Students Prove Allestree's Got Talent!
3 August 2009
BA (Hons) Creative Expressive Therapies student Lydia Cleaves
We were impressed with the skills that Lydia and Antonia showed throughout the project and they did a fantastic job
”Allestree School's Out Club manager Ann Toplis
Antonia Callaghan BA (Hons) Creative Expressive Therapies student
Hit TV show Britain's Got Talent has inspired two University of Derby students to organise a similar talent show at an after school centre in the city.
Student volunteers Lydia Cleaves, 21, from Ebbw Vale, and Antonia Callaghan, 21, from Salford in Manchester worked with the Allestree School's Out Club to develop a talent show called Allestree's Got Talent.
As a result, about 15 six to 11-year-olds got the chance to promote their singing and dancing talents and other skills behind the scenes during the show, which took place recently at St John's Church in Park Farm.
Organised and managed in their spare time, the community project helped the students to achieve an award from the University.
The University of Derby Award Programme (for Employability, Leadership and Management), presented by the University's Career Development Centre, recognises their contribution to helping local people which will help boost their graduate employability appeal when they finish their studies next year.
The award is endorsed by the Institute of Leadership and Management, an internationally recognised training organisation.
The Derby Award enables students to develop and maximise the benefits of extracurricular activities, such as volunteering, paid work or running their own business, and through a series of workshops, it aims to increase skills highly sought after by graduate employers.
It caps a productive academic year for Lydia and Antonia who had spent one evening a week during the autumn and spring terms at the after school club on volunteering projects. They have just completed the second year of their BA (Hons) Creative Expressive Therapies degree courses.
Antonia said: "We assisted with a number of duties such as mentoring, helping with school runs to collect and escort the children to the club safely, and promoting healthy eating at meal times.
"As the placement progressed we developed an idea to lay on some dance and drama workshops with the children and we were inspired by shows such as Britain's Got Talent to lay on our own talent show.
"It got all of the children involved and it certainly seemed to capture their imagination, whether they were auditioning, judging, managing the music or helping create the stage design and publicity banner."
Lydia added: "The project helped to build confidence in the young people, helped promote the Allestree Estate and was very well received. Antonia and I also worked within the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework when planning activities for our programme."
Allestree School's Out Club manager Ann Toplis said: "We were impressed with the skills that Lydia and Antonia showed throughout the project and they did a fantastic job. Some of the children were nervous about taking part but the students were able to persuade them and all of the children really enjoyed the event - it was a very good initiative."
Fellow student Julie Tasker (49), from Mansfield, has also been awarded the Derby Award for a separate initiative. Julie, who is on the BA (Hons) Complementary Therapies degree and has her own business in this area, developed it as part of the Award by running one to one and group sessions.
She said: "The Derby Award has been an emotional journey of significant personal development particularly relating to me regaining confidence in my leadership and management skills."
Each student had to complete 70 hours of volunteering as part of the Derby Award and to succeed they had to set up a project, manage and implement it. In total, 29 students received Derby Awards this academic year.
Asia Alder, Derby Award Leader, at the University of Derby, said: "In order to gain the Derby Award these students have also had to present their experiences of leadership and management gained during the project to a panel of local public, private and voluntary sector employers.
"This gives students an excellent opportunity to practice and receive feedback on their presentation skills, which they will no doubt need when applying for graduate jobs.
"In doing so they are using skills from the leadership and management workshops which form part of the Derby Award Programme Scheme but are also building on skills they have gained from their respective degree programmes - which will help improve their future employment chances."
For more details about the Derby Award visit www.derby.ac.uk/careers/university-of-derby-award.
For more information about this news release, contact Deputy Head of Corporate Relations Simon Redfern on 01332 591942 or 07748 920038 or email: s.redfern@derby.ac.uk
