By Humah Akram | Corporate Partnerships Executive
Angry and disillusioned with school, Jack, 15, from Bristol, felt his future was slipping away. But after taking part in The Prince’s Trust Fairbridge programme, Jack re-entered education and is now looking forward to a promising career as a mechanic.
Frustrated by his dyslexia and disruptive in lessons, Jack was excluded from class and sent to a segregated unit within his school, where he spent the next three years.
“I wanted to do well, but it felt like everyone was against me, like I wasn’t worth believing in. I didn’t want to end up on the rubbish heap, but felt my future was slipping away - that I’d drop out of school with no qualifications and no prospects and possibly turn to crime.”
But then Jack started to attend Fairbridge, a Prince’s Trust programme aimed at empowering young people to turn their lives around. Beneath all his anger, his programme tutors saw how bright Jack was, but helping him see the potential they knew he had was a challenge.
Sometimes Jack engaged, and sometimes his anger got the better of him. But whenever he did well, his tutors commended and encouraged him.
“Mostly I didn’t want to hear or believe their praise; but part of me did. Then one day it all made sense. Everything they’d said. I went to bed one night and when I woke up, I knew I had to stop wasting my time and make the most of my education.”
He threw himself into Fairbridge and was one of the first young people on his programme to complete his Prince’s Trust qualification. Jack is now on the Connexions Choices programme of full time education and has a place at college for the next academic year on a mechanics course, a profession he wants to pursue as a career.
"Thanks to The Prince’s Trust, I’ve got something I never thought I’d have: a real future, and it feels great."
Thank you for supporting young people like Jack by donating to this project for The Prince's Trust.
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