New Horizons - The Personal Mentoring Programme
Unique programme for young people disengaged from learning
Now recruiting
We're now recruiting for the July 2009 intake of students. Please contact us for more details. Inital assessments will be on 26th June & 1st July & follow-up days on 6th/7th/9th July. View flyer about New Horizons here.
Our Students
Our students may satisfy one or more of the following:
- come from disadvantaged or disruptive backgrounds
- have a history of disruptive, violent or criminal behaviour
- have been or are about to be excluded from school, or truant regularly
- have recognised a condition such as Aspergers Syndrome, ADHD or autism
- have low self-confidence/self-esteem
- have been bullied or find it difficult to mix with their peer group
- have drug or alcohol addictions
Skills & Qualifications
Students generally attend our centre three days a week instead of school. We take them out of the academic environment to teach practical, meaningful skills which re-engage them with learning & increase confidence.
Students study Open College Network (OCN) qualifications in e.g. archery, campcraft, canoeing, car maintenance, carpentry, coaching, confidence building, cookery, farm craft, horticulture, teamwork, & woodland survival skills.
Teaching Approach
Since students are often caught up in negative attitudes that don't serve them, our staff coach them beyond these attitudes to find better alternatives.
We use positive (or non-aversive) strategies which, rather than using punishment to modify behaviour, aim to understand why the student is behaving in challenging ways, and teach more appropriate ways to meet their needs.
We adopt our pioneering Enablement Model which, by focussing on six key elements: family, self-reliance, visualisation, esteem, identity, and perspective, lead students to greater maturity.
Community Involvement
To build our students' self-esteem, we encourage them to take positions of responsibility, looking after others and passing on their skills to give something back to society.
We enable students to travel to a community to pass on skills learned at Frontiers. Students recently traveled to an orphanage in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, to pass on skills such as bush-craft, agriculture and running camps.
Read full details of this exciting new project.
Our Results
Students move from being disruptive, disengaged and disenchanted, towards a productive future. Some apply to further education e.g. Media Studies (Henley College), Animal Husbandry (Berkshire College of Agriculture), while others find satisfying work, e.g. landscape gardening, mechanics & catering.
Student attendance changed from around 20% while at school to 87% at Frontiers.
Location
We run our New Horizons alternative curriculum from two sites:
- Path Hill Farm (our base), Pangbourne, nr Reading. View directions
- Hill End Outdoor Centre, Oxford. See their website or view directions
Costs of Provision
Studies show that this complete approach to teaching young people is cost-effective. While it can seem difficult for schools to know where to find funding, there are funding streams available for such provision. See the Cost Calculator and Cost Calculator Summary for more details.
