How j8 started
j8 started back in 2008 when a small group of pupils in Hutchesons’ Grammar School in Glasgow entered a UNICEF competition. The aim of the competition was for them to devise their own solutions to three of the problems being discussed at the next G8 summit. So the competition was called the Junior8 or j8 competition. Hence our name. This is what prompted the pupils to start thinking of the best ways of solving some of the major global issues and what led them to the conclusion that education is the key.Hutchie already had a partnership with the Dr.N.S.A.M. English-medium High School in Nitte, India but we then began to develop links with more schools abroad, working with them to increase access to education. Gradually, over successive generations of j8 pupils, our aims have crystallized into what is described here. And now we have other schools across the UK joining us.