Minutes:
Hannah Philips and Jo Thornton from Barnsley Football Club were welcomed to the meeting and Hannah gave a presentation on the National Citizen Service, a programme for Y11 and Y 12 students (or equivalent age) provided via the Football League Trust and funded by the Government.
The Barnsley Football Club had started delivery in 2011 with a pilot and Nationally, over 200,000 students had taken part to date with 4,500 participating in the Yorkshire and Humber region over the past year.
Hannah explained the aims of this four week programme. Week one provided a week of activities designed to build confidence and develop teamwork skills, decision making and leadership. Week two provided an opportunity for students to start to find their own independence though learning to budget, cook and look after themselves. Weeks three and four enabled all these skills to be put into practice as a team by developing a social action project within the community involving 30 hours planning and 30 hours delivery.
Within Barnsley all Secondary Schools had participated to a greater or lesser extent and the aim was to build on this success by encouraging others to participate in the programme. The Area Council could assist in this by each Ward providing a social action project per summer, by influencing lower performing schools to participate, by encouraging students to sign up, by spreading the word to local organisations and by identifying a database of potential projects.
The benefits to the area were that there was no additional workload or financial cost associated with the programme as it was fully funded and delivered by a network of fully trained, qualified and vetted professionals. It would put the Area Council firmly ‘on the map’ as students would engage with the local community and provide positive public relations opportunities by shining a light on all the great things currently undertaken. In addition, the opportunities were ongoing as the project continued throughout the year so there was potentially always a flow through of students available to help on projects.
Past schemes had included projects for Barnsley Hospice, Local Schools, Age UK, Barnsley Foodbank, Sexual Health and various Community Centres.
The Area Council very much welcomed this programme and members discussed ways of promoting it further together with potential projects for development. It was suggested that Councillor Cheetham, in his capacity as Cabinet Spokesperson for People (Achieving Potential) could raise the profile within schools. The potential for members to support their Ward Alliances to develop projects supported by NCS was also discussed.
The funding arrangements were highlighted and discussed. It was noted that the programme cost approximately £1,600 and that pupils were expected to contribute £50 towards this and raise additional funding towards the individual project. Half of the funding raised was used towards the project with half being set aside to assist in funding other programmes. Pupil Premium pupils might be eligible to receive contributory funding towards this from that allocation.
It was noted that the programme was fully inclusive and there was a discussion of linking with the Summer Internship Programme. The Area Council Manager could provide appropriate details of the contacts together with contact details for other potential organisations with links to young people - ‘Connexions’, Guides, Community Groups, and Army Cadets etc.
RESOLVED:
(i) that the presentation be received and the contents thereof be noted; and
(ii) that Hannah Philips and Jo Thornton be thanked for attending the meeting and for answering members questions.