Developing the skills to study and enhance their career opportunities was top of the agenda at a special workshop held at Ysgol Gyfun y Cymer.
Staff and pupils welcomed London-based company Learning Performance to the school for a training day involving the whole of Year 7 and part of year 11 which helped develop and improve the students’ ability to think, study and learn.
The project focuses on developing revision strategies and organisational skills as they enter the upcoming examination period.
Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s innovative Building The Future Together scheme which aims to improve the life chances and career opportunities of many thousands of young people in the County Borough, are now putting the many new skills learned into effect with a team of young people.
By introducing games and various techniques, it is equipping them with the ability to revise in readiness for forthcoming exams which in turn will help them gain better qualifications for the competitive working environment ahead.
Youth Coaches and Key Workers will continue to hold further sessions with groups of young people who may be falling behind at school, struggling with literacy and numeracy, or finding it difficult to learn through traditional academic methods
This is the main aim of the £14million Building The Future Together scheme part financed by the European Social Fund through the Welsh Assembly Government which targets 11 to 19 year olds, offering a range of activities and intensive one to one support. It aims to raise aspirations, boost confidence and support pathways to further learning and employment.
By seeking out those young people who are at risk of underachieving and leaving school without any qualifications or skills to find a job and proactively supporting them to develop confidence and skills to make a successful transition into further education or work, Building The Future Together is already improving thousands of young lives.
Cllr Eudine Hanagan, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning explained:”Building The Future Together focuses clearly on those specific young people who need additional support and encouragement to make a positive difference to their lives.
“The project provides an approach to raising aspirations, basic skills, social skills, self esteem, confidence and motivation, to stimulate more positive attitudes to education, further learning and employment.
“The work being undertaken recently at Ysgol Gyfun Y Cymer clearly fits into this category and it is inspiring to see the different methods used to enhance a young person’s ability to learn new revision and concentration skills.
“I am sure that with the ongoing support of youth coaches, key workers, the workshops will continue to pay dividends in the future as it further enhances the opportunities of young people to follow their aspirations into further learning and employment.”
For further information on the BTFT project please contact [email protected] or 01443 744304
