As we approach the end of the school year it means our longer programmes are coming to an end – this includes the Future Ready programme at Unity Blackpool!
Our Future Ready programme is our flagship programme and our longest running one. We have run the programme at a number of schools over the last 6 years, and it aims to provide skills, experiences and opportunities for groups of young people to support them with their future endeavours.
As part of the programme the groups have a chance to plan and execute a social action project. Both groups chose campaigns that they feel would have the most impact on their school community. They organised themselves, kept to a budget and planned an event to promote their campaign – all this within 4 sessions with me!
The girls group were first up with their anti racism campaign, ‘Leave your slurs at the door’. They had planned a cultural food tasting event, where students were selected by teachers and given tickets to this exclusive event. It ran super smoothly and it was great to see so many young people trying new things!
After some flurried tidying and clearing curry stains from the gym, the boys were up next! They had planned a bake sale and penalty shootout challenge to raise awareness for their campaign about men’s mental health – ‘Don’t man up, speak up!’ Again, this was a great success uniting teachers and students for a great cause!
The Future Ready programme always ends with a presentation to Beth, Mr Cooke (Headteacher of Unity) and their head of year. This a great way to show how far the groups have come and also a chance to show off their hard work on their social action campaign. This year was no different and the presentations were so lovely to see, I felt immense pride watching them!
It’s safe to say that the Future Ready programme was one of my favourite ones I’ve delivered this year. Seeing these young people grow in confidence, form bonds as a group and embrace their personality traits has been so rewarding!
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