INTRODUCTION: As part of the process for commissioning the 5-19 Early Intervention and Prevention programme on behalf of Lambeth Council this workshop was held to consider how providers could deliver services which met the young people s priorities for North Lambeth whilst having an impact on the outcome of improving Children and Young People s Social and Emotional Capabilities. The priorities for North Lambeth are: Page 1 of 6
INGREDIENTS: We tried to think of as many ingredients as possible which would help a child or young person to grow in one of the priority areas. Here s what the groups came up with: Someone to talk to College and university advice & guidance Performance Exploring feelings in a safe place Group talk time Drop-in café Cooking & healthy eating Playing the fiddle Music / Singing / Drama /Dance workshops Country City Swap Job skills Homework club Maths, English A place to get away from problems New experiences e.g. different and unusual sports Residential youth weekends away Youth leadership workshops in facilitation Construction projects Choosing what to play Horizon building work experience (real life); explore careers; basic life skills Multi arts projects Cultural access in/out of the borough Talks/events Youth panels Wellbeing exercise Role models (mentors). Mentoring Money stuff Adventurous play Identifying strengths Encourage self-expression Peer mentoring Sports programmes (fitness, wellbeing, discipline) Exhibitions Art/photography Theatre Intergenerational reading and learning Music technology Life skills like cooking Magic Arts and crafts Health and fitness Promoting all the good stuff young people do to stop negative perceptions Musical theatre addressing social issues Music mentoring One to one music playing Life skills; cooking; residentials; outdoor activities; camping Fitness in the community young and old Scavenger hunt Board games Hanging out Running clubs Eat together Shopping project Help with homework More youth clubs Play therapy referrals/services Make all services inclusive Page 2 of 6
Support to meet individual needs Outdoor and physical play Climbing Cycling Building confidence through leadership Peer-to-peer mentoring Workshops on body image/selfesteem Team building activities 1-2-1 coaching Volunteering Mentoring and one-to-one support Lots of ideas as we had lots of people at this workshop. RECIPE: Lastly the groups were asked to choose just five of the ingredients above from which they would create a service to meet the outcome. Some examples are: Sports and teamwork activities for 11-19 s with opportunities for group games and residentials delivered through a youth clubs where you could meet other people. A Teen Olympics centre to give young people access to a whole range of activities, advice,on health and nutrition and as a way to meet other young people. Cooking classes for the whole family so that children, young people and parents could learn and play together. A Music / Arts Event Planning project where young people would be able to chose specialisms and work together it would include budgeting and project management skills and focus on practical activities young people wanted to deliver, giving them the opportunities to learn through leadership. Family Learning Project helping families to learn about the importance of play, particularly engaging sessions for fathers and to include mentoring, trips, arts and crafts (eg mosaic class) and child led activities. The confidence pie! A project with basic skills sessions, peer mentoring, let s talk space to be able to work out issues and get support, healthy lifestyles sessions. An overall project to raise the confidence and self-esteem of 11+ young people. Doing better at school a 4-6 week project which combined confidence building activities, one to one support, homework clubs and family support in order to give young people extra help. A project to create stronger family support by delivering breakfast clubs, play counselling to help parents realise the importance of good play, multi-arts activities and healthy cooking/eating sessions for parents and children. Page 3 of 6
Young people and providers felt that raising awareness of social issues would be beneficial for 11-19 year olds through a series of workshops. They also felt that 1:1 mentoring, taking part in fun activities such as go-karting, young people taking on some responsibility, learning new skills where they get some form of accreditation would all contribute to developing selfconfidence and self-esteem in young people age 11-19. Some young people and service providers felt that a way of improving social and emotional capabilities is through drop-in sessions, counselling, increased support in college and university with advice and support from mentors. Young people and providers suggested having a forum between young people and the authorities and interesting and educational university/college trips. One group had the idea of an Elite sports club, which would encompass a celebration party, fun exercise such as street dance. They also suggested cooking nutritious food that fits in with that sporting and fitness lifestyle. They want this sports club to include water sports such as rowing and surfing, and they also like the idea of competitions and awards. One of the groups at North Lambeth felt that a series of extra-curricular activities on a weekly basis would develop self-confidence and self-esteem in young people. Their suggestions include: Adventure play; homework club; drama club; dance club; sports club. HOW DOES IT TASTE? Finally the groups were given the challenge of coming up with some ideas of how they would measure whether the service they were planning was going to be effective. There was a whole range of suggestions of how to measure the outcome. Suggestions included: Getting feedback from children, feedback from parents, staff observations, recording evidence of children taking part in the activities, taking pictures for example. Young people and providers felt that it would be a good idea to involve young people in testing the service or project idea, interviews with young people by young people, work with young people to develop the evaluation process. The number of young people who are accredited can determine how successful a project has been, as well as the number of young people attending. It was also highlighted how important feedback is from young people. HOW WAS THE WORKSHOP? 19 of the workshop attendees completed an evaluation sheet (thanks, it really helps) and here s some of what they said: Good to talk to other providers More food could go around. It was a good session It was ok but [we would like] more practical bid writing. This meeting should be more often as it is important that we be the best Lambeth we can be. Hearing from young people about how they would evaluate self-confidence Hearing the voices of children and see the great ideas they have. It was well informative Rice and chicken next time! More group work great event Page 4 of 6
How was the workshop? Excellent Good Average Bad Poor How were the co-production activities? Excellent Good Average Bad Poor This was a large and lively workshop with lots of different ideas and really positive feedback which again we ll use to try and improve how we work next time we even managed to run on time for this workshop! Not sure we can promise rice and chicken next time but watch this space.. WHO WAS THERE? We had a request to share the contact details of the organisations present the list below is the name of the organisation and the contact details for the lead person (not necessarily the person who came along). Alford House Tim Saunders (tim@alfordhouse.org.uk) Art4Space Elinor Seath (jewels@art4space.co.uk) Brixton Wings Medg Sullivan (medg@btinternet.com) Page 5 of 6
Chance UK Andrea Klingel (andrea.klingel@chanceuk.com) Enterprise Un-Ltd Emma Dawoud (Emma.dawoud@enterpriseunltd.co.uk) Fegans Lambeth Linde Horseman (Linde.horseman@fegans.org.uk) Futures Theatre Company Flair May (flair@futurestheatrecompany.co.uk) Livity Naomi Brown (Naomi@livity.co.uk) Ovalhouse Naomi Shoba (Naomi.Shoba@ovalhouse.com) Raw Material Music and Media Education Tim Brown (rawfuture@gmail.com) Refuge Gina Holt (gina_holt@refuge.org.uk) The Baytree Centre Caroline Guarnaccia (caroline@baytreecentre.org.uk) The Prince s Trust Ola Omishola (ola.omishola@princes-trust.org.uk) Triangle Adventure Playground Association Anne-Marie Martin (TriangleManCom@yahoo.co.uk) Oasis Children s Venture Joanne Brown (director@oasisplay.org.uk) Any queries about the commissioning process? Get in touch via info@younglambethcoop.co.uk Page 6 of 6