SEND students shine in award‑winning digital skills programme

Digital Advantage – Your Digital News Agency (Your DNA) connects teams of high school and college students with industry experts to work as a digital agency and encourages them to follow a digital career route, whether that’s through an apprenticeship, higher education or through employment.

Students from six schools and colleges took part in the programme, which supports those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

15-year-old Sophia was chosen to be the team leader of the group from Shuttleworth College in Burnley and said:  “We made a website about us and our school so we’ve got a webpage with pictures of each of us where we put our job, our name and our favourite thing. I put that my favourite thing was bossing people! We also made a three-minute video showing behind the scenes, it was really fun.

“At first I was bit nervous, because I’ve got really bad anxiety, but I felt really confident in the end and I’m really proud of myself because I managed to overcome that.”

Jacob, also 15, from Shuttleworth College said: “I was a graphic designer so I made the logos and then someone else put them on the website. It was exciting to see the website. My family were proud of me and I’m proud of myself.

“I’d say to anyone else to just do it if they get chance to take part in this.”

Joanne Whiteside, a Teaching Assistant at Corpus Christi Catholic High School in Preston, said the programme has been fantastic.

She said: “The pupils have really enjoyed it. They worked as a team and they all took on a role, so it’s been really positive.

“It was lovely to see their enthusiasm and excitement and seeing the finished project was just wonderful.

“The feedback from parents has been great too as they said pupils went home and continued the work they were doing in school and worked on it in their own time.”

The programme is funded by Lancashire County Council and Future U, an educational partnership of universities, colleges and business, and is delivered by the charity Digital Advantage.

A celebration event was held at County Hall in Preston for students and teachers who took part in the programme. Staff from the Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub also attended with the council’s cabinet member for Education and Skills, County Councillor Matthew Salter.

County Councillor Salter said:

“It was fantastic to see first-hand the creativity and variety of content that that these young people have produced – they should be proud of their work and the skills they have developed during this project.

“I hope this will set them up to embrace the opportunities in Lancashire’s growing digital economy and that more young people will see the possibilities open to them in digital careers.”

Ezra Rushen, Training Director from Digital Advantage, said:

“By transforming classrooms into fast-paced digital newsrooms, we give young people a real-world taste of the creative industries.

“Students take full ownership by building a brand, developing a website and producing multimedia content. True to our charity’s slogan, ‘Hidden Talent Revealed,’ it is incredibly rewarding to watch these students build vital transferable skills and grow in confidence.”