NCS announces summer programme for 16- and 17-year-olds
Fiona Simpson
Monday, July 6, 2020
The National Citizen Service (NCS) has announced plans to deliver a summer catch-up programme to 30,000 disadvantaged teenagers whose education has been most disrupted by Covid-19.
The programme, launched as part of the NCS’s ‘One Million Hours Doing Good’ initiative, will see headteachers given “menus” of NCS activities for 16- and 17-year-olds to take place over two to 10 days during the summer break.
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The scheme will run on both local and national levels offering life skills activities around job-readiness, confidence building, re-forming friendships and building resilience to “the most vulnerable and marginalised young people around the country”, NCS said.
The programme is aimed to complement activities laid-on by schools and colleges to help young people transition back to life at sixth form and further education.
The NCS will look to deliver the programme in so-called opportunity areas, it said. Opportunity areas are recognised as some of the most disadvantaged parts of England, where the Department for Education is investing £90m until 2021 in a bid to level-up standards.
The move comes after the NCS was forced to cancel its summer programme which usually sees thousands of young people take part in residential breaks and outdoor activities across the UK.
Mark Gifford, chief executive at the NCS Trust, said: “NCS is a strong youth-powered brand with a curriculum, a digital platform that has seen over one million [online] engagements in the last two months; engages with young people; and the expertise, experience and network to support government and schools to make that positive intervention that will help teenagers re-integrate into education and society post-lockdown.
“It is all about creating a ‘new normal’, which will make it easier for young people to fit into a changed society, ready to learn and to shape the country’s future. At NCS we are well-placed to offer a range of life skills activities for young people, tailored to the needs of local communities and particularly focused on those who most need support.”
Gillian Keegan, apprenticeships and skills minister, added: “We will do whatever we can to make sure no young person falls behind as a result of coronavirus and that everyone from every background has opportunities when they leave education.
“I look forward to hearing more about this fantastic initiative.”