Southlands High School Partnership
Preston North End Community and Education Trust Secondary Education Youth Mentor, Cameron Molloy, spends four days a week working in Southlands High School in Chorley, as part of a new and innovative secondary school education partnership between the two organisations.
Cameron began work with PNECET in time for the start of the new academic year, and delivers a wide variety of interventions to positively impact the school’s pupils.
The partnership with Southlands has resulted from positive consultation with the school, in which a need for PNECET’s bespoke education provision – which supports learners from all backgrounds to pursue their educational goals – was identified.
Southlands High School Headteacher Paul Bousfield added: “The presence of someone who is as skilled as Cameron in working with young people I think is really key because he can develop a positive relationship with our young people. Through that, he can support them and motivate them to excel and achieve their best.
“The fact that he wears the Preston North End badge and that’s attached to everything that he does, there’s a deep history of excellence around what the club has achieved over the years, and we can sell that as a brand to the students; hard work and the ethics of trying to best you can be.
“There is something exciting about sport and especially football. PNE are our biggest and most successful local team and I think that really helps young people buy into this concept of pursuing excellence.
“As a school, we want to extend our pastoral team and include a youth work angle, which Cameron brings. It is about the branding and being attached to something that has a proud history and is about excellence and trying to be the best you can be and that’s what we’re trying to do at Southlands High School."
Within the education department, Cameron forms part of the secondary education team, which looks to support children who may struggle in the traditional school environment, or those who are displaying low confidence, self-esteem or educational attainment.