Over the summer we have had a couple of excursions away from the Cally. We took a group to Thorpe Park for the day in partnership with the Y-Team and held a BBQ in a local park together.

We also took seven girls to Kent where they had a pony for the day; this included mucking out the stables, grooming, feeding, and sweeping the yard as well as a lesson and trek. It was a fantastic experience and one we hope to repeat and see the group develop. Another group was taken to see Dirty Dancing at the Aldwych Theatre and it was a really positive experience.

We have a few more events lined up before the British summer is completely over and a forgotten memory.

Literacy:

Our literacy students took a break over the summer except for one who has kept going through the holiday period and is making great progress. The others will be starting again in the next couple of weeks and some new people are joining. We are excited about how this has progressed since its launch and will be able to offer an ASDAN in Literacy from September for those that feel ready. The ASDAN course is portfolio based and fits in perfectly with our methods; watch this space.

Other News

In case you have nott picked up on it we are pleased that we have become a registered ASDAN centre for Short Course, which allows young people to gain accredited outcomes in many areas of learning. ASDANS offer a whole host of qualifications and we plan to increase what we offer but are starting with the Short Course this year and will aim to build these up slowly. ASDANS are a recognised award system so can help young people with employability. We will bring you more news as we start to deliver these.

We are delighted that Beef and Abdul are both Key Fund Facilitators and are looking forward to using this fund in our work. Key Fund awards incremental grants of £250 - £2000 to groups of young people, giving them the opportunity to run projects and gain experiences previously beyond their reach. It uses these grants as an incentive for young people to organise something beyond their present capabilities and to progress through the four stages by designing and delivering increasingly more complex projects. It provides a tried and tested way for young people to develop 12 key skills with the support of the facilitators.

 We are delighted to be a part of this and look forward to telling you stories of how it has engaged young people.

Job Club has steadily been running every week helping young people with CVs and Job search. It is run by one of our volunteers, Michael Bull, who has developed a real skill in this area.

We are delighted that part of the next course will be accredited through the ASDAN award scheme.

Over the summer we have also added extra afternoon sessions whenever possible as more young people are around during the day.

We are also pleased to have a worker from IDAT (Islington Drug Action Team) with us throughout August and through September on our Monday evening sessions; it has led to some positive conversations around drugs and puts a face to the service for young people making the process of young people accessing them easier.

Boston Club:

This now sees an average of 35 young people attending every week and has grown in popularity since United House gave us £1000 for new equipment.  We have also extended the time from an 8.30pm end to 9.00pm as behaviour has improved so much.

We would like to thank Liz Vos from United House for all her help and support over the last few months, their very generous financial contribution has allowed for the very tired equipment to be updated. We are now the proud owners of the following: two table tennis tables, a pool table, air hockey table and a fantastic Nintendo Wii console. Prospex and the young people are extremely grateful.

We are keen to see this part of our work fully operational again and hope to have good news soon.

This was in partnership with Crumbles Adventure Play and Parents 4 Parents who provided food and music for the occassion to whom we are very grateful.

The day saw an extremely good turnout with eighty seven families attending. 

 We are delighted to have received part funding for our next course which will start after the summer holidays.

 Short videos showing aspects of the course will be appearing on our website soon so make sure you look out for them.

We are sorry to report that our funding application to Children in Need was unsuccessful. This was very disappointing news but will not hamper our efforts to continue seeking funding for this invaluable work-stream.

We are currently seeking another four sessional workers bringing the team up to six regular workers.