I formed Pro-Excel in 2002. I designed the company to add another unique dimension to the education and development of young people, to strive to achieve something that whilst taking into consideration curriculum based learning would be a platform for young people achieving huge personal goals.

Our project team come exclusively from an industry based background, mine being from professional sport. I worked for a number of years in Super League Rugby throughout the move Super League and Summer Rugby, and all the family and community focus that came with that. My role in the sport spanned marketing, media, community development and game day presentation... the link I placed though all these was community. In 2001 I was elected by the Rugby Football League to be it's representative on the Playing for Success National Advisory Group. This was a huge incentive for forming Pro-Excel and many of its objectives stem from the achievements I saw PfS provide for young people.

That programme uses sport, its facilities, it's players and ultimately its 'wow' factor to empower young people in a different way - in a way that is based on personal achievement, a way by which the pupil - regardless of barriers or hurdles placed in his or her way has the desire to be successful.

I wanted to harness that and played an active role in the Playing for Success programme being rolled out into Rugby and other sports.

Pro-Excel was designed to provide learning opportunities for young people with a simple formula of linking process to outcome... where the onus of responsibility to be successful in the programme is placed upon the students, Pro-Excel merely provide the tools and the training to make success a realistic option!

People often ask if our projects are for gifted and talented pupils or more geared towards creating vocational pathways into college, University or a career. I would say they are all those things and something else. Firstly they are for anybody, and ultimately they are designed to help young people be the best they can be in a given setting with no barriers to success other than ones they choose to erect. It places great emphasis on the culture of success and the reward success can bring. If a by product of success is to achieve more or to challenge yourself to be the best you can then this is a success in my opinion.

I selected an Industry based team as I want to harness the flavour of an industry based setting - with everybody working as peers in the projects regardless of the age of a student I fundamentally believe in them being empowered to make decisions and to be made responsible for their choices. The result is exclusively positive. motivation amongst groups is high, and they strive to achieve the most they can. I wanted the focus to be on the end result and the pride in achievement to be the reward for that - I think that is a really effective link of education to industry.

Our flag ship programme is 'Move It' the project takes many of the principles of my career history in sport and flavours of other projects designed in sport.

The idea was to take students and replicate a professional dance show in a football stadium. generally speaking students will work with a high profile choreographic team for about 5 days in a school holiday to create and rehearse a show that they will then go out and perform in front of many many thousands of people. Students will come from many backgrounds, different schools, both gender, different social and cultural backgrounds. But, they will aspire to achieve a shared goal. The workshop period being their process and the game day quite simply their outcome and more than that their moment to shine!

Whilst the outcome - the reward being so immense in 'Move It' it could not be more different in Survivor. Survivor was formed in 2004 in partnership with AimHigher in Oldham, it went on to be published by the DfES and AimHigher Making a Difference Publication as an example of best practice of a summer school. This was the first time we had moved away from professional sport. The brief we had when we designed Survivor was simple - make it safe, make it fun, make it creative, inclusive, raise self esteem and motivate young people! Read what we produced here.

Survivor links people and challenges - one part of a team may be good at art and another good at sport, with a third element more convergent. the concept is to link all the different skills pupils may have to form one collective and shared success. At the end of a project.... the outcome or reward... very simple a huge cake! Sure Jamie Oliver would approve!!

So four years on since Pro-Excel formed we stand today as hopefully perceived by LEA's, schools and our educational partners as a diligent and professional provider of enrichment activities for young people, who effectively link industry and education. By parents and pupils I hope we are barely noticed other than by being remembered as the people that did that project and gave us an experience we won't ever forget!