Compass Year 9
Compass is a ten month project aimed at helping Year 9 students re-engage with their education in time to make the most of GCSE’s in a year’s time. It’s particularly aimed at students who are facing emotional or social challenges that may impact their potential to achieve educationally. We are offering to work intensively with up to three Year 9 students from schools between November 2009 and July 2010 to help them overcome emotional and social issues that could stop them from engaging with their education successfully. In essence, we want to see their attitude and approach transformed by the time they start their main GCSE work in Year 10 next September.
The programme is based around 15 one day sessions running from November 2009 through to July 2010. In addition there will be residentials and special events and a weekly after school youth club. Students will work in three groups of up to 15, drawn together from different schools. There will be a strong emphasis on building community and trust within each group. The three groups will run on separate days and take place approximately every two weeks during term time. Each group will meet on a separate day and will have a focus on either sports or media activities, combined with therapeutic interventions and intensive personal development. The focus of the sports stream will mainly, though not exclusively, be on football. The focus of the media stream will mainly be on video, music, art and web design.
Our aim is to help young people be successful in their education and go on to further education, training or employment once they leave school. We believe emotional well-being plays a crucial part in enabling this to happen. If a student is facing difficulties outside of school or does not have the lifeskills to navigate the relationships and demands of school, they will often fail, whatever their educational ability. This project is about helping young people overcome these barriers.
We will be concentrating on 3 key areas:
Delayed gratification
The fundamental belief that the investment of time, energy and commitment now is worthwhile because of a future benefit. In others words, for a young person, investing in their own education is worthwhile because of how it could change the opportunities they have in the coming years.
Dealing with conflict
The skills to negotiate conflicts with peers and adults appropriately. In other words, for a young person, learning how to deal with disagreements with staff and others so they are not excluded from class or school.
Developing aspirations
The ability to imagine a future for yourself that you can begin to set out to achieve. In others words, for a young person, developing a sense of self worth and belief that means they are willing to invest in their own education.
The project is being sponsored by Campus Luton and us free to schools and students. You can download more information and a promotional flyer on this page, and enquire about referring a young person by contacting the Compass team.
