Inventing our future Collective action for a sustainable economy

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Chapter 3 – Effective interventions
3. enjoying and achieving: getting the most out of life and developing broad skills for adulthood
4. making a positive contribution: to the community and to society and not engaging in anti-social or
offending behaviour
5. economic well-being: overcoming socio-economic disadvantages to achieve their full potential in life.
(Every Child Matters, 2003)
Raising aspirations is a key priority for improving the life chances of young people and supporting the
transition to adulthood, but they cannot be expected to work on their own. Family relationships and
family life have a significant influence, family policies need to be considered alongside youth and
education policies (SO3: 12).
Enhancing personal and social development for young people is an area in which the voluntary and statutory
youth services have particular expertise.
Case study 9
Romsey Mill’s Young Parents’ Programme
Romsey Mill is a Cambridge charity which specialises in work with socially excluded youngsters and
developing activities with families in the surrounding community.
Their Young Parents’ Programme equips teenage parents with the skills required to break the cycle of
exclusion that entraps them and their children. The programme teaches teenage parents and expecting
parents through home visits and tailored courses and provides the ongoing support required for them
to progress. Courses also contain embedded learning on literacy and IT use.
I wish school had been like this. It feels nice and small and comfortable and I get talked to like
an adult. Reckon I would have got my GCSEs if it had been like this, but I bunked off all the time.
Programme participant
Youth services within the East of England region have a range of activities and services which work effectively
with young people around substance misuse, teenage pregnancy, anti-social and risky behaviour as well as
providing a wide range of opportunities for all young people. This expertise has been put to good use in the
holiday activity programme Positive Activities for Young People where the target groups are those at risk of
offending, or poor school attainment and the programme activities encourage community cohesion in areas
where inter-racial tensions are apparent.
Sport and access to nature are also very effective means of tackling social exclusion and promoting
well-being. The Regional Woodland Strategy promotes the establishment of a number of forest schools
(SO3: 3) in the region, a concept that has developed from the important role of play in learning. The forest
school provides a permanent, natural but safe setting, in which children have the freedom to roam and to
experience the natural world through practical activities. They are mainly aimed at pre-school age and Key
Stage 1 children, but older, disaffected children and those with learning difficulties can thrive in the positive
atmosphere.