In their own words
The Walmer Road School Here are a few comments of our students:
J. “It’s better than any other school I’ve been to.”
S. “It’s calmer and I’m able to concentrate more.”
N. “This is a far more suitable place for me to get my GCSEs.”
X. “...Walmer Road School has helped me to learn both socially and educationally. If it wasn’t for Walmer Road I’d be stuck at home doing nothing...”
One of last year’s pupils at Walmer Road school
An RPT Houseshare Success Story“...I was living with foster parents and when my hostel place was coming up, I went to see it. Everything seemed nice so I moved in – everything was going well. I met loads of nice people at The RPT, the workers and other young people. The workers there gave me a lot of help and support with stuff. The RPT started a Thursday group and I started to go. There was the gym, playing pool, the computer room and my favourite – badminton. It keeps you fit and up for talking to other people.
So, anyway, I was looking for jobs, I was handing out CVs and filling in application forms and wasn’t hearing anything back and I was feeling a bit down but I never gave up, and in the end I got a job with an outdoor shop. I have been there for nearly one year and I learn new stuff each day, meeting new people and it’s going very well. The RPT is a good place to come – they will give you support and find out information for you, which is helpful. The staff are really friendly and I feel I can talk to them about anything confidential. I would like to say a big thank you to all the staff for helping me...”
An RPT ‘floating support’ tenant
“...I would like the [outreach cooking] sessions to continue as I feel that I have improved my cooking skills and I am now more confident around the kitchen in preparing food for myself and others. I also appreciated the cooking classes which I attended in The Rugby Portobello Trust’s training kitchens as although I am on a low income I have learnt to eat healthy within my budget...”
An RPT supported housing tenant
Our Youth Work : developing new projects
Helping Young People Develop Skills at The RPT
B.B. has lived round here all his life. He is from a one-parent family. He grew up with his Mum and as a teenager found he could have been able to make good money with petty crime. A lot of his peers looked up to him until things fell apart two years ago. He joined Houseshare and started to re-train as a chef. He has been working and training in The RPT Café and is ambitious to make something of his life.
B.B. says:
“The RPT has changed my life. My key worker Y.Y., through our long conversations, showed me there was more to life and got me to go back to college and to look at my life in a different way. Working back in The RPT has given me a chance to start again. Before this, I had handed out loads of CV’s and been for over 20 interviews - all unsuccessful.”
Developing new projects
“...The RPT has contributed to changing the course of my life in an extremely positive and life-changing way. I took on the café as a project, with every ounce of passion and commitment to ensuring it was managed like it was my own. I still feel totally loyal to the café and the organisation which took a risk in me when no-one else would and played an intrinsic part in changing my life. The RPT treated me with respect, built up my confidence and self-esteem that had been eroded by my long-term unemployment and helped me return to the bubbly, happy personality I had before my period of homelessness.
This opportunity allowed me to finance a year-long preparation for a higher education program at Birkbeck University, resulting in a successful application to do a degree at Goldsmiths University. I am now equipped to support myself through employment within the hospitality industry sector, in between working towards whichever ambitions I set my sights on. You have provided a stepping stone into employment – I have worked a year which is consistent and I will also have an NVQ2 certificate and a valid basic food hygiene certificate. All of which not only make me ‘employable’, I am considered ‘desirable’.
This year has meant the world to me – I am leaving RPT with the memory of how I was able to take the steps out of poverty...”
Ex-trainee manager at The RPT Café
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