Personal Profile - Polly - The Wey Valley School

My Story

I was one of the first pupils to join the project when I was at the end of Year 9. I became interested in the project after a visit to the school by a professional designer/landscape architect. I produced a design for a sensory garden as part of a graphics project.

When the group was first formed all the pupils were invited to apply for the project and to say why we were interested in it. I said that I had an interest in helping other people and to do something different. It seemed interesting to me.

As part of the project we had visits out of school. We went to Wyvern Special School and met the pupils there. I think we can learn a lot from working with them. The project is designed for the pupils from the different schools to have the chance to work together. At the end of Year 10 I did my Work Experience for Project Trident at Wyvern School. I wanted to go there because I had worked with them already and I had seen that I got on well with them. I enjoyed my work experience and I might work with special needs pupils in the future.

I enjoyed going to the student conference at Cardiff. I was quite nervous giving our presentation but I felt proud when we had finished it. It was good to meet the other people and see what they are doing. We have met lots of professionals through the project and I think that has been important. It gives us lots of ideas about what to do in the future.

I am in Year 11 now and working towards my GCSE's. I have been helping to train some of the Year 8 pupils now and helping them to take over the project. We are planning a celebration of the project before we leave.

When I first started the project I was finding school boring, it wasn't interesting to me. I didn't get on with some of my teachers and I starting missing school quite a lot. I really enjoyed the project though because it was something I wanted to do not something I was made to do. I think there should be lots more opportunities in school to do things like this.

Teacher's Perspective

Polly is a very talented and able pupil. She has experienced various difficulties within school and things have not always gone smoothly. Her work with the project has been very positive and it has been an excellent outlet for her talents. She has experienced success and this has developed her self-esteem and given her a focus. She has developed an interest in working with special needs pupils as a career. This has given her something to aim for in her studies. Polly has developed her relationships with adults during the course of the project. It has helped her build her confidence.

Polly was one of the five pupils from the project who travelled to Cardiff to give a presentation at the Barclays New Futures regional student conference. They all did extremely well, overcoming their nerves to give an excellent presentation. They then took part in the workshops looking at different citizenship issues, working with students from many different schools. These experiences all serve to open their minds, to sit up and be part of the wider community.

The future is exciting because we still have a lot to do on the project. The next stage for the team is for them to become trainers of the younger pupils. This will open up new possibilities for them. Polly has served as an excellent facilitator for the younger pupils. The citizenship project enables many more students to get involved with activities extending on from this.

The success of the project for Polly was that it was big enough to give her scope to develop: to develop confidence in her own ideas and to develop personal qualities as an individual. As a project the circumstances where the pupils meet and interact with adults is an important part. They interact in an adult world and under circumstances that are different to those set in the classroom or at home with parents. These are valuable experiences for young people.

Developing a sense of citizenship and community needs a vehicle. The project has served as an excellent vehicle for Polly.

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