Meet Ruby Jane

Many young people face challenges and can lack confidence at times. By building resilience, young people can bounce back from difficulties. That’s what BounceBack Newham is all about. It’s a resilience programme for primary students living in Newham, designed to help them think about the challenges they face and find ways to deal with them.

St Edward’s School in Newham is a primary school running the BounceBack programme. St Edward’s School has praised the HeadStart Newham approach to supporting young people.

Diane Tatnell, the school’s Assistant Head Teacher, said “This is our second year of BounceBack and it goes from strength to strength. There’s a lot more confident children and happier children as well.”

Ruby Jane is one of the young people at St Edward’s who has benefited from taking part in BounceBack. She is bright and engaged at school but it was noticed by school staff that she lacked confidence to speak up in the classroom. During the weekly BounceBack sessions led by a HeadStart Youth Practitioner, Ruby Jane had opportunities to work in a small group and participate in activities aimed at building her confidence.

Overtime Ruby Jane began to recognise her own confidence to speak out and her self esteem improved.

Ruby Jane said “When I went to BounceBack I started talking to the other class and raising my hands up more and sharing my ideas with other people.”

HeadStart works with 40 primary schools and 14 secondary schools in Newham. So far, over 1,500 young people like Ruby Jane have taken part in HeadStart activities to improve their resilience and well being.

Watch Ruby Jane’s BounceBack journey with HeadStart.