Sussex Police are helping students from St Leonard’s Academy to raise their aspirations and realise their potential through their support of the Dare to Dream programme.
The programme, created by The Love Local Jobs Foundation C.I.C is delivered by programme Lead, radio presenter Jack ‘The Lad’ Hayes who is currently on air with More Radio. Jack provides young people across Sussex with the support and tools to improve their self-awareness, confidence and resilience.
Jack has been working with over 300 year 9 students from St Leonard’s Academy with the unique ability to engage with the students and encourage them to think differently about their futures through drawing upon his own experiences and the challenges he himself has faced.
In addition to this, 15 Year 9 students are supported by five mentors from Sussex Police, who have been offering one-to-one mentoring to build their confidence for the future and to create a better pathway into the workplace.
The programme is made up of multiple interactions including inspirational assemblies, workshops and one-to-one mentoring which has taken place over the summer term.
The Dare to Dream programme focuses on self-awareness, resilience, mindset, gratitude, teamwork and employability, which young people can often struggle with. Sussex Police’s team of mentors have been instrumental in helping to deliver the key messages central to the themes, helping the students to overcome the challenges they may face.
The Dare to Dream programme finished with the students visiting Sussex Police Headquarters for a workplace visit to give the students a closer look at life working in the police force.
Sergeant Scott Gosling from Sussex Police said;
“On behalf of Sussex Police, my colleagues and I are really pleased that we were able to support the Dare to Dream Programme and engage with young people from our local communities. The talks Jack provided were informative and relevant, it was clear that the year 9’s were completely engaged with what he was saying. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to be able to provide mentoring to some of the students and provide advice from experiences we’ve had in employment and from growing up.”