A team of 20 Konnekt to Life volunteers, some social workers, trained teachers, youth workers and parents, are going to deliver an accredited teenage pregnancy/sex education programme on the De La Salle campus of Salford City College. This programme is a pilot project, and the report will be written once all the evaluation forms are collected.
This programme covers topics including self esteem, values, pregnancy, STIs and more. Each student will be given an information sheet with different organisations for further support like sexual health clinics, counselling (Life centre and IMAGE), Connexions (benefit and education advice), Teenage Pregnancy Unit and Chaplaincy support.
The project launch day was the Monday 19th April; we were all excited, nervous and hopeful at the same time! It was a great launch, with some really good feedback on the day from tutors and students. At the end of the academic year we will gather all the comments and forms, and deliver the report to the management team for them to decide whether we can carry on in September.
The team’s overall desire is that young people will take responsibility for their own sexual health, and that we will be part of reducing the amount of young women who are pregnant whilst studying at college. Just one young person who waits for first sex can change the direction of their lives and the move towards the dreams and desires they have for themselves. This of course will then have direct influence on their family and friends, and the decisions they may take for themselves.
Of course we all want our young people in Salford to be the people that develop our city for good so that we can become a beacon for other cities who are experiencing high volumes of teenage pregnancy. We really believe that this programme can contribute to the reduction and also instil confidence in some of these young people, whereas before they may not have even thought about what they want for their futures!
There is interest already from other college campuses across the city, which is great news; we would hope that this could also be rolled out into the senior schools, so let’s believe that the pilot will be successful and we can fulfil the vision that we have been given!
