Silverdale School – Personal Safety Training for 15-16 Year-Olds
Silverdale School in Sheffield is a beacon languages academy with an enviable reputation for delivering excellent education to state sector pupils.
When Brooks Jordan began working with Silverdale in 2000, school managers weren’t exactly sure what they wanted from a training company – but they had identified a gap in their ability to adequately prepare their Year 11 students for the personal safety challenges of life beyond the school gates.
We worked with teachers, governors and students to develop a programme that, in a short 50-minute session, included elements that helped young people be more aware of the potential risks they face.
In particular, we helped them to manage ‘fronting up’ – an issue for young men (statistically it is still the case that young men between the ages of 16 & 24 are most at risk of assault); and helped all the teenagers think about how best to handle riskier activities such as the taxi or bus home at the end of the evening – as well as giving them some simple tips about how to respond if things did go wrong.
Most of all we wanted to impress upon young people the importance of looking out for each other – that they are far safer if they have friends “watching their back”. Brooks Jordan is passionate about working with young people to minimise their risk.
12 years after that first course was developed, we continue to prepare Silverdale School’s Year 11 students for a safer life.
