Great feedback from the amazing students at Clyst Vale Community College, put together by our brilliant videographer Kyle Baker.

We are so proud of our wonderful photographer, Kyle Baker, who has won the Sid Valley Business of the Year award for 2018. Many congratulations Kyle. We look forward to working with you again very soon.

On the last day of 2017 I would like to say a huge thank you to anyone who has supported us this year. It has been a very busy and productive year for us, and we have more than doubled the number of schools we have visited compared to 2016. We are also getting many requests for repeat visits from schools we have already visited. Our Facebook page continues to grow and I am immensely grateful to anyone who has liked, shared or commented on a post. Let's hope 2018 can be an even better year for us! Thank you everyone and Happy New Year!!

Have a look at our new video made in conjunction with the amazing students from Clyst Vale Community College and put together by our brilliant videographer Kyle Baker.

We were delighted to have the opportunity to go to Colyton Grammar School last week to talk about drugs, alcohol and self-harm. This is Ali talking to Year 8s about self-harm and raising awareness about this difficult issue. We were very impressed with the thoughtful questions that the students asked, and in the questionnaire they competed after the session, 88% of the students agreed that they now had a greater understanding of what self-harm is, and 92% felt that they were now more aware of the dangers. Amelia Robinson, Head of Student Personal Learning, said, "I can honestly say that the response from the students and the supervising teachers has been the most positive response I have ever had regarding a PSHE session." This is wonderful feedback for us and thank you Amelia for organising everything so smoothly and efficiently. We would love to do a repeat visit soon.

Sidmouth College was the first school we visited in 2014 and where the whole Five Lives school work started. It was our sixth visit to this school on Friday to talk to Year 11s about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. John and Ali talked openly and honestly about their lives, their experiences and the challenges they faced to encourage the students to really think about making the right choices in their own lives. It was a brilliant day and a massive thank you goes to Lisa Whitworth for organising it all so well, as always, and more importantly, for her belief and commitment to us.

We had our first visit to Blundell's School this week. John and Ali talked to Year 11s about the dangers of drugs and self-harm and they had some very interesting discussions, all based on their own life experiences, which gave the students a lot to think about. Annabel Taylor-Ross, Head of PSHE, said," Being able to talk directly to eloquent people like John and Ali about the challenges they faced makes the most powerful impact on our students. They will not forget their stories or their bravery." One of the students in Ali's group also said,"I would just like to thank you for coming in. You will help so many people and I'm glad you are better." Thank you to Annabel Taylor-Ross and all the other staff who could not have made us feel more welcome. We are looking forward to coming back!

We had a very successful visit to Tiverton High School last week to talk to Year 10s about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. John and Mick delivered powerful question and answer sessions based on their own lives and experiences which provoked some interesting discussions. During the sessions John said, "If my story can stop one student from going down the path I did, then something positive will have come out of all the negative." After the sessions we gave the students a questionnaire to help us measure the impact of the workshops and we were delighted that 97% of them agreed that they were now much less likely to experiment with illegal drugs. 97% also agreed that they were now more aware of the dangers of alcohol. This is a fantastic result and one that we hope to replicate in other schools. A big thank you to Lisa Frost and Rachel Coles for all their support on the day and in making us feel so welcome. We hope to be back next year!

We were in St James School in Exeter for the first time this week talking to Years 9 and 10 about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. The students were brilliant and we had some very interesting and thought provoking discussions. A massive thank you to Kylee Guy and all the staff who made us feel so welcome.

We had another amazing visit to Clyst Vale Community College today to talk to Year 10s about the dangers of drugs and alcohol and to raise awareness about self-harm. The students were fantastic: very articulate and engaging and they asked some very thought provoking questions. One student said afterwards, "This has made a big impact on our year and it has made me think more carefully about using drugs and alcohol now." Thank you to Judith Colin for arranging it all and making the whole day run so smoothly.

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"Really good, informative and hard-hitting," was one of the comments made by a Year 12 student after a powerful workshop on the dangers of drugs was delivered by Mick and Ben today at Clyst Vale Community College. After the session they had an informal chat with some of the Year 11 students that they met last year. A very positive, productive day. Thank you Clyst Vale.

Timeline Photos

We visited Isca Academy in Exeter last week to watch a GCSE drama production based on the Five Lives stories.The play, 'The Tragedy of Modern Man,' was written, acted and directed by some very talented Year 11 drama students. It was powerful and thought provoking, tackling the challenging issues of drugs, alcohol, self-harm and eating disorders, and we were so impressed we are now hoping we can take it with us to other schools in Devon and use it alongside our workshops. It would be a very powerful combination.