BBC CHILDREN IN NEED SUMMER PROGRAMME AUGUST 2017

Lifegate Communities with sponsorship from BBC Children in Need, had a Summer Fun Event with Children and Young people who may be experiencing some form of disadvantage through; Illness, abuse or neglect, disability of all kinds, behavioural or psychological difficulties and living in poverty or situations of deprivation.

The summer fun event helped made a difference in children’s lives by protecting, preventing or overcoming the effects of these disadvantages with the grant award. We believe strongly that the Children benefited from the program. They had an amazing-fun-time, team-working-mindset, cross culturally interactively socialised with others from other ethnic backgrounds and races. This made them have new friends as well as gave them opportunity to explore their skill sets and express themselves in ways they deemed fit.

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This was implemented by a project co-ordinator, two facilitators and eleven volunteers. Team members were creative, enthusiastic and flexible in accepting different roles that enhanced team effectiveness at the summer programme. As part of the practices of Lifegate Communities, safe guarding measures were put in place at the venue to ensure that children were safe to participate at the daily activities which were devoid of incidences or accidents.

Parents/guardians consent were sought before pictures of their children or wards could be taken at the events and used for activities related to Lifegate Communities only.

 

During the event, a total of 42 children were registered via our online registration - of them 18 males and 24 females consisting of children with origins from the UK, the Caribbean, Africa, mainland Europe and India.  Much of our children were between the ages of 6 and 10 with them accounting for around 85% of those signed up. The oldest child registered was 14 years old. Of the 42 children registered, 2 were described by their parents as having disabilities: one with minor learning difficulties and one with minor autism. Although much of the group of children were mainly not affected by disability or visibly enduring any difficulties, the group was full of individuals - all with different skills, interests and backgrounds and getting them to integrate as well as engage in the interests was a challenge all were willing to undertake.

 

The children had a successful day out to the Hollywood Bowling with every child safely being transported to and from the venue with no issues. Every child enjoyed their games of bowling where the volunteers assisted as well as guided the children perfectly. Refreshments were provided by the venue as part of the package and the children also enjoyed the food.

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Safety precautions were well adhered to by all children and team members - especially with the lure of the arcade games on the lower floor.

Most children integrated well into the activities; some required some guidance for their behaviour related to sharing, behaviour and being considerate to others, however, in the grand scheme of things, no child gave any of the staff cause for concern in any way.

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Meals and refreshments were given to the children at the summer programme daily for free at no cost of theirs. These were provided taken into consideration the dietary needs of each child as indicated on the online registration form by their parents or carers.  

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