Active Ark

EDUCATION AND ACTIVITIES

The importance of education is never underestimated at Active Ark and we will provide or facilitate education for children and young people in our care appropriate to their needs, age, ability and length of stay.
We are registered to care for and look after children from eight years of age to young people eighteen and over. Obviously such an intake group is disparate in terms of its needs and ability; our approach therefore is necessarily tailored to their level of ability, degree of participation and length of stay.
What follows is a description of the educational support that we provide for our young people which is designed to be appropriate and achievable.

PRACTICAL SUPPORT AND FACILITISATION

We have keenly supported young people in our care to attend local authority provided educational facilities which has involved our ensuring high levels of attendance and time keeping by providing supportive yet firm care. We endeavour to ensure adequate rest and appropriate sustenance and transport the young person to the establishment. We try to engender an attitude that attendance is of the utmost importance to their future as is their engagement with their allocated work to the degree that our care staff have, if required, remained at the establishment throughout the day.
Examples of establishments involved include; The Wilton Provision in Hawick, Sparks of Genius in Musselburgh, Crannog in Dumfries & Galloway and The Place in South Tyneside.
We have forged a good collaborative relationship with the tutors at The Wilton Centre, so much so that our staff have collected extra work for the young people which they have completed at our classroom in Carlisle where our offices are based. This has afforded the young person a more enriched and complete timetable.
Sparks of Genius, based in Musselburgh, is seen as the preferred full time education facility for young people in the Scottish Borders who have found mainstream school difficult. Again we have established good working relationships with the tutors and this has provided positive outcomes. Several of our young people have attended Sparks and have successfully completed their exams there.
Crannog is a facility offered to young people in Dumfries & Galloway which has given our young people the opportunity to be educated outwith mainstream school.
The Place in South Tyneside is a very similar provision to the Wilton Centre and delivers education on a part time basis. Again we have established good working relationships helping to provide our young people appropriate education opportunities which have again been enhanced by our staff obtaining and delivering extra work at their Active Ark home. When we have been supporting a young person at school they have access to the internet and many teaching resources at our classroom facility at the office in Carlisle.
On several occasions we have helped our young people to continue to be educated at their original mainstream schools and, even when out our county, we have facilitated their education by part-time attendance on agreed days. On other occasions we have accommodated care staff and the child near the school and family home thereby combining school attendance with home visits integrating them into an eventual planned return to the family home. We have also facilitated mainstream school attendance when the young people have been attending a school near their Active Ark homes.
We often prepare children in our care for attendance at residential school and deliver their educational needs in the interim via work provided to us from their existing mainstream school until the transition is complete.
When appropriate we have supplemented our young people’s education with qualified tutors. This is provided at no additional charge to the placing authority nor is the provision of school uniform or educational requisites.
As an experienced registered provider of the ASDAN education system we have been able to offer alternate education for those young people who could not participate in the formal educational environment. We have four dedicated managers, two being qualified teachers, who deliver the ASDAN modules and facilitate the care staff to do likewise. Many of our young people have successfully achieved the Bronze Award and some have had success in the Silver Award which is equated to the standard grade in the Scottish system.
For those children who come for only a short stay and may have an aversion to education we are members of the Institute of Outdoor Learning and will conduct exciting activities which provide learning experiences subliminally.

POST MAINSTREAM SCHOOL AGE

Many of our post school age young people have complete full time college courses. We have arranged their enrolment, encouraged attendance and supported them by liaising with their tutors giving no small amount of encouragement and incentive. Examples of courses attended include night classes, part-time and full time education at Carlisle College, Barony Equine College and Dumfries College.
We have had many young people complete our semi-independence training programme with successful outcomes where young people have developed the necessary skills prior to leaving Active Ark. These programmes have now been augmented by the ASDAN Personal Social Development system and our four managers with responsibility for education have completed the training courses for its successful delivery. PSDs are designed for young people over sixteen and have modules which develop the physical, social, emotional and cognitive skills needed for full independence. Developed by educationalists and similar to the Award system, the modules can be evaluated and provide measurable outcomes for young people leaving care which can assist the transition team with objective evidence for pathways planning.

SOCIAL INCLUSION, SPORTS AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

As well as education we are equally concerned to afford our young people the opportunity of social inclusion during their time at Active Ark. All of our young people are encouraged to engage in new hobbies or interests that offer enrichment and raise confidence and self esteem. The list of examples, which is not exhaustive, includes; Razzmataz which teaches dance and performing arts. Participation in activities including football clubs for girls and boys, swimming clubs, lessons in horse riding, music, ice skating and trampoline. We have had young people attend various Youth Clubs, Army Cadets, Boys Brigade and the Girl Guides. There are many, many, more group sporting and hobby experiences participated in such as fishing, mountain biking, carting and motorsport.
Obviously we are magnificently situated geographically to experience a plethora of outdoor activities in the Scottish Highlands, the English lakes and Kielder Forest. The range of outdoor activities here are almost endless as we have qualified outdoor instructors on our staff as well as responsible providers who we have vetted ourselves to take young our people on adventures in safety. These include camping, mountain biking, climbing, orienteering, caving, canoeing, sailing and many more.