Alfie immediately took to sailing and seemed much happier and calmer when on the water than he was ever able to be at school. Tony Hewitt, the Victory Suite Manager says

“All of our children have special educational needs and the Portsmouth Sail Training Trust programme visibly builds their self-esteem and their confidence. For some of them, school is extremely stressful and here on the water they can get away from that pressure and be themselves.” 

Alfie has been in Tony’s Victory Suite for four years. Tony describes the struggles he experiences at school; 

“Alfie experiences memory and behaviour problems. He gets very frustrated as no matter how hard he works he can’t retain information. This leads to problems with anger.  He struggles to have good peer relationships and has been bullied at school.  

 Alfie had no self-worth and didn’t believe in himself until he came to PSTT and now things have changed for him dramatically. He has self confidence and as a result his behaviour has changed beyond recognition. At this point last year Alfie had been given 150 sanctions for his behaviour – this year he has only had 20.  

He is now looking at a career in the Navy and has a direction and motivation in life – something that was lacking previously. He is also now a member of “The Student Voice” at school who have a say on what goes on in school and what could be changed for students”.  

Tony describes the change that being on the PSTT Programme has had on Alfie as “the biggest change he has seen in a pupil”. 

Update – 27th October 2020

Alfie visited the Portsmouth centre over October half term 2020. He had left Milton Cross and enrolled in the Uniformed Services Course – Preparation for Entry, which is works towards his aspirations of joining the Navy. The PSTT programme helped him realise his aspirations to join the Navy and helped him decide to do this specific course, the qualification he gained during the programme are directly relevant – first aid, sailing and other watersports. He now has more friends and is doing much better socially than he was at school.

‘When Alfie first started NCS with us on our Keep Doing Good programme in July 2020, he came alone and didn’t know any other young person taking part. By the end of the 2 weeks, Alfie had made new friendships and his confidence within that time had grown tremendously. From the short time I have known Alfie, he seems a completely different young man compared to the Andrew Simpson video. His confidence and social skills have grown and he has played a vital role in supporting his local community through the pandemic within NCS.’

– Katie Haris, Head of NCS at Pompey ITC

“The sailing programme really helped me to gain confidence and work towards my career in the Navy. I can also control my feelings of frustration much better now that I sometimes got at school. At my new college course I have made friends and am enjoying the Uniformed Services Course which will help me work towards me joining the Navy”

– Alfie