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Sir Lewis Hamilton today visited a London secondary school in the Academy Trust where his foundation, Mission 44, has been working with school leaders, teachers and students to promote inclusion and make sure every young person feels that they belong in the classroom.
The seven-time F1 world champion heard from students, teachers and school leaders at Oasis Academy South Bank School in central London about the progress that has been made since his foundation launched its ‘Nothing Happens In Isolation’ campaign to reduce school exclusions and promote inclusion.
Oasis Academy South Bank is an OFSTED graded ‘Outstanding’ 11–18 academy and 2025 TES School of the Year award winner, based at the heart of the Waterloo community. Totally inclusive, the academy welcomes all students regardless of starting point, need or complexity, and is driven by the belief that every young person can succeed.
Lewis also met Mission 44’s newly appointed Youth Advisors for the first time – a group of 12 young people aged 16 to 23 from across the UK who will help shape the charity’s priorities, programmes and decision-making over the next three years.
Lewis was wrongly excluded from school aged 15, and faced discrimination throughout school and his racing career. His experiences drove him to set up his own foundation.
Mission 44 was established by Lewis in 2021. He invested £20m of his own money with the aim of driving change so every young person can thrive in school and access great careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
The visit also marks a year since Lewis, Mission 44 CEO Jason Arthur and a group of young people visited 10 Downing St and met with the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to ask for measures to increase inclusion in schools.
Mission 44 has funded both the Oasis Academy Group’s Oasis 360 programme and London-based charity CAPE, which provide tailored mentoring to students at risk of exclusion.
During the visit Lewis heard from students who had taken part in the programmes, who shared how it had positively impacted their lives and helped them to stay in school.
“Today’s visit has given me so much optimism and hope. The programmes Mission 44 has funded are working and the young people I’ve met are inspiring, both to me and to those around them.
It’s clear that inclusion in education is not a side project, it’s crucial to unlocking potential, so that no matter where you come from or your background, you can achieve and succeed.
But too many young people still feel like education happens to them, not for them. We know what works, the next step is to scale this up, so no young person is left behind.”
“Talent is everywhere but opportunity still is not. We’ve seen today how important it is for young people to be at the centre of decision making, and they should help to shape the policies that impact their lives.
But schools cannot close opportunity gaps without long-term funding and investment. We know what works, the next step is to ensure that funding and practical support are available to all schools so that programmes like the ones we fund are available to young people across the country.”
“I found school challenging. I was excluded aged 13 and sat my exams in a Pupil Referral Unit, where only 4.5% of students achieved five GCSEs. Against the odds I succeeded and I’m now studying for a neuroscience degree.
“It was an honour to meet with Lewis today, I’ve admired the work he does around education and representation for a long time. It’s all too easy for young people like me to be written off, but by working to make schools more inclusive and providing programmes like mentoring, we’re counting people in, not counting them out.”
“I love being at a school that is so inclusive. It was amazing to meet Lewis and be in a space where young people’s experiences were genuinely listened to and taken seriously.”
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