Every year the UK government publishes the data about pupil premium. Pupil premium is given to publicly funded schools in England to raise the attainment levels of the most disadvantaged children. The additional funding is used to help provide these pupils with additional support that can help them to catch up to the same academic standards as other pupils.

This is necessary because by secondary school:

• In numeracy, children in disadvantaged areas are twice as likely as those in advantaged
  areas to fail to meet expected levels.
• In reading, children in disadvantaged areas are three times as likely as those in advantaged areas to be assessed as not performing well.
• In writing, children in disadvantaged areas were twice as likely to fail to meet expected levels
  (Statistics according to the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission which is an advisory, non-departmental public body established under the Child Poverty Act 2010 to assess progress towards improving social mobility and reducing child poverty in the United Kingdom. State of the Nation 2015)

NLP4Kids recognise that for many children improving outcomes will not come from feeding them with more academic opportunities, but by improving mental well-being, including confidence, resilience, self esteem, self worth and hope. Helping to remove obstacles such as low self esteem make a difference. We have worked with young people for many years and have evaluated the effect of doing so in a quantitative and qualitative way. In addition, parents and teachers report that when their child has an increase in confidence, they are able to concentrate more, they are more creative and their listening skills improve.

In helping children in this area, NLP4Kids has produced new programmes and workshops for children who live in and go to schools in disadvantaged areas. Of course, the big question is “How can disadvantage areas seek this help without enough financial support”?

To address this, NLP4Kids have set up a non for profit company which teaches children specific techniques to help them improve emotional and mental well-being. Each school will have it’s own Superheroes Trainer for one day per week for a minimum of 10 weeks. Beyond that time schools will be invited to use their pupil premium funding to keep the service. In addition, we measure the pupils progress every 10 weeks so as well as creating a good case for the school to keep the service for longer, we will also have new up-to-date data that we can share with other schools who may benefit from our service too.

Imagine being 7 years old and being told “We’re inviting you onto the Superheroes Training programme.” What would that do to your confidence instantly?! It is our belief that pupils will develop a sense of importance, of inner strength and responsibility towards their own outcomes as a result of taking the training with us. We anticipate that these children will be empowered to create a bright future for themselves and as a result will become better community citizens who are contributors to the next generation of hard working entrepreneurs.

By Gemma Bailey
https://nlp4kids.org/