Going Forward at North Berwick High School

09 February 2023

Lara Neri, Depute Head Teacher at North Berwick High School in East Lothian has given us her thoughts on the delivery, and impact, of Going Forward sessions at North Berwick High School.

Can you tell us a bit about North Berwick High School?

Our school places great emphasis on building positive relationships with our young people and we place huge value on our school value of belonging. We see each pupil as an individual and cater for their needs accordingly. We have high levels of success in our attainment overall and have made very good progress in ensuring that we close any gaps in our provision. As such, pupils from all socio-economic areas in our catchment have high levels of attainment.

What did you particularly like about the sessions?

The Fast Forward Programme was an extension of the work that we cover primarily in PSE. It was an opportunity to really focus in on the issues and explore them at greater depth with the pupils. As we had identified a group who were engaging in some risk taking behaviour, this was able to be tailored to the wants and needs of the pupils as the sessions progressed. This personalised approach was really successful and the pupils spoke very positively about it. For us, as staff,, it was reassuring to know that these young people had had a more intense opportunity to look at this and at their own behaviours.

 What sort of impact do you think the sessions have had on the young people that you support?

Really positive – the young people really valued having the chance to discuss these topics with someone out-with the school environment, as they felt they were able to be more open about some of their own behaviours. Since the sessions finished, all pupils involved have been more settled in classes and we have had far fewer instances of concern for all of them.

 Would you recommend Going Forward to another school and would you be interested in continuing to receive Going Forward sessions in the future?

 Yes and yes!

Want to find out more about Going Forward?

To find out more about the Going Forward project, or discuss ways in which Going Forward could work with your organisation to develop and deliver a programme of sessions tailored to the specific needs of the young people that you support, simply e-mail the team, or give us a call:

 

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