Overview of the success from The Choices Programme this year
This year, thousands of pupils began and continued their Choices Programme journey, the launch of the Year 7 programme and Safer Streets Four
End of year summary
The Year 5 and Year 6 programmes were out and about in many more schools this year. With the launch of Safer Streets 4 in Banbury funded by the Home Office, Lime was tasked with gathering schools within the Banbury area to deliver the Choices Programme. We had many new schools begin their Choices journey as they delivered the Year 5 programme for the first time. In parallel, we had many returning schools back to continue their delivery and we got to visit many of them this year and hear what they like about the Programme. Their praise was encouraging and reinforces our confidence to push all the programmes out to the rest of the country.
This year saw the full launch of our Year 7 Choices Programme to secondary schools across the country. Last year, we saw a couple schools pilot the resources and test out what works and more importantly what didn’t work. With many adjustments and tweaks from the feedback, we had Ella’s story delivered to hundreds of pupils across the country. As part of the Safer Streets Project, this year saw the Year 7 Programme in Wykham Park School in Banbury, a school we were lucky enough to visit during their delivery and witness the Choices Programme in action. Myles Sullivan, a Year 7 teacher, delivered the session with commitment and passion, showing us the true potential of the work we do. Seeing these schools in action really give us the motivation to continue enhancing our programmes and making sure schools feel as confident and comfortable as possible to facilitate their best work.
Embracing Creativity
One of our new schools in Banbury as part of the Safer Streets 4 Project, The Grange and Fran Connell’s Year 5 class went above and beyond in the Choices Programme this year. They loved delivering Marcus’ story to their year 5 class and truly made the most of it. We went to visit them during delivery to see the pupils and ask them how they were finding the programme. The Grange has used the resources to its full potential, incorporating the learning objectives into their school’s ethos and making that a priority as a school. They had dedicated an entire wall to Choices (showsn at the top) which the students helped to make and design. Not only that, but they wanted to embrace their creative talents within the class and create something for the Choices Programme, a Stolen Lives graffiti art piece. Stolen Lives was the original name of Marcus’ story which is used for the Year 5 programme and The Grange and their pupils brought that to life. We were fortunate enough to be there in person to witness their students in action creating this piece of art. The video below shows what they started with and what they ended up creating.
Leading by example
We are flattered by the positive nature of The Grange and it’s efforts to make the most of The Choices Programme. Their class teacher, Fran Connell, spoke with us about how she found their first year of Choices. She praised the morals of the programme which synchronised with the schools values. Fran made sure to take the time to plan accordingly for each session, analysing all the resources and picking the activities that would best suit her cohort. From the research we’ve done within schools, we have found that taking the time to plan each session like this gives pupils the best learning experience. And for those new teachers or those who need a refresh in this facilitation style of teaching, there is always training available at the start of the programme and materials to learn from at any time via out Choices Lab.
To find out more, please get in touch with us at: chat@engagelime.com or here