The Venturists is a project that unleashes the potential of young people to create positive change in their communities.
Young people are entrepreneurial and innovative, they are imaginative and passionate about making positive changes within their community.
The Venturists is a unique project designed for primary schools, in particular 9 to 11 year olds, and gives young people the opportunity to start viable social action programmes.
The project enables Our Venturists to understand and explore issues in their community and what they might do to help. Our Venturists then plan their project, accessing the tools and resources needed to bring their idea to life; and to deliver a project that makes a real impact.
Benefits
Leadership
Gives young people a voice and an opportunity to make social change. The young people take responsibility and ownership for their projects.
Emotional Intelligence
Offers the young people the opportunity to develop compassion and empathy towards others, develop relationships and effective communication and helps develop resilience when faced with challenges.
Ideas development
Young people nurture their project from start to finish. Our Venturists plan and predict outcomes, and make adjustments to their ideas in light of problems, resolving real issues in their community.
Business skills
Provides the young people with the opportunity to learn important business skills that can be used beyond this project. Key life skills are developed such as budgeting, marketing, presenting, influencing & developing knowledge of community stakeholders.
Links with Curriculum
The Venturists meets with National Curriculum requirements, active citizenship and promotes British Values through Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development. The project also embeds previous classroom based learning in a real-life context.
OfSTED
OfSTED will see evidence of an effective curriculum that encourages positive behaviours and attitudes, engages in the community as well as learning about local and social issues.
Key Skills
The young people will build a bank of key life skills that will contribute to future opportunities. Our Venturists will learn to communicate effectively, develop teamwork skills and gain self-belief, as well as developing new passions and interests.
Local Connections
The young people will engage with local stakeholders and community leaders throughout their venture, which will heighten their awareness of their local environment.
How the programme is delivered
The programme can be delivered in two ways through our engaging and stimulating teaching materials:
Guided
Our qualified teacher will deliver the project in your school or community based setting. The programme is delivered by our teacher – Mrs Taylor
(This is available for schools local to our charity based in Bradford)
Teacher Led
Your class teacher, support teachers, or community group leader can access the lessons and resources through our web portal and deliver the project with their own group.
The programme is delivered over approximately 26 hours. The lessons are made up of one hour blocks with slightly longer sessions recommended for key events – giving flexibility to the delivery timescale. The course contents are made up of presentations, workbooks, lessons plans, teacher guidance and videos linking to the National Curriculum.
‘This is the best project I have seen in any primary setting.
It has been the highlight of my year’
I want to leave a legacy.
I want to help people.
You learn a lot.
You feel confident.
It was a really special project.
I enjoyed seeing how the children were developing their projects and helping the community.
The Venturists help different types of community and change the world into a better place.
I feel I am more confident to change things in the world.
The Venturists is a community team and we make people happy.
I have noticed a change back in the classroom –
they are more confident to share their ideas and answer questions.
The Venturists changed my life.
FAQs
Yes! That’s why they are called Our Venturists! The young people we’ve worked with so far, have come up with some amazing project ideas that cover all sorts of issues. Ideas have ranged from the environment, homelessness, physical health, wellbeing, wildlife, nature and conservation.
The projects covers a full range of National Curriculum subjects including Citizenship, PSCHE, SMSC, English, Maths, art and design, computing and PE. The young people’s individual projects will also cover additional subjects and curriculum areas, like design and technology.
The Venturists materials are available through our online portal. We also have printed workbooks for the young people, should you wish to purchase these as part of your package.
We have different delivery options, starting form £200 – give us a call to discuss you exact requirements.
The project is aimed at upper Key Stage 2. We find it works best with ages 9-11.
The Venturists is accessible for all children and promotes language and communication skills that can be transferred into real-life and meaningful ways. It will boost the confidence and self-esteem of individuals, as well as developing their learning behaviours and attitudes.
The programme has extension and greater depth opportunities throughout. The young people independently carry out activities and make their own decisions, so they are very much responsible for their own learning.
We have an introductory video that will guide you through the project and using the online web portal. If you need further help, we are always available on email ([email protected]) and the phone.
