Archive for category: Education

A group of determined young people recently embarked upon a 7-mile sponsored walk, raising £185.40 towards Cavendish Cancer Care.

The inspiring young group comprised of NCS Changemakers with Sheffield United Community Foundation, who embarked upon a mission to raise money to support cancer patients and families who have undergone such challenging times.

NCS Changemakers compromise of 25 NCS graduates, who meet up regularly to make a real, positive impact in the community. As part of Changemakers, the young people launch a social action project, with the intention of positively impacting their community.

For their project, the young group felt personally motivated to raise money, as members of the group themselves have known people close to them, who have been affected by cancer.

Thus, the young people decided to embark upon a 7-mile sponsored walk and raise £185.50 for Cavendish Cancer Care. The group also thought the walk would benefit themselves, as it would provide a good break from exam-related stress they were experiencing.

Cavendish Cancer Care had this to say about the project:

“The support that we get from organisations like Sheffield United Community Foundation’s NCS Changemakers makes all the difference to our charity. £185.40 will help to provide 6 sessions of therapy and support for people facing cancer. As a charity, we are heavily reliant on the generosity of others to keep our centre open, and it was great to see these young people taking the time and effort on Saturday to walk between Sheffield and Rotherham in aid of us.”

Additionally, the young people encouraged that it would provide a good opportunity of reflection for all the group, in sharing their own personal experiences of how cancer has affected them.

Fern and Alex were some of the young Changemakers involved and commented on their motivations to undertake the project.

Fern:

“A close school friend of mine died from cancer last year. He received fantastic care from charities and hospitals. I would wish anyone with cancer to receive the same loving care.”

Alex:

“I have not lost anyone in my life because of cancer but I think that what Cavendish Cancer Care do as a charity for those who are affected by cancer is brilliant! The sponsored walk was worth every step for the charity, and it was also enjoyable to get to spend time with the other young people.”

To find out more about NCS, please click here.

Sadiyah Desai, 19, is an inspiring young person who overcame the restrictions of her life-long disability, after building her skills and confidence through NCS with Preston North End Community and Education Trust (PNECT).

For most young people, acquiring the confidence to meet new people and push out of their comfort zone, can be a daunting process. Sadiyah Desai, has learning difficulties and severe sight loss, which has seriously lowered her confidence levels throughout her life. However, she owes her newfound confidence to the NCS programme and staff since encountering the opportunity to join NCS with PNECT, Sadiyah embraced the chance and has since seen her life transformed.

Sadiyah initially joined NCS with PNECT during Summer last year. NCS is the ultimate experience for young people aged 16-17, in which they are given the opportunity to make new friends, develop new skills and create new memories. The opportunity was offered to Sadiyah within her college who   encouraged her to get involved.

Sadiyah summarises her time on NCS with PNECT:

 “If it wasn’t for NCS coming into our college it is probably something I never would have had the opportunity to sign up nor would I have signed up for it.”

“NCS helped me gain confidence and impacted my confidence in everyday life or any work that related to college. I can now say that I have achieved something.”

“My time on NCS helped me gain confidence in asking for support and showed me it is not something to be ashamed off this has had a very positive impact on what I can now do at college and even at home. NCS has showed me how much I can achieve and I have achieved.”

As part of the programme, Sadiyah participated in a disability awareness workshop, in which Sadiyah approached NCS team members and spoke up about how her own disability has affected her confidence and self-esteem levels throughout her life.

Sadiyah was encouraged within the programme to speak about topics and areas she was most passionate about to group members. As a devote Muslim, Sadiyah was passionate about her faith and illustrated enlightening items connected to her faith. Sadiyah was motivated to talk to the group further on her religion and about her community.

This is where Sadiyah’s confidence began to come through and for the first time did public speaking.  in which she developed her confidence, presentation and public-speaking skills.

Brad North, NCS Co-ordinator was key in supporting Sadiyah throughout her time on NCS and had this to say:

“Sadiyah transformed from someone who could not speak to her classmates or answer questions in a classroom environment to speaking with confidence to some of the most senior officials connected with both NCS and her college.”

“Her journey is one the NCS team will always be proud of and it continues to motivate the team to deliver NCS in the hope to inspire the next young person.”

During her NCS experience, Sadiyah also greatly enjoyed the number of activities that was provided to her, in particular Zumba, in which she discussed with us about her joy of participating in.

“My favourite NCS activity to do was leading Zumba. Before NCS I never would have had the confidence to lead Zumba. However, NCS allowed me the opportunity to achieve that. I always thought people would laugh at the thought of me doing any type of chorography. With the help of Brad and Jess I started to lead the session and that is an experience I will never forget.”

“I taught myself something that day, that if you think you are good at something, then never be scared of expressing yourself. Leading Zumba is an experience I will never forget and is something I continue to do in class on a regular basis and NCS gave me that opportunity.”

After developing herself in such as short amount of time, Sadiyah felt transformed and motivated to continue in enlightening and helping others in areas that she was passionate about. This led to Sadiyah volunteering to the NCS Changemakers programme at PNECET, in which Sadiyah will be front and centre leading on upcoming Ramadan projects.

More recently, Sadiyah has had the opportunity to speak about her NCS Journey and the impact it has had with key figures which included the Chancellor of the Ducy of Lancaster, Steve Barclay and CEO of NCS, Mark Gifford.

Steve Barclay Minister for the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom visits Preston North End Community and Education Trust

Sadiyah met Mark at PNE’s annual NCS matchday and was selected by PNECET to be their special guest. She said:

“I really enjoyed it, I was so happy that I was chosen to attend the match day out of all the NCS participants, it just shows you how much I have achieved. The whole experience has made a massive impact on my confidence, everything has gone really well for me since doing NCS.”

“I have changed a lot, I can now confidently submit a good piece of work and it has shown my strengths. The match day highlighted this as it showed me how far I had come.”

The extent of the journey and transformation that Sadiyah has embarked upon has been remarkable, in which  for Sadiyah, who is now equipped with new skills and charisma, is in the perfect position to now progress further and reach her potential.

To find out more about NCS, click here.

Through NCS with Port Vale Foundation, young people with disabilities at Kemball School have pushed through their comfort zones and acquired new skills and confidence. Young people on NCS were given the exciting opportunity to shadow staff at Port Vale FC, learning key workplace skills and developing their own job application acumen, enabling them to be work ready.

Port Vale Foundation began its collaborative work with Kemball School back in February this year, where NCS Skills Booster sessions were provided to assist the young people in a number of critical key areas such as; developing their own aspirations, gaining independence, acquiring employability and creating successful job application forms.

Throughout their experiences on NCS and with workshops such as, presentation and public speaking skills, the young people started to develop their skills and with it, simultaneously, their confidence.

A teacher from Kemball School had this to say about the programme:

“Pupils at Kemball School have had a difficult time over the last two years due to being unable to get out and about in the community. This being a skill which is vital for their preparation for adulthood skills. We were approached by Port Vale Foundation and were offered the NCS skills booster sessions.

From the first session, the pupils were engaged with the staff and were showing signs of wanting to get out of their comfort zones.”

In addition to the skills booster sessions, Port Vale FC hosted an NCS Takeover day, which was also referred to as ‘A Day in the Life of’. This was an exciting opportunity for the young people to shadow a key member of staff at the football club or foundation for the day, allowing them to gain essential work experience, as well as a peek into the working day lives of the Port Vale staff.

The young people were given exposure to a number of different roles at Port Vale, such as Hospitality, Groundskeeping, Marketing, Media and Operations. For the day, they were tasked on developing applications forms for the highlighted roles, and were to voice why they should be selected to be within that role for the day.

After gaining an insight into the roles they were shadowing, the young people were then thrilled to have been given exclusive access at the stadium, in which they also met Boomer the Port Vale FC mascot.

The young people made magnificent strides within such as short time frame, as they developed their skills and confidence through the sessions. They learnt first-hand on-the-job, the skills and attributes required to be working within the workplace. The young people made a huge impression on staff and have been invited back for more work experience at The Vale.

As a token of gratitude for all fantastic experiences and skills learnt, the young people wrote thank you letters to the staff members that they had shadowed for the day.

Jorgie Wallace, NCS Project Lead at Port Vale Foundation highlighted the day:

“On the day, the young people shone, they came out of their comfort zones and they were fantastic within their job roles. I am really excited that we have begun work with Kemball school and I am looking forward to what we can offer and the opportunities for the young people.

We are really excited for the NCS programme we are delivering to the year 11 cohort in May. Well done everyone!”

Port Vale Foundation have been working meticulously with delivering its NCS programme and impacting young people’s lives for the better within the community. As a part of their mission, Port Vale Foundation partner with 3 local SEND (Special Education Needs school) one of them being Kemball School, with the strong intention of allowing all young people to have equal opportunities and experiences.

To find out more about NCS, click here.