Our values
We are committed to providing a safe, inspiring and nurturing environment that can meet the needs of young people who are struggling in a mainstream setting. We are also focused on identifying individuals who are so often overlooked due to their anxieties presenting in ways that are not disruptive to the group. After all, any behaviour is a form of communication of what can be difficult thoughts and feelings.
We aim to provide practical, outdoor and creative activities to provide young people with:
- valuable and transferable skills
- meaningful and positive wellbeing experiences
- strong relationships based on compassion and understanding
- a deeper insight, which will develop and encourage emotional and social growth
- an increased self-awareness.
We have a culture firmly rooted in providing reflection and space for growth and support for the young people accessing the service, their families and our growing team. We hope to offer training and outreach services to other organisations in the long term.
Meeting the need
The organisation is a not for profit social enterprise which aims to meet a very real and growing need, particularly with the effects of Covid-19 school closures and a lack of special school places.
Sadly, the current education system has been and will be under a great deal of pressure with limited resources to meet the needs of young people who have complex needs, anxiety issues and/or present challenging behaviour. Often, these individuals slip through the net or end up disengaged from school and their wider network, which can have a devastating effect on their lives and have a much higher cost to society.
Monitoring progression and achievement
We’ve created our own robust methods for monitoring each student’s progression and achievement depending on the programmes they are on; these will allow staff, individual and peer marking.
- Reporting takes place after each session on some programmes where an overview of each student is given along with scores monitoring of various indicators including Effort, Behaviour, Engagement and Support for Others. These indicators are marked on a scale of 0 – 4, which when totalled will give an overall grade for their day. These scores can be tabulated and plotted on a graph to show overall trends, strengths or areas for improvement. This allows for monitoring and tracking of individuals on various programmes.
- Personal target setting will take place each term with students, and they will be empowered to take ownership of these.
- AQA Unit Awards and other qualifications will be monitored to help illustrate successes and progression for individuals. In-house certificates will be produced to allow for immediate recognition whilst students wait for official certificates to come through.
- Photobooks can be produced to give students reminders of positive moments and achievements from different programmes; and for older students portfolios can be made to help them with their next steps onto further education, training or employment.
- The real measure for our programmes will be that students either make improvements in school or progress onto a positive next step in their learning and personal development.