The Sola Inspire schools road-show is a role model programme that places Spirit of London Awards ambassadors in the school environment to deliver inspirational workshops. It was rolled out to London schools in the early part of 2012. The programme is aimed at Year 9 -11 pupils [13-16 year olds] and is delivered to whole year groups of between 150–250 pupils per session in an assembly style setting.
Haringey Independent covering the Inspire Road Show held at Park View School.
The programme sees the vision of the Trust in action as young people go into schools to talk about their work and share their amazing experiences of being recognized by Sola for their work. Based on an average of 200 pupils accessed per visit, we project that Sola Inspire road show could reach 12,000 13-16 year olds within three years.
The workshop takes approximately an hour long and involves 3 SOLA Ambassadors plus 1 SOLA Celebrity Ambassador. The session is delivered in two parts, first with a chat-show type individual interview of each Ambassador followed by an interactive question and answer panel with all Ambassadors.
The core objectives are:
- Students have exposure to a variety of potential career paths
- Students are able to understand future career pathways
- Students appreciate the value of effort, hard work and positive choices needed to succeed in life
- Students are inspired to pursue positive interests
Extracts of the feedback obtained from the visits made to date are given below:
“The Spirit of London Awards road show taught me that no matter where you come from, you can achieve and be successful if you work hard.”
14 year old male student– South London
“For those students already making the right decisions the Spirit of London road show strengthened them to resist the wrong choices that are easily open to them. For others who are thinking or already making the wrong choices it challenges their thinking and gives them the permission they need to be positive about themselves and their life chances.”
Gary Philips – Head Teacher Lilian Bayliss School, Lambeth
The programme began in the fourth quarter of our financial year ended May 2012. A total of 10 schools across London were visited. Our plan was to roll out the Inspire Schools Road show to a different London school each week so that in a year we could reach 40 schools. However, the financial problems the Trust experienced following delivery of Sola in December 2012 meant that the Inspire School Road show roll out plan had to be shelved.