Education and Employment

Using the power of football and the appeal of the football club's brand, Kicks aims to engage young males and females who may otherwise be difficult to reach. The Kicks vision is ‘To target some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country in order to create safer, stronger, more respectful communities through the development of young people’.

The scheme is designed to...

• Engage young people (age 11-19 years) in a range of constructive activities which link to the Government’s Every Child Matters policy
• Encourage volunteering within projects throughout the targeted neighbourhoods
• Break down barriers between the police and young people
• Reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in the targeted neighbourhoods

In 2011 the project successfully achieved 2 national awards from the Kicks Awards 2011...

• Beyond Kicks Award – Prison project, working alongside HMP young offenders.
• Inspiring Young Person of the Year 16-18 year olds – Young person’s self-development

We are able to offer alternative workshops, short courses and various projects to help young people engage in positive activities, obtain qualifications and achieve economic wellbeing.

Using the appeal of football and the power of professional clubs, the Kicks Project works in some of the most disadvantaged communities across the country to create safer, stronger, more respectful communities through the development of young people’s potential.

If you have any questions please contact Social Inclusion Manager Richard Witt using the contact details below.

rwitt@readingfc.co.uk 0118 907 2152

Reading FC’s Targeted Kicks programme offers a package of mentoring and one-to-one support which incorporates offending behaviour sessions, life skills sessions and constructive activities for young people to re-engage them with their local communities. The work is specified by both the referrer and young person, with a holistic and tailored approach to tackling serious youth violence.

The aim is to increase the chance of the young person gaining employment, whilst preventing them from entering the criminal justice system and ultimately reduce crime and reoffending levels across Wokingham and Bracknell. Lastly, we’d like to challenge the normalisation of violent behaviour amongst some young people, therefore breaking the cycle of violence within their surrounding communities.

We work towards the Premier League Charitable Funds measured outcomes, these are inspiring and engaging, demonstrating positive behaviours, positive attitudes, contributing towards stronger and safer communities, improving interpersonal relationships. 

In partnership with local agencies such as Wokingham and Bracknell Local authority’s youth offending teams, Wokingham and Bracknell local authorities social care team and Thames Valley police interventions are designed to bring an improvement in protective factors and a decrease in risk factors for individual young people engaged in the programme.

Please contact Social Inclusion Officer Paul Brown for further information using the email address below. Please note that this is a referral only programme.

pbrown@readingfc.co.uk

RAP is an alternative provision held here at Reading FC’s Madejski Stadium Dome complex. This supports students that find the standard education system challenging, there is 90+ students within RAP currently. We can offer students from primary through to secondary school a respite break or a short-term move, rather than attending their school. The aim is to help students get back on track into mainstream school/current school, lowering school exclusions within these students. Studies and data have shown that if a young person is excluded from education, there is a higher chance of this young person becoming a victim or perpetrator of serious youth violence or becoming involved in the criminal justice system.

Within the RAP provision we offer young people the chance to engage with effective PSHE workshops, both practical and classroom based, creating a nurturing and supportive learning environment and enhancing a young person’s life skills. We aim to effectively support young people in areas such as communication, problem solving, self-efficacy, resilience, empowerment and independence. Student reviews will be completed, using the Warwick Edinburgh mental health scale.

Every student that joins RAP will choose their own mentor after settling in for a few weeks. This mentor will support you personally and complete daily progress reviews. Students will partake in various workshops, PSHE, football, multi-sport, boxercise, badminton, table tennis, gaming, pool, mountain biking. During PSHE students will be taught about the importance of communication, problem solving, self-efficacy, resilience, empowerment and independence. Students also have the opportunity to gain respected qualifications – JFL award and the Sports Leaders qualification.

We work towards the following measured outcomes:

• Children and young people feel inspired and engaged
• Children and young people demonstrate more positive behaviours
• Children and young people have more positive attitudes
• Young people have more positive attitudes
• Participants have improved interpersonal relationships

Partnerships

PRU/SEN partners: Cranbury College, Cranbury Primary, High Close School, Hamilton College, Foundry College, Chiltern Way, I-College, College Hall, Hillcrest School, Harmony, Red Balloon, New Barn.

School partners: Maiden Erlegh, Prospect, Emmbrook, John Madejski Academy, The Wren, Collingwood, Bulmershe, St. Crispins, Trinity House, Bohunt.

Local Authority partners: Reading, Wokingham, Buckinghamshire, Bracknell, Surrey, Maidenhead.

Other partners: The Hive (Hampshire), LAC Families BFFC, YOT, HMP Huntercombe, Thames Valley Police.

Drive Start offers a new approach to pre-driver education, building on extensive experience of running programmes to support young drivers in Berkshire. Rolling the expertise of a dozen agencies into a single programme, with multi-channel delivery through a growing partnership programme. Drive start is a young driver initiative that uses the latest behavioural science, commercial partnerships, local delivery and social strategies to reduce risky decision making among 15–18-year-old road users.

The integration of multi-channel delivery with a focus on digital and social follow up is another important part of the programme. The YouTube channel has gathered over 640,000 views meanwhile the Facebook page reaches around 184,000 people a week.

Outlines of the Course

Presentations: Applying for a license; details of the theory test and practical test.

Hazard Perception: An activity to introduce hazard perception, demonstrating how they can improve their skills.

Activity Workshops: Attendees are split into groups and rotate between various workshops such as car maintenance and the costs involved with driving, the risk involved with distraction and impairment through drugs and alcohol, stopping distances, what to do if you break down, and finally some real driving time behind the wheel. All of the workshops are fully interactive and gamified where possible which ensures that everyone stays actively involved, participated and interested throughout the day.

"This Drive Start programme offers young people the opportunity to drive and learn through various different workshops. This has offered young people an invaluable opportunity and we look forward to offering young people in Reading and the surrounding areas this opportunity in 2017."

Paul Brown Premier League Strategic Lead / PL Kicks Lead

Family First is aimed at supporting young people who are struggling to succeed in education or may be feeling isolated due to lockdown. Working alongside the parents who have struggled to home educate and find it difficult to set boundaries for their child to be safe and achieve.

We will work on anger management, social skills, impacts of bullying, coping with bullying, behavioural consequences, self-regulation skills and understanding the impact of hate and prejudice.

Young people referred to the Steps to Success project will be open to Social Care or Early Help. We will work closely with the young person to hear their voice and work with them and their family to help them overcome barriers to success.

The Community Trust have set up 1 to 1 mentoring sessions, through online gaming to interact with young people during the Covid-19 pandemic. We engage with students that are sixteen plus with access to the Trusts’ post-16 provision, to pilot the project. The purpose of this project is to have meaningful conversations/mentoring with young people through online gaming, a forum or platform where young people will be comfortable. Additionally, we use the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale to have a tangible outcome to the intervention with the young people.

We feel participants will notice:

• A reduction in anxiety - as young people have regular and professional contact with a Reading FC CT staff member
• An improved mood - as a result of clearer structures and advice from the mentor assigned
• Clearer thoughts - with staff being able to offer a different perspective or professional opinion, this may help young people with general decisions and thought processes
• A greater sense of calm or inner peace - linked to the above, young people may feel they have been forgotten or not cared for due to a cut in services
• Increased self-esteem - being able to speak to professionals, seek additional support etc will increase self-esteem levels and outlooks
• Reduced risk of depression - with the Warwick scale, we are able to intervene early and ensure this risk is reduced
• Improvements in relationships - home life may be a challenge and peer groups may be missing, so Reading FC Community Trust staff will encourage key relationships are maintained.

Choices is an interactive educational programme ensuring young people make the right choices within home and school environments. The programme will be catered to the specific needs of the young person/people. We support children in school that are struggling with behaviour, self-esteem, social skills from age 5-16 years. Focusing on the transition from primary to secondary school (years 6-7). We support inclusion, helping children with language barriers, numeracy, maths, reading and writing. We will help children stay in school, have a positive influence on their education while being taught in a fun safe environment.