Adventure Unlimited - WildZone programme

WildZone

	Purpose
	What to expect
	Quotes & pics

Young people who truant or behave anti-socially have energy that can be harnessed & diverted.

They are often deemed 'at risk' - on the verge of exclusion from their school and possibly turning to crime.

Turning Risk Into Potential

'Risk' implies passivity: it suggests that young people do not have control of their future. WildZone sets out to turn risk into potential by finding what young people are good at, appreciating it and helping then learn from doing more of it.

Teenagers who display an appalling lack of self-esteem and who repeatedly fail academically can also be survivors, independent thinkers, often creative, energetic and loyal to their friends.

Measuring Success

Through innovative, inter-agency partnership work between schools, the youth service and the voluntary sector, WildZone will be helping specific, identifiable individuals over an extended period of time. A key measure of success will be for each young person to transfer their new-found skills and confidence from the project, back into their everyday lives.

Read 'Snapshot' to see how WildZone worked for Carl.

Currently WildZone programmes are running in Falmer High School and Longhill High School.

Project funders include the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Positive Futures and Sport England (supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Sussex County Sports Partnership).

SNAPSHOT

On his first WildZone day, Carl's behaviour was so disruptive, he was banned from future sessions.

With encouragement from his youth worker, he wrote a letter of apology and we invited him back to the programme. His behaviour was boisterous but far more positive. He was given responsibility and became a role model for younger participants.

At the end of the programme, we gave him the incentive of returning as a senior helper. Having been truanting regularly at the time, Carl found the confidence to return to his studies and went on to complete his GCSEs.

Carl's story is just one of many WildZone successes.