Children who live in the more remote areas of our country should have the same chances to make music, play sport, perform drama and develop their study skills out of school hours as their urban peers. Recognising the challenges of developing programmes in isolated areas but also building on the strengths of rural communities was at the heart of our seminar held in York in February last year.
Developing effective study support in rural areas
"The development of memorable learning outside the normal school curriculum is essential to fulfilling our goal of enabling young people to have a sense of achievement and positive expectations for their future" said keynote speaker Fred Corbett, Deputy Director of Children's Services in Norfolk. "We need to ensure children in rural areas have equal access to out of school hours learning despite the difficulties of transport and isolation, and recognise the rich resource offered by the countryside".
Finding transport solutions, making good use of your local environment and community, bringing schools and people together were all explored in workshops run by practitioners from local authorities and voluntary organisations.
Over fifty delegates from places as far apart as Cornwall and Cumbria attended the seminar run by Quality in Study Support on behalf of the DfES. This seminar is part of a series that is disseminating the new national framework on Study Support.
Due to the success of this seminar a second seminar was held at the Somerset County Cricket Club in October -
Study Support, Community and Social Capital
The morning session was lead by Professor John West-Burnham who discussed the potential benefits and challenges of developing Study Support programmes in rural communities. In the afternoon a series of workshops were run by practitioners. These focussed on areas such as using the countryside as a resource, the role of Playing for Success in helping schools to raise standards, and examples of programmes with good community links.
To view the conference report please click here.|
Rural Youth Network
Rural Youth Network is a small independent national charity that has been operating for 21 years, supporting youth workers in rural areas. Its services include a monthly newsletter, responses to government consultations and the recently transformed Rural Youth Network website www.ruralyouth.com|.
The website contains publications and consultation documents, conference notes and case studies identifying examples of good practice in youth work in rural areas. It has been recently updated to include research published by the NYA which explores potential solutions to the problems faced by young people using public transport, specifically buses, to access 'positive activities', education, and employment.
The Network holds two conferences per year. Information from the Room to grow - building on good practice in rural youth work conference held on the 23rd January will be available on the Rural Youth Network website shortly