With the new school year just underway, Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s education centre, TryZone, which is sponsored by the Big Lottery Fund, has been celebrating the success of one of its projects, which aims to ease the transition for year 6 pupils graduating to secondary school.
The Zone 6-7 project, which is delivered by Tutors from TryZone, addresses the difficulties and anxieties young people face as they are preparing to leave primary school. Focussing on confidence building, developing resilience and boosting self-esteem, TryZone students are encouraged to mix with young people from other schools to form new friendships, while promoting fun and healthy living through different classroom and sports based activities.
Students who took part in the programme last school year have been settling in to their new schools over the past weeks and one pupil who completed Zone 6-7 said it helped him feel better prepared for the big step.
“I enjoyed my time at TryZone, we did loads of different things like bowling and an archaeologist find. The games and activities we did helped us to understand teamwork and it made it easier to help other people with their work. Being at TryZone boosted my confidence for high school, it was really fun and a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
The benefits have also been seen by the family of those who attended the project, with one parent adding: “I was concerned about my son’s transition to high school initially. He was a little quiet and quite emotional, but coming to TryZone has really built his confidence and helped him to go and make new friends.
“He wants to go watch rugby now, so he is more into sports, which is really good! I’m really pleased for him, the programme has done a lot for his confidence”
Programme Manager for TryZone Nigel Wood commented: “The aim of TryZone is to make a positive impact on people who can benefit most from the partnership we have with Big Lottery. In every case it’s great to witness the achievements and personal progress individuals make while they are at TryZone. It’s only September, but really pleasing to see the young people from the Zone 6-7 project confident about their time at high school already.”