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Transcript
00:00I'm Paul Carlin, I am an academic in the Open University and we're here today to talk to
00:15some of the students and staff who are involved in the HUB programme in Wales which is run
00:20by the WRU and the Open University is a partner in trying to understand what impact that programme
00:28has had over a number of years.
00:34My name's Andrew Newton and I'm a HUB officer here at Dylan Thomas Community School in Swansea.
00:40I think it's really important that we evidence the HUB role and the work that the Open University
00:47is doing is fantastic because it gives us on the ground as HUB officers something that
00:55we can look at and work on in how we can do things differently.
01:00I think it's vitally important that we get that information so our programme can be the
01:06best in the world.
01:08Obviously the Open University as an academic institution can bring some rigour and robustness
01:13to that evaluation and so we partnered and we've been developing this project now for
01:18a number of years.
01:20So we're hoping to get out of the visits this week is a form and a structure that we can
01:24actually seek external funding.
01:27Up to this point WRU and Open University have funded the development of the project but
01:34the scale of the project in the coming years will be quite immense actually and we need
01:41to get external funding to be able to deliver a robust evaluation.
01:46I guess first and foremost it's important to demonstrate the impact of the WRU approach
01:51because there's a lot of investment going into it and nobody wants to spend money whether
01:56it's in your personal life or your professional life without knowing you're getting banged
01:59for your buck.
02:00So I think it's the right thing to do and it's the proper thing to do to make sure that
02:06those people that are employed within our communities, schools, local clubs, the WRU
02:12posts are having the desired impact.
02:15We being a part of the evaluation we're pleased to demonstrate the impact it's having in our
02:20school and hopefully it's having a similar impact in other schools as well because rugby
02:25in Wales is a great driver for developing community spirit, social spirit and we see
02:31that as an important aspect of our work within the school.
02:34What's really, really noticeable is the enthusiasm with the HUB staff who just love their kids
02:42and their skills but also how the teachers and the staff within the schools just seem
02:47to rely and depend on the HUB officers to actually deliver a really valued service.