Preston North End Community and Education Trust [PNECET] has appointed a Secondary Education Youth Mentor, who will spend 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.
The newly appointed Secondary Education Youth Mentor, Cameron Molloy, began work with PNECET in time for the start of the new academic year last month, and will positively impact the school’s pupils by delivering a wide variety of interventions.
Within the education department, Cameron will form 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.
The programme is now entering its fourth academic year, and has seen exponential growth during that time – with 40 students enrolled on the programme during the 2019/20 period, compared to 136 now enrolled for the 2022/23 period from across 14 secondary schools.
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.
Secondary School Curriculum Lead Jake Blackburn said: “We are pleased to have begun working in partnership with Southlands High School in Chorley to positively impact the school’s pupils through a variety of educational interventions.
“Our secondary school programme is inclusive of learners from all backgrounds and education settings, with the programme supporting those from both pupil referral units and mainstream providers, with delivery within schools as well as on-site at Deepdale and across our facilities in Preston.
“By significantly growing our secondary school education programme for the 2022/23 academic year, and agreeing our first in-school partnership with Southlands High School to place a staff member on-site, we are confident of continuing to deliver on our strategic aim of providing an education pathway for all.”
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.
“There’s a great history and tradition going back over 50 years of the school here at Southlands. We’re proud of our history but aspiring to be better which aligns with the ethos and ambition of the club.”
For more information about the Trust’s secondary school provision, please email jakeblackburn@pne.com.