A student at Wordsley School who has faced a number of challenges during her time in education has improved her confidence and is now volunteering thanks to the Premier League Inspires programme.
Summer, who is in Year 11 and studying for her GCSEs, admits she had struggled to find motivation at school and was finding it difficult to stay focused on her lessons.
Taking part in the Premier League Inspires initiative delivered a hugely positive impact, to the extent that Summer is now volunteering with younger students, using her own experiences to help them navigate through school.
“I had been having a few problems at school and was given the opportunity to access the Premier League Inspires programme,” says Summer.
“It really helped me a lot.
“Being able to work with the Foundation staff like Kurran (Kullar) and Lewis (Bradley) was so good and makes me feel far more positive and confident.
“They listened to me and gave me advice, not telling me what to do but pointing me in the right direction and helping me work things out.
“Because of how the Premier League Inspires programme has helped me, I wanted to try and help others too.
“So, when my own time with the programme came to an end, I have been able to stay involved by doing some volunteering when I have free lessons.
“It’s nice to try and help people who are going through the same sort of things that I have experienced.”
Premier League Inspires is a programme which uses the power of football to help young people develop the personal skills and positive attitudes to reach their full potential.
Delivered both within schools or at Wolves’ venues, the initiative includes a mixture of workshops and one-to-one mentoring which helps to build self-esteem and confidence and improve behaviour management.
“We started working with Summer via one-to-one mentoring on Premier League Inspires programme as the school had been liaising with us over some issues she was going through,” says Kurran Kullar, youth engagement manager with Wolves Foundation.
“At first it was quite challenging but Summer engaged more and more with the programme as the weeks went on.
“As a result, she started opening up and we were able to work with her and school staff to help her make some really positive changes.
“The main thing is that she increased her confidence, felt she could speak to us about anything that was causing her concern, and started going back to her lessons.
“Having ended the programme, she wanted to make her own contribution to the Premier League Inspires programme and so now comes to some of our other sessions with younger student to volunteer and act as a role model.
“She is a real advocate for the success of Premier League Inspires Programme in the changes she has made since first engaging with the project.”
Leanne Woodhouse, the curriculum achievement lead at Wordsley School, says that Summer has really grasped the opportunity which Premier League Inspires and Wolves Foundation have provided.
“Being involved with the Premier League Inspires programme with Wolves Foundation has improved Summer’s confidence in all aspects of school life.
“She has improved her attendance to school and to lessons. And the sessions with Wolves Foundation have supported Summer not only in helping her with her resilience within school, but outside of school as well.
“She also talks very highly of the programme to other pupils within the school.”
Summer is now looking forward to a far brighter future.
“I just didn’t have the motivation for anything but everything has changed now,” she added.
“I am doing my GCSEs this year and am hoping to follow a career in interior design.
“I really enjoy being involved with Premier League Inspires.
“The Foundation staff have told me that they are proud of me and I feel really positive about the future.”
