Summary
Disability Shetland planned, managed, organised and ran a Holiday Club for children and young people in Shetland who have disabilities and additional support needs. The Holiday Club offered a programme of recreational, educational and social activities for six weeks a year, during school holidays.
What ASN Holiday Club did
The ASN Holiday Club operated over three days for 1 week in Easter, 4 weeks at Summer and 1 in October. Each day was divided into half day sessions (Primary and Secondary - morning and afternoon) which encouraged more younger children to access the service as well as offering a transition period for new referrals.
The children and young people had a good time and experienced new activities and places to explore. We worked with other services to ensure we make the most of our community assets. We worked together with Shetland Carers regarding support they provide to siblings and carers and ensuring these activities complimented each other; we worked with Shetland Family Centre Services and accessed their play expertise and resources; we worked with Active Schools and ensured we had physical activity as part of our programme; Youth Services too have resources we can access for our children through the ever popular Islesburgh Community Centre (and café!); the Shetland Recreational Trust worked with us to provide activities to suit all our needs and we had trips out all across the Shetland Islands which included ferry trips, boat trips, play parks and beaches.
A total of 38 children attended the Holiday Club over the course of the year. Our new Under 5’s group ran parallel to the Holiday Club 1 morning a week and provided a feel for our future numbers!
We had 2 Club Leaders coordinating the paid support workers and volunteers. Sessions were also attended by the Team Leader or trustee each day at some point and we had the support of workers from the Autism Transition Project, family Personal Assistants and Short Breaks care staff. Overall, this gave us an average staff to client ratio of approximately 1 to 1. All our paid staff are registered with the Scottish Social Service Council as Child Care Workers as the Holiday Club is a registered service. Staff and volunteers have all undertaken their mandatory training and are offered CPD opportunities where time allows.
What Disability Shetland has learned
The importance of positive relationships with other service providers and working together with these providers to best meet the needs of children with ASN and their families. Also, having a constant presence in the media and sharing our successes and programmes with the whole of Shetland has meant we have received other funding, support from businesses in our programme and highlighted the abilities of our youngsters.
How Disability Shetland has benefitted from the funding
Due to being successful with the Better Breaks funding, we receive funding from the local authority to meet the rest of the costs. We would not be able to provide trained staff and a full and varied programme to families in Shetland without this funding. Shetland Carers also receive funding through Better Breaks and they work really well with is to ensure we are jointly offering support to the whole family during school holidays when parents and siblings are under more pressure in their caring role.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
Increased numbers.
Extended the range of activities.
Individual care plans for those accessing club.
Attendance at inter-agency reviews for children.
Results
We have doubled our attendance. This is due to better relationships and joined up working with other services, promoting the work our organisation does and the benefits to families across the whole of the Shetland Islands. Our social media presence has increased significantly and we have over 1500 followers on Facebook. We received referrals from more sources than previous years from other agencies. We consulted with families to ask them what activities they wanted and what would make it better for their children to attend. We then planned programmes offering activities all over Shetland. In addition to this, we would take an individual approach on a daily basis, always consulting with children and offering choice throughout the day. We had training days which looked through individual care plans and included input from health professionals to ensure staff were trained in any particular conditions which meant we could offer the service to a wider range of families.
Case study
Parents of a young girl approached the service looking for support in the holidays as school staff had suggested it would be good for her to attend activities outwith the home. The family were very anxious and had taken time to build up trust at school due to the significant medical needs of the 4 year old. She had been very poorly and required support with all aspects of her care, including potential rescue medication and CPR. They had received no other support from any other services but were keen for her to be able to be in an environment with other children and to experience different activities away from her parents who did all the caring. This would also be a break for them. We met with the family, at their home and at the school, attended training and then spent time with the girl’s school worker who the family were most comfortable with. We then offered if the school worker would like to join us on the Holiday Club so our staff could shadow her to learn from her and to also give parents confidence in our service and build up confidence in our staff too. We tailored activities to ensure they were suitable for the young girl and to give her opportunities to try new experiences etc.
Outcome
Carers report that Club has benefitted them.
Siblings and extended family has benefitted.
Carers will have accessed activities when children at Club.
Care Inspectorate will deliver a positive report.
Results
Our formal evaluation responses after each session of Holiday Club are positive from parents / carers. We consult with Shetland Carers about the provision they provide during the school holidays so that our clubs offer a complete break to families and to offer fun activities and trips out to siblings too. In addition to formal evaluation we also receive daily feedback from families direct to the workers and volunteers and as we share photos of the Club on Facebook throughout the school holidays, we receive positive comments from parent/carers and extended family members. We share our planner and feedback with the Care Inspectorate each session and she too gives us positive feedback. We have been inspected once and we received all positive with no recommendations.
Case study
A single parent accesses the Holiday Club for her son. She has built up the time that he spends at Club and now leaves him for full days, including trips that are out-with the town she stays in. She has passed on that she now feels she is getting a complete break and due to the length of the day of the Club, she has long enough to feel like she has relaxed and had time for herself. She says her mental health has improved as she has been able to get back into her running as she cannot leave him with others for any length of time and when he is at school, she is working. She feels she is achieving something for herself as she can get our long enough to train for a half marathon – a goal for herself.
Outcome
Carers will have 18 days away from caring.
Carers will be reassured they can pursue interests, knowing their child/dren are safe.
Results
The Holiday Club continues to run for 18 days in the school holidays, where half days are an option for parent carers to choose to support with transitions. Parents have fed back that having this option has supported their anxieties around their children attending which then enables them to relax when their child is with our service. Parents have also relayed to us, directly and through school/social work, that they are grateful for the individual support and effort we put into ensuring our staff and volunteers are well trained and experienced and also that our staff are registered with the Care Inspectorate. As mentioned previously, we continue to monitor and evaluate our service with parents / carers and young people, both formally and informally and use this to inform our practice.
Case study
See case study 1.
Outcome
Carers will benefit from time they can spend in chosen activities, or in rest and relaxation.
Carers will be able to share experiences and strategies with Holiday Club staff.
Carers will establish and develop relationships with Holiday Club staff which will continue beyond the Holiday Club.
Results
Parents are given dates of the Holiday Club a year in advance so they can plan their holidays around the opportunity for both child care and for activities for themselves and others in their family. This new way of giving our information beforehand has been very well received by families and allows them time to look through potential activities and time to discuss support and any additional resources that may be required for their child to attend. Before children can attend club we ask for care plans to be completed and for permission to contact other services their child accesses so we can gain child passports and any training from health, education or social care. We are invited to inter-agency meetings with parents and have opportunities to share successes and achievements with everyone involved with the child. We meet and greet parents at the beginning and end of every session so information can be passed on and shared.
Case study
In addition to our staff and volunteers, we also have support from Short Breaks staff, personal assistants through families who direct their own support, and our Autism Transition Project staff. We ensure that children and young people are supported by people who know them and that families are comfortable and happy with. We work closely with education and have taken on school staff who have had additional training and are experienced in working with particular children. This has really helped some anxious parents and ensured that they are able to relax and rest when their child is in our care.
Outcome
Children and young people will have experienced a wide range of activities, including ones that are new to them.
Children and young people will have attended mainstream facilities .
Children and carers will take the opportunity to join mainstream clubs and activities, following Holiday Club.
Results
The Holiday Club accesses community facilities and venues across the whole of the Shetland Isles, including places that require ferries. Often children are visiting places they have never been before. All the venues we access are mainstream and we aim to ensure these venues are not exclusively for us, unless we require that space. We utilise community halls, family centres, leisure centres, pools, parks, outdoor centres, youth centres, shops, cafes, museums and art galleries. Many of these places children haven’t been so it not only is a new experience for them, but it also encourages parents to take them along at another time.. We work closely with other services such as Active Schools, Sport and Leisure, Shetland Library, Shetland Arts etc, as well as private business that offer arts and crafts workshops, music workshops, pony riding etc so we have a well varied and inclusive programme on offer. These activities gives parents confidence to try again outwith holiday club.
Case study
We took a group of children to a local pottery workshop which is on the main street. The children were in the shop with other families and attended a slime workshop. The shop was busy and had a super atmosphere, where there were lots of people coming and going and having a good time, laughing between the tables. Each child got their own pot of slime to take home. When passing this onto parents, one parent said he couldn’t believe that we had taken their son there as they had thought he wouldn’t manage and end up breaking something as it was always very busy and shelves covered in ceramic pots etc. We explained that they could do slime which was more interactive, less need for fine motor skills. They said they would be going there sometime soon to try it out for themselves with the boy’s siblings too as they couldn’t always come up with activities that suited the whole family.