BRIEFING TO THE EAST OLDHAM DISTRICT PARTNERSHIP
EAST OLDHAM YOUTH SERVICE UPDATE
Portfolio Holder: Cllr Jean Stretton, Neighbourhoods and Devolved Services Report Author: Stephen Donnelly Date: 28 th November 2012
What the issue is: To brief the District Partnership on recent activity supported by the East Oldham Youth Service, and current priorities
Requirement from District Partnership: To note the information presented
How to be actioned:
Report author attending
Discussion item
Presentation
July – September 2012
Review East Oldham
Priorities/ Aims for the Period
• Increase the number of young people attending provision in East Oldham • Young people from East Oldham to attend Coldwell residential experience August 2012 • Young people from Sholver youth centre to participate in Litter pick in Sholver community • Young people from Sholver to support local community by attending the scarecrow festival • To increase the number of AQA’s acquired by young people in East Oldham
Highlights of Activity
Scarecrow festival – Was a fun community day for East Oldham that was organised by Charisma, the local community group for Sholver and Moorside. Many local groups took part, including The Sholver Harvest Community Church, St Thomas’s Primary School, Waterhead Academy, St James Children’s Centre, Integrated Youth Service and the local community. Everyone produced a life size scarecrow. There were many organisations involved in the day offering services and sign posting. The day was a huge success and was a fantastic example of partnership working and community spirit
Coldwell Inn Burnley – 12 young people from Sholver Youth Centre attended a Residential Experience to Coldwell Inn Activity centre, Burnley. The young people were chosen as they had shown a great deal of commitment in supporting Sholver Youth Centre in a variety of community and fundraising events .The Young people took part in a variety of activities such as Leap Of Faith, Survival skills and Canoeing. For some of the young people this was their very first residential experience and the feedback we have received from the young people has been very positive and because of this we have now recruited new members to the East Oldham Youth Forum.
Sholver community litter pick – A group of young people from Sholver youth centre undertook a litter picked around the Sholver area, targeting local hotspots. We worked alongside John Fay from Environmental Services; he brought us personal protective equipment and picking equipment. The day was very successful, and it was good for the community to see young people involved in taking care of the local community
Glodwick percussion project - 10 young people from Glodwick youth Centre came together with young people from Fitton Hill youth centre and Saddleworth youth centre, to take part in an 8 week accredited Dance and Percussion project at Satellite Youth Centre. During the project the young people developed skills in dance and drumming, and are working towards completing their level 1 bronze Arts award. All the young people worked very hard and made new friends and will be showcasing their new skills in a performance later this year.
Outcomes
During the period July to September 2012, the following outputs were achieved in East Oldham (outputs are based on populations of 8 – 19 year olds);
• We had a total 1338 visits to provision across East Oldham
• Of these young people 98 were from a BME background • 677 Visits from young people who attended activities on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday • These were 188 new young people that attended activities across East Oldham
Best Practice / Lessons Learned
With the increased use of Sholver youth centre by community groups, members of the local community have started to build positive relationships with young people and are now regularly taking part in activities such as litter picks, young people attending the local St James art group and preparation for the scarecrow festival
Case Study - John Smith age 12- was fed through to us from the Sholver junior Youth club. John first joined us for one of our Tesco’s bag pack to raised funds for the youth club. We quickly discussed about John becoming a senior member of the junior group, this was taking more responsibility, supporting young juniors in art, playing sports or PC’s. We slowly moved him to the senior group by gradually taking part in senior session. He took part in our summer programme and our residential to Coldwell inn Burnley. John has been a great example of how young people from our community can be fed through from juniors to seniors. We are hoping that John becomes an active member of the youth centre and be part of the East Oldham youth forum.
Testimonies
Parent from sholver open access – “I think that the activities that are put on by IYS are excellent. My daughter has been attending activities in East Oldham for the last few years and has built positive relations ships with the members of staff at Sholver”
Sholver Ability group – “Sholver Ability is a fantastic session that both my children attend weekly. It gives us a break and the chance to meet other parents whilst my children get the opportunities to take part in fun activities.”
Young person Sholver – “The residential to Coldwell Inn was sick. I was really scared of the leap of faith but so glad I did - it was mint”
Priorities for the next term October – December 2012 • Increase young people membership East Oldham youth forum • Bring young people from Glodwick and Sholver youth centre to attend trip to Maritime museum Liverpool as part of black history month • Young people from East Oldham to attend Intergenerational Darts event at Walkers lane • To support local Community group Charisma in bringing all the community together as part of Christmas Lantern parade • To continue to develop Pace Programme in Oldham college as part of the traded offer