This year, The Neumark Foundation were very pleased to be able to award £17,000 to The Denbigh Workshop, run by Tracy Spencer, for their fantastic Summer Schools, that in recent years have given the young people of Denbigh a positive creative experience with professional performers, practioners and artists, tackling holiday hunger, whilst widening horizons, building communication skills, improving confidence and self-esteem and develop peer groups. The funding enabled this wonderful charity to offer 100 free places over their 2 summer schools. This year The Denbigh Workshop had 108 enquiries and 103 young people came over the two weeks.
Peter Neumark and his family went along to the Summer School to take a look. Rebecca Neumark, CEO of the foundation said “Theatre and the arts has always been recognised as a fantastic way to engage young people and enable growth of their personal, interpersonal and skills development. To see all the young people at the summer schools, engaging and interacting and having this opportunity, was wonderful. We are very pleased to have been able to help through the provision of funding.”
Thank you to Tracy and all your team of dedicated volunteers and practitioners for creating this wonderful, completely inclusive learning experience, in a safe environment for all these local young people.
So here is the overview and outcomes from the Summer Schools from Tracy herself.
Overview
The Denbigh Workshop has successfully delivered summer schools to young people in our area for the last five years and this year, with funding from The Neumark Foundation , we were able to offer 100 fully funded places. This year we actually had 108 enquiries and 103 young people came to work with us over the two weeks, a couple for just a day, the vast majority for the full 5 days of workshops in their particular week.
Our aim was to give the young people of Denbigh a positive creative experience with professional performers, practioners and artists, tackling holiday hunger, whilst widening horizons, building communication skills, improving confidence and self-esteem and develop peer groups. We have done this and more by providing a safe space for young people to learn and grow in a nurtured environment.
Outcomes
Each Monday the young people meet for the first time and are put into four age related groups identified by wristbands, with which they will remain for the rest of the week. Straight away they work within their teams doing ice breaker excercises to start to build friendships and establish strong connections and they take part in a physical warm up. We also ask the young people to come up with their set of rules for the week which included being kind, keeping hands and feet to themselves, listening to tutors, and respecting each others differences. The rules are written on a big piece of paper and stuck to the window in the foyer were they can be seen.
Invariably there are first day nerves from many and some tears, but we have our Saturday workshop students on hand who help ease the transisation as parents leave. The fact that all but two children came back after the first day is testament to the success of the summer school. Parents reported that their children were up and dressed before they needed to be or full of stories from the day on their drive home. Lots of new friends made and no child was ever left to sit on their own our fabulous volunteers would keep an eye out and help them join in with a group stepping out of their comfort zones.
We saw confidence improve over the week in taking on activities never attempted before, and a boost in self-esteem and a pride in their overall finished puppet and printed cards.
Referalls
The vast majority of our referrals, 17%, came via advertising on our Social Media channels including Facebook and twitter with help from our friends at Denbigh HWB, Youth Shedz, St Brigids School, and WCD Young Carers. We also received referalls from DASU (Domestic Abuse Surviors Unit) and Denbighshire Youth Project. Many of our participants had attended one of our previous summer schools or were part of our Saturday youth theatre and known to us. Always good to welcome returnees.
Specific Needs
Many of the young people we worked with this year needed extra support in terms of engaging with the sessions, in fact almost half, 41% were on the spectrum, had anxiety, or were awaiting assessment or have an ASD and or ADHD diagnosis. This meant we had to provide more support staff, 2 extra staff each day, to ensure our young peoples needs were met. This resulted in an extra cost in our budget of £1400 over the 10 days. 3 young people needed one to one care in order for them to fully participate in the sessions and of course my core staff have extensive experience in SEN settings with Cai, Chloe, Olivia and Bethan working full time in a SEN setting in Denbighshire.
Eligibilty
Finding affordable childcare over the six week summer hoildays has always been a struggle for most families which is why we work so hard to provide fully funded places for all 100 participants. We encourage applications and referalls from young people experiencing disadvantage in the first instance and were supported in this by Denbigh Youth Project, DASU and Blossom & Bloom.
Over 31% of the families we worked with were receiveing Universal Credit, whilst 23% were single parents and 16% were young carers. Many had attended a previous summer schools or were part of our Saturday Youth Theatre which was lovely to see them engaging in our summer activities. Below one of Fakhra art sessions.
Our Tutors
We had 18 tutors working over Summer School teaching everything from Clubercise, Musical Theatre, Yoga, Printing, Puppetry, Circus Skills, Singing and Meditation. Most have worked for us before but some were new to us like the two Yoga instructors. All had a current DBS and were taken through our safeguarding training. We like to offer a diverse and wide ranging curriculum of activities, something for everyone. Each day included a physical activity and some quiet focused time of personal reflection, writing or making art. Just a handful of our brilliant tutors below.
Food
To tackle holiday hunger, we like to offer full packed lunch to all those participating, irrespective of income to avoid any stigma. Our packed lunches for 55 (we had some students who wouldn’t be receiving any dinner later and took food home) were supplied by Carla Rizzi Catering, based at the Denbigh Rugby club each day at a very reasonable cost of £13.50 per person per week. All dietary requirements were catered for. Our yoghurts were supplied by local dairy Llaeth Y Llan for free, for 6 days. We were also given £100 voucher to spend on fruit and water by Morrisons. On Fridays for a special treat, we took delivery of Chilly Cow ice cream for all.
Schools involved
The majority of our attendees were from St Brigids and Ysgol Pendref which is not surprising as both schools have a high percentage of young people experiencing disadvantage. Good to see some Welsh language schools in there including Ysgol Twm or Nant and Glan Clwyd as half of our support staff and ¼ of our tutors were Welsh first language and able to deliver bilingually.
CASE STUDIES
ALFIE
Alfie has been part of our Saturday morning youth theatre for 6 years he’s one of our original starters. He currently attends Year 8 at Denbigh High School. He is under assessment through CAMHS after we and his parents suspected he has ADHD. Alfie has always found it difficult to listen to instructions and concentrate for any length of time, without asking questions or fidgeting. We allow him space to ask questions as and when they occur to him and always have some form of fidget toy on him. He was a very quiet and shy little boy when we first met him. This year, his fifth at summer school, he has been an invaluable member of our senior group taking new starters under his wing and building on past achievements. His confidence and self-esteem have improved year on year as has his ability to mix and make friends. His favourite sessions without doubt were puppet making with Huw and writing for wellbeing with Chris.
“Alfie is 13 next month and has been going to The Denbigh Workshop and Summer schools since he was around 7 years old. Alfie has always been quite sensitive to certain situations and struggles with self-confidence. He is not a massively sporty child, tried many different groups and clubs but none of them ever suited him. When he started the Denbigh Workshop he immediately ‘clicked’ with it. Alfie struggles with concentration, staying on task. Over the years the staff and volunteers have had such a positive impact on this, through using different techniques in keeping him engaged and interested, he is able to keep on task much better. He has recently played Miss Trunchbull in the end of term show, and he was fantastic. He was able to learn numerous lines, and stand alone in front of an audience. This is something that I really thought he would not be able to do, always favouring being behind the scenes. Towards the end of his last school year, he also volunteered with the extended transition, helping the year 6 children settle in school. He compared this with how (in particular) Ash helps out with Theatre group. The most recent summer school gave him the opportunity to further his development. He pushed himself to make new friends and throw himself into tasks he found difficult and challenging, but when he saw the outcome, it really gave him a boost. He’s gone into his second year of school with less anxiety and in a more positive mindset. The Denbigh Workshop’s impact on Alfie over the years has been fantastic, the kind understanding nature of the staff and volunteers has enabled Alfie to feel he can be his wonderful self without judgement. He’s really looking forward to starting back with them this term.”
Statement from Annie, Alfie’s mum
MABEL & JOSEPH
Mabel and Joseph are siblings new to us at the Denbigh Workshop. Their Mum Rachel had initially contacted me via Facebook, and said it would be wonderful for the two children to be able to do a summer activity together. She explained that Joseph has Autism and also sent across a copy of Josephs IDP report (Inclusion Development Programme) to help support him in sessions. He was very reluctant to come in after registering on the first day but luckily recognised our support staff Chloe who has worked in his school and was then placed with him for the whole week. We were able to understand his particular needs for instance he didn’t like rain or loud noises and sometimes needed some quite time where he would colour or draw due to excellent communication with his parents.
Mabel is a bright young lady who often gets over shadowed by the needs of her brother. She absolutely loved the summer school, so much so, she has continued her association with us by joining our Saturday Workshop.
“We would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation for allowing Joseph (age 11) & Mabel (age 8) be part of your second workshop of the summer.
Statement from their parents, Rachel & Craig Roberts
After our initial conversation explaining Joseph’s additional learning needs (ASD) you explained how you would accommodate his needs during the workshop which you did fantastically and with the help of support worker, Chloe, we couldn’t have asked for anything more.
Joseph’s confidence was boosted massively following the week workshop, after initially being hesitant in going he could not wait to get back there for the second day and both our children thoroughly enjoyed the whole week gaining new life skills.
This was the first time we were able to find somewhere where Joseph could attend along with Mabel. He explained he felt fully inclusive in all parts of the workshop which was lovely to hear as it is not the usual feedback we have when attending numerous other activities in the past.
Again we would like to express our sincere gratitude for the positive and happy experience both Joseph & Mabel took away from the lovely week had with you and the team during the summer school break.”
