Student Support Unit
Support Unit Gives Boost to Struggling Students
A new Student Support Unit (SSU) to help struggling students improve their prospects has been set up at Ashby School.
The unit, which opened in September 2006, caters for youngsters who have missed long periods at school, because of ill health, exclusion or other problems.
By attending the unit each week, students can get help with schoolwork, or take part in a range of activities, designed to develop skills, confidence and team spirit outside of the classroom.
No soft-soaping
As part of the unit's Student Enhancement Programme, SSU students have masterminded their own mini production line in soap-making. This has involved not only manufacturing soap but also calculating production costs and profit margins.
Soap handmade by students from the SSU will be on sale at Ashby School in the run-up to Christmas. All proceeds will be ploughed back into the work of the unit.
Students have also hand-painted their own glassware as part of a similar scheme.
Other students spend days working on SSU-related projects outside of the unit. These include weekly visits to a free range poultry farm in Derbyshire where youngsters help to collect, count and pack eggs for delivery. This gives students valuable experience of team work as well as a sense of purpose.
Rose Booth, Teaching Assistant in the SSU, said: "The farm gives the young people an outside interest and helps to link them to a kind of curriculum. At the farm, they are involved in basic maths (counting hens and chickens), as well as handling responsibility and the demands of social interaction.
"Just as importantly, it gives them a reason to get up in the morning and get involved with the outside world."
There are also weekly opportunities to take part in outdoor activities, such as canoeing and rock climbing. Called 'Try Something New', this helps with team building, social skills and the development of outside interests.
The real world
Mrs Booth said: "We are encouraging these young people to develop skills and knowledge that they will be able to use throughout their lives - and that will give them a much better chance of getting a job.
"Some of the them have a problem with classroom situations so the SSU is a way of encouraging them to come to school, rather than dropping out altogether.
"The creation of the Student Support Unit is a response to a very real need. Without it, many of these young people would have greatly lowered prospects and find it much harder to survive, let alone succeed, in the real world. We are getting them ready for life."
At present, 23 students attend the SSU. They are all from Years 10 and 11.
New projects are already in the pipeline to give SSU students more opportunities to build life experiences and improve their chances of finding work.
Case Study
Feather in Cap for Poultry Farm Student
A student from Ashby School who struggled to settle into mainstream school has earned a place on a two-year training course – with help from the school's Student Support Unit (SSU). Read more >>
Eggs-ellent work. Scott Unwin helps out at Happy Hens poultry farm.
In a lather. Jamie Hunt and Gemma Roberts work on their soap project.
Soap-makers stir things up in the lab.
