Girls: Enrichment and Motivation for Success
Last week we concluded 5 weeks of delivering GEMS (Girls: Enrichment and Motivation for Success) in partnership with the University of York York Students in Schools (YSIS). This activity was part of our Aspirations programme which is designed to provide employability support to raise aspirations and enable people from all backgrounds and abilities to reach their full potential.
The need for activity such as the Girls: Enrichment and Motivation for Success programme, inactive during the years of COVID, is never more evident than presently. The 2023 Girlguiding’s Girls’ Attitudes Survey has revealed that “89% of girls and young women aged 7-21 feel generally worried or anxious” and that “when asked about their future, 48% of girls and young women aged 11-16 believe it’ll be harder for them to get a job when they leave education than it was for young people 5 years ago”. Moreover, new research presented in The Anxious Generation, exploring young people’s use of mobile phones, has highlighted that “girls [are] most likely to be sucked into the self-esteem crushing vortex of social media”. GEMS has been designed and delivered to combat these trends.
Over 5 weeks our employee-volunteers have supported a group of Year 9 & 10 girls from Millthorpe School with weekly workshops focused on improving self esteem and confidence, and employer visits immersing the students in different careers and the career paths of our female volunteers. Our Nestlé volunteers kicked off session one exploring the impact of role models, and what actually is self esteem? Following weeks included: a visit to the University of York and recognising our individual strengths, preparing for the world of work at Hiscox, identifying your skills and talents with Benenden Health volunteers and a tour of Nestlé with insight into apprenticeships.
Sarah Tapscott, Head of Year 9, who spearheaded the GEMS programme at Millthorpe said: “our GEMs project has been the most rewarding part of the school year for both the staff and students! The students involved were excited every week to see how they would be challenged to grow in confidence and explore life after secondary school. The volunteers were wonderfully engaging and showed genuine care for the students that they worked with. We cannot thank them enough for the opportunities they have given our students.”
A huge thank you to our amazing volunteers from Nestlé, University of York, Hiscox and Benenden Health for making GEMS such an amazing success. We can’t wait to develop this important offer further!
Our hope is to make GEMS an annual activity going forward. If you are a secondary school that is interested or an employer member who would like to get involved, please email Hannah at info@yorkcares.co.uk.
