Our Summer Programme
Why we deliver a summer programme?
This year we delivered a 5 week summer programme, for which the main aim was to support our young people to create new positive childhood memories. Over the years our young people have expressed the need and want to be a part of workshops/activities with young people who are in similar circumstances.
Our projects provide our young people with opportunities to learn new skills, build their resilience, confidence and self-esteem.
Who delivers the summer programme?
Our Active Involvement Team consists of 5 qualified staff mostly in Youth Work, who will deliver the activities alongside trained tutors. We also receive the support from our colleagues in the Children Looked After Team and Leaving Care Team, who have been great over the years. This support enables us to offer a variety of activities. We commission companies to deliver the specialised activities and this year we worked with the DWP to deliver some employability days and our Young Men’s Project.
We delivered a targeted provision this summer, under the Holiday Activities and Food programme, for our looked after children and care leavers. The aim of the programme is to support our young people to create new, positive holiday memories alongside receiving a daily nutritious meal.
Churchill Theatre – 26th – 30th July
The project was designed to offer young people in care an opportunity to explore and express their feelings and aspirations using theatre, drama, music and role play to reflect their experiences.
Working intensively over a week the group were encouraged to plan their own journey and make a creative ‘roadmap’ working together as a group; led by theatre and music industry professionals. The week culminated in a shared performance, for carers, guardians and friends, and incorporated all the work the young people had created with a large sprinkle of theatre magic.
Fierce and Flawsome Project – 15th July – 13th August
For any young girl, navigating the path to becoming a strong woman with a healthy sense of self-worth is an incredibly challenging task in today’s society. For girls growing up in the care system, the challenge of developing a healthy sense of self-worth is immense. We delivered a 6 week project, where our girls dined out, created dreamcatcher, made recycled clothing, talked about relationships over afternoon tea and much more. We finished off the project at the Van Gogh Alive.
Young Men’s Project– 27th July – 23rd August
This group work project was aimed at males aged 16 and over. We explored the barriers to emotional wellbeing and self-expression in partnership with the DWP.
The young people participated in the following workshops:
- London Speed Boat trip
- Barbershop – Wellbeing Talk
- Podcast – Being Men in todays society
- Lyric Writing – Self expression
Photography– 28th – 29th July
This group work project was aimed at giving young people the opportunity to develop the skill of using a digital camera. The artwork created on the day will be auctioned to raise money for house warming gifts for care leavers.
Music Project – 4th – 6th August
The project was designed to offer young people an opportunity to try out some new instruments and to work as a team to write and record songs together. They recorded 2 amazing songs which we will upload here soon.
Film Project – 11th -13th August
The project was designed to offer young people an opportunity to script and create a film that will be used for staff training. This year we focused on their care journey and its challenges. The film is amazing and soon we be putting exerts on here, so watch this space.
