Liam’s story

Liam was in year 10 at a school in Warwickshire when he did a Grit programme.

As Liam puts it himself, “I was going off the rails.” There were days when he didn’t go to school at all, just hung around the streets with a crowd of other young people getting involved in anti-social behaviour. Even when he was in school he wasn’t doing much learning. Instead he spent his time arguing with teachers, getting kicked out of lessons and fighting with other students. But what made him really angry was that he felt he was being labelled ‘bad.’

The weekly online coaching was a revelation.  At last, someone who would actually listen to what he had to say. Not a teacher or his Mum telling him off, trying to get him to do something or behave in a certain way. Just someone who made him feel appreciated for who he is. Someone who “helped me get stuff off my chest.” Someone who spoke to him like an adult. But also someone who “said it straight,” someone who cut through.

Following six months of coaching Liam joined 25 other young people from schools across the county in a five-day intensive Grit personal development workshop.

The intensive has made a massive difference to how Liam sees the world and his place in it.   It made him question the decisions he was making, decisions about being late, about getting kicked out of lessons. It made him ask, “Do I really want this for my life?” He finally saw, in the starkest of terms, what his life would be like if he didn’t do well in his GCSEs. He saw what he needed to change, what needed to change now.

He began to “distance myself” from those negative influences. It has been a bit of a struggle to start with but gradually he is getting a different set of friends.

He is staying focused. The five days of the intensive made him realise that he had it in him to focus and already he’s studying hard to catch up on work he’s missed. “I’m writing pages instead of a sentence.”

He is starting to put his hand up in class, answer questions, get work done. “The teacher says I’ve done a u-turn.” He is a changed person and describes how the teachers can see he has potential: “They see a different side of me now.”

And at home, life has transformed. “Mum is really proud and happy.” They don’t argue anymore because, “there is nothing to argue about anymore.” It feels so good.

“Grit,” says Liam, “has been so influential. It has helped me so much to make better choices. I’d recommend it to anyone.”