Project Mission
The Aspire mission is to help young people, who are dealing with various issues, discover a sense of self-worth and purpose and to help them turn their aspirations into reality. We encourage and provide young people with the opportunity to pursue education, apprenticeships and employment to help them fulfil their ambitions for their future careers.
Delivery
Aspire is a 37-week programme that runs alongside the academic year. It has been developed carefully to ensure that every young person that attends has the greatest chance to succeed. The programme focuses on four key areas:-
Academic/Practical/Future and Character
Academic – each young person is given the opportunity to work towards passing there Functional Skills Maths and English Level 1&2. We also provide space for students to revise for their GCSE’s
Practical – the opportunity to gain valuable work experience/voluntary for their C.Vs by working on our CAT, Hang10 and Primary Project.
Future – weekly mentoring sessions giving each young person the space to talk through issues and aspirations, so they can be guided to make the correct decisions for their future.
Character – PHSE sessions that help them to develop the resilience needed to navigate current and future challenges.
Some highlights since Aspire started in 2013.
• 70% of the young people have gone onto college, employment or starting an apprenticeship.
• Overall attendance of 86%.
• 64% of young people achieved a qualification in Functional Skills Maths and English.
• Over 11000 hours of voluntary work completed by young people in the local community.
Funding
Funding for the project comes through the schools we work with and Ashford Borough Council. We would like to thank all of school partners and funders for their continued support of the project.
Parents & Students Have Their Say…
“I only achieved my qualifications in Maths and English because of Aspire, they were so supportive”
“Aspire was brilliant the team really care, and they did everything they could to help me”
“It was nice to be able to use my voluntary hours on my CV, it helped me gain experience and get a job”
“Aspire was the best 2 years of my whole school life, I achieved more than I thought I ever could”
“I really didn’t like school but Aspire felt like a second home, it was nice to have people that really believed you”
“Thank you for your email…I’m so proud of R and I really appreciate all the staff teachers and mentors at Uprising for giving him the resources, space and time to shine. Thank you all so much.”
“We were so worried about what C would do after school as he wasn’t interested in education at all. Thanks to everyone at Aspire he found a place where he could thrive and grow and he has just got a place at college. Thank you”
Challenges
Our most obvious challenge for each cohort of young people is the young people themselves.
It is important to remember that all of these young people had previously struggled with every other form of education provision that they had been assigned to.