Menu of Life Skills to be made available to help 16-17 year olds reintegrate back into education and society
NCS has announced its plan for a summer catch-up programme for teens who have missed out on 3 months of education due to COVID-19. Read more.
The programme will be free to further education colleges and schools, delivered
in late summer and throughout autumn, to complement their own post-COVID
re-engagement or induction offering for students.
This follows the government’s recently announced commitment to helping a
generation which has missed out on schooling during lockdown. NCS will initially
focus on supporting young people who have faced the most disruption to their
learning and academic development.
NCS will be working locally and nationally to provide much-needed support to
some of the most vulnerable and marginalised young people across the country,
offering life skills activities around job-readiness, confidence building, re-forming
friendships and building resilience. A range of activities will be made available to
Head Teachers over 2 to 10 days that can be tailored to their local needs.
The NCS support activity will complement schools and colleges’ own initiatives
to help teens successfully transition back to Sixth Form and Further Education. .
The Trust is set to use the power of its network of delivery partners to particularly
support 16 to 17-year-olds at schools and colleges in opportunity areas across the
country.
These are some of the most disadvantaged parts of England, where the
Department for Education is investing £90 million until 2021 to level up outcomes,
standards and skills to ensure that no child is left behind. This offering is part of an alternative 2020 NCS as the normal residential summer programme could not
take place due to the pandemic.
Wes Johnson, Principal and CEO of Lancaster & Morecambe College, says:
“The impact on young people being away from college and school will be
significant and the consequences will be profound amongst the 16-17 age
bracket, given the importance of these years on educational achievement. The
lockdown has also had an impact on their mental health and wellbeing, so it is
vital that we offer support that extends beyond catching up with the academic
curriculum.”
NCS Trust CEO, Mark Gifford, explains:
“A positive intervention can have a significant impact. NCS is a strong
youth-powered brand with a curriculum, a digital platform that has seen over 1
million engagements in the last two months; engages with young people; and
the expertise, experience and network to support government and schools to
make that positive intervention that will help teenagers re-integrate into
education and society post-lockdown.
“It is all about creating a ‘new normal’, which will make it easier for young people
to fit into a changed society, ready to learn and to shape the country’s future. At
NCS we are well-placed to offer them a range of life skills and activities, tailored to
the needs of local communities and particularly focused on those who most need
support.”
Gillian Keegan, Apprenticeships and Skills Minister, says:
“We will do whatever we can to make sure no young person falls behind as a
result of coronavirus and that everyone from every background has opportunities
when they leave education.
“This excellent programme run by The NCS will help ensure young people across
the country receive much needed support across a range of areas, from being
work ready to building resilience. I look forward to hearing more about this
fantastic initiative.”
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden says:
"Helping our young people develop the life skills and experiences that will boost
their future prospects will be vital to our nation's recovery.
"The NCS helps do that - benefiting more than 600,000 young people to date. I
am delighted they have adapted their summer programme to provide invaluable
and tailored support to those who need it."
Further information on how schools can access this support is available by
contacting the NCS Education Engagement Team by email at
education@ncstrust.org.uk.
End
Notes to Editors
Opportunity Areas (OAs)
The Department for Education (DfE) is investing £90 million in 12 Opportunity Areas (OA)
over four years until August 2021 to level up standards, skills and opportunities and make
sure no child is left behind.
The OAs have also benefitted from a share of £22 million from the Essential Life Skills
programme to help young people develop skills such as resilience, teamwork, leadership,
and self-control.
The DfE announced Opportunity North East in 2018 which will support improvements in
secondary and post 16 outcomes across the North East.
About NCS
NCS is an experience like no other. Designed for 16-17 year olds across England and
Northern Ireland, NCS is a youth programme that runs every summer and autumn, during school holidays. Teens get the opportunity to mix with a new crowd, live away
from home for a while, take on new challenges and in the process build lifelong
friendships.
The programme is all about emboldening young people – by giving them a taste of
independence and equipping them with essential skills for life. NCSers then get a chance
to take these new-found skills for a test-run in their local community.
NCS is dedicated to providing a platform to make sure young people are heard and can
engage with their community by completing passion projects, raising awareness and
providing solutions to the issues they care about.
The experience might last just a few weeks, but the impact? That lasts a lot longer. Since
2009 nearly 600,000 young people have taken part in NCS, completing over 14.5 million
hours of community action, and gaining priceless life experiences.
NCS costs no more than £50 - with bursaries and support for those with special
educational needs or disabilities also available. NCS’s mission is to give every young
person the life-changing experience.
To find out more visit wearencs.com
Visit NCS social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
About NCS Trust
National Citizen Service Trust is a not-for-profit organisation incorporated by Royal
Charter and established to shape, support, champion and lead a thriving National Citizen
Service.
National Citizen Service Trust is registered in England and Wales with Royal Charter Body
number RC000894. Our registered office is at The Pembroke Building, Kensington Village,
Avonmore Road, London, W14 8DG.
To learn more about NCS Trust visit LinkedIn
To find out more, visit the website, or follow NCS on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
