A PILOT holiday for "damaged" youngsters who have embarked on a groundbreaking back-to-work programme has been hailed a huge success by its Worcester organisers.

Gary Swift and his team from Lifeskills, based in Farrier Street, took eight youngsters to the Taste for Adventure Centre at Credenhill, near Hereford, for a week of canoeing, kayaking, sailing and climbing.

The programme, formerly the Learning Gateway Programme, is funded by the Learning and Skills Council and is run in partnership with Worcester College of Technology, the Youth Service in St John's, and the YMCA.

"Disaffected" youngsters - those with behavioural problems - are recommended to the programme by the Careers Service and, on a 19-week course, are taught social skills, literacy, numeracy, sex education, work at Top Barn Farm in Hallow - and even taught how to pass their driving theory tests.

At the end of the course, the students, aged between 16 and 19, can become modern apprentices or be taken into mainstream work.

"It was the first time we've run the holiday," said Mr Swift, who added the trip was the first of many.

"It really helped the kids. The bonding they got out of it was unbelievable."

He said some of the youngsters who embarked on the Lifeskills programme had been out of school for up to three years.

"We give them skills when they think they're worthless," Mr Swift added.

"They've been told this for so many years, they begin to believe it, but there's a lot of good in all of them.

"A lot of the kids haven't been to school for two or three years, but they rarely miss a day with us, and some of them have gone on to further education.

"By the end of the 19 weeks, they're able to live in the community and become Modern Apprentices or be taken on into mainstream work."

A spokeswoman for the Learning and Skills Council, praised the programme.

"There's not a 100 per cent success rate - it would be ridiculous to say so - but it's proving to be very, very successful," she said.

"It's only been running for about 18 months, under the Training and Enterprise Council before the LSCs were formed in March this year, so it's in its infancy.

"But the emphasis is very much on getting the youngsters into a training environment so they can progress, which is something they might not have been able to do otherwise."