Summary
To provide a Holiday Club for children and young people in Shetland who have disabilities and additional support needs. We will offer a programme of fun recreational activities for six weeks a year for children of pre-school age up to their 19th birthday. Supported by staff and volunteers, it will provide respite for families during the school holidays.
What ASN Holiday Club did
We offered Holiday Clubs for 1 week at Easter, 4 weeks at Summer and a week in October and were based between the north mainland of Shetland, the west mainland and the main town of Lerwick. We also tried out an overnight camp for some of our older children in the Summer to see if there was a want for this type of holiday provision and also to see how we could manage it. The camp was attended by 8 young people and supported by 8 staff. The weather wasn’t in their favour but they enjoyed some inside games, movie and carry-ons, as well as trips to the Outpost animal farm and Scalloway Fisheries College.
Our holiday clubs were as busy as ever and the children enjoyed a variety of activities and trips together, across Shetland. At Easter time we had indoor activities on offer such as swimming, soft play, bouncy castles, movies at Mareel, multisports with our Sports Development team, baking, arts and crafts and sensory time too. Outside we were lucky with the weather and managed some putting at the Flower Park, play park visits, and time on the bikes too.
In summer our teenage members enjoyed trying their hand at film-making with Keiba Clubb, trips out on the boat, exploring Tall Ships, pony riding and inflatable assault courses amongst other regular activities. Our North Mainland group enjoyed staying up north and accessing community activities such as the Brae pool, Voe Soft Play and the community Picnic and Play event too. At Bells Brae school our younger group took part in pony riding and grooming, boat trips, an inflatable disco and visit from the ice-cream van, in addition to the regular activities. Finally our West Mainland group relished in a routine based club at the Aith Leisure Centre with swimming in the mornings and Playzone in the afternoons.
October as expected was a quieter holiday club, which worked in our favour as we did not have access to Bells Brae Primary School. Instead we utilised the Anderson High School for all ages, and due to numbers our west and north mainland bairns joined in there too. Some of our primary children struggled with the change in venue in Lerwick and so were unable to come along for the activities – but we did outreach with them instead to ensure that families got some respite. In October our young people enjoyed activities at Clickimin such as swimming, Playzone and the sensory rooms. They also had a day trip to Burra to see the animals at the Outpost and also to Voxter with Forest Playworker Alex Purbrick, exploring the forest, making campfires and enjoying smores!
What Ability Shetland has learned
We continue to learn and develop each time from those who access the clubs. We have learned to listen to our staff and engage with schools early on, giving us opportunities to visit children in their settings first to ensure a smooth transition for them and their carers into the Holiday Club.
How Ability Shetland has benefitted from the funding
Hugely! We would not be able to deliver without the Better Breaks funding. Having funding from a well-respected funder means that we are in a better position to apply for match funding from other national funders as well as local funds too.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
Disabled children and young people (aged 20 and under) will have more opportunities to have fun, develop friendships and do activities they enjoy
Results
We provided activity planners for parents / carers to share with their children in advance of the school holidays so they could choose what activities they wanted to take part in. We made it clear that although there were plans in place of specific activities, we also had access to plenty of resources and of course 1:1 staff so children could also choose on the day, what they wished to do and how they wanted to spend their time. Children were grouped by their peer choices so those returning again were with familiar peers and staff. Any children / young people who were new to us, our coordinator visited them in their school environment to get to know them, to gather information from staff supporting them, and to allocate them into a group where their needs and wishes would be understood. Using staff who know them from school and social care settings really help children settle and make the most of their time at Holiday Club.
Case study
Feedback includes: "A massive big thank you." "You all work so hard to make the holidays fun." "As always, you guys are AMAZING. Thank you for all the fun so far, the boys have had a blast!"
Outcome
Carers of disabled children and young people (aged 20 and under) will have more opportunities to enjoy a life outside of their caring role
Results
We provided 4 days in both Easter and October and 16 days in the summer holidays for parent carers to book their child into clubs where their child would be supported on a one to one basis with skilled and experienced staff. Parents gave us consent to contact schools for their detailed care plans so as we were not bombarding families too much with forms and requests for information. We also offered a residential trip to some of our older young people resulting in overnight respite for some families too.
Case study
Parent who has 3 children, 2 of which have complex ASN fed back to us that having her boys attend the ASN Holiday Club meant that she could spend some quality time with her other son who has no ASN. He often has to miss out on activities as his siblings are unable to take part so this time his mum can do activities that he chooses for a change.
Outcome
Carers of disabled children and young people (aged 20 and under) will feel better supported to sustain their caring role
Results
Having 24 days over the three sets of school holidays, and potential overnight trip, on offer for carers means that there are opportunities for them to take this time to rest and recuperate during that time. Having the confidence in familiar staff and settings means that carers can relax knowing that trained staff in an appropriate setting with a person centred plan are caring for their ASN child. Being rested means they can charge their batteries to continue in their caring role.
Case study
“Thank you so much for allocating the days I requested for my little girl during the holidays. Knowing that she was with her friends and school LSW, I completely relaxed and headed off to the Haams of Roe with my sister for a 3 hour hike! What a difference that made to my energy levels that night – I was buzzing!”
Outcome
Disabled children and young people (aged 20 and under) and their carers will have improved wellbeing
Results
Carers have improved wellbeing from the resting opportunities provided by the holiday club. They also gain informal peer support from other carers who they connect with during drop off and collection times at the clubs. Having that rest and support from others means that their wellbeing is improved, at a time which can be stressful when routines are changed for their family due to schools being closed. Our evaluations tells us that carers benefit from this time too.
As part of the holiday club programme, we ensure there is always a physical activity on offer for all children but in addition to this we take the children on walks to activities in other settings and we always have outdoor time – no matter what the weather! Being outside and being active is so important for both physical and mental wellbeing for our children.
Case study
We were delighted to be able to take a family swimming for the first time together. Mum cannot manage herself as there are four children in the family with ASN. As we had 1:1 staff (and 2:1 for one of the children) we were able to take them all to the local swimming pool with others in the club as we had booked it out for exclusive use and had transport to be able to manage this too. The children were delighted to be together for as long as they could manage and their physical and mental wellbeing were improved by being active, having fun and spending time with others.