NewRoots Workshop

This feedback came to us last week from the parent of a young person that has been with us since September.

These kind words mean a lot to the New Roots team - seeing young people gain confidence in themselves and their abilities is at the core of why we do what we do.

Check out this feedback from one of our young people last week!

Many of those that come to us are so much more capable than they believe. The transformation in each of them, as they begin to believe in themselves is amazing.

Wow! What a week last week was!

Our young people have done themselves proud!

🎉 2 of our young people have secured their CSCS Operatives cards!

🎊 2 have attended interviews and been accepted for a place on their chosen college course!

🎉 1 has secured work with local contractors!

The interviewer commented upon how essential the CSCS card and First Aid certificate were to the job offer!

On top of these stand out achievements, our cohort have continued to work well on our latest community project - construction of an outdoor stage at a local primary school.

We've also had a successful QA visit from a brand new referrer!

The wait is over!

After weeks of rolling up their sleeves and putting in the effort, the young people of the New Roots Workshop have transformed their vision into reality and completed an Outdoor Classroom and handed it over to Alphington Primary School!

This project represents the culmination of months of learning, growth, and hard work by our young people. Along the way, they have developed practical construction skills, gained an understanding of workplace expectations, learned the importance of health and safety, and experienced first-hand how a project progresses from concept to completion.

For our Year 11 and 12 learners, we hope this is just the beginning of their journey as they take their next steps into employment, apprenticeships, or further education.

It has been incredibly rewarding to watch these young people grow in confidence, develop new skills, and find a positive direction for their future.

We're proud of everything they have achieved, Alphington Primary School now have a learning space that they can utilise for years to come, next stop Ide Primary where we're building them an outdoor stage. Many more projects to follow!

Have a young person outside mainstream education? Interested in supporting our work or finding out more? We'd love to hear from you.

As we get underway with the last half term of the academic year, we wanted to make note of the positive progress that our young people (YP) are achieving, here's a snapshot summarising their feedback and activities with our instructors:

YP1 - Produced excellent brickwork. Spoke at length about future prospects and obtaining his CSCS Card. He's at ease now with getting his part 1 qualification adapted.

YP2 - Completed modules and booked H&S part 1 exam. Fully engaged today and attentive.

YP3 - Finished Module 8 and booked exam, towards his part 1 CSCS.

YP4 - First attempt at plastering, very commendable effort. Engaged Fully.

We are delighted with the levels of effort and engagement that these young people bring to the workshop and also to our live projects in the community!

Nearly there! 🚧🏫

In the week before half term, our young people worked incredibly hard to bring this outdoor classroom at Alphington Primary School ever closer to completion.

They've made fantastic progress by taking the practical skills they've developed in the workshop and applying them to a real-life project that will benefit the local school community for years to come.

Working on a live site under the guidance of our experienced industry instructors, they've had the opportunity to put their learning into practice, build confidence, and experience the standards and expectations of the workplace firsthand.

Projects like this provide invaluable work experience, helping to prepare our young people for their next steps and giving them the skills, knowledge, and attitude they'll need to succeed in the world of work.

We're almost at the finish line—watch this space for the completed project and official handover!

As you've undoubtedly noticed on the news lately, youth unemployment is reaching new heights.

There are many contributing factors to this, for the last 3 years I have been running an alternative provision based in Exeter called the New Roots Workshop, we work with 14-18 year olds that have found themselves outside mainstream education and try to prepare them for the workplace, with all it's expectations.

As a bit of fun and with lots of different contributors we produced a sign that we have up in our canteen, please have a read.

While it may be a light hearted sign, it does reflect a very serious issue that appears to be worsening, with people saying we are facing a lost generation.

The question is, what would you add to this list?

This feedback came to us by way of a handwritten card from the parent.

These comments really capture that our provision at New Roots is achieving what we set out to do for young people.

We are always delighted to hear what a positive difference it makes for young people, when they find an environment in which they can thrive.

This week we were able to bring together Vistry volunteers and our young people, to work together on the construction of an outdoor learning shelter for Alphington Primary School.

Huge shout out to both the volunteers AND our young people for the huge amounts of effort that they put in. The day ran brilliantly!

Working alongside the volunteers was also a great opportunity for our young people to meet new people and gain construction work experience, working alongside industry professionals

A great community project!