Olympian visit at HMP Styal

At Novus, we understand the importance of supporting our female learners. Women in prison require an entirely different approach to engaging in education and support programmes, and through our experience, we are able to use unique ways of providing support for them while in prison and upon release.

Understanding the complex needs of female prisoners is incredibly important for us to be able to engage them in valuable projects and empowering opportunities, in order to increase their confidence in themselves and their abilities. 

Recently, HMP Styal had the privilege of hosting an Olympic medallist from the 1968 Olympics! To kick off the healthy lifestyle's topic at HMP Styal, in July the site focused on the 2024 Paris Olympics, which opened on the 26th July. 

The day before the opening ceremony, HMP Styal welcomed Olympian Martyn Woodroffe, who spoke to the female learners about his experience of preparing for and competing in the Olympics. 

Who is Martyn Woodroffe? 

Martyn Woodroffe is one of just 954 British athletes who have won an Olympic medal. In 1968, he beat the soon-to-be famous, Mark Spitz (who won 7 gold medals in 1972) to claim the silver medal in the 200-metres butterfly final.

Inspiring learners at HMP Styal

Martyn, brought his medal and Welsh cap to show learners and the inspirational talk really struck a chord with learners, finding something you love and are good at, then putting in the hard work to become better.

Events like this are incredibly important for learners to access. Hearing from an inspirational person like Martyn who has done amazing things and overcome challenges to achieve his dream, shows our female learners that it doesn't matter who you are or where you've come from. If they put the effort in and strive for success, they will be able to achieve whatever they want to achieve, giving them the confidence and inspiration to pursue their own goals. 

Engaging female learners in education at HMP Low Newton 

Another female prison that has been using the Olympics to engage learners in education is HMP Low Newton. 

In the EDSQ class, the tutor tasked learners with using Open Borders to research the origins of the Olympic rings/logo and to create a fact sheet, poster or presentation of their findings. 

The sessions cover important digital topics such as accurate internet search, identifying secure websites and fact checking information for reliability, which is included in the criteria for the EDSQ qualification. 

Activities like this, are giving learners at HMP Low Newton the opportunity to gain essential digital skills, further improving their confidence and ability in education as well as equipping them with the essential skills needed to thrive upon release.

To learn more about how we support female learners, read the 'Supporting women in prison education' article here.