European Social Fund in England
2007 - 2013
Sailing towards achievement
Unemployment levels amongst young people in Cornwall is a serious issue with employers expressing concern that potential recruits lack skills, maturity and motivation.
Some of Treviglas' students with the Clipper yacht's skipper
To tackle that problem, a new initiative supported by the European Social Fund (ESF) has been launched. It is specifically aimed at improving the future employability of 14 to 19 year olds in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly by helping build their confidence, self esteem and team building skills.
Co-financed by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), it works by taking people out of the classroom and putting them into the highly disciplined environment of a racing yacht at sea.
Pupils from Treviglas Community College in Newquay were the first to take part in the programme which initially involves a two day training session at Lusty Glaze in Newquay. After taking part in cliff, water and shore-based activities, nine participants, all aged between 14 and 15, were selected for a week-long sailing challenge on a Clipper 60 round-the-world yacht that set sail from Plymouth.
Working under the experienced supervision of Clipper Venture staff, the young people practised boat-handling and management skills, learned a lot about self-discipline and developed first aid, sea survival and basic navigation skills. They were also tasked with recording a daily ship’s log of the wind speed and weather conditions using a mobile phone, with other options for recording their own photos and video diary.
In a presentation to fellow pupils at Treviglas, the group described how they learnt to helm, clean up, cook, work as a team, carry out engine checks and make an emergency call at sea. They also talked about doing a night sail from Dartmouth.
For one of the participants, Liam Bartlett, the most exciting part was climbing up the 70 foot mast and conquering his fear of heights, “I definitely challenged myself and I definitely think that working on a racing yacht was the best way to learn about teamwork,” he said. “If we didn’t work together we weren’t going to go anywhere.”
Getting on and learning to help each other was clearly one of the biggest challenges, “It’s hard to work with others in a small space, be patient and keep your temper in check,” admitted pupil Colin Wheeler. “But if you do, you really can achieve anything.”
Chrissy Winchcombe was one of three Clipper members of staff who gave instructions on the boat, “The experience is not just about teaching the young people to sail but about giving them an opportunity to address individual issues like confronting a fear of heights, dealing with anger problems and increasing their self-confidence,” she said.
The project is the result of collaboration between several organisations including the Learning and Skills Council, the Learning Partnership, Cornwall Council, the Skills Network, Convergence and the Cornwall Marine Network. A total of 16 courses have so far been scheduled – involving secondary schools throughout Cornwall.
Mark Williams, ESF Director for the LSC South West, said that the initiative was already making a real difference “The nine young people who took part in the first challenge have come back feeling much more motivated and self-confident,” he said. “Talking to them now, they have a much clearer idea of what they want to achieve in life and the work they need to do to get there. Too many of our young people lack any sense of career direction and, without a goal to aim for, they lose motivation and interest. This programme, the result of real partnership working, has been designed to specifically address those problems.”
Carleen Kelemen, Director of the Convergence Partnership Office said, “Throughout our lives we are continually learning; learning from our parents, our schooling, our community, our friends and the full spectrum of our collective experiences. When there's a gap or life just doesn't move us on in a constructive way, investments like this step in to lift our sights and build back our confidence to give it a go."
Shirley Robins, Head of the Effective Learning Centre at Treviglas, has no doubts about the programme’s success, “The students I collected from Gosport were not the same ones I dropped off at Plymouth the previous week,” she said. “The change I’ve seen has been dramatic.”
More information about The Learning Partnership
More information about Convergence investment