Read Mumsnetters’ feedback on the Sky Academy event in London. Non-attendees: chance to win a £200 voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

This thread is for the Mumsnetters who attended the Sky Academy event on 26th October at Sky Skills Studio where they worked within the studio to create a new report with their DC’s and DC’s friend. Each attendee at the Sky Academy Skills Studio played a vital part in creating the mock news report, from director, camera man to editor working with the latest broadcast technology in the interactive experience.

Lucy Carver, from Sky Academy: "Sky Academy is a set of initiatives that use the power of TV, creativity and sport to help young people unlock their potential. Since launching in November 2013, Sky Academy has helped over 250,000 young people across the country, with a goal of helping one million by 2020."

Sky Academy is comprised of five different initiatives aimed at boosting confidence in young people:

• Sky Sports Living for Sport is made up of multi-week and one-day sports projects with schools throughout the UK and Ireland. Founded on the belief that sport has the power to transform young people’s lives, the initiative aims to help young people build practical skills and self-confidence.
• Sky Academy Skills Studios is an interactive learning experience giving eight to 18-year-olds the chance to use the latest broadcast technology to make a TV report on subjects they are studying at school. It combines a behind-the-scenes tour at Sky’s offices with a hands-on experience of its purpose-built studios where the students write, produce and direct their own short news bulletin.
• Sky Academy Careers Lab is a full-day careers experience giving 16 to 19 year-olds the chance to take part in practical workplace challenges and learn about careers in media, business and technology.
• Sky Academy Starting Out opens up Sky to young people, offering experience and employment opportunities to help them prepare for the world of work.
• Sky Academy Scholarships is a bursary scheme that supports some of the most exciting emerging talent in the worlds of sport and the arts. As well as financial backing, the scholarships provide assistance and mentoring from Sky’s staff and other experts.

Non-attendees: Please tell us how you encourage your DCs to be more confident and you could win a £200 John Lewis voucher

Attendees, please answer the questions below:

• Who did you attend the Sky Academy event day with?
• What was your overall impression of the day?
• What did your DC(s)/ DC’s friend think of the day? What was their favourite bit?
• What were your highlights of the day?
• Did you see any examples on the day where your DC(s)/ DC’s friend built their confidence, if so please share?
• If it came up in conversation, would you recommend friends and/or family to attend a Sky Academy Skills Studios day if they had had children of a similar age? If so, why? If not, why not?
• Would you recommend Sky Academy Skills Studios to your DC(s) school?
• How did the experience make you feel about Sky?

If you have any other thoughts please don’t hesitate to add them too!

All attendees who add their feedback will be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher!

Thanks,
MNHQ

Non-attendee

I just keep up a subtle dialogue about being oneself, not following the herd, valuing your own passions, rising above petty squabbles.

Non Attendee.. We encourage confidence by giving some responsibility, allowing children to do something more for them self. My 3 year old is learning to make her sandwiches. My 11 year old is mastering walking to school on his own.
We also follow a child's interest to allow them to find confidence in something they enjoy!

Non attendee - Sky Academy sounds fantastic and it would be great to have a go when the DC are old enough - currently 3 and 5.

We encourage the DCs confidence by leading by example and approaching
tasks with goodwill, even those we're not looking forward to. We praise generously and encourage the DCs to do things independently and to be responsible for themselves and their belongings as much as possible.

non attende ..... Reading the reviews I would really like to attend one of these!

My daughter is 8 and to encourage confidence I get her to do a wide range of activities so that she grows up thinking that she is able and not afraid to try new things. I encourage social interaction with school friends, family and friends we make outside of school as well so that she feels confident in social settings.
I always give positive reinforcement especially around learning, trying new things and praise for trying hard at swimming, learning to do a cartwheel, reading aloud well, helping me. I want her to grow up feeling able to mix and meet people, believing she ca do things, not always thinking you have to do something perfectly but can also try it.

Non-attendee

I try to encourage my DDs confidence by telling them they can do things and if they are frightened then we set small goals and work up to the bigger things which has helped them to learn to not just give up at the start.

Non attendee - my two are quite confident already and I am not sure how that happened! They know that I am always here, willing to listen and help but insist they always try. The best thing is to try and see what happens.

Non attendee. We are struggling to get DD to be more confident. But we've been introducing extra curricular activities where she meets people outside of school. This is slowly starting to work, she feels less pressure to make an outstanding impression, she feels comfortable just being herself.

Non attendee here, I encourage my DSS to be more confident by encouraging him to try new activities after school and small things like encouraging him to pay for his pocket money purchases at the till and interacting with the cashier. He's already quite confident but trying different after school activities has opened him up to new subjects and he's made loads of friends.

Non-attendee: Basically by doing activities on their own (rather than accompanied by sibling), and encouraging them to 'be in charge' on family days out, so they get confident at planning and leading - works wonders for making them confident and proud of themselves (we have a teen and a tween BTW!)

I'm an attendee.
Q.1 Who did you come with? -I attended with my dd (10) and my younger dd (8).

Q.2 What was your overall impression of the day?

The day was extremely well organised, as others have mentioned. The staff were friendly, helpful and confident with the children, and everything ran really smoothly. The activities gave all sorts of children/young people a chance to get involved, from the outgoing to the quiet, and it was an really interesting experience for me too. My dds were amazed at all the behind the scenes stuff, and the sheer amount of work that goes into production. They weren't bored at any point, and enjoyed
themselves enormously.

Q.3 What did your dcs think of the day?
DD1 says "It was really good fun. I really enjoyed making the news programme. My favourite bit was being interviewed as an "expert" but it was all great, I loved it "
DD2 says "It was really cool. My favourite bit was the filming, but I enjoyed all of it, it was a brilliant day, I want to go back!"

Q4. What were your highlights of the day?
For me it was seeing my daughters have such fun, and get more confident as they learned how to make the clip, with all its different components. For my daughters, I think it was the real pride they felt when the piece was shown, that they had helped to make it in such a short time, and that they'd all done it so well.
It was all so very interesting too!

Q5.did you see any examples on the day where your Dcs etc built their confidence?
YES!! Both girls blossomed with confidence as the day went on. They were caught up with the enthusiasm (which is where the staff were particuarly brilliant, engaging the children so well that they forgot to feel anxious). My smaller dd was the youngest in our group and was quite quiet initially. She can be shy of performing as she is a total perfectionist and worries about making mistakes, but by the time she was filmed she was so relaxed , comfortable and confident that she did her PTC in one take. This then had the effect of boosting her confidence in herself long after we came home. It was lovely to see. My older daughter has been bullied in the past, but she was happily chatting with all the others in our group, and in her element really! The other kids in our group all seemed to blossom too, all of the children were enjoying themselves.

Q6. If it came up in conversation would you recommend friends/family attend a Sky Skills day if they have children of the appropriate age?

Absolutely. I have been enthusing about it to all and sundry. It was such a great experience for the girls. We live in a remote rural area, so something like this was really helpful to extend their knowledge and inspire them. I really can't imagine there are many families who wouldn't find this an amazing thing to do.

Q7. Would you recommend Sky Skills to your child's school?

Yes, it would be a great thing for a whole class to do. The teamwork, the multi faceted elements that go into producing a programme, the tech stuff, there is so much to learn and something for all temperments and abilities on the skills day.

Q8. How did the experience make you feel about Sky?

Very very positive. Much more than I expected having seen them as this huge corporation. Just seeing on one afternoon how much can be done to engage young people and build their confidence was really very touching. And I think it is a wonderful thing to do, to use the building and the staff's knowledge to help fuel interest in the next generation.
A postscript- Both my daughters and I are very grateful to have been given this opportunity. I'm sorry my feedback is late, I had a nudging email today, but I hadn't received a prior one, it must have gone into my spam. I've been longing to leave feedback as it was such a brilliant day. Best fun day out I've had with my children ever I think.

Non attendee here.

I suppose the main way I encourage confidence in DD is by trying not to jump in and rescue her all the time. So if she asks for help with a jigsaw or something, or to draw a picture, I will ask her how she thinks it should be done, or to try and show me.

She is quite a confident wee thing so hopefully it is working!

Non attendee: I actively encourage my kids to talk and be open about they're feeling and what is affecting them. They know we're always proud of their achievements and that we will help them find solutions to the things that worry them or make them anxious. Hopefully this helps with confidence and makes them feel secure!

The Sky Academy sounds interesting but where it comes to careers work in schools it should be seen as inspiring and adding value to the careers programme- not replacing impartial careers advice and guidance. When funding is tight I would be wary that some schools might see this as an option.

Non attendee:
Don't gossip or be judgmental. If your dcs hear you talking about other people or judging them, they'll believe they'll be talked about and judged!