Dare2dream – Work since November 2012
Summary
Dare2dream was set up in the summer of 2012 following the withdrawal of direct youth provision by Suffolk County Council. After registering as a charity it opened the doors in November 2012 and has been running two weekly sessions since then. It opened a homework club in spring 2013 and has run holiday activities in the February, Easter, May and Summer holidays.
The club has gone from strength to strength in terms of numbers and the range of positive activities has benefitted the young people, as parents, supporters and local dignitaries saw at the opening which the young people arranged themselves.
Each session aims to include some physical activity to improve health and team working, and all of the activities – including those suggested by the young people – are developed by the Leaders to deliver positive outcomes for the young people. At the end of each session the Youth Workers review what worked and what didn’t and whether it delivered those outcomes so they can plan to improve in the future, as well as any issues which emerged for individual young people needing to be addressed.
We believe Dare2dream is an example of how youth provision should be run and are writing up the Dare2dream model of operation, activity sheets and our Dare2dream method of assessing outcomes from the work so these could be used by other provision in the area now that this is being done in a patchwork way by the voluntary rather than statutory sector.
Statistics
There are now 43 young people who have signed up as members of Dare2dream. On average 18-20 are attending each of the Tuesday and Thursday evening sessions with around a dozen attending homework club.
In addition to the two part time youth workers and support from Trustees at sessions,we have had three young people volunteer to be helpers.
The monthly totals of attendances (including holiday schemes in February, March/April, May and July/August) are:
November – 19
December – 30
January – 28
February – 79
March – 68
April – 90
May – 79
June – 66
July –157
August (two weeks only) – 142
Of the members there are 17 young women and 26 young men and of those 5 have reported having disabilities.
Activities
A very wide range of activities have taken place in the club including:
- Football
- Dodgeball
- Rounders
- Cricket
- Basketball
- Manhunt
- Wii games
- Pool
- Talent Shows
- Music – songwriting and performance
- Art and Craft – including jewellery making and Christmas decorations and cards
- Laser Quest
- Swimming
- Meditation and pamper sessions including make up
- Watching and discussing films
Achievements/Case Studies
Dodgeball
We had suggested Dodgeball to the young people as an activity. Once they had tried it they were keen to play regularly and the Youth workers sourced a set of rules from the internet and coached them in these. The young people also watched the film Dodgeball, which made them even keener to play.
A Dodgeball competition had been advertised in Ipswich which had two sections – a junior one and a senior one. The young people were keen to take part in this and Dare2dream applied to be included. One of the young people took over the coaching of the team and worked with the others to design a tee shirt which could be worn by the team. This was then produced and has been used since as the official Dare2dream tee shirt at all events when the young people need to be recognised (although they tend to wear it on other occasions as well).
A mini bus and driver was hired to take them there and the Leaders provided packed meal. In the event, there was only one other junior team – the Suffolk Junior Dodgeball team. However the young people had voted anyway and the organisers offered to give them a handicap. It turned out this was only given on a couple of games as the young people played with skill and spirit and won through to the quarter finals – beating the team who eventually won on the way.
The organisers and all of the other teams were very impressed by the way they conducted themselves in terms of behaviour, team spirit, enthusiasm and attitude. As some of the young people commented, they behaved better than some of the adults. They built a particular bond with an Army team and practised with them between games. It is hoped to set up a visit in the future to the team’s base to see life in the armed forces and perhaps play some Dodgeball.
The enthusiasm for Dodgeball has continued and we may set up exchange games in future. It was very good for building team spirit and team working as well as leadership skills, and very good cardiovascular exercise developing physical co-ordination.
Opening
It had been decided not to have an opening ceremony for the centre until numbers had been built up and the young people themselves could get involved. We also wanted to give them a chance to decorate at least part of the centre themselves so it became theirs. The date was set for late June.
The young people’s Management Committee took the lead on organising the event with support from the Youth Workers. They were given a budget and had a discussion on what they wanted to put on to show off what they had achieved. The work needed was divided into areas with a young person taking the lead on each with a deputy and a group of volunteers.
They then worked in these groups and decided on the programme, who would do presentations, who would run the hospitality, who would lead on the different activity demonstrations, who would look after catering and who would write and send the invitations and the press release. The catering team had to design their menu within the available budget and they and other members cooked the food under supervision at the Kings Head kitchen.
Each of the young people also wrote a speech to say what the club had given them and what they liked about it, which they would present themselves on the day. They were also interviewed by Rio for a video and filmed doing various activities so these could be edited in.
On the day they ran everything themselves, welcoming guests and signing them in, doing tours of the centre, organising the activities, handing out food, giving their speeches and thanking those who had attended. They really impressed the parents, local organisations and civic dignitaries who attended – one of whom commented that they were the leaders of the future and another who thought (wrongly) they were all from well off backgrounds because of the way they presented themselves.
The activity was very successful in teaching about discussion, planning, negotiation, communications, practical skills like cooking, and behaviour as well as team work.
Bullying
Some of the young people had experienced issues around bullying and one admitted having been a bully himself at middle school. To address this there were discussions with the young people which resulted in them developing their own anti bullying campaign. Bullying included cyberbullying and feelings about body image, feeling “thick”, and lack of confidence because of dealing with issues within their family which made them feel more vulnerable.
There were also issues about unconscious low level racism and use of racist language by the young people which were included in the work, as well as language about weight and other things which could make other members feel uncomfortable or bad about themselves.
The young people watched some video material including “The Most Beautiful Way to Stop a Bully” by Shane Koyczanand then designed posters about bullying including self image posters where they drew a picture of themselves and the other members wrote comments about the positive things they thought about each other. They were told whenever they felt low they could look at these and see what good things other people thought about them.
At least one young person has said how much the work helped them deal with bullying at school and how much better they felt about themselves. With others taking a leading role has helped them think more about their own behaviour and language and helped them moderate this.
Homework club
Homework club was started because the young people themselves said they were having problems with either the content of homework or their own motivation in getting it done on time and to the right standard.
It was started as a trial with the young people cooking their own food at the end of the session so they didn’t miss out on a meal between school and club.
The Youth Workers do not attempt to teach the young people what to do but help them work together and discuss what is needed in the homework. Generally some will be better at some subjects and others at others so they can help each other about the best way to do it – not what to do but how to understand what is needed and the techniques to do this.
A particular success was the English project on wars where they had to choose a war, do some writing about the war itself and a diary of a person in that war. The leaders helped them find source material online and discuss what they felt the person they picked would experience. Although they had been told not to write about the politics of the war they did discuss this to get a better understanding of what the person they picked may think about not only what they experienced but why it was happening – for example some thought the Germans were bad people until they discussed it and realised the ordinary soldiers were there because their countries were fighting not because they hated the enemy as individuals.
The homework club continues to develop and this term there are some new networked computers and a printer thanks to a donation from County Councillor David Ritchie, and support from a volunteer who is at Cambridge University.
One of the young people said it had been a great help in motivating him to do his homework on time, away from distractions at home and most of those who had attended gained commendations from the school for the way their work had improved.
It has improved not just their attainment but also the way they research information, process and think about this to produce what is needed, and organise themselves with greater self discipline.
Young People’s Management Committee
It had always been the intention to have a Young Person’s Management Committee to play a key role in what was done in the club. From the start in November every effort was made to get the young people to organise their own activities after initial input from the Leaders, and tasks like running the registration and tuck were fairly quickly delegated to individuals to do.
Initially the Management Committee was run by volunteers as there were smallish numbers of regular attendees but as membership grew there were elections held. Each of the members has an area of responsibility that reflects the Trustee roles and work will start this term to pair up the Committee Members and Trustees to develop joint work on things like looking after the building, fundraising, safeguarding, and managing budgets. The committee will also work with the Leaders to develop the programme of activities.
It is planned to have a joint workshop for the Management Committee, Trustees, and staff to look at how the club moves forward in the couple of months.
Painting and Decorating
In order to make the young people feel more as if it is their building (and refresh what is a bit of a “tired” decor) there was a discussion about them helping redecorate part of the centre. Originally this was going to include the coffee bar area as well as the toilets but underestimating cost and overestimating how quickly they could work meant only the toilet areas were done.
The young people were given a budget for paint and materials and they then worked in groups to design how they wanted the toilets to look. Once designs were agreed they went to local shops to cost out the materials – which turned out to be more than double the budget available. They then negotiated between themselves to see where they could share or drop colours, and they checked through the old paint that had been left on site to see if any of that could be used.
Once the shopping list had been decided they went along to buy what was needed and set to work with boys doing their toilet, girls doing theirs and working together on the disabled one and the corridor during the Easter Holiday scheme.
The Youth Workers showed them how to paint and do things like masking areas to create the patchwork they wanted, as well as doing some of the more challenging areas like high ceilings, but the bulk of the work was done by the young people themselves.
The girls were faster than the boys (who tended to get distracted) but all of them worked hard and well at the task and the final results are brilliant.
As well as some practical skills, they have developed their design skills, team working, budgeting and negotiating as well as planning.
Cookery
Despite the limitations of the kitchen in terms of size and equipment, cookery has been a key part of the homework club and holiday activities.
The young people were encouraged to bring dried or tinned ingredients from home which the club supplements, and then work with Jules to decide what to cook. They have all helped to then cook the meals, and set and clear the tables.
As far as possible the meals are designed to be healthy and varied, and each will include things which young people traditionally avoid such as salads. All of the young people have to at least try everything that is cooked – often helping overcome some of their food prejudices and widening the range of things they like or will at least tolerate.
Some of the young people are more natural or keen cooks than others and some have brought in food they have cooked at home to share with everyone, but all are developing skills which they can use in life, and broadening their understanding of healthy eating.
Clans
The core of the Dare2dream incentives and rewards system is the Clans. Currently there are three clans – Poseidon, Gaia and Helios – whose names were chosen by the young people. Each young person belongs to a clan.
Individuals and clans can have points awarded or taken away by the leaders for their behaviour. Good behaviour such as helping with tidying, cooking, washing up, setting up and putting away equipment, plus achievement in activities, will get points. Negative behaviour including rudeness, not sharing or refusing to participate, will result in points being taken away.
At the end of each month the clan with the most points will get a treat, as will the individual with most points. This may be something from the tuck shop or something more for exceptional achievement.
The clan system works well as there is peer pressure within the clans and competition between them to encourage gaining points and discouraging losing them.
This worked particularly well during the summer activities as they were used to assess performance in the Dare2dream Ultimate Challenge. Points were added up at the start of the Ultimate Challenge so everyone knew where they and their clans stood. They then did a series of challenges.
Points were awarded for teamwork and individual achievements as well as for the position the Clans came in the event.
Police Alphabet, CSI and police dog sessions
We have built up a very positive relationship with the local Police and PCSOs since we opened. The PCSOs feel they can pop in at any time to tell the young people information and the young people know and trust them and feel they can also talk to them about any issues.
The PCSOs have organised three activities for the young people. The first was teaching them the Police and emergency services alphabet – Alpha, Bravo, etc - which is useful in dealing with call centres as well as the police fire and ambulance services.
The second was CSI Bungay. An area of the gym was taped off as a crime scene and “clues” were placed there together with a fake body made by the young people. One of the young people was then suited up and acted as the investigator, directed by the PCSOs. They looked at collecting fingerprints, and other materials and had the process explained to them.