APNA Project After School Club
A story by Barnardos
We provided after school club care to children with a disability living in Glasgow city.
What APNA Project After School Club did
We provided after school club support to disabled children twice a week in the evening. While children were at the club their main carers got a much needed break and use this time to get on with other works without being in stress.
Some carers attended fitness classes while their children were in the club. The session was for 3 hours each day and attended by 13 children twice a week. The activities designed to make sure that children had fun, learn new skills and improve their health and well being.
The club was advertised at local agencies, library and shops. 2 volunteers were employed to work in the club.
K is encouraged to be taken for walks and a lot of physical activities are planned for K to encourage her to lose weight and be more health conscience. K's communication is not clear and can show frustration if she feels that she is not being understood properly, therefore workers are encouraged to use sign language as best they can and understand K requirements.
K loves dancing so workers get her to dance in the club, she was also given one to one training in Bollywood dance. She learnt to dance on few songs and perform on the night of APNA fundraising event. She was very happy to do this. She was given a medal with her name engraved on it. After the event K was much more happy and also her family are very relieved to see her happy. She continues to dance and hopefully this will help her lose weight.
His mother is sole carer. Caring for KH can be very demanding due to his multiple disabilities. When KH is in after school he attends yoga class not to just improve his physical health but have a calm mind so that he is not overwhelmed with stress and looking after K he feels happy and loves the yoga class.
The discussion in the group also based on how they see the work of the project and what can be done to improve the service for them. Carers also support each other with information and looking after each other’s children when needed. They become aware of local services available to them and are supported to get them if needed by the project staff. Carers also take part in the evaluation of the service and give us their opinion about the services we deliver for their children. A number of changes happened in the project based on the ideas given by these carers.
What Barnardos has learned
Funding helped carer to have a break in the evening a very busy time for them. This respite time gave them opportunity to have a less stressful evening and get on with the tasks and stay relaxed. Some carers go out for fitness class, walk or socialise.Most of the children attend after school club get one to one support and the support is based on their ability and choice. Also some children have specific outcomes which project need to achieve while they access the service.