News Community News Opportunity for young people | Get on Track Pilot

My name is Sarah Clark. Last year, after the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games where I was lucky enough to win the gold medal at under 63kg in judo, I retired from international competition. I have now been given a wonderful opportunity to Pilot a ‘Get on Track’ (GOT) Project working in conjunction with The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust.

 

Get on Track

Get on Track is the DKHT Flagship project (in England). The programme will last 14 months. GOT provides disadvantaged young people (aged 16-25) with the self-discipline, motivation and confidence they need to enhance their employability and to lead more active lives.  The project is a sport-based, personal & social development programme delivered with mentoring support from elite athlete role models and is delivered in five phases: Warm Up, On your marks, Get Set, GO and Keep in Touch.  We are looking to launch the GOT at the beginning of May 2015.

Warm Up: Prior to the start of the programme there are a number of warm up or recruitment sessions. This gives the athletes a chance to really sell the programme and all its benefits as well as to meet the potential participants for the first time. The recruitment session could take place at JobCentre Plus.

On Your Marks: This phase sees the athletes meet attendees for the first time, as a whole group, allowing those involved to become familiar with one another and build a working relationship.

Get Set: Young people undertake sporting and school or community-based projects, where they develop communication and team work skills whilst increasing their social capital in their local community. This phase of the programme also provides young people with the opportunity to explore potential careers across a range of industries with work experience, practice interviews and intensive mentoring from elite athletes.

Go: This phase revolves around an event celebrating the success of the attendees. ‘Go!’ showcases the young people’s progress in front of a host of partners and local employers.

Keep in Touch: This is the longest phase of Get on Track, delivered after the intensive six to eight weeks of the first phases. Keep in Touch stretches to one year after the project, where the young people have opportunities to partake in sporting and development opportunities with the athlete mentors. Sessions include participating in sport, one to one mentoring sessions or a supported interview with a potential employer. Young people also have access to bursaries to support their progression. We look to run four Keep In Touch sessions.

Within the Keep In Touch (KIT) phase, we have a budget of £1600 to help support the young people into their STEVE (Sport, Training, Education, Volunteering, Employment) destinations as well as looking at qualifications such as First Aid, Sports Leaders and ECDL. We are looking at the young people being able to access ILA funding for the ECDL.

I think this would be a fantastic opportunity for some of your young adults. You do not have to be a sporty person to be part of the programme. We look after travel (by bus) to each day and also lunches.

We are running some warm up sessions (below) but I am available to talk to young people at times suitable to them. Let me know your thoughts and if it is something you are potentially interested in.

 

Warm Up

Recruitment sessions:

Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 April 2015
Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 April 2015

10.30am – 1.30pm

Edinburgh City Jobcentre Plus
11-13 South St Andrew Street
Edinburgh
EH2 2BT

If you would like to talk more, please let Sarah know.

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