Short Break Stories

Esslemont Owls/Esslemont Eagles and Inverurie Rogues and Rascals

A story by One Parent Families Scotland

The children were involved in the planning process and as the summer was so nice a lot of the activities took place out of doors. We looked at what went well the previous year and adapted on the children’s suggestions to what they wanted to do.

Cookery was again a favourite and we did baking in the venues as well as booking the local community kitchen for several days. There was arts and crafts, ball games outside as both venues had good outside areas,board games, karaoke and wii games.

There were also some music sessions with a local musician who has very good skills with additional support needs children as well as outings to the beach on several occasions,nature walks,aquarium,bowling,soft play and tubing.

We aimed to provide holiday groups and after school school groups for children in pre school,primary and secondary in two areas of Aberdeenshire. These groups would be for children with additional support needs and their siblings.

The groups in the holidays were planned for 4 weeks of the summer in two venues 3 days per week and 1 week during the October holidays again in 2 venues for 3 days. Groups afterschool were split for primary and secondary one night per week during school term time.
Tip 1:
Good communication.
Tip 2:
Work flexibly
Tip 3:
Know what is happening in the area.
We had a very young girl with multiple needs. She had very complex needs and also had epilepsy. She had never been left before with anyone. We worked with the family to build up their confidence in us till mum was able to leave her with us for a 4 hour session. Mum stated to us "The group run by childcare@home is invaluable to our family.Having a few hours without children is such a help.We did not have to worry about them. I don't know how we would manage without childcare@home."

Another young girl has again got complex needs and they have two other siblings. mum stated"By having access to the group for my 2 youngest children meant that I can spend quality time with my eldest daughter which rarely happens due to my youngest daughters disabilities".

A family we have known for several years has 4 children with learning difficulties has accessed the groups for all 4 children. mum has learning difficulties and has had difficulty with reading and writing. This year she sent us a Christmas card she had written thanking us for allowing the children to attend the groups this year.
The groups allowed families to have some repite time to either spend with siblings or have a complete break for themselves. Some of our parents have never spent time apart from their children and the groups have allowed them to have a real break and relax.

In completing the evaluations at the end of holiday groups having a short break is a real treat for some families and this may be the only time they have to themselves or spend with their siblings not affected by a disability.
Having a short period of respite allows the carers an opportunity to have a real break knowing their children are well cared for. Without a break carers can feel overwhelmed and giving a short break can help support them to keep well themselves and allow them a break from their carers role.
Funding allowed us to organise group care for a variety of different children of different ages with different needs. Each child was encouraged to take part in activities and the older children were able to choose what they wanted to do giving them some independence. All the children really enjoy cooking and this encouraged them to take part in this skill as well as equiping them for the future.
The children took part in the planning and the older group of children have asked that they have a teenage group for them if funding is avaiiable again. They also wanted to go to the pantomine this year so a bus has been booked and tickets bought for the Xmas holidays.
Having the funding has allowed us to show that group work can work. It is not for every child but most of the children enjoy socialising with others. It is more cost effective and better for staff than working on your own. We have been lucky to work with Aberdeenshire Council over the last few months and planning for the future in looking across Aberdeenshire at group care.
We have seen the children become more independant and their self esteem has grown whilst attending the groups. Looking at photographs of the children when they first started attending the groups and where they are today is just amazing. We employed one of the children earlier this year who used to attend the groups and to see him working in the groups with children is just amazing.
Challenges - We held discussions with acting headteacher whilst the other headteacher was on secondment. She agreed to let us use premises and before we started the original headteacher came back and would not let us use venue. This held us up in starting in new area but we eventually found new premises.

Benefits - Starting the groups and seeing the real benefit to carers and children allowed us to start discussions with Aberdeenshire Council to start looking at the gaps for families in Aberdeenshire.
We shared information at various meetings about the groups and let other professinals know about the groups. I attended various groups letting parents know what we had to offer in their area.
We talked to parents, gave them information on the groups and left phone numbers so they could call us. Organised meetings with Health Visitors and Social Work Teams and met with Community Workers working in the areas. We had children with epilepsy, cerbal palsy, visually impaired and severe learning difficulties.
The funding has helped so many families and the children have clearly benifitted. This type of recording information on this format has been a total nightmare!!! How you calculate hours is very difficult as we do not have a set pattern for children attending just one group but several groups and this is very difficult to calculate.
Parent and children questionnaires, talking to parents and feedback from professionals working in the areas

"The relaxation session at the end of the presentations was really good and gave me some good techniques to reduce stress at home."

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