Developing Sustainable Health, Education & Social

DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL CHANGE OUTCOMES THROUGH RUGBY 12 Developing sustainable health, education & social change outcomes through rugby

INTRODUCTION

Premiership Rugby’s BREAKTHRU campaign is an innovative and ground-breaking campaign that places rugby union and Premiership Rugby at the forefront of sports-based social change, education and training together with healthy lifestyle development in our most deprived communities.

Rugby has a unique culture in the world of sport; combining physical attributes of speed, skill, strength and aggression, with principles of teamwork, discipline, respect and collective responsibility. Using rugby as an entry point these traits can be harnessed to tackle a range of social issues that blight many young people and communities across the UK. Wayne Morris Community & Corporate Supported by our players, coaches and an impressive roster of public, private and third sector Social Responsibility partners, BREAKTHRU brings together Premiership Rugby’s long-standing commitment to utilise Director its brands, players and assets to support positive outcomes for young people. Capitalising on Premiership Rugby’s track record to deliver a national programme of activity mapped against key governmental policy and strategic outcome areas for working with young people, its programmes provide the perfect opportunity to encourage positive outcomes within these communities that no other organisation can match.

We will ensure our clubs can build effective local partnerships, develop staff and offer the highest quality of service to young people and their communities. In turn, this will broaden the reach of our brands and rugby in general to communities that traditionally do not have the opportunity to participate and ultimately those in the most vulnerable situations.

All of which puts the campaign at the cutting edge of professional sports involvement in social development programmes.

13 HEALTH OBJECTIVES

• Enhance understanding of health and wellbeing • Support an increase in levels of healthy activity

EDUCATION OBJECTIVES

• Create inspirational resources for teachers to use sport as a tool to engage young people in education • Engage young people in an innovate learning experience • Raise aspirations and expectations of disengaged young people with the aim of engaging them back into accredited training

SOCIAL CHANGE OBJECTIVES

• Provide sporting opportunities to disadvantaged communities • Reduce crime and anti-social behaviour • Promote community cohesion • Support the delivery of the NEET agenda

BREAKTHRU INTERNATIONAL

The BREAKTHRU campaign is already starting to have an impact internationally with Try Rugby projects launched in São Paulo and New York. Premiership Rugby will work with strategically selected partners to use the power of rugby to engage and enrich the lives of some of the world’s most disadvantaged young people. We will work with children from targeted marginalised and disadvantaged communities around the world using the power of sport, specifically rugby, to raise their aspirations, confidence and self-esteem. We also work to develop young leaders who can act as role models within their communities and to create opportunities for children to improve educational outcomes.

If you share our ambitions to inspire young people and communities, then there are many ways you can join the BREAKTHRU campaign. Please contact Wayne Morris, Community & Corporate Social Responsibility Director 02088317900/[email protected]

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THE RT HON HUGH ROBERTSON MP MINISTER FOR OF STATE FOR SPORT AND TOURISM

“Sport has an incredible power to help change lives for the better. Premiership Rugby’s community work has already transformed the lives of thousands of young people in some of the most deprived areas of the country. The goal of the PLAY and BREAKTHRU campaigns is not just about participation but also social change and Premiership Rugby are using the sport as an effective hook to do this. Programmes such as HITZ link up professional rugby clubs with young people in their local communities, with coaches not only helping young people enjoy the game but also acting as a mentor to them. It helps young people challenge their physical and mental approach to life, encouraging them to take steps into further education, apprenticeships and employment with training.”

BORIS JOHNSON MAYOR OF LONDON

“As well as being tremendous fun, sport can change lives and communities for the better. It can break down barriers and build social cohesion, as well as helping young people to make better choices about their education, their careers and their lives. That’s why I am investing in sports across London through my ongoing Sports Legacy Programme. I can only give praise to the work which the Premiership Rugby clubs are carrying out through programmes like HITZ to bring a great sport into inner city areas and to young people who might never before have tried it out.”

PAULO SKAF President, FIESP

“Rugby in Brazil is still crawling but together with Premiership Rugby and SESI-SP we aim to help Brazil, with the largest number of athletes, defend the Brazilian colours in the Olympics 2016. We want to offer new opportunities in sports to our young people because we believe in sport as a tool for education. Through the democratization of access to sport, we have the opportunity to reveal new talents contributing to strengthening the national sport and to improve people’s quality of life - one of SESI’s missions. This project is unprecedented in Brazil and has become a great opportunity for cultural exchange and sports for 10,000 children and young people.”

15 NATIONAL BREAKTHRU PROGRAMMES

SOMETHING TO CHEW ON Something To Chew On is a progressive high profile health programme which aims to educate young people about food, nutrition and getting active as part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Rugby’s diversity makes it the perfect vehicle to drive a health and activity led initiative. As a sport, rugby provides playing opportunities and role models of all shapes and sizes to children. The programme uses an interactive approach to teaching children about keeping healthy and involves parents so that learning can be reinforced in the home. Topics include diet and health, food safety, consumer awareness and food preparation. As well as classroom sessions, there are practical sessions that cover rugby, fitness and controlling body movement to motivate children to be active. The programme has a target of 60% of the participating schools being locked into the top 20% of IMD ratings. The programme aims to improve young people’s understanding of what constitutes healthy eating and a healthy diet, while also increasing their knowledge of food safety and uptake of physical activity.

SIDE STEPPING ALCOHOL Side Stepping Alcohol is an innovative project delivering alcohol education to disadvantaged and hard-to-reach 13 to 19 year olds across the country. The Side Stepping Alcohol Misuse project helps tackle issues surrounding alcohol misuse amongst young people. Working in local youth groups and youth centers, it is a rugby-themed, activity-based programme designed in partnership with The Drinkaware Trust and covers topics addressing alcohol and safety, harm minimisation, alcohol units and responsible drinking.

TACKLING NUMBERS The rugby-themed programme is delivered in schools, through classroom sessions and practical number-based rugby games, in line with the National Curriculum for Key Stage 2. This innovative and engaging programme makes learning about numbers fun, exciting and rewarding, inspiring children to both improve their numeracy skills and their physical health. The classroom sessions are supported by practical PE sessions that unite an active mind with an active body. The key aims of the project are to improve young people’s understanding of the importance of number skills, whilst increasing young people’s uptake of physical activity.

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NATIONAL BREAKTHRU PROGRAMMES

HITZ The award winning HITZ programme operates in some of the country’s most disadvantaged communities and looks to tackle some of the greatest challenges facing Britain’s youth today. With a particular focus on the NEET’ agenda, the project creates BREAKTHRU moments by initiating behaviour change and fostering confidence in disenfranchised young people. HITZ helps young people to fulfil their potential by supporting them to remain in or re-enter education, undertake apprenticeships or vocational training and enter paid employment. The multifaceted programme encourages good relations between people regardless of their backgrounds and is an innovative solution to reducing youth crime and anti-social behaviour.

HITZ is supported nationally by our partners Comic Relief and Wooden Spoon.

TRY RUGBY SP TRY Rugby SP run in partnership with British Council and SESI has placed sporting activity and youth development at the heart of some of the most disadvantaged communities in São Paulo State, Brazil. By utilising specialised sporting and educational centres strategically placed at easily accessible locations to deliver rugby based engagement activities, we provide children, young people and adults with positive sporting activities, volunteering opportunities and pre-employability training.

The TRY Rugby SP project delivery plan is based on three core strands of activity that develop young leaders and mentors, support educational opportunities and share knowledge and best practice. These strands of activity are integrated within the delivery components of the programme and are underpinned by the core values that rugby union represents Teamwork, Discipline, Enjoyment, Respect and Sportsmanship.

17 CLUB SNAPSHOTS

BATH RUGBY BATH RUGBY FOUNDATION VOLUNTEER SCHEME

The Bath Rugby Foundation Volunteer Programme has been running for over four years. Initially the programme was started to provide development opportunities, raise community funds for the Foundation. It has significantly developed in the past year and now has 4 sections to the programme: Leadership Development Pathway, Fundraising Volunteers, Corporate Volunteers and Get Active Into Work Students. Volunteers range from teenagers to corporate staff assisting on match day fundraising, delivery of Education and Inclusion programmes. One of the biggest impacts to volunteers and young people in particular has been the benefits of social interaction and improvements in self-esteem and personal development.

BRISTOL RUGBY BRIGHT SPARKS

Bright Sparks is an award winning education programme for pupils currently in mainstream secondary education. Participants have encountered issues with low educational engagement, persistent non-attendance, at risk from permanent exclusion, anti-social behaviour and/or poor BRISTOL RUGBY life-choices. The goal is the long term attitudinal and behavioural change by the end of Key Stage 3, demonstrating they can achieve educationally by committing to Bright Sparks as it carries an educational qualification equivalent to 1 GCSE. The programme demonstrates the consequence of poor life-choices through a partnership with the Inferno prison based programme.

EXETER CHIEFS GET STARTED WITH SPORT

Get Started with Sport has provided a group of Devon youngsters with an ideal springboard to kick-start their careers thanks to the help of Exeter Chiefs, South West Communications Group and The Prince’s Trust. Get Started with Sport aims to allow young people the opportunity to gain the skills and confidence they need to gain employment in the future. Youngsters have the opportunity to gain the RFU Rugby Ready certificate, as well as qualifications in Emergency First Aid (Sports First Aider) and First Steps into Coaching. The five-day course also teaches CV and interview techniques, as well as a three-month mentoring support process after the course to assist them in their pursuit of a finding long term employment. 18 Developing sustainable health, education & social change outcomes through rugby

LONDON IRISH PRISON PROGRAMME

Working in partnership with Reading Young Offenders, the London Irish Prison programme spends 12 weeks developing young people using the core values of Rugby. The programme runs 12 weeks of coaching and education sessions where young offenders are introduced to playing and coaching rugby. It aims to help individuals to achieve personal goals using the core values of the sport. Discipline is a key component of rugby and a trait that is extremely important for these young men. Using London Irish players and coaches as role models the programme uses rugby to assist their exit route into mainstream society.

SALE SHARKS KICKING BULLYING INTO TOUCH

The Kicking Bullying into Touch programme, uses the sport of rugby union to explain what bullying is, why it is wrong and how to stop it. The programme demonstrates that rugby is a sport that thrives on diversity, where many different types of people come together to create a successful team. The programme targets primary schools in disadvantaged areas to deliver anti-bullying messages to boys and girls aged six to 11 years olds. The programme incorporates some of the key skills associated with tag rugby to address issues around bullying, using the Premiership Rugby club brands and player role models.

SARACENS SCRUMMY! PROGRAMME

The Scrummy! Programme targets nine-11 year olds in areas that have high levels of childhood obesity. Working in partnership with Let’s Get Cooking, a branch of the Children’s Food Trust, and alongside the Barnet, Brent and Broxbourne School Sport Partnerships ensures delivery is localized. This partnership has also been pivotal in developing the content of the programme to ensure that it meets the health and activity agenda of the schools. This programme is designed to be inclusive, exposing young people to a variety of different foods and needs, from a range of cultures. It doesn’t just focus on health and activity; it actually enables children to get practical in working with food.

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