Rochdale: Raising Aspirations, Tackling Teenage Pregnancy

Reducing the rate of teenage pregnancy is one of the key health challenges facing people working with our children and young people today. Teenage parents are less likely to complete their education, more likely to be unemployed and more likely to live in social deprivation, so how can schools help to raise aspirations?

A decade ago, Rochdale’s teenage pregnancy rate was significantly higher than the national average, but by using a range of measures to help young people feel more in control of their sexual behaviour, the area is seeing a major reversal of that trend.

Rochdale Council, an authority which has achieved Beacon Status for Healthy Schools, for its positive action, amongst other activities, in engaging students and parents with teenage pregnancy issues, saw the conception rate for women under 18 fall from 62 per 1000 in 1998 to 49 per 1000 in 2007. This 21 per cent reduction is one of the largest in Greater Manchester, and is twice the national decrease.

Rochdale’s Teenage Pregnancy Strategy was developed in partnership with the National Healthy Schools Programme (NHSP), a joint Department of Health (DH) and Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) initiative, which promotes the link between health, behaviour and achievement, with the aim of equipping young people with the skills and knowledge they need to make informed life choices and reach their full potential.

Sue Hackett, Rochdale Healthy Schools Manager, says, “We’ve found there’s an intrinsic link between physical deprivation and poverty of aspirations which affects the way young people perceive their sexual relationships and life choices. It’s a cycle where young people who have parents who maybe aren’t working, or have low expectations, become teenage parents and bring children up in an environment where they themselves don’t see the link between
their success in the future and whether they do well at school.”

“A few years ago we recognised that we could draw on existing work taking place in schools in Rochdale through the National Healthy Schools Programme, to develop opportunities to try and really get to grips with this issue. Healthy Schools was really a call to tackle some of these issues in a more consistent and structured way, to get the support of senior school management for Sex and Relationships Education (SRE), and to develop opportunities where sensitive issues can be discussed through trusting relationships between young people, teachers and health professionals.”

Students at Hollingworth Business and Enterprise College in Rochdale have been among those benefitting from this new focus on increasing healthier life aspirations, and the school’s success at addressing these issues prove a strong case in point. A recent Ofsted report praised the school for its ambitions to develop an “outstanding” programme of SRE and stated that the school “continually strives to raise the aspiration and achievement of pupils which is known to be a positive factor in helping young people to avoid health risks”.

Greater time and resources are now dedicated to SRE as part of Hollingworth’s PSHE education curriculum. Staff are supported with training, lesson plans, schemes of work and input from external health agencies, all of which has helped build staff confidence and has transformed the school’s delivery of key topics.

Involvement with external organisations has also allowed staff to share resources and take part in the continuous revision of the programme, through their involvement with PSHE and Citizenship Network Meetings.

Meanwhile, Siddal Moor, an averagesized comprehensive in Rochdale, has developed a course called ‘Beliefs, Values and Citizenship’ which gives a dedicated 3 hour space each year in the curriculum for discussions about sex and relationships. The sessions are led by a trained learning mentor and school health practitioner and supported by a senior management champion, who has the authority to implement strategic changes within the programme.

Confidentiality levels are clearly understood, allowing staff to generate open, honest discussions where students have clear expectations about what they want to achieve.

Closely involving students and parents in developing SRE has been a major key to the success of Rochdale. A national survey revealed that 84 per cent of young people believe that there would be fewer teenage pregnancies if more parents talked about sex and relationships, while one in three mums and two in three dads have not told their children ‘a lot’ or ‘anything’ about the issues. To help tackle this, parents and governors across Rochdale were asked via surveys how and what they thought their children’s SRE lessons should cover, as well as being made more aware of the specialist health services available to children and young people locally.

Sue Hackett adds, “Now parents are far more informed about what their children are learning, and teachers have the full support of parents, we’re really seeing the benefits of students learning how to build healthy relationships - not only with their peers, but also at school and home which is also helping to improve their aspirations, their attitudes towards learning, their selfesteem, and emotional health.

“Ultimately Healthy Schools has brought people and services working with young people closer together, and in Rochdale we’ve seen teenage pregnancy rates reduced significantly because we’re raising young people who are confident to negotiate their sexual relationships.”

All in all, the National Healthy Schools Programme is helping Rochdale work towards long-term changes which are helping to break the cycle of teenage pregnancy, raise aspirations and attainment, but also help young people to live healthier, happier lives where they feel secure and supported in making positive life choices.

Sue Hackett concludes, “We understand that schools are dynamic institutions and changes in staff can make a difference to their SRE provision. Part of our success is in the willingness of our schools to embrace these changes and take on board new ideas as young people, staff and parents inform the curriculum and work together. It’s still a work in progress, but we’ve taken some significant steps forward!”

For more information about the National Healthy Schools Programme, visit: www. healthyschools.gov.uk