A society in which everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed
To empower people to fully realise their potential
The SOHK psychology is the key to our success and is what makes us special. Understanding how we change behaviour is key for us in continuing to do it effectively.
We aim to create internal change to enable positive external behaviours. Using sport as a vehicle for this works brilliantly because you can identify issues within a sporting context first; before exploring these issues on a personal level.
Empowering people to fully realise their potential through an eight-week programme. We deliver sport (rugby & boxing) and classroom sessions focussing on The Person, The Mind and The Career in order to change lives!
SOHK for Schools is a unique three-year intervention that uses rugby coaching, classroom sessions and mentoring to improve attendance and behaviour at school. Our ultimate aim is to help at-risk children to avoid permanent exclusion.
Anyone who has played rugby, or indeed any team sport understands the invaluable benefits – having shared goals, looking after each other, feeling part of something that is greater than just yourself. At SOHK, one of the five principles of our psychology is that thoughts, feelings and behaviours are all interlinked, so if an individual’s behaviour changes then their thoughts and feelings will also be impacted. In his early work with adults, SOHK’s CEO and founder Ken Cowen, discovered that pushing people to change their outward behaviour through rugby drills that presented a controlled challenge, subtly changed the way participants thought and felt about their lives. Time and time again, our participants feedback to us that they wouldn’t have engaged with our workshops as well without the exercise element – but why?
Many people are aware of the effect that exercise has on the release of endorphins, but what might be less well-known is that physical exercise facilitates neuroplasticity of certain brain structures meaning that the brain can more readily accept new ideas and different ways of thinking. After conducting research, we specifically developed our programmes so that our morning sessions get participants moving, motivated and energised through physical exercise so that they start the day with positive behaviour. This, in turn, readies them for our afternoon sessions which encourage a growth mindset and constructive thinking and makes it easier to engage with the workshops.
From August 2018 to 2019, we worked with 143 adult participants across London. The courses used both boxing and rugby in Richmond, Ladbroke Grove, Croydon, Mitcham and Vauxhall. This work was largely delivered alongside the Department of Work and Pensions and local Job Centres within these regions. We were delighted that our Croydon Women’s Course featured on ITV London News; the segment highlighted our effective use of boxing and employment support.
Looking ahead to next year’s adult courses, we have already secured funds to deliver our programme to 100 people in Vauxhall and are seeking further funding to return to some of the areas we have worked in with a greater need.
Our London-based schools team delivered programmes in five schools every week last year: two in London; two in Hertfordshire; and one in Surrey. We are so proud of the development of the course, which has been received excellently by both the pupils we work with and the school staff we work alongside. We will almost double the reach of the course for the next academic year, working with nine schools each week. We will now be working with five schools in Hertfordshire and two new schools in London, alongside two of the schools we delivered to last year.
2018-2019 saw the launch of the SOHK Creating Futures, schools programme, in Scotland. The team hit the ground running, working with 110 pupils from 4 schools in Fife, central Scotland. Part-funded by the Scottish Children's Lottery, who have already agreed to support the programme again in the new academic year.
The programme was a huge success, overall 70% of pupils showed an improvement in behaviour with 61% showed an improvement in their attendance. We worked with 40 females and 70 males with 70 pupils being in S2 and 40 being in S3. Pupils attended 83% of SOHK sessions.
The schools programme is increasing its reach in the new academic year with 2 new schools and 50 more pupils. This includes bringing the programme to Springburn in Glasgow. Our adult courses reached 61 people across 4 courses; 3 for men and 1 for women. Across the courses, on average, 40% of adults found employment as a result of taking part, 15% began further training/education and 10% began volunteering. This means an average of 65% have moved on to a positive destination. 2020 will be an exciting year for the Scotland team. Funding has been received from a number of sources to deliver our flagship employability courses, as well as piloting a new 'wellbeing' course including cooking classes and yoga.
Over the last 12 months, we have been busy increasing the delivery of our adults and schools programmes and have been steadily building up a network of corporate partners.
We have successfully run seven adult programmes across Cardiff, Neath Port Talbot, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Blaenau Gwent with over £90,000 of funding being generated from our corporate partners. Our schools team have delivered to over ten cohorts across four schools and have piloted a college programme. They have also run school holiday activities for primary school children alongside one of our partners.
We have also developed mental health awareness sessions to roll out to our corporate partners and are busy planning our fundraising events calendar for 2020 following the success of our recent corporate touch rugby tournament held at Cardiff Arms Park.
# OF MALE PUPILS
80
70
56
206
#OF FEMALE PUPILS
19
40
99
% IMPROVEMENT OF ALL STUDENTS
Behaviour 71%
Attendance 84%
Punctuality 79%
Behaviour 70%
Attendance 61%
/
#OF MEN
89
38
262
389
# OF WOMEN
54
23
61
138
% ENTERED FULL OR PART TIME EMPLOYMENT OR EDUCATION
33%
76%
63%
-
SOHK has grown rapidly, with income increasing from £127k to £1.27m in 6 years. We have consolidated at this level and our aim is now on higher-level income needed to reach new areas and more beneficiaries.
Growth in the 2019 financial year has been underpinned by the increasing success in winning multi-year grants and by prioritizing individual giving through the Friends of SOHK campaign to establish regular donors. This success has given us the financial runway needed to diversify our income further and reduce overreliance on any one source of revenue.
Key performance indicators demonstrate that revenue has increased by 33% in the last year and that we are on pace to increase by another 5% at the end of the March 2020 financial year.
£506,892
£987,230
£562,574
£182,657
£177,174
£1,246,640
£1,169,887