Building skills for life
TEACHING young people in schools provides enriched offerings way beyond the curriculum, the sports field and the wide-ranging extra curricular activities to help children and young people make the most of their secondary school time and prepare for further education and the workplace.
These days schools have a variety of resources that successfully support children’s learning needs at all levels.
It is no surprise therefore to hear of university students and adolescents aged 15, learning leadership skills together and for a Lancashire secondary school to make history by having one of the UK’s first professionally qualified students.
The recently launched Young Leaders Award from British School of Coaching (for ages 14 to 24) was identified by teachers at Burscough Priory Science College in Lancashire as an innovation to provide their students with a unique opportunity to gain a Level 2 qualification in Leadership, and improve their profile for life after school.
Kerri Walton is assistant headteacher at Burscough, and she explained: “The specific challenge for our school was to work with a number of disaffected students and build their confidence to help them believe in their abilities.
“We chose BSC due to a number of reasons.
“Firstly, the Young Leaders’ was recommended to us by colleagues.
“Secondly, they were offering a credible and unique opportunity for our students to be part of a new course that would gain the student a professional qualification, which would count towards their GCSEs.
“Finally, the fact that the course was with BSC, a well-established and respected training company, provided us with the confidence that the training would be of a high standard.
“We knew that by working with BSC, our students’ qualification would be recognised.”
Overseeing the initiative for Burscough is their director of technology and a key member of the school’s Aspire Centre, Garry Holden.
Mr Holden said that it was essential that students bought in to the project and were able to see the benefits of the exercises as well as relating them to every day tasks.
He said: “The eight Year 11 boys selected at Burscough are the first cohort to receive the qualification in a high school environment in the UK.
“This has made the boys feel proud and ultimately made them focus on the forthcoming GCSE’s and their future career journey.
“We now have a more focused and enthusiastic group of students who see the value of their contribution to society and the workplace.” Speaking of the leadership project at Burscough, Mr Holden added: “Our specific aim was that the students would improve their leadership skills, and build their self-esteem and as a result better prepare them for the remaining time in a school setting.
“In addition, we want to improve the number of GCSE/Level 2 equivalents for the students who are involved.”
Judith Barton, director of studies at the British School of Coaching said: “We’re delighted to have had the opportunity to work with Burscough and the boys who participated were great advocates for the initiative, they’ve done themselves and the school proud with their achievement.”
She continued, “We have a long legacy of working with schools, nationally and internationally on a number of coaching and mentoring initiatives and we understand the care, consideration and the work that is required to make such a project succeed.
“For a Lancashire school to be the first to successfully launch the Young Leaders Award, in a school, was a real joy for us as a Lancashire-based organisation.”
Burscough confirmed that the outcomes of the course will be officially announced on Thursday at the College and described the result as “phenomenal”.
Mr Holden said: “The impact is palpable; one of our students now walks the school corridors with pride and confidence.
“His attitude was that he would never engage in conversation with any member of staff. Now he stops and engages with staff to discuss what he has been working on and how much progress he is making.
“He was mentioned in a briefing as a ‘fine example of how working in the correct environment can help all students achieve’.
“Other students gained the confidence to ask for weekend work and are now employed as a result, along with two further students who are on work placements, and have been commended for their attitude towards their duties.
“Two of these students were totally disengaged last year so we know that the course from BSC works. “
Mr Holden concluded: “We have two more students that have said finally, after four years, they look forward to coming to school.”
Burscough was able to fit the project in around the school timetable by blocking the students’ timetable for three weeks to ensure the full course was covered and delivered in detail.
BSC preparations ensured that the complexity of the course was understood so that Burscough could be confident and believe the skills learned would be equivalent to a GCSE subject.
Funding came from the school’s internal budget which all of the boys were eligible to receive.
The final word came from Burscough head teacher Dr Graham Clarke, who said: “The Young Leaders Award is an essential qualification to build confidence and empower young people.”
For full details about individual or bespoke group programmes for schools or organisations looking to add an initiative to their CSR programme, contact Amy@britishschoolofcoaching.com.