Our final post for Radley’s Partnerships Week tells the story of Nora Ward, Headteacher of The Oxford Academy, and how rowing partnership initiatives have built confidence and resilience amongst her students:
“Whilst for our children, rowing was an aspiration, it really began in terms of hierarchy of needs: safety for children and access to swimming, in a time when it was really difficult for our children to access these opportunities. When I said to Radley, ‘Well, actually, this is something I’m really worried about, and this is something I need help with,’ [it] came back and said, ‘We can work with you to help you solve that’. It speaks to Radley’s core purpose.
“In terms of benefits to the children, specifically thinking about the rowing programme, we joke – but we’re not really joking – about the fact that someday we’re going to have an Olympic rower among them! Of course, our young people are gaining a skill they never would have had access to if they hadn’t had the opportunity to join the rowing academy with your boys and use those facilities. Seeing themselves as rowers and accessing something they either knew nothing about before or perhaps thought, ‘This isn’t for people like me’, is truly transformative. They are overcoming obstacles and seeing themselves as successful… we all know it’s happening every time we have a conversation with those kids.
“These children were at risk of not achieving any qualifications and also being permanently excluded from school. For their parents to be able to say ‘you’re giving my child what they need’ is significant. I wouldn’t have been able to put that offer together without working in partnership with Radley.”
