Short Break Stories

Playdays and Awaydays

A story by Achievement Bute

To date, the project has delivered 8 trips to the mainland for children of primary school age, two supported volunteer trips, including a weekend team building trip, and two island-based playdays in which disabled and non-disabled children have participated in a range of inclusive play activities.

Our supported volunteers have in addition helped in our Victorian-themed drama event, 2 den-building weeks, 1 themed play-week, an archaeology week and several of our volunteers are currently helping with our Christmas pantomime preparations.

To provide regular short breaks in an inclusive environment for children/young people with disabilities and their carers living on the Isle of Bute. This includes trips off the island, play-days on the island and overnight breaks if requested by families.

The activities take place during school holidays, weekends and during school in-service days. The project also provides opportunities for older children with disabilities aged 14+ to participate in supported volunteering at Achievement Bute events and other activities alongside their non-disabled peers, to develop confidence and skills as they move into adulthood.
Tip 1:
Listen to children
Tip 2:
Listen to parents/carers
Tip 3:
Recruit the right staff and ensure they understand the ethos of support that puts the family at the heart.
The children have had the chance to choose trip destinations off the island that they thought would be exciting and different, including World of Wings, Jurassic Parr, The Hampden Experience and The Tall Ship, to name a few. Case Study 1. A Parent's view- "My kids have been attending Achievement Bute for a while now and it’s been a godsend. Not only have I seen a vast improvement in my kids confidence, they come home full of knowledge about the trips and they get really excited when one is coming up. The staff are fantastic, they know my children very well and keep the enthusiasm up the whole trip. My oldest daughter is a changed girl from the one I sent to Achievement Bute in the first place." Young volunteers took part in a team-building trip to Nethybridge Outdoor centre, which involved them in getting to know each other better, and also trying out a wide range of outdoor activities, some for the first time.

Case Study 2. A parent's view: "I want to tell you how our family got on when Simon went on the young volunteers weekend. When I say "our family" I want to be clear that although Simon went on the trip, it did have benefits to all our family. His wee brother had for once our undivided attention. We love Simon and he has never been away from the family overnight ever, no sleep-overs with friends or cousins.... nothing! We waved goodbye with a tear in our eye, not because we were sad but because he was making a rite of passage. At last he was going to experience being with people his own age without us. He had a ball. When he came back he was tired, happy, excited to tell us what he had done with others his own age together; played pool, a quiz, outdoor activities. At last he ...BELONGED."
The programme of day trips and events for the summer was planned with families knowing the dates well in advance, thereby enabling parents and carers to make plans and use the opportunity of their short breaks for activities that would be beneficial to them as well as their children.

Case study 3. A parent's view. "Having my child at home all day every day for the entire summer is extremely challenging so the fact that I knew for certain that there would be these specific whole days when I wouldn't need to worry about what I could do to keep him amused just made me feel a lot less panicky than I used to feel about the holidays."

Case Study 4- A Carer's view. "Our son had been having a terrible year, and consequently I spent a lot of time worrying about him. The young volunteers weekend was a complete turning point for him, and us. I didn't have to worry about who he was with, because I knew he was being well supported, and when he came back he had made a new friend with whom he then spent virtually the whole summer, either doing volunteering activities or just hanging out. It was brilliant for him, and took a whole lot of pressure off us."
Case Study 5- A parent's view. "I have been given breathing space to do whatever I need to which I would struggle without. I catch some sleep which is extremely hard to do or I spend time with whichever child hasn't gone on the trip which again is a godsend as its hard trying to spread my time between all my children."

Case Study 6- A parent's view. "It was great that there was a range of different trips so every single one of my children could go on them. This gave me the opportunity to plan my time, knowing the kids would be having a great time away. Then when they came back I felt a lot more relaxed and able to cope."
We do not organise any trip or play day without checking with the children and families we work with to make sure what we plan will help improve their quality of life. Parents and carers had identified the need to have full day trips for the children.

Parents' comments included "knowing she was away for the whole day gave me enough time to also go off the island to go shopping without worrying about having to get back on a certain ferry."

Another mum said "it was great - we even managed to have a day out as a couple for a change, and a nice meal without the kids". Equally, the parents wanted the activities for the children to be interesting, exciting and fun.

One said "he's always climbing things, always on the go and was desperate to go to Go Ape. I'm scared of heights and wouldn't have had the nerve to take him myself, so it was a double benefit, he got to do the one thing I couldn't do, and I got a nice relaxing day with my feet on the ground!"
Each child or young person we support has their own personal support plan, which is written with them and their family, based on what they say they need and want.

We base our programme of trips on all the suggestions made by the families, and we organise the timing of the trips so that they fit around the needs and availability of the families, rather than the other way around. We are able to do this because we have regular and ongoing contact with all of the families we support.
Many of the children we support do not meet the local authority threshold for statutory provision. Parents sometimes tell us that without the support we provide, they feel they would be more likely to reach crisis point than otherwise.

We work closely with the local Children with Disabilities Social Worker, who can refer families to us who do not meet their criteria for statutory support, but who still do need and would benefit from short breaks. This funding also allows us to be really flexible in our approach and respond to changing needs.
Our young volunteer programme enables older children and young people with disabilities to experience supported volunteering opportunities alongside their non-disabled peers. This has been one of the most successful aspects of this project this year, and the levels of confidence in all of the young people we have been supporting has increased considerably. Our staff have observed considerable improvements in the ability of specific children to interact more positively with others.

In addition, staff have commented that many of the younger children attending our trips have become noticeably more outgoing and self-confident. One child who at the start of the year was extremely reserved, shy, and uncomfortable around other children has "blossomed" and not only participates fully and happily in our activities, but has gone on to join a number of other groups in the community, something she would never have been able to do before.
In common with many small voluntary organisations we rely on funding from a range of sources, one of which is the local authority. Our local authority changed it's arrangements for our core funding this year and as a result we were unable to retain our project Co-ordinator. We did not want to delay the project so we overcame this by employing sessional staff in the co-ordinator's role.

Another challenge was in organising trips that had been chosen but which were to places we had not visited before. Living on an island it was not always possible to check personally in advance how fully suitable some of the destinations really were. Some venues understanding of what is "accessible" differed from our own.

However, we have learned that there is great benefit from networking with other organisations to pool this kind of knowledge. The biggest unanticipated benefit was the outcomes for our supported volunteers in terms of socialising, building relationships,and the gaining of independent living skills far beyond the scope of the project. New friendships were made, which will last longer than the project.
Most of the families were already known to us, but we also worked closely with the local Children with Disabilities Social Worker, local schools and health visitors, all of whom know our work well and were able to refer families to us.
The children and young people we support on an individual basis have various physical and learning disabilities and medical conditions, including autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, visual and hearing impairments, Down Syndrome, Klinefelter's Syndrome, hemiplegia and Meares-Irlen Syndrome.
Shared Care Scotland has been an extremely supportive funder for a small local voluntary organisation like ours. It is clear that their staff have a good understanding of the values and ethos of this type of work and the pressures and difficulties faced by small voluntary organisations. The funder's ability to respond flexibly and supportively when organisations have faced unexpected and unanticipated events has been refreshing!
The most important way of evaluating the difference we are making is to build trusting relationships with families which leads to regular, ongoing, real conversations with the children who take part, and their parents and carers. We use every opportunity to make sure we are making a positive difference, including informal chats as well as planned individual review meetings, group focus groups etc.

We also take photos and films and we use questionnaires and feedback books where people can write their comments. A word of caution though, collecting evidence is important, but it must not get in the way of actually doing the work.

Collecting the information is important, but of more importance is how this information is used to improve what is provided and to make the right, and sometimes subtle, changes to meet the evolving needs of the families we support.

"As a family we were at breaking point...this break brought us all closer together and enabled us to have fun as a family and enjoy different surroundings. I can't thank you enough...for making this happen for us."

Service User

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