Junior Coach Leadership Development Program

The Junior Coach Leadership Development Program provides an opportunity for middle school students (grades 7-8) to develop valuable leadership and life skills as well as improve their physical fitness and literacy skills.

Canada’s youth are not adjusting well in their middle school “transition years” (grades 6-10) due, in large part, to the decrease in physical activity and increase in mental health issues prevalent during early adolescence. Studies have shown that there is a ‘performance dip’ when these young people transition from primary to secondary school. With physical, psychological, academic, social and environmental uncertainty and a greater desire for independence, young people at this age can show tendencies such as lower commitment levels, low interest/engagement levels and achievement loss, as well as anxiety and mental health challenges. Even more so, youth whose parents are struggling economically end up in less regulated environments, adding to the stress of this pre-adolescent stage. Preventative agencies like leadership and belonging are not often nurtured among these students, impacting their health and physical and intellectual development, and their future success. In spite of this epidemic, there are large support gaps in servicing this age group. The Junior Coach Program takes a multi-tiered approach by addressing a number of aspects of a youth’s wellbeing during this critical time in order to help them make a smooth transition to high school, avoid dropout, graduate, and move on to post-secondary education.

CURRICULUM

The Junior Coach Program impacts dozens of youth across Canada. The Program runs after-school for 1 hour once a week from October to May. The curriculum consists of physical activity, literacy, peer and coach mentoring, journal entry, breakout sessions and special workshops, experiential learning field trips, and leadership-related homework activities.


GOALS

The Junior Coach Leadership Program creates a smooth transition from middle school to secondary school.

This enables students to:

  • Recognize their strengths and challenges

  • Form quality interpersonal relationships

  • Feel comfortable and safe in their new environment

  • Develop/maintain positive attitudes toward school and learning

  • Develop/maintain a social and emotional learning process

  • Develop/maintain confidence in their ability to succeed in school

As we continue to build these invaluable life/character skills within Canada’s middle school youth, it will set them up for future success, decreasing the chance of high school dropout and empowering them to achieve the goal of post-secondary.

Land Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge the land on which we work, and which Start2Finish operates, is part of the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples inhabited and cared for this land. In particular, we acknowledge the territory of the Anishinabek, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Ojibway/Chippewa peoples; the land that is home to the Metis; and most recently, the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation who are direct descendants of the Mississaugas of the Credit. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land, and by doing so, give our respect to its first inhabitants.

We welcome you to acknowledge the land you are on https://www.whose.land/fr/

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