Suffolk New awarded RESO award, the first college in the country to receive a Bronze Quality Mark award from the Resilience Support Organisation (RESO), for strengthening belonging whilst embedding wellbeing and resilience across the organisation.
RESO helps to train Resilience Support Teaching Assistants (RESTA) – to build resilience within students.
A RESTA programme lasts between eight and 12 weeks and is designed to help learners overcome barriers to enable them to stay in education.
To secure this accolade, four teachers were RESTA trained, with 30 students directly benefiting from the project. Senior leaders were required to create a quality guide outlining what they have achieved.
All of this work took over a year to complete and was then assessed by an individual panel at the end of the process.
The panel gave the college a bronze award (with elements of silver) and staff involved are delighted with the outcome.
Melissa King is lecturer in foundation learning at Suffolk New College. Melissa said: “It’s incredible to achieve something like this that showcases the outstanding support that we are giving to our students. Throughout the process, we have seen a huge increase in achievement, attendance and engagement within lessons.”
Maisie Elmy is an ESOL lecturer at Suffolk New College. Maisie said: “I have been teaching students resilience. Some learners have never been in a classroom before and all of them have experienced some kind of trauma in their lives and everyone involved in this has responded really well.”
One of the students – Paige, 18, from Ipswich, said: “This has helped me so much. I feel I can express what is happening in my life and it helps me see the bigger picture. It is important to have someone to talk to and open up to when you need it.”
Esther Borrett works for Brimstone Psychology who helped design this scheme. She said: “I would like to congratulate Suffolk New College on achieving RESO Bronze Quality Mark status.
“They are the first college in the whole of the country to receive this award. It’s incredible the amount of work that has been achieved and everyone has thrown their heart and soul into this.
“This represents an important milestone and reflects the thoughtful and committed approach the college has taken to strengthening belonging, wellbeing and resilience across the organisation.
“Throughout the assessment process, the panel were particularly struck by the clarity of vision demonstrated by senior leadership and the genuine commitment to creating a learning environment where students feel connected, supported and able to succeed.
“Achieving Bronze status recognises that the key foundations of a resilient organisation are now in place. The college is now going to go for a silver award and hopefully a gold in the future. Suffolk New College is a trailblazer and they are showing the way forward in terms of how this type of work can be done.”