Newsletter winter 2016

Lapwing

Newsletter Winter 2016

BBC Suffolk’s Jon Wright interviewing Lapwing student Craig News from HQ Page 2

Lapwing Media Project Page 6

Educate and Liberate Page 3

Safe Ground Page 7

Ted’s Excellent Adventure Page 5

What’s On Page 8

Editor: Wendy Quantrill Lapwing HQ: 01473 621762

wquantrill@lapwingeducation.com lapwingeducation.com

Lapwing Newsletter

News from HQ Promotions Congratulations to Shelly who has been promoted to Lead Coach and will start her new role on 22nd February. From the same date, Chloe will formally leave her Admin role and will continue full time in her role as a Trainee Coach.

December 2015 saw some changes in the leadership of Lapwing.

The Trustees appointed Sophy Jones as Chief Executive Officer and Lapwing founder Sue Chesworth stepped down as Chief Executive Officer, continuing as an Education Consultant for the organisation.

Sophy has been a Trustee and Director of Lapwing since its inception in 2010 and has been creating innovative opportunities for marginalised young people alongside Sue since 2006.

A new Senior Management Team (pictured above) was also appointed to support Sophy.

Jeremy Hennell James is now Managing Director with operational, financial and commercial responsibility. Jo Shevlin (left centre)continues as Head of HR and Wendy Quantrill (far left) remains Communications and Fundraising Manager, with both taking on additional responsibilities for Business Development.

Lynne Dobney, Chair of Trustees, said of the changes ‘Lapwing’s mission is to create and deliver personalised, sustainable, communitybased education for marginalised young people.

‘This new management team will seek out and develop new funding opportunities to enable Lapwing to continue supporting the many students who find their education failing them through ill-health, disability and circumstance.

With her experience and passion Sophy is ideally placed to carry this vision forward’.

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Adam has taken up the opportunity to take on some work as an Instructor/Assessor and will be leading on Phase 2 of the Felixstowe Media Project as well as delivering and assessing the Arts Award.

New starters Welcome to the recent new additions to the team: Sam Pease, Pavlenka Small, Jill Willis, Gary Goodwin, Olivia Sefton-Etheridge, Toni Newland and Rachael Walker.

New arrivals Huge congratulations to Bar and her family who welcomed the arrival of baby Robyn in December.

Staff Training Congratulations to staff who have completed the following training and qualifications: • • • •

Julian – Level 2 Award in Health and Safety in the Workplace Julian - Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Adam, Beth, Shelly, Tracy, Julian – Level 3 Certificate in Mentoring Practice Adam, Shelly, Tracy, Julian and Jo - Level 3 Award in Education and Training.

Lapwing Newsletter

positive learning in Suffolk

Educate & Liberate Young people with learning disabilities who face difficulties in accessing school or work placements are now benefitting from bespoke education packages alongside targeted mental health support thanks to an exciting new initiative taking place in east Suffolk.

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has been invited to work with Lapwing to offer integrated mental health support and education packages to children and young people who have a significant learning disability and a mental health issue.

The initiative enables Lapwing to provide bespoke packages of education, training or employment to people up to the age of 18 who are not currently in mainstream or special school or have difficulties with accessing it.

This in turn will build their confidence and self-esteem.

At the same time, specialists from NSFT’s Learning Disabilities Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (LD CAMHS) East and West Suffolk will work with the child or young person to address their mental health needs, offering support and helping them reintegrate with the community.

The year-long initiative has been made possible after Lapwing secured funding from the Bailey Thomas Charitable Fund. If the pilot is successful, it is hoped it will continue into future years, in turn helping both organisations to provide more integrated, joined-up services while bringing huge benefits to the children and young people involved.

Sam Gillings-Taylor, LD CAMHS Clinical Lead with NSFT, said: “I am delighted we have been selected to be part of this initiative, which is helping us strengthen the positive outcomes our service achieves using an integrated approach with education. We have worked with Lapwing on some very successful joint projects in the past, and being approached to work together again is a testament to the value of integrated working.

“This exciting project has given us a fantastic opportunity to provide person-centred support to service users who experience barriers to education as a result of their mental illness or learning disability. It is helping to build confidence and self-esteem within these young people while offering them care and support for their mental health needs.

“We work hard to develop a relationship with the service users so that we can understand their wishes, desires, fears, likes and dislikes, and can then put together a programme which offers them the right mix of education, support and encouragement to meet their needs. Our aim is to help them gradually reintegrate back into the community and, where possible, into education.

“We have had some great success stories so far, and it has been fantastic to see the impact which the pilot has had on the service users.

They can go from having an incredibly chronic, complex issue which restricts and isolates them to eventually returning to school or the community, which is brilliant for the individual and very rewarding for all of the staff involved in their care.”

Sophy Jones, Lapwing CEO said: “At Lapwing we are constantly hearing about young people with severe learning disabilities and mental ill health being excluded from their community and from education due to their high support needs. This partnership is so exciting because, together with NSFT, we will allow some of the most marginalised young people in Suffolk to take their place in society.

“This education will support them to get out, be listened to, decide what they want to do and build the confidence to be able to participate and feel valued in their community.”

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Lapwing Newsletter

positive learning in Suffolk

Fundraising News A Festive Gift Scrutton Bland Group of Accountants, Tax Advisers, Insurance Brokers and Independent Financial Advisers, based in Colchester, Diss and Ipswich, very generously donated the money they would have spent on Christmas cards and postage to Lapwing - a whopping £1000. We are hugely grateful to the firm for this wonderful donation.

Willis In December Willis held a ‘Dress Down Day’ in aid of Lapwing and we were delighted with the £988 that was raised. We took our stand (pictured left) to the iconic Willis building so we could thank those who donated.

Bermar Stop press... news just in. We’re thrilled that Bermar - the global experts in wine preservation - have chosen Lapwing to be ‘Charity of the Year’ from May 2016..

Ted’s Excellent Adventure The amazing Ted Jenkins has completed his first ever skydive at Beccles Airfield. At the tender age of 82!

As well as raising nearly £1000 Ted went on air to chat to Lesley Dolphin of BBC Radio Suffolk the day before, giving Lapwing some great publicity.

Ted said of his adventure: “Mission accomplished; Absolutely amazing.”

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Lapwing Newsletter

positive learning in Suffolk

Our Inspiring Students

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Lapwing Newsletter

positive learning in Suffolk

Media Project by volunteer contributor Nick Cottam Chill out to those Lapwing vibes!

The winter months may be cold along Felixstowe sea front but there’s been a warm vibe coming from our local media project. Holed up in the bowels of the old Coe’s (the outfitters) building on Hamilton Road our students have been putting together their own radio show as part of the Lapwing Felixstowe Media Project.

Visiting the project on a chilly February night, I met up with lead tutor Jayne Kingshott, coach Adam Ciappi and student Craig Battle, a technical whizz with the studio equipment who lives for the music. Also in attendance were students Laura and Josh – all of us packed into our Felixstowe Radio bunker as another Lapwing music and chat show reached out to the local audience.

“Getting my voice out over the radio has given me a chance to express myself,” says Craig as he Isaac, Johnnie, Laura, Craig and Josh ducked and dived to keep the show on the road.

“Music is an escape for me – particularly hip “So much of this is about self expression and hop from 1985 to 2003.” confidence and it is great to see how much our students are getting from the project,” exBy the time it is finished, the project, which is plained Jayne. funded by Suffolk Coastal District Council, will have given 10 Lapwing students a chance to Watching the team cue up the music and cut experience the challenges, drama and excitein with an announcement I could see what she ment of putting together their own radio show meant. Terry Wogan himself would have been – everything from interviewing local people of proud of them! all ages to learning how to produce and present the show.

Orwell Walk A huge well done to our team of 6 walkers who took part in the Orwell Walk. Five of them made it to 14 miles and one superstar made it the whole 25 miles.

Altogether the team, comprising Chair of Trustees Lynne Dobney, CEO Sophy Jones, Lead Tutor Claire Penrice, Programme Manager Julian Allen and Communications Manager Wendy Quantrill, raised almost £1000.

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Lapwing Newsletter

Safe Ground by volunteer contributor Nick Cottam Building respect and trust Justice Secretary Michael Gove may be set on reforming the prison system but for the moment at least getting locked up is just that. This was one of the stark messages when a Hollesley Bay prisoner spoke to students taking part in Lapwing’s Safe Ground project. ‘Going to prison with no choices was just not worth it’, he told a group of Lapwing students who are at risk not only of being excluded from school but ultimately going to prison.

The Safe Ground project has been helping 10 young people by taking them out of school to cover a range of issues which may be affecting their behaviour. These include drug and alcohol abuse, racial intolerance, internet safety and respect for others. “It’s about building respect and trust,” says Lapwing lead tutor in charge of the course Claire Penrice. “You have to listen to them and get to some of the reasons for the bad behaviour.”

It’s a supportive, reformist agenda which has taken Safe Ground students out of school for one day a week in order to reduce the risk of them being excluded altogether.

In addition to hearing about a prisoner’s experiences they have also met a Police Liaison Officer and spent time with members of the Armed Response Unit. In all cases, says Claire, they have listened attentively to a series of worst case scenarios and how to avoid them.

A big boost for the project was to receive a grant from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Safer Suffolk Fund. “These young people have lacked massive self belief and confidence,” adds Claire. “Safe Ground is helping to build social skills and keep them in school.”

BT Table In November the winners of our BT Golden Ticket raffle took their table at BT Tower 627ft above the London skyline (right)! A clear night ensured stunning 360 degree views of the capital.

Three members of Lapwing staff and one student (below right) went along for a brief drink to host our winners. While they settled down to a gorgeous meal Lapwing hot footed it back to London Liverpool Street station for a speedy McDs. Another huge thank you to all who bought Golden Tickets. Your generosity is much appreciated.

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Lapwing Newsletter

Sue Chesworth As Lapwing founder Sue Chesworth leaves the helm we thank her for her passion, knowledge and unfaltering committment to providing bespoke education for young people with complex needs.

Lapwing Volunteer Hannah Berresford’s What’s on in Suffolk...

Sue will be hugely missed; thankfully she’s not escaped completely and is working with Lapwing students on a whole range of projects, including the Educate and Liberate programme.

Banger Racing

Foxhall Stadium, IP4 5TL spedeworth.co.uk

A fantastic 1,500 seater grandstand on the back straight. There is first class catering available, a licensed club house, toilets including disabled access and wash facilities, and they are in the process of upgrading many of these facilities too.

Suffolk Show This Lapwing newsletter is kindly sponsored by insurance group Ryan’s. The staff fundraise throughout the year for us and we are so grateful. Call them on 01473 343434 or go online to see if they can insure your family, home or business.

www.ryans.co.uk

1 and 2 June 2016 Trinity Park, IP3 8UH suffolkshow.co.uk

Thrilling grand ring displays, amazing animals, spectacular show jumping, top quality shopping and the finest local food and drink all make up a day to remember at the Suffolk Show.

Lackford Lake

Mildenhall Road, IP28 6HX westsuffolksailing.org.uk

SESCA is a friendly family club for dinghy sailors, canoeists and sailboarders of all ages. They are running a series of Sunday afternoon sessions during which potential new members or existing Club members wishing to improve their skills can go out sailing with one of the more experienced sailors in the club.

lapwingeducation.com

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