You may remember, on 10th January we were excited to relaunch our BUILD programme at Chorlton High School, working with young people to BUILD skills and experiences to help them prepare for their future. You can read more about the origins of this programme Here.
As the programme continued, we took part in the following:
A Visit to the Deputy Lord Mayor, Yasmine Dar, in April - - we got to visit the Lord Mayor's Suite within Manchester Central library and hear all about the Deputy Lord Mayors inspiring journey into politics. She spoke passionately as a muslim woman about the way her background had helped to inspire her career and was a true inspiration to the young people. The visit was during the holy month of Ramadan and she shared discussions around faith with the young people and explored ideas of ensuring we work to be the best people we can be. It was a great session that left us all feeling motivated and inspired to be the best we can be.
A mini Social Action project - we worked to develop a welcome pack for young people who join Chorlton High as new arrivals. These included a water bottle full of stationery and other supplies for school, as well as a welcome leaflet they had designed and a friendship bracelet to welcome students to their new commnuity. These have already been given out to a number of very grateful new students.
Jen Samani Cultural Postcards - their cultural postcards developed with Jen Samani have been a wonderful success already - the EAL team are using them within the department to celebrate successes and the students even wrote thank you notes to the deputy lord mayor on them.
Bowling & Pizza - Our final session saw the students plan a visit to go bowling and to pizza express for two other new experiences - we had a great time bowling and trying different foods whilst visiting a proper restaurant.
The staff from Chorlton had this to say:
This programme has helped the students in many ways such as teamwork, building trust, being independent, etc. The students’ always look forward to PIE sessions every Tuesday afternoons and our lovely Miss Beth! The one thing that comes to my mind and I have seen it in these guys is “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”. - Ms Malik
This programme has given our students something to really succeed at, whilst building relationships between them and their peers and the staff working with them. Students say this is the highlight of their week, and they absolutely love the variety of tasks. It is improving their English and their sense of belonging – they are really starting to see Manchester as “their city”. - Mrs Haygarth
This group has been a really special group to work with and it has been amazing to watch them develop and grown over the last five months. Not only have many of them hugely improved their English language skills during the programme, but they have grown in confidence and cultivated new friendships and connections as part of the programme. We wish them all every success in their GCSE exams this summer and for their next steps to college.