Staff from the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust volunteer to raise the aspirations of students from St Philip Howard Catholic School in Barnham and Bohunt School Worthing.
294 Year 9 students from the two schools have been encouraged to aim higher by taking part in the ‘Dare to Dream’ programme created by The Love Local Jobs Foundation.
Delivered via a number of engaging presentations from the Foundation’s Head of Programme Delivery, Jack Hayes, the programme focuses on self-awareness, mindset, gratitude, resilience, teamwork and employability and is aimed at boosting the confidence and well-being of the students.
Alongside Jack’s deliveries, 30 students have benefitted from one-to-one mentoring, workplace visits and interactive workshops with ten enthusiastic volunteer mentors from Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust.
Through sharing their own stories and offering advice and guidance, each of these mentor sessions is designed to give the students the knowledge, tools and confidence they need to create a brilliant future for themselves.
The Trust welcomed students to Bognor War Memorial Hospital and Brighton General to give an insight into working life at the NHS and the different roles available including nursing and physio, and to understand work experience opportunities and apprenticeships available to them. With over 350 different roles at the NHS this is a wonderful opportunity for the students to understand the different clinical and non-clinical roles available.
Lisa Duff, OD and Inclusion Facilitator from the Trust said; “We were thrilled about how the students have taken the leap to get involved, to try something new and learn something.
"We hope that being involved has provided an eye-opening opportunity to explore what the NHS can offer, and compliment the amazing support this programme has offered.
"It was wonderful to see the growth of the students from the first time we met, and their growing confidence, which I know in my group, was mentioned a lot on that first meeting. They got involved from the first activity and to see them all working together to take observations, tour the hospital and then (virtually) save lives was great. I really feel the group have bonded!"
Abbey Wadey, Careers Leader at St Philip Howard Catholic School said;
“Dare to Dream is a fantastic programme that is relevant and current for students to relate to and understand. Jack delivers key information about key skills and future opportunities but he also addresses real-life scenarios of social media, bullying etc. to ensure students are aware of the impacts of their future and that People employ People, we all have an online footprint and what we post now, may affect us in the future and highlighting the students need to take accountability now.”