starting a business that can change the world. Read them all, and be warned; there may be a test at a later date!

What’s on at SSE?

• An Introduction to Legal Structures, SSE London, 10th September
• Working with Corporates, SSE London, 11th September
• Measuring Social Impact, SSE London, 17th-18th September
• YSC Sustainable Leadership, SSE Cornwall, starts 18th September
• Sources of Funding, SSE Cornwall, 25th September
• Online Marketing Masterclass, SSE London, 9th October