2008 / 2009
CARMARTHENSHIRE YOUTH & CHILDREN S ASSOCIATION
ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE IN HOLISTIC CHILDCARE
Carmarthenshire Youth & Children’s Association
THANKS FROM THE CHAIR The past year has proved as eventful as eventful as ever for CYCA. The opening of a new branch at The Palms, to include training facilities, crèche and office for work in the field of emotional health, together with facilities for hire of rooms with catering if required. This has come about by the forward thinking, initiative, and work by the management team led by Tracy Pike, which we congratulate and thank them. Another new project which began during the year has been ‘Fit 4 Fun’ project, proving to be beneficial and popular throughout Carmarthenshire. Thanks goes to the Fit 4 Fun team and to the Big Lottery for this funding. Work continues in schools and the community, helping a wide range of clientele of differing age groups, our prime work being with children and young people who need our help and support. Nurseries including Flying Start together with after school, holiday, fishing and youth clubs remain very popular and busy. My thanks go to all the staff who continue to be dedicated and professional at all times, particularly to the management team who tirelessly endeavour to search for funding to continue this good work. I wish to thank all out funders for their continuing support particularly Carmarthenshire County Council, Llanelli Town and Rural Councils. Finally a big thank you to all the trustees who have been faithful in attending meetings and always supportive. Here’s to another good year and future success in our work in Carmarthenshire.
Pam J Edmunds Pam Edmunds Chairperson
A YEAR OF PROGRESS This has been a very exciting and busiest year for the Charity since I became Manager which has seen the launch of our second charity CYCA Wales Ltd. Our brand new venture is based in Queen Victoria Rd, establ ished as a purpose built centre for emotional health and we ll being equipped with a full day care crèche, counselling roo ms and a training room. We are now able to offer advice, guidan ce and support to all family members as well as suppor ting businesses in addressing their corporate stress. The management team at CYCA have worked so hard to brin g this venture to fruition, the expertise they have brought to this much needed service is really valued. Our new BIG lottery funded projec t Fit 4 Fun began in March, and we welcome an additional 3 new members of staff as well as our mascot Fabian!. A number of small and big events have been planned to address physical inactivity and obesity in children. The website has been completely revamped and we have also produced a range of new promotion al leaflets about our range of services. Our other service include our two Flying Start funded nurseries at Teddy bears and Jellytotz . Llo yds TSB funded health and Well Being in the Community and the Children In Need funded emotional health activities in rural areas of Carmarthenshire. Our other Lottery funded project, Reaching Out is now in its final year and continues to help som e of the most vulnerable young people in Llanelli. Finally, can I acknowledge all the staff at CYCA who work tirelessly to provide the highest qua lity care and to all the Tracy Pike trustees who continue to support and encourage me as we Association Manager grow.
T. Pike
WHY DO WE EXIST?
CYCA provides recreational and educational services to children, young people and families throughout Carmarthenshire. All children are welcome, regardless of race, ability or social background. And as you’ll see over the next few pages, we offer a varied and stimulating range of activities, from our Flying Start Nurseries right through to After School care and services for older youth and their families. We provide training in our new OCN accredited centre at The Palms that is accessible to all the community. For other community members, our health and well being workshops offer all sport of holistic activities including massage, aromatherapy and relaxation activities. For children aged 0-11 and their families we provide exciting healthy living events as part of our Fit 4 Fun project. An please remember, we’re always on the lookout for volunteers! No matter where your skills lie (from childcare to web design) there are so many ways you can help us develop the CYCA experience,
AFTERSCHOOL & HOLIDAY CLUBS C.Y.C.A. has run five After School this year, clubs in Bryn C.P. School, Furnace C.P.School, Pentip V.A. School, Dewi Sant Play Centre and opened a new club in BrynTeg C.P. School which has been funded by Llwynhendy Integrated Children’s Centre. The Holiday Clubs in Dewi Sant Play Centre were well attended. The Summer Holiday Clubs in Dewi Sant Play Centre and Llanerch Community Hall were well attended and linked into the Fit4 Fun project with an emphasis on Healthy Eating and exercise.
A number of staff attended a three day Level 2 Play Training Course and have applied to attend the Level 3 course. Three members of staff are in the process of acquiring the Level 4 Geiriau Bach qualification. Four members of staff have started NVQ Level 3. Children in Bryn Club took part in a Play Audit as part of a research project for Swansea University. A range of external providers have visited clubs.
A FLYING START FOR EARLY YEARS CHILDREN This was an exciting year for us as we were able to open a brand new Nursery—Little Seraphs to our established Teddybears and Jellitotz groups. Based in our new Centre, The Palms, Little Seraphs opened its doors in June 2009 an is proving to be a major success.
Teddybears and Jellitotz both enjoyed a great year. It was all change at Jellitotz as they moved into the old library building, Morfa where they benefited from a brand new play area and also changed from a playgroup into a full day care nursery, with numbers increasing greatly. Whilst Teddybears enjoyed a close relationship with Copperworks School throughout the year. Members of staff from both nurseries also completed the ‘Geiriau Bach’ Level 4 Early Years course as a means of bringing bilingualism into each setting.
Both nurseries adopted exciting new themes, namely ‘Travelling Around The World’, where the children learned of the different foods, sights, sounds and buildings of different countries. Both too staged some exciting new events, with Teddybears holding a picnic, Dai Dragon’s Party and Sports Day; and Jellitotz staging a Christmas Festival and an Easter Parade in conjunction with Morfa Family Centre.
FIT 4 FUN...HEALTHY LIVING WITH A SMILE! This year saw the launch of our exciting new project, Fit 4 Fun. Running until then end of 2011, the project is funded by the Big Lottery’s Way of Life Programme and it’s aim is to help Carmarthenshire’s children and their families lead more healthy and fun-filled life. The project launched in May 2009 and since then has gone from strength to strength, staging a host of fun events, from children and family cooking sessions to fun dance, sport and skateboard sessions—all with the help of Fabian the Fruitcocktail, Fit 4 Fun’s healthy living mascot.
Look out for our Fit 4 Fun events in the future as we travel the county, spreading the fun, healthy living message to schools and communities near you! If our fun, active family events appeal to you, why not become a Fit 4 Fun friend, where you’ll receive emails containing project news, event information, competitions and much more. Simply email us at fit4fun@cycaonline.org to sign
EMOTIONAL HEALTH & WELL BEING FOR ADULTS Thanks to the funding received from Lloyds TSB we’ve been able to run a variety of workshops and group sessions focusing on the emotional health and well-being of adults. By engaging various members of the community, a number of groups have taken off, and some have even become constituted in their own right, such as ‘HOPE’ the Friday morning group. This group are continuing to learn about emotional health and have created themselves a strong support network, and consequently ran a very successful Health & Well-being fayre at our Dewi Sant Centre. Further groups have been set up in different areas and each has been successful in their own right. In total around 200 adults and their families have attended either workshops or weekly group sessions since the project began, enjoying activities such as family massage sessions . 72 adults have also taken part in holistic health & well-being sessions at The Palms centre.
EMOTIONAL HEALTH & WELLBEING—MOVING ON PROJECT This project is now in its final year and is still proving to be a much needed and valued service for the secondary schools. This year the Team has provided support for 210 young people, 155 members of the school staff and 64 parents/ The Team has contributed to the development of ‘The Palms’ by delivering training sessions in Relaxation and Well-being as well as providing the three therapies of counseling, yoga, circus skills and holistic therapy. Lunchtime workshops have continued to be run in two schools, one being a varied programme where they have been able to learn various massage techniques to use at home and the other being a meditation class for year 11 exam stress. They were both well received and some of the benefits have been a better depth of sleep; increased concentration levels and lower stress levels.
The charity has provided placements in the secondary schools for trainee and qualified volunteer counsellors. This is an exciting development of the project as it allows us to provide more 1:1 sessions in the schools and in the local community. Carmarthenshire’s introduction of a school based counselling service has meant that we are now in a position to offer a discrete counseling service targeting young people who may need long term support or are experiencing issues not dealt with by Carmarthenshire’s school based service. We can also offer a service to young people not attending school. This new service is based at The Palms Centre.
YOUNGER CHILDREN R FO NG SI ES TR -S DE / ON TI XA LA RE Massage in Schools Programme (MISP) The Massage in Schools programme is aimed at children aged 4-12. It has already been delivered in 4 local schools from reception to year 4 classes including one school where the whole school took part as part of their healthy schools month. The programme has been developed further by our holistic therapist to also include some fun games to encourage all children to engage in positive touch peer massage within the family set-up in addition to the school setting. Happy Hands Happy Hands is a new concept on relaxation specifically for nursery school age. The peer massage is delivered via songs & actions with the children learning by copying. Happy Hands is being run in all our nurseries to add a new dimension to the multi-sensory learning we already offer. Relax Kids This programme again is aimed at children aged 4-12 and offers a varied programme of fun, movement, stretching, emotional health, games and visualisation techniques. The idea of the programme is to take children gradually from high busy energy through to quiet low energy using methods that encourage their emotional literacy and firing their imagination. This programme covers all elements of SEAL and PSE and can be run as sessions in schools, clubs or family groups.
If you run any family groups or children’s clubs and are interested in our services please contact us on 01554-757599. Training is also available for any of these services above so that you can utilise the techniques and methods either in school, at home or in your club.
CHILDREN IN NEED
The BBC Children in Need project has now completed and has been a huge success, with over 750 children benefitting from a wide range of activities, which included Puppetry, Peer Massage, Yoga, Fly Fishing, Digital Media, Training Workshops, Aromatherapy, Counselling Tatty Bumpkins and Wii Fit. The project has been well received at all settings and feedback shows that children have enjoyed the activities, with improvement being identified in anger management and behavioural issues, as well as noticeable improvements with children’s social skills.
YOUTH CLUB The Youth Club is steadily growing, with 2009 seeing a lot of new members taking part and average attendance is around 20 – 25 young people per night. The club is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, during term time, between 6.15pm and 8.30pm and is aimed at young people aged 11 - 16. Both these evenings are open as a drop in youth club, with specific events and trips being planned by young people Future plans for the youth club during 2010 are to incorporate accredited training, youth led fundraising, an angling participation hub, extreme sports and to continue to develop the youth mentoring scheme
OWNZONE The OwnZone project has been a fantastic programme, which has gone from success to success at both Bryngwyn & Coedcae Schools, with over 700 young people benefitting annually. The programme, based around three core ‘Zones’, being a ‘Chill Zone’, a ‘Learning Zone’ and a ‘Physical Zone’ is aimed at young people aged 10 – 14, with a particular focus on transition, the programme has introduced young people to a wide variety of activities and support that links from the school outwards into the community and has seen a positive impact on young people’s social inclusion. Activities have included: Angling Participation, with 5 young people achieving Welsh Youth Caps, Aromatherapy, Drama, Crafts, Graffiti Art, Football Skills, Music, War Hammer, a young person led games club, Karate, Digital Diaries, Cricket Skills, Dance, Golf Skills, Photography and Martial Arts.
THE PALMS—OUR EXCITING NEW TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT CENTRE This year proved to be extra special, with the opening of our new training facility – The Palms Centre, which is just a stone’s throw away from our main offices. The centre offers a host of state of the art facilities, which cater for a variety of needs, including Training room for up to 35 people Private and comfortable counselling room 2 fully equipped meeting rooms Bilingual crèche with superb outdoor play area
We offer training seminars and workshops in all aspects of emotional health and well being as well as individual counselling and stress coaching sessions and self help workshops. In the future We will be carrying out several exciting projects for example, developing digital diary media as a means of working with young people to support their emotional well being. The crèche, ‘Little Seraphs’ enables us to offer valuable on-site childcare for parents who are using the centre (subject to availability) as well as being a fully equipped nursery, which can be used by the general public.
If you would like more details about the Palms in general and the various training programmes we offer, just get in touch or visit our website.
CYCA NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT We rely on local businesses and other funding sources. We rely on volunteers who raise funds and help out whenever they can. We rely on the whole community to support and use our facilities.
Can we rely on you? To make the difference, call CYCA today—01554 757599
www.cycaonline.org Carmarthenshire Youth & Children’s Association
Designed By Matthew Newbold
Dewi Sant Centre, Nevill Street, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, SA15 2RS Tel: 01554 757599 cyca@cycaonline.org Registered Charity No 512720