Local students Dare to live healthy lifestyles
Youngsters from a local school are taking part in a pilot programme that hopes to encourage them choose a healthy lifestyle and avoid the misuse of drugs and alcohol.
Pupils from Bluecoat School, Wollaton, are working with drug and alcohol resistance education charity DARE (UK) in their new sports scheme that aims to encourage interest in physical activity and develop strength and self-belief.
Ten students from year seven and eight (aged 12-13) are participating in a five-week DARE Sport programme being led by local Mansfield born Olympic cycling hero Bryan Steel.
Sessions will start with a thirty-minute discussion with a different theme each week including topics such as ‘Things We Do That Make Us Proud’. Students will learn new technical cycling skills as well as testing themselves at indoor rowing.
Steel commented: “we use a multi-sport approach to our work with schools and colleges. Our philosophy is about prevention rather than intervention.”
The DARE Sport project uses positive role models to teach students about healthy living so that they can make educated lifestyle choices. For those who show flare for sport, exit routes are also established into various sports.
Steel added: “Dare Sport is about giving students more self confidence and a greater sense of self worth through learning new skills and applying themselves over a series of weeks. Sport can provide a significant distraction from the negative influences of peer pressure.”
Chris Colbeck is the School Sports Co-ordinator at Bluecoat School. He said: “DARE Sport is working really well at Bluecoats. Bryan Steel is an excellent role model for the kids. He is a guy who has dyslexia and who struggled at school but who turned it around and focussed 100% on his sport. This personal contact is invaluable.
“The students really appreciate the cycle training. It’s teaching them how to focus on targets and how to be disciplined, ignoring distractions."
“The students have begun supporting and encouraging each other and there is a real feeling of team work. We are surveying teachers before the scheme and throughout to see how the students are improving and how the scheme is helping with their behaviour.”
Students completing the programme will become DARE graduates at a presentation ceremony at the end of the pilot. Teachers are asked to evaluate a student’s attendance, behaviour, willingness to learn, time keeping and relationship with them at the start and conclusion of the programme. Other pilots around the county have already shown some encouraging results.
DARE is a national charity, also based at Bluecoat School, with over 14 years experience of educating young people about drug and alcohol misuse. The charity has reached millions of primary and secondary school children through education programmes that have been delivered across Britain in partnership with schools and police forces.
The new DARE Sport programme will be rolled out to a further 5 schools in the new year when students will enrol in a ten week educational programme involving the local police and sporting heroes.
Chief Executive, Paul Smedley commented: “we’re really excited about rolling out DARE Sport across Nottinghamshire and eventually the rest of the country. All of our experience indicates that an educational programme such as this can be very successful in providing successful drug and alcohol misuse education.”
“We’re looking forward to working with local schools and seeing the results of the pilots in Nottingham. These will provide us with a great platform to increase our national activity and help to decrease the number of young people getting into problems with drugs and alcohol.”
The Bluecoat pilot is due to finish on 5th December. A graduation ceremony will be planned to celebrate successful completion of the course.
Please contact Paul Smedley, Bryan Steel or Stuart Longcroft for more information on 0115 9007232.
