Project: Personal Best (Surrey and Thames Valley)

Personal Best is a Level 1 pre-employment programme in preparation for event volunteering designed to help people furthest from the labour market to progress to employment, further training and volunteering. Participants gain a nationally recognised, level 1 qualification in volunteering and on successful completion of the programme have the chance to become a Games Time Volunteer at London 2012. The project gives individuals the opportunity to gain their first qualification through training with extensive (including one-to-one) support, as well as boosting self-esteem through work experience.

Project feature

Sussex Downs College (SDC) is delivering the Personal Best Programme in Surrey and areas of the Thames Valley as part of a regional bid. A pilot programme was run in Windsor and there are currently two groups in Surrey. These areas were identified as having a gap in provision, and Sussex Downs has a proven track record in delivering training across the South East region. Surrey provision is currently at The Grange in Bookham, a centre which provides services for people with disabilities, while the other programme is being delivered in Sheerwater, an area of high unemployment and economic deprivation.

Sandra Lusk met with Angela Corke of Sussex Downs Business Development Team, who described the project’s development and explained why she believes that partnership working and additional learner support are key to its success.

The Windsor pilot was an opportunity to learn lessons and these were put in place before delivery in Surrey began. Through a Personal Best networking event organised by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), SDC made contact with Surrey County Council’s cultural development officer, who was enthusiastic about the project from the onset and has been crucial in helping SDC make contact with relevant agencies. This has enabled them to move forward very quickly in Surrey. The partnership has also been invaluable in finding volunteering placements in both cultural and sporting environments.

The Sheerwater group is a further example of successful partnership working. Developing a positive working partnership with Jobcentre Plus ensured that this group was established. The Jobcentre Plus (JCP) contact was enthusiastic about the project and referred about half of the ten original participants, and continued to provide support to the group. The remaining participants in the group were recruited from the local community through talking to people at local shopping centres etc.

The training programmes are approximately ten weeks long, and individuals can expect to receive on average some 100 hours of training. However, the key is the flexibility. Usually a minimum of five hours a day is delivered but it is completely flexible and tailored to meet the needs of the participants. The programme is enhanced by the use of professionals, such as fire fighters, who have been brought in to deliver the fire safety aspect of the course to make it a little more interesting and relevant to the participants.

All of the participants recruited are vulnerable, and turning up to class twice a week can be an issue for some; in addition, they may need an enormous amount of support to achieve and complete the programme. This support is provided by a combination of the tutor, support worker, project coordinator and Jobcentre Plus where appropriate. The tutor is available for support after the taught session; this means that if participants have to miss a class due to health issues, for example to attend a medical appointment, they can catch up during the additional time and the tutor can take them through the course work they have missed. In the case of The Grange, the support worker spent two days a week alongside the tutor, which ensures a high level of one-to-one support. The support worker was already known to many of the participants as she had been employed part time at the centre; this has also been beneficial.

‘This highly supportive approach has paid dividends in the delivery of Personal Best, and certainly one of the things learnt from the Windsor group, was the high level of support that is needed, not just for participants with disabilities but for those who have learning needs and, in some cases, varying degrees of mental health issues.’

The importance of providing learner support throughout the programme has been demonstrated by the experience of the Windsor group. This group, with six participants, was smaller than the current groups. During the very last few weeks (week 8 or 9) of the course, two participants left the programme. Having been the first established in the area, the focus had been on recruitment, finding placements and generally getting things going. While support was in place, the need for more intensive continuous learner support was unexpected. On the two most recent programmes, measures were put in place. Angela believes that if they had had this monitoring and high level of individual support during the Windsor pilot, those two learners may possibly have been able to complete. The programme has had successful outcomes for the remaining participants; all four have successfully completed the programme and are currently involved in volunteering.
The experiences gained through the pilot and the lessons learnt have had a positive impact on the programme’s development, not just around the issue of retention and learner support, but also around partnership.

‘Windsor was our test bed really. We learnt so much from it, how important retention was, how important the volunteer placement aspect of the project is; how important it is to get it underway very early in the training.’

Establishing links and partnerships with the national governing bodies of different sports has proved effective when it comes to finding volunteer placements. Work on previous and current regional sports projects, such as ESF Raising Your Game, has been very helpful in that they had partnerships in the area which saved a great deal of time. Without the links established and support of the National Governing Bodies (NGBs), such as the England and Wales Cricket Board, finding suitable placements in the area would have taken a great deal more time and energy. As part of the qualification all participants must achieve 20 hours’ volunteer or work placement, preferably in a sporting or cultural environment. By setting up the placements very early in the programme, delivering it as the third unit rather than towards the end, makes it is easier to resolve difficulties or issues as they occur while they are still attending the training programme. A good example of this is the case of Luke. Luke is a keen cricketer who had given up the game due to mental health difficulties and had been unable to gain the skills necessary to enter employment. Once enrolled on the course, support was put in place which enabled him to complete a placement, even though he had been unwell, with the Windsor Cricket Club. Luke has now completed the course and enrolled on a sports development course at college.

The participants and graduates from the first three cohorts of the Sussex Downs College Personal Best programme attended a graduation and celebration event at Guildford Spectrum on 3 December, where the guest of honour was Rachel Morris, a Paralympic gold medallist in Beijing. The event coincided with marking the countdown of 1000 days to the start of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

Areas of Development: Mentoring/Buddying:

Two further courses will start in January 2010 in Surrey, one of which is being negotiated with Merstham Football Club: they will use the training facility and hopefully be able to organise some volunteer placements such as stewarding at match time. Angela suggests that if you find a sports facility that has a training room, use the space and also try to negotiate some placements.

An area of development will be to establish an event and link the learning to it. One possibility is the establishment of a public event, which could facilitate learning from some of the units. For example, the participants would do everything necessary to set up the event, including carry out risk assessments, and then have the option to volunteer at the event. This approach could also give participants a more ‘secure’ step into placements.

Contact details

Angela Corke, Business Development Lead Coordinator
Sussex Downs College
Cross Levels Way , Eastbourne East Sussex , BN21 2UF
(01323) 637211
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