WIREDGOV

The lives of thousands of disengaged children have been turned around thanks to these projects which instil our wonderful armed forces’ values of hard work and discipline.

That is why we are increasing the funding going to these important projects - so that even more children can benefit from the military ethos.

• one-to-one mentoring skills to help address potential behaviour issues and keep pupils committed to their education
• military-style obstacle courses to engage and motivate hard-to-reach pupils and help them understand how to transfer the elements which helped them succeed into the classroom
• a mix of indoor and outdoor team-building exercises with an educational focus to encourage discipline, leadership, teamwork and good behaviour
• working with schools and other agencies to re-integrate pupils who are not in education, employment or training and prepare them for post-16 courses or jobs
• helping primary school children in their transition to secondary school through building their self-confidence

The impact has been really quite dramatic. Some children have, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say, had their lives turned around.

There has been a significant reduction in negative behaviours filed by teachers. There is a significant improvement in teacher assessment levels and grades in English, maths and science and effort grades recorded by subject show that those on the programme are trying harder.

• 56% of pupils in the study improved their maths academic achievement grades
• 46% of pupils in the study improved their reading academic achievement grades
• 70% of pupils in the study improved their writing academic achievement grades

Feedback from young people, parents and other agencies indicates that KSA is making considerable progress at turning around the lives of young people and giving them the motivation and skills to make a successful return to mainstream education.

• 77% showed improvement in self-control and behaviour after 6 months with 10% showing improvement after 1 day
• 86% showed improvement in the their social skills after 6 months
• 73% showed improvement in their self-awareness and confidence after 6 months

• 84% of year 11 pupils who completed the course went on to some form of employment, education or training
• 86% of pupils said the course had helped them to have a positive attitude
• 77% said they now treated their teachers with respect

We’re so pleased to receive this extra funding as it means we can take Commando Joe’s to more schools.

We’ve been based mainly in the North West so far, but now we can expand our operations across the country.

The money will go towards recruiting more staff and delivering more programmes to enable more schools to access the provision which will ultimately help to inspire and motivate thousands more young people to reach their full potential inside and outside the classroom.

The Prince’s Trust is proud of the charity’s longstanding relationship with military personnel across the UK, including our partnership with Help for Heroes.

It is exciting to bring this experience to the Department of Education’s inspired military ethos initiative in the knowledge of the significant contribution our inspirational service personnel can make to the lives of disadvantaged young people.

• Commando Joe’s which provides trained mentors and challenging activities for schools in some of the most deprived and hard-to-reach areas of the UK has been awarded £1 million
• Challenger Troop, which provides leadership and engagement programmes for vulnerable or disengaged pupils aged 8 to 16 across the UK, particularly in the toughest areas of London and the South East, has been awarded £1 million
• Knowsley Skills Academy which provides young people with a programme of physical activities, team-building and work-related learning and prepare them for post-16 education, training or employment has been awarded £411,773
• SkillForce which provides a programme of challenges in the outdoor environment, integrated to support literacy and numeracy has been awarded £967,000
• CVQO which works with pupils from all backgrounds and abilities, delivering education to help them improve their lives has been awarded £757,000
• The Prince’s Trust, which works with disadvantaged young people to help them into work, education and training, has been awarded £700,000. The funds will be used to get more former military personnel working on the youth charity’s programmes, including 35 Prince’s Trust xl clubs run in schools across the UK for pupils at risk of truanting and exclusion