Child Friendly Warwickshire

An education programme supporting young people across Warwickshire is proving to be a real success thanks to its innovative approach to helping young people to believe they can achieve.

The programme which involves 34 secondary schools from across the county has been commissioned by Warwickshire County Council and delivered by the charity Grit Breakthrough Programmes. As part of the programme students taking part were linked with a Grit trained life coach from the local community who met with their students fortnightly for up to six months. The project, which also included a five-day intensive personal development workshop, supported young people to radically change their thinking by transforming the negative and destructive beliefs and opinions they have about themselves and their lives.

80 Warwickshire students have benefitted from the programme so far, including Liam who in his own words explains “I was going off the rails.”

There were days when Liam didn’t go to school at all, just hung around the streets with a crowd of other young people getting involved in anti-social behaviour. Even when he was in school, he spent his time arguing with teachers, getting kicked out of lessons and fighting with other students.

Coaching was a revelation, Liam now had someone who in his own words “helped me get stuff off my chest.” Someone who spoke to him like an adult. But also, someone who “said it straight,” someone who cut through.

The intensive programme has made a massive difference to how Liam sees the world and his place in it.  It made him question the decisions he was making, decisions about being late, about getting kicked out of lessons. It made him ask, “Do I really want this for my life?” He saw what he needed to change, what needed to change now.

He is staying focused. Already he’s studying hard to catch up on work he’s missed. “I’m writing pages instead of a sentence.”

He is starting to put his hand up in class, answer questions, get work done. “The teacher says I’ve done a u-turn.”

And at home, life has transformed. “Mum is really proud and happy.” They don’t argue anymore because, “there is nothing to argue about anymore.” It feels so good.

“Grit,” says Liam, “has been so influential. It has helped me so much to make better choices. I’d recommend it to anyone.”

Councillor Jeff Morgan, Portfolio Holder for Children and Families, Education and Children’s Services at Warwickshire County Council said: “The Grit programme, which is being delivered in 34 secondary schools across the county is providing an innovative way of working with young people to help them to achieve their potential and improve their confidence.

“From the feedback received so far the impact of the programme is evident. Not only has it changed the way students think about school and their life opportunities, but it has also improved their self-esteem and sense of belonging. Moving forward we are hoping that more schools will sign up to the programme to help to make a lasting difference to young people across Warwickshire.”

Ellie Garraway, CEO of Grit says: “We believe that every young person already has everything they need to be a thriving and contributing part of their community. We work with them until they can see that too. The work with schools across Warwickshire is a perfect example of this and we are so proud of how each and everyone of the young people on the programme has begun to turn their life around.”

For more information on GRIT visit https://www.grit.org.uk/