Knights in the community
Our work with schools
Our schools work plays a critical role for local young people, providing skills and confidence.
Our schools work plays a critical role for local young people – it helps provide them with the skills and confidence to help them transition from primary to secondary school.
How do we do it? We create safe spaces – spaces very different from the classroom – that allow the young people to express themselves, talk freely and openly about their feelings in ways they don’t have the opportunity to do elsewhere. We build important relationships that are different, but complementary, to those they have with their teachers.
We provide resources and skills that help with emotional wellbeing. The schools we work with have a high number of pupils – and limited abilities to offer one-to-one emotional support to all of them. Time out of the classroom with us in small groups gives the young people the individual support they need. One young person attending our sessions said, ‘we’ve been having fun and learning life lessons, helping us to pursue our future with confidence. We’ve been talking with others and not feeling alone. We’ve built trust with the groups and the youth workers.
Having the sessions at the schools allows us to meet the young people where they are. For some, school is a safe, familiar place – it takes the extra anxiety out of the setting and helps them get the most out of the programme. Being in the schools also creates good links with the community and a pathway between school and the club. A number of young people on our schools programme now attend the club every week.
While schools are really struggling right now, we’ve developed strong relationships with them that allow us to just jump in and get going without being a burden to incredibly busy teachers. Our programme covers a nine-week course where we build up a toolkit of skills that will help the young people face the challenges of the future – particularly at school. Discussions cover themes of resilience, self-care, confidence, aspiration, friendship, emotional literacy and self-reflection.