SHIP Wraparound Pilot 2017
A story by Support Help and Integration in Perthshire
We provided support in a variety of ways, our Play and Stay Group (0-5 yrs), 4 Youth Clubs throughout the week, Activity/Sports Club, Saturday Clubs and Holiday Clubs.
Offering young people the chance to develop friendship with their peers and the teenage volunteers. They also learned vital life skills through the fun and stimulating activities offered. Allowing families a chance to experience some free time to relax and feel refreshed.
S.H.I.P provides support to young people with additional support needs (0-18yrs) and their families.
What SHIP Wraparound Pilot 2017 did
Within the last year we have run a Wrap Around Service in the Summer holidays for four weeks, 5 days a week. The service ran from 8.30 till 5.30 pm offering half days, full days and part day sessions to offer as much flexibility to families as possible. It was based at Fairview School and we ran organised activities for four weeks. We had 25 spaces a day available to book. On some days these were all taken, on a few the booking were down to 15 young people. We also had a play scheme service running at the same time, some young people choose on the day to either stay at wrap a round or go out with play scheme (with parental/carer permissions). In total we had 4500 hours of spaces taken.
To offer this service we recruited a Supervisor, Deputy and Practitioners to ensure the service was run smoothly and offered a variety of activities, events and trips. Letters and booking forms were sent out to parents/carers and the new service was advertised on our Facebook page. Parents/carers sent in booking forms and were allocated days/times that best suited them. This allowed for families to plan their days within the holidays. Some parents have stated that they used this to spend time with other siblings, others could arrange work commitments and some used the time to re-coop some energy. We also have young people attending from Aberfeldy. Due to uptake we could not offer a service in Aberfeldy but we did provide transport to Perth, which allowed them to be included.
It was great that J could interact with other children as I cannot let him play outside without supervision.
It was fantastic. If we didn't have this service I basically couldn't cope in the holidays. Having the option to pick days was really good - it fitted in with other plans we had and I managed to get a last minute extra day when it was my husband's birthday so we could do something with him and relax.
What Support Help and Integration in Perthshire has learned
Families are needing to have the service run from 8.30-5.30 to allow them to have more enriched lives with either the option to work, spend precious time with family/siblings or other past times. This fund has allowed us to offer the extended hours to benefit the 310 carers we help.We learnt that young people, families and volunteers felt secure having the service in a base (Fairview School) which was suitable for all the children's likes, interests and needs. They enjoyed the flexibility of the service and felt more at ease leaving their child. This attracted 6 new families to use the service. The volunteers felt much more supported and felt their knowledge improved therefore were better equipped to support the young people and families.
We need to look more closely at the staffing levels and the cost of running the service and make grant applications with more realistic figures and more fundraising. The staff cost more than had been anticipated.
Funded Organisation
Support Help and Integration in PerthshireVisit Support Help and Integration in Perthshire's website