Summary
SupERkids provided two weekly clubs which focused on music, drama and dance with multiple support needs aged from 5-19 who cannot access mainstream clubs. The young people have fun , raise their confidence, meet friends and their carers obtain some respite.
What Glee / Wee Glee Clubs did
The Better Breaks funded SupERkids program has enabled Glee and Wee Glee clubs in East Renfrewshire. The young people who benefited from these clubs all had multiple support needs and were invited to attend through emailsfliers sent to all carers of young people with ASN in East Renfrewshire.
Glee ran from September 2017 to March 2018 and culminated in a production of Beauty and the Beast in Eastwood Theatre. The most important objective of Glee is inclusion and all young people were involved. Each of the 30 children, irrespective of whether they were verbal or non verbal, had lines to say with AAC devices linked to the sound system. We used an inclusive drama group called DASE, Dance Act Sing Enjoy, and each week the club ran for 2½ hours.
Wee Glee ran on a Monday evening from 6.00 to 7.45pm from September 2017 to March 2018 in the local ASN School, Isobel Mair, which worked well as the 15 children aged from 5-11 years had the safe and accessible location including changing facilities that they knew. Wee Glee culminated in a sharing event of the weekly performances on DVD. A specialist facilitator Paragon Music were used and they made each week fun and exciting. The carers and friends and family were invited to a sharing event where they watched the DVD and interacted with the Paragon and other families.
For both clubs, the carers had time to spend with other family members and all carers had 1.75 to 2.5 hours weekly respite and more around the show and panto. Many carers commented that they were able to spend time with other siblings whilst their child was at a Glee / Wee Glee Club and many said that they were able to do activities that couldn’t be done with their young person in tow.
The Glee Clubs directly address the issues of independence and the complex needs of young people with ASN living in East Renfrewshire. SupERkids, is a carer led organisation and focuses on the needs of the young person. Our young people often have little independence in their life as they are taken to specialised school by a specialist bus and our clubs allow our young people to attend a club similar to their siblings in a safe social and accepting environment
What SupERkids has learned
Dealing with unexpected challenges
The operational format of Glee is tried and tested and has brought much joy to carers and young people over the last 5 years. There has been many challenges and the past success of Glee Club has resulted in increasingly more children with complex needs keen to attend. The appropriate ratio of staff to young people is an ongoing operational challenge as around 40% of the expenditure of the project is spent on sessional support staff. This year we had budgeted for 6 staff and we required 9 as we had 2 young people this year who needed 2 staff to one of them to enable them to attend. We have not turned away any young person but we absorbed additional sessional support staff within the unrestricted revenue of SupERkids. The success of the Clubs is enabling the young people to attend the club and receive the support required without their carers and this impacts on funding and costs.
The suitability of the toilets at the facility that we have used have become a challenge and in line with the more complex needs of new children joining the club,we have to look at alternative venues for next year in order that our young people have appropriate dignified facilities. We hope to have identified a suitable new venue, and hope that it passes our needs assessment.
Other sources of funding
We are so fortunate that Better Breaks have partially funded 64% of these activities and understand that while a daunting task, we are proud that we have bridged the funding gap for these activities, £16,000 in total and £10,000 more than we thought possible in our initial grant application. SupERkids applied for and were successful in Children in Need funding for the Film Club and we have been fortunate to receive donations from individuals who have ran marathons and kilt walks which enabled us to provide all our services.
One of the most interesting things that we learned was the importance of the show to carers and that they would rather help purchase costumes and increase their donation to have a performance.
Finally, our project wants to target young people with multiple support needs and we have learned that we need to be less rigid. Wee Glee suits younger people with complex needs and we initially identified that it would be suitable for 5-10 years. Some children and their carers are keen to stay at Wee Glee past 10 years and this will be undertaken wherever possible.
How SupERkids has benefitted from the funding
SupERkids is a voluntary parent led constituted club, not a charity. We have not gone to charitable status due to the administrative costs involved in being a charity and have spent 99.6% of all funding from all sources directly to operational actives which support the young people. We would prefer to spend the £1,500 annually on clubs which directly support our SupERkids rather than legal and audit fees.
Better Breaks was our only funding partner for 2 years and it meant that our young people were consistently able to attend Glee and Wee Glee during that time. Being in receipt of Better Breaks funding for 5 years concurrently was an indicator to other funders that although we are small and voluntary , we are fiscally responsible and totally focused on the young person. This year, we were successful in obtaining Young Start funding and Children in Need, as well as Better Breaks which will allow the young people of East Renfrewshire to attend the leisure and social clubs that they choose.
Being successful in obtaining Better Breaks funding gave us the confidence to apply for other funding streams and through this we have built up networks within the community with the Head of Social Services and our MP attending the show. We have also become involved with the Equal Opportunity Co-ordinator at East Renfrewshire Council to seek his help in finding premises suitable for the needs of the children without a tripling in costs. In addition, a young person who attended Glee previously has set up his own group "Magic of Showbusiness" and SupERkids have been able to support him wth advice and props (and they now use the DASE service provider) which will enable our older young people a progression from Wee Glee to Glee to Magic of Showbusiness.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
The production of Glee show and sharing event with all participants having a part.
Results
The Glee show was a performance of Beauty and the Beast and all the young people who attended Glee were involved and had a part. Every child was able to give their lines, whether verbally or if non verbal through an AAC method. Even the young person who decided on the day that they could not go on stage sat in the front row to watch the show and helped the musician play the drums. That was a success for us as he now understands what the show does and was involved too on the big day. The performance was Beauty and the Beast and there was 4 Belles as 4 girls decided that they were most suitable, so the story was adapted not just for children with additional support needs but for their wishes.
The Wee Glee sharing event was described as "magical" and each carer/parent could see individually what their young person achieved when they were at Wee Glee independently of their parents.
Case study
One young person attended Glee for the first time this year coming to each club on a Saturday morning where possible. She was very excited as her brother attended a mainstream drama class on a Saturday morning too and she was able to go to one with some friends that she made at SupERkids clubs. Unfortunately, one of her parents became seriously ill and the respite that the Glee Club gave was of great help during that time. Gladly, everyone's health is getting better and the whole extended family where able to come to the performance of Beauty and the Beast in the theatre and the tears cried were happy ones.
Outcome
The ability of carers and young carers to have respite when their disabled child is attending the clubs and the increased confidence of attendees.
Results
Surveys were sent out to both groups of carers for Glee and Wee Glee and the responses were overwhelmingly positive about the respite time and impact on their young person. Many parents commented that it "helped their family enormously" when they can spend quality time with a sibling, and many also commented that it was nice to have "some time to myself". In addition, many parents commented that the performance was so important to them, as not only did their child gain "an immense amount of self esteem" but it was so positive to to see them performing in a show with friends.
Case study
The parent of one SupERkid commented that her teenage daughter is in a special needs base in a High School and has no girls in her class. Her attendance at Glee gives her the social environment to make friends with other girls and they have met up outside of the Glee Club. In addition, her confidence soared from the start of Glee and at the performance of Beauty and the Beast, she lit up the stage as she had a main role in the show and she was able to tell others their lines when they forgot and sang her heart out.
Outcome
The ability of carers and young carers to have respite when their disabled child is attending the clubs and the increased confidence of attendees.
Results
SupERkids developed and sent out a survey for both Glee and Wee Glee Clubs and it was great that carers were able to identify how much help it gave them by the attendance of their young person at the clubs.
One parent commented that the clubs were focused on allowing the children to do things "at their own pace" and that his attendance at Wee Glee allowed the family "to breathe". She stated that it was the only club he had ever attended that worked for him and that he had a countdown on the wall when he got home for the following week. She said that Wee Glee had a huge effect on his confidence and the impact of being able even just to go shopping was great as this could be extremely difficult.
Case study
There are very few activities on a Saturday morning in East Renfrewshire for children with additional support needs. The Glee Club has provided both kids and carers with a club focused on their needs and respite time for the carer. One carer has actually started a small business venture on a Saturday morning as she knows her daughter loves the Glee club and she has put her respite time to do something that she is passionate about. It was a happy family occasion when the same carer's 30 friends and family attended the show because it had made the family happy as her daughter loved her drama club.
Outcome
Respite hours provided for parents and young carers whilst their disabled child attends our clubs and watching their child perform.
Results
There were 26 sessions of Glee Club and 25 session of Wee Glee club plus the show day and sharing event. This allowed each carer, whether parental or young carer, some time, or "quiet" time as some of our carers described it for 2.5 hours per week.
All SupERkids parent volunteers are carers themselves and understand the issues involved in living with young people with additional and multiple support needs. To be able to focus on a positive situation in the show where the achievements of the young people can be celebrated by their carers and also the wider community is a great opportunity. Carers have to focus on what their kids can't do for the majority of the time and it was wonderful for carers to see the contagious happiness of their children on stage. Glee club will not change the world but will change the worlds of the young people who attend and their carers.
Case study
Wee Glee is a club that is focused on children with more complex needs from 5-10 years and is less structured that Glee in order to meet the needs of the children. One carer wrote that due to its "intelligent structure" , his son is relaxed and tired and ready to go to sleep after Wee Glee finished at 7.45pm and that this was almost as good as the respite time before! Another carer said that her daughter loved it and that a happy child meant a happy family. These are very positive benefits for these carers who have a lot of medical issues to deal with on a daily basis.
As the clubs are supported by trained staff for the care needs of each individual child, the carers have few worries in leaving their young person at the club.
Outcome
Provision of Glee, Wee Glee, panto visit and film club.
Results
This outcome was fully achieved by both Glee and Wee Glee. There was not enough funds this year for a panto visit. Instead, there was a ASN showing of a Christmas Movie chosen by all the SupERkids, which families attended, followed by a Christmas Party. The funds for the party were donated by a benefactor and it was attended by carers, young carers and SupERkids attending Glee and Wee Glee.
Film Club (for which we were successful in obtaining funding from Children in Need) started in April 2018 as we needed to wait for enough funding to come through. The club has been very exciting and each week we have needed to remind the young people that it was finished and they had to go home! The premiere of the Lord of the Rings Film Club will be shown in June 2018.
Case study
One SupERkid who has attended the Glee Club since its inception and who is non verbal, has recently been successful in obtaining employment with the Citizen's Theatre in Glasgow, working at the front of house. During the carer feedback session, the parents of this young person attributed in part her success at interview to the interest in the theatre and self confidence she built up through her attendance at Glee Club on a Saturday and in the performances.