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A Progress Schools student, who will be known as DD, has recently secured a place at college following the intervention and support received from the independent school provider. DD, who has ADHD and ODD, requires support with focus and concentration which has led to behavioural issues in the past. However, since joining Progress Schools, her behaviour has improved significantly, and, with the support of the Progress Schools Team, she has applied and registered onto a College course starting this September.
When DD first started attending Progress Schools, she struggled immensely to sit through a lesson and completed little work. However, having settled in and adjusted to the change, she soon started developing healthy relationships with the staff team. This was particularly evidenced at the start of the 19/20 academic year when a new Head of School joined. DD initially struggled to adapt to this change, but in time, became more familiar with the new member of staff and eventually responded very well to their interventions.
Fast forward a few months, and despite the challenges caused by the national lockdown, DD has worked hard and achieved several milestones. This term she has gained her Level 2 Maths and English in Functional Skills, which comes after achieving her Level 1 qualifications earlier this year. She has also achieved EL3 in ICT.
DD’s hard work and dedication are particularly impressive when coupled with the mental health struggles she has had during the recent lockdown. A recent survey by YoungMinds reports that 80% of respondents agreed that the coronavirus pandemic had made their mental health worse. However, through the support of her family and GP, DD was able to get the support she needed and access counselling to help her with how she was feeling.
Her Head of School commented;
“DD has shown her maturity throughout this term and has grown, not only academically but in terms of her social and emotional wellbeing. She has shown her ability to work hard and the nurturing environment has assisted her to flourish.”
DD will now be supported during the transitional phase into college by the team at Progress Schools.
Changing lives through education and training is something that resonates with me personally and is a purpose that naturally runs throughout The Progress Group.
The world pressed pause for a while and we took the time to reflect, regroup and restructure. As a business, it’s given us the opportunity to focus on our shared values across our three distinct divisions, as we start a new chapter with our new brand and ambitions.
Having a clear purpose as an organisation is of course important – but at a time when many people are looking for new direction, reassurance and support, the significance of helping to nurture an individual’s sense of purpose is crucial too.
With rapidly rising unemployment, a skills gap threatening to widen and ‘new normal’ ways of living and working to navigate, our sector needs to be there to help people develop the skills and confidence to succeed and thrive.
Today is the UN’s World Youth Skills Day, which makes it more poignant that under 25s are being hit particularly hard in the current jobs market. The government’s latest employment statistics shows the 16 to 24 age group were the only age group to show an annual decrease in employment – down by 25,000.
It’s a similar story when we look at those not in education, employment or training (NEETS), with official figures for early 2020 showing an increase to 771,000 young people across the UK.
This is before we see the full impact of Covid-19 on the jobs market as a whole, but what’s already clear is the need to keep levelling the skills playing field in our society.
The government’s announcement last week to support young people, particularly those on universal credit, is a step in the right direction.
A personal journey
I remember the moment aged 12 when I started on my own journey to finding my personal purpose and the self-belief I needed to achieve it. Growing up on a council estate in Birmingham – on the 17th floor of a tower block for the first seven years – I desperately wanted to achieve my dream of working in the media, but my teachers at the time dismissed the idea.
It wasn’t until a local arts worker called Harry took the time teach me to how to take photographs that I really started to value myself. Learning this new skill taught me how to think about the world around me, how people are shaped and the breadth of choice and opportunity out there. It gave me the confidence to go to college and polytechnic, and secure an internship at the BBC. Although I moved away from a media career, it gave me skills, as well as a passion for education and training, which has set me on the path to the role I’m in today.
I was lucky to have had support developing my direction and resolve at a young age. Every young person deserves this, so we need to be there for those who don’t – to help people build resilience and strength and provide empathy and understanding to nurture purpose at an individual level.
Where next?
Everyone has their own personal story, whether that’s a child who’s falling behind at school, someone who has lost their job, struggling to get into work or coming out of the justice system. Sometimes they need that extra helping hand of support.
Our teams have been busy keeping education and training services running throughout the pandemic, critically supporting both youth and adult learning. For many the future can often feel uncertain, even more so now than ever before.
But this challenging time brings with it the opportunity to do things differently and harness the changes and opportunities to support the next generation to find their own successful path for the future.
This is something me and the fantastic Progress Group team are committed to delivering on a daily basis – using the power of education and training to change lives.
Progress School has recently come to the aid of one of their students (who for confidentially will be referred to as AD) and wider family unit, after a physical altercation led to AD becoming temporally homeless.
Not sure who to turn to, AD’s mum contacted the Head of School to notify them of the situation. The team at Progress Schools were quick to react to put steps in place for the family to access the support needed during this time of crisis. They contacted Social Care to report the situation and seek support for the family. Social Care were able to offer support to the family and agree a more suitable and safer living arrangement for AD in the short term.
During this time, Progress Schools worked collaboratively with Social Care whilst continuing to support AD and his wider family. In addition to delivering his educational provision, Progress Schools also provided financial relief by issuing the family with Free School Meal (FSM) vouchers to help with the additional costs incurred due to AD being at home all day. This struggle has been witnessed across many families during the lockdown, with families needing this extra lifeline to help support them.
This quick reaction by the team at Progress Schools not only demonstrates their strong pastoral support, which helps students facing many personal difficulties, but it also meant that AD was able to remain living with his family. Without the support of Progress Schools and Social Care, AD may have entered into the care system, which, at a time of national crisis and uncertainty, everyone wanted to avoid.
Social Care is just one partner who Progress Schools work with. They also refer to and access support from the likes of CAHMs, mental health organisations and local youth development organisations who can support with specific challenges. This robust partnership network enables Progress Schools to offer a holistic educational and well-being provision, which during the last few months of national lockdown, have been vital for so many of their student.
This support has perhaps never been more evident than in the past few months. Students and families have been supported in a multitude of ways via a remote learning package and face-to-face (socially distanced) visits. This has included weekly tutor “keeping in touch” sessions and head of school welfare checks. The team have also carried out weekly welfare visits to their students to deliver and collect individual work packs and FSM vouchers. Due to the commitment and dedication of each staff member at Progress Schools, all students and families have been well supported, resulting in minimal causes for concern regarding student welfare.
The group of independent secondary schools, who collectively support over 215 secondary aged students throughout England, have also invested in online learning platforms since the lockdown started. They have issued students with the likes of laptops and delivered online session through remote learning platforms such as Google Classrooms and Microsoft Teams. These novel approaches have ensured that as many students as possible have been supported during this unprecedented time. This has enabled them to continue with their delivery, whilst also act as a lifeline for young people when they need additional pastoral support to aid in their social and emotional wellbeing, just like AD.
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Changing lives through the power of education and training
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