Description

This two-year Youth Leadership initiative has been designed to provide young people from disadvantaged backgrounds from across the UK with the opportunity to develop valuable life and leadership skills through mentoring sessions delivered by inspirational athletes.

Target group: Young people currently in Year 9, who show layering factors that identify them as being most at risk of become not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Programme information: The Set for Success programme, through long term intervention, aims to improve young people's life chances, their positive social engagement and their involvement in education by helping them to develop their confidence, aspirations, resilience and self-esteem through leadership in sport.

Schools involved will commit to the programme for a minimum of a three-year period. During which they will be a part of an intensive intervention supported with ongoing Athlete Mentor delivery interspersed by teacher-led school sessions. During year 9, students will take part in core programme delivery, moving on in their second year to become a buddy for the new cohort.

Athlete Mentor sessions focus on developing key employability skills which are crucial beyond education. Sport and social action are both used as programme elements which allow the young people to apply skills in practice and influence something which is important to them. All young people during the first year of the programme will receive a Wimbledon Foundation Set for Success Professional Skills Award, accredited by Sports Leaders. During the second year of the programme, all young people will have the opportunity to turn this award into a Professional Skills Level 1 Qualification.

Year 1 students conclude their first year on the programme with an Empowerment Event. This event will bring young people in the same local area together to share their success and celebrate achievements. It will also bring together local employers, helping the young people understand opportunities that might be available to them post education.

Every school on the programme will also have access to the Employability Toolkit website, which will provide schools with a range of resources, videos, helpful links and more to support the schools employability and careers offer.

Only delivered in these areas:

• Merton and Wandsworth
• Swindon (with potential wider reach into Wiltshire) 
• Hull (with potential wider reach into Humber)
• City of Manchester (with potential wider reach into Greater Manchester)
• Wolverhampton (with potential wider reach into Walsall & Sandwell)
• Fife
• Clackmannan
• Denbignshire