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Throughout the year our Alternative Provision project has been developing and moving at a fast pace. We have been working closely with a few schools within the Oldham district to build sustainable relationships with young people and provide them with an alternative direction, one which is different from school but provides an impacting and rewarding journey. The project runs alongside the school’s curriculum, covering GCSE revision and tutor workshops. Changing Futures aims to address the issue of risky behaviour, unemployment amongst young people and good social skills. It does this by supporting young people to develop the skills and experience needed to improve their resilience, confidence and self-esteem, preparing them for employment and reducing the risk of social exclusion.
Our activities develop new and existing skills, including CV preparation, communication, budgeting and team work, whilst sessions on confidence building, decision making and motivation works towards raising aspirations and tackling negative behaviour. We have seen the positive impact this has on young people who traditionally may have low or poor attendance at school. Alternative Provision has enabled these young people to go through the PEARL Award (Personal Employability, Achievement and Reflection for Learning Programme), and gain AQAs within different areas of learning such as First Aid, Drug and Alcohol, Social Skills and Team Building.
The hard work of young people from Waterhead Academy and Failsworth School has really paid off – we have accredited 46 PEARL Awards and 246 AQA’s!
What our young people had to say:
“I have been influenced by learning about different topics within the Pearl Award which has helped me to make better decisions and control my feelings more.” – Danielle, Year 10
“Whilst being at Mahdlo, I have learnt how to work alongside people a bit more and how to calm my anger down and change my opinions of things through using the different parts of the Pearl Award.” – Layton, Year 10
“Since I have been attending Mahdlo, I feel it is better coming here than school as the activities are new and I believe I have learnt more, and the staff speak to me with respect and dignity. The staff have really helped me to deal with my anger through boxing and talking.” – Lyndon, Year 10
We are so proud of their achievements and look forward to continuing our work with schools to ensure young people can access the support they need to prepare for a positive future.
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