October 28th, 2021 | NEWS
Sport Changes Life are delighted to announce we have partnered with Clanmil Housing, who are helping fund our school’s Honour Roll programme.
Starting with primary schools in the County Down area, we currently have 80 young people in Year 7 from St Mary’s and Newcastle Primary schools who are learning important life skills and boosting their confidence in our 10-week sport led personal development programme.
It incorporates a multi-sport programme with inspirational workshop discussions to help with the transition from primary to secondary school.
Each weekly session lasts for 90 minutes and uses sport to connect with young people, focussing on different topics that equip them for life in secondary school.
Workshop topics include: hopes and fears, bullying, staying safe online, healthy lifestyles, goal setting, health and wellbeing and more.
An important part of the programme is encouraging an understanding of diversity and good relations and this is done through the theme of Olympic sports.
Philip Whyte, Community Cohesion Officer for Clanmil said:
“We are delighted to support this important programme which will help these young people learn new skills and develop confidence as they prepare to move from primary to secondary school. Clanmil is committed to working with people of all ages and from all backgrounds in the Newcastle community. Initiatives like this one are part of our ongoing community engagement and outreach work as we continue to promote Clanmil’s shared housing development at the former Mourne Observer site on Castlewellan Road.”
Aimee O’Higgins, who is ironically from Newcastle herself, is a Sports Mentor with Sport Changes Life and delivers the programmes for young people throughout Northern Ireland.
Aimee describes how the programmes have been going so far:
“It is fantastic to be working with Clanmil to deliver the Honour Roll Programme in St Mary’s and Newcastle Primary. I can already see how the levels of confidence have really grown among the year 7s taking part, which is so rewarding for us. In the workshops the young people learn team-building skills through a variety of sports and have a chance to open up in the group discussions, sharing their hopes and fears about the transition to ‘big’ school, as well as having fun with their peers.”
As a foundation we strive to improve the growth of our programmes. Ou programme manager Alan Teggart also added ” It is great to see that we have partnered with Clanmil Housing to help us deliver our Honour Roll Programme. Primarily this programme has been based in the greater Belfast area, so it is fantastic we can impact more young people across Northern Ireland through the medium of sport and I look forward to seeing this relationship develop with Clanmil Housing. A huge thank you to Philip in particular. This is now the second Housing Association we have partnered with (Connswater Homes & Clanmil Housing), and we are proud to be able to roll out the programme to as many schools as possible”.
For further information or media enquiries on this programme, please contact a.teggart@sportchangeslife.com
