From September we’re focusing on one of our core values each month, and in September the focus is on Excellence.
Our Family Support manager, Zena, made an acrostic poem about EXCELLENCE…. about what the family support summer activities represented.
Over the summer our team of Family Support workers have worked extremely hard to ensure that the children and families we work with have ample opportunities to make memories, connect, engage and experience fun, activities both indoors and outdoors.
Think Tank, Birmingham
We made four trips to Think Tank Museum in July and August, which were a huge success, with around 225 parents, carers and children attending in total.
The trips were led and organised by the team, who were there to greet them, and ensure their day was filled with fun, laughter and learning. Some families travelled by public transport, some by train (for some children this was their first ever train ride) and some travel was supported via the team. Two of our family support workers, Nagina and Eunice, posed in the dinosaur cut out!
It was his special moment, as it was one of his dreams to go to the Thinktank Museum. Thank you for your immeasurable support and making my sons's dream come true
Once inside, families spread out to explore at their own pace. The team enjoyed wandering around, joining in activities, and watching the children discover new and fascinating things. The MiniBrum section proved especially popular with the younger children, who threw themselves into car races, experimented with sounds and motion, built houses in the construction zone, zipped down slides, tested pulley systems, and played in role play areas as doctors, vets, and mechanics.
It was a fantastic day for me and my children. We have never been there before. The children were fascinated. Lots of photos and joy.
Perhaps the best part of the day wasn’t the Thinktank itself, but the connections we observed forming – families playing together, children and adults making new friends from different schools, different communities and different cities, and the special memories that were made.
Getting outdoors
We organised and held five outdoor activities in Birmingham and Newcastle Under Lyme. These were arranged at different parks in Birmingham (Sheldon Country Park, Cannon Hill Park and Aston Park) and at the Brampton in NUL. The weather was kind to us and stayed dry for each event!
Our team had an armour of outdoor activities to use, from soft tennis, rounders, limbo, bats and balls, skipping ropes, bubbles, colouring books, giant connect 4, jigsaws, books and a mini beast hunt to keep all ages entertained.
These were well attended, (for some families it took 2 bus rides to get there!) but the journey was well worth it. It was so lovely to see the children and parents enjoying the great outdoors, having fun and connecting. The older children and adults especially liked the rounders match, which did get a little competitive between all!
Monkey Forest at Trentham Gardens
In NUL we arranged a trip to the Monkey Forest ay Trentham Gardens for 3 teenagers, The trip offered a refreshing change from the usual school holiday routine. We walked approximately ¾ of a mile, taking time to spot monkeys, appreciate the natural surroundings, and admire the beautiful trees.
We were fortunate to see several of the newly born monkey babies, (11 have arrived recently!) One special moment was witnessing a mother, father, and tiny baby monkey together. We also managed to catch the feeding time and were surprised to learn that monkeys enjoy potatoes!
Finished off with an ice cream treat ourselves and time to chat and reflect.
Banbury summer fun
In Banbury Nick worked hard to ensure his children and families had free access to local amenities and activities. He provided free vouchers to a number of families to access the local leisure centre, during all of the summer holidays, with free unlimited access to the swimming pool.
Nick also attended a ‘stay in touch day’ with one of his schools, working with staff and children in school to welcome any new yr 7s and to touch base with any families that may need support. During this time Nick helped the young people to build dens. Zena also ran a world cup football competition with the children (most of the children didn’t want to go home as the weather improved and they became really competitive especially with penalty shoot-out!)
Alton Castle
Also, in NUL we arranged a trip to Alton castle (supported again by the Kenelm Youth Trust) for four young people. Unfortunately, two of the young people were unable to attend, however that didn’t stop us having fun! Zena and Aoife transported the young people there, for a day filled with crate stacking, blindfold walk, lunch and making our own fire in the woods, followed by toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate.
Jo Goulding from our fundraising team, also joined us today.
We were greeted warmly again by Anna, who made our day very memorable, and fun filled.
Dom and Ben were our brilliant instructors on our 1st activity – crate stacking.
Crate Stacking is a team building activity designed to challenge your balance, teamwork and communication skills. The height that you manage to reach will be dependent not only on your balancing skills, but the efficiency and steadiness of your team mates.
We took it in turns to build the tower of crates, while 2 were harnessed and ready to climb on top of each crate, this is a lot harder than it looks! and it did unnerve some of the adults… but they manged to overcome their fear and succeeded! Laila and Zena managed to climb onto top of 16 crates!
Next, we did a blindfold walk in the woods, holding onto a rope for guidance, using all of our other senses to navigate through the walk safely. This proved to be a tough task, and one that needed courage, balance and teamwork!
Our final activity was a fire making activity. We were given, cotton wool, sawdust and flint and steel set to rapidly grind together, to cause a spark, to quicky light the cotton wool with. For some this was done with ease, for others it was a challenge especially for Zena! She did blame her left handedness, but this was a poor excuse!! 😊
When the fire was lit, we heated hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows. Mmmmm this was a perfect end to a perfect day!
A big thank you to the Kenelm Youth Trust for making our day so memorable. We all had a brilliant day!
