A CHELMSLEY-WOOD teacher has received a special achievement award after helping children raise their aspirations and confidence.
Sally Rance, assistant headteacher at Fordbridge Community Primary School, was inspired to take action after asking the pupils what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Mrs Rance discovered the aspirations of the youngsters, who come from an area where unemployment is more than twice the national average, were much lower than they were capable of achieving.
Nearly 40 per cent of people living in the area also have no formal qualifications.
The assistant headteacher and her team set up mini-university courses for the seven to 11-year-olds to show the wide range of career opportunities available to them.
The children chose the course they were interested in and local businesses – including accountants, wedding cake makers and engineers from Rolls Royce – worked with the pupils to help them achieve ‘mini-degrees’.
The Fordbridge teacher said the aim was to highlight to the children the array of opportunities available to them, so that teachers could identify what they were interested in and how they could work towards it.
She added: “ We had 22 courses running at one time with the help of volunteers, business people and staff.
“Those children who completed their mini degrees as well as 100 hours of extra-curricular activities – provided free of charge by the school – will take part in a graduation ceremony at Birmingham University in June of which there are 162 pupils attending from Fordbridge.
“They were able to see what they were capable of achieving and that in turn raised their self-esteem and confidence.”
The special achievement award recognises Mrs Rance’s outstanding dedication and enthusiasm for the school and the pupils.
It was presented by the Women Who…..organisation which awards women who have made a difference in business or their local community.
