LEAP – helping to prepare secondary school students for the future

One of the greatest battles for secondary school staff is to balance educating students with the requirements outlined by the national curriculum, alongside providing pupils with the knowledge, experience and skills to prepare them for the world of work.

Evolve have a unique secondary school programme called LEAP that is designed to support that balance. The acronym stands for Leadership, Enterprise, Aspirations and Performance and teaches students how to take ownership of the next stage in their lives in order to successfully progress into further education or employment.

The leadership programme essentially allows for Key Stage 4 pupils to take responsibility for mentoring, training and supporting their younger peers. Evolve Health Mentors are deployed within the school setting to help train the older students and support them with such delivery to Key Stage 3 pupils.

The Key Stage 3 students then utilise their developing skills with one of three LEAP interest areas. These can be any of the following:

• Fundraising – projects inside or outside of school.
• Primary outreach – after school clubs, weekend courses or enrichment sessions with local primary school children.
• Social action – petitions and meetings to discuss local and national issues that concern the group.

The ultimate aim of LEAP is to create a sustainable social enterprise within school run by student leaders, with numerous benefits for everyone involved in the project. Further details of the outcomes can be found at https://www.evolvesi.com/leap/.

Mr Lewis, Assistant Headteacher of King Edwards Five Ways School in Birmingham stated, “the LEAP programme has made such a difference to our school and I urge all senior leaders to consider using it in their school.”

If you would like to find out more information about how LEAP can benefit your school, contact Josh Cronin on josh@evolvesi.com.