It’s official! This group of student volunteers are a mammoth asset to our Extended Services partnership. They have been actively involved in a whole variety of events and it is certain that our Extended Services team would not have been as successful without this outstanding team of young people. They have run drama, art and games workshops for their younger peers in our partnership schools and their families, marshalled at our Walk-4-Water and Sage events, got fit with Mr Motivator and prepared food for hundreds of people throughout the year. Their phenomenal enthusiasm has created fantastic role models for all those that see them at work with a waiting list to join the ‘club’! We have recently recruited for this year’s cohort and received 140 applications. Who says that young people don’t want to do anything? That certainly is NOT true in our partnership of schools. They were interviewed and participated in a workshop all run by the Senior Youth Ambassadors making a truly youth-led team.

Case Study One

Our Chair of Ambassadors, Richard Crulley has definitely made his mark on our partnership. Now in Year 13, he has been with the ambassadors from the beginning and has shown exceptional and strong leadership as well as bringing in over £60,000 external funding! This funding has enabled us to buy a minibus, take the ambassadors on leadership residentials, help buy media equipment as well as making a film. This year at the Sage he was presented with the ‘Richard Crulley Award for the Greatest Contribution to the Partnership’. This award will now be presented to other young people who have been inspired and motivated by the role model provided by Richard. As the chair, he sits on our Governance Group and the Steering Group for Extended Services and is an active input into the partnerships development plan. Thank you Richard!

Case Study Two

Jonny and Allen are behind all the magnificent films and DVD’s we have produced over the past 8 months. Jonny is an ex-student who is now studying media at University but has stayed with us to gain his experience and we would say he sure is giving us a professional service! 
Allen, like Richard is a native ambassador who has contributed hours of dedicated volunteering and
enthusiasm to Extended Services. Allen was one of 6 chosen to visit Lesotho to take part in an Co-operative’s international youth conference and was trained by Jonny on how to use the camera whilst over there.   We are delighted to say he took to filming like a duck to water and since our return in December 2008, he has now joined Jonny as a valuable member of the duo film crew! These two are now setting up a series of training sessions for new Youth Ambassadors to grow the team and ensure sustainability.     

Case Study Three

Tom McCormack joined us last year and has as much dedicated and enthusiasm as the first day he walked through the door. He has now been made a Senior Ambassador and is going to join the Senior Steering Group. Since Tom’s joining, we have received countless letters of thank you directed specifically at him due to his caring but fun interaction with all ages. In fact recently we received a letter from a parent telling us that their year 8 child had now expressed their desire to come to St Benet Biscop as they ‘want to be like Tom and be an Ambassador’. Now that’s a good role model! There are many more case studies to come – so watch this space!

And in return?

In return for all their dedicated input, we provide opportunities including generic life skills learning such as Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety, Interview Skills, Communication Skills, First Aid, Leadership and a team-building residential. In addition, there is specialised training and opportunities to learn and practice new skills with their peers throughout the partnership schools in journalism, filming, catering, research, circus skills, web design, drama, community art and event management. Some have even formed their own social enterprise.  All of this training is free of charge to the Ambassadors and so remains accessible to all. We are constantly being asked to take on other projects for this group as they are well known throughout the County and nationally for their work. In fact, the partnership is frequently asked to be involved in a myriad of pilot schemes and demonstrate the impact they are having on the extended services agenda. They have already started to win awards as more people sit up and take notice! We now have 50 Ambassadors , all of whom are real team players!