Paces in High Green celebrate 20th anniversary

Paces in High Green celebrate 20th anniversary

Paces in High Green celebrate 20th Anniversary

PACES held a children’s picnic party as part of our 20th anniversary celebrations last week.

Paces are very proud to have been awarded ‘Most Inspirational Nursery Setting for Autism Support’ at the Sparkle Sheffield Awards on Saturday.

Steps Community Nursery started life as a sessional playgroup in the local church hall and moved to the Paces Community Campus in late 1997.

From January 1998 it opened as a pre-school nursery and grew over the next four years to offer full day care, 50 weeks of the year.

Two of the staff, Lorraine and Linda, have been involved with the group since the church hall days and began as volunteer parents. Many other members of staff have been at Steps for between 10 and 15 years.

In May they held an open evening for past families, friends and supporters to join them for a piece of celebration cake. They have also launched a refreshed logo, thanks to one of our parents.

Other successes to celebrate this year include SENCO Cheryl receiving a Special Commendation from the Pre-School Learning Alliance, and being nominated by two of our parents for Sparkle Sheffield ‘Most Incredible SEN- CO’ Award. Also, Steps Nursery was nominated for Sparkle Sheffield ‘Most Inspirational Pre- School Nursery’.

Paces at Sheffield United ground

The Blades recently opened the doors to one of their nominated charities, Paces of High Green, for a morning of activities on the hallowed turf of Bramall Lane.

A group of over 70 children and young adults, with a range of motor disabilities, were accompanied by their parents, siblings and carers to take part in the fun.

Dave McCarthy, Operations Director at United, said: “It was a privilege to be able to watch our guests and their families enjoy some time together having fun on the pitch. It proved to be a great experience also for some of our Bramall Lane staff, Academy players and members of our Ladies team, who all joined in the kick about.

“Paces is a fantastic local charity that works so hard to help improve the lives of those affected by motor conditions and it was great to play a part in supporting everyone associated with them.”

Established in 1997, Paces was created by parents of children with Cerebral Palsy and has been dedicated to transforming the lives of those affected by acute conditions of neurological origin ever since.

As the charity has evolved, success has been centred around conductive education, where those with a damaged central nervous system learn how to overcome the disabilities that they face. This is a process of experiences which allows afflicted individuals to move closer to independence.

Paces offer a variety of services to people of all ages via an approach that challenges complex neurological issues such as difficulties with movement, perception, cognition, social sills, emotional development and language skills.

Vikki Mallinder, External Relations Officer at Paces, said: “Our trip to Sheffield United demonstrates the power of local collaboration in helping transform the lives of the individuals this charity represents.

“Experiences like this provide an invaluable part to the learning process and development of these children and young adults.” For more information about Paces visit pacessheffield.org.uk

Sheffield launches Action Plan for Adult Carers

THE newly launched Sheffield’s Adult Carers action plan will make sure that people in a caring role continue to get the support they need so that they can care for others.

The action plan was conceptualised by carers themselves at an event they held and will support their 60,000 unpaid adult peers across Sheffield.

Sheffield City Council works not only with the individual themselves but also a range of related organisations including Sheffield Carers Centre, Sheffield Young Carers, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Health and Social Care Trust and Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group to coordinate the help and support given to the city’s carers.

Chris, who cares for his adult daughter who has autism and cerebral palsy explained that it was essential that the process was a genuine collaboration between services and individual carers and that the plan needed to be “open, honest and transparent to make lasting change”.

Pauline Kimantas, Chief Executive of Sheffield Carers Centre said “The passion in the room at the event was fantastic and it can be used to move things forward. There’s still so much to do and everybody recognises that. We’ll do our best to ensure people work in partnership.”

An important part of the plan is to make sure that carers have “a life of their own” says Emma

Dickinson, the Council’s Commissioning Manager for Carers. Increasing opportunities for these people to look after their own health, have regular and sufficient breaks and to access education and work are important aspects of the Council’s plans.

“Seventy per cent of them are of working age. The plan places an emphasis on helping them to continue to work – or return to work,” she added.

Carers raised concerns about how well institutions work together and what could be done to increase communication and ensure that those they care for, and they themselves, are listened to.

There was lots of agreement that many people doing caring roles don’t see themselves as carers, so the action plan must involve ways to reach those people. Many suggestions came from carers about the ways that GPs and others could support carers to access the help that is out there for them.

The six principles that underpin the new action plan are:

1. Access at the right time, the right type of information and advice for them, their family and the person they care for.

2. Understanding their rights and having access to an assessment.

3. Having a voice for themselves and the person they care for.

4. Having regular and sufficient breaks.

5. Continuing to learn and develop, train or work (if they wish to).

6. Looking after their own health.

Councillor Chris Peace, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care at Sheffield City Council said: “The support that professionals provide to carers to help them find the time and space to be healthy, get enough sleep and maintain relationships is essential. I’m pleased that we have an action plan that we can all work to and I look forward to seeing the progress a plan like this can make.

“Being a carer is an extremely difficult job, which often affects their own mental and physical health. We want to make sure that their important role is supported so that they can continue to support others.”

The Carers Action Plan will be reviewed every six months. The next meeting will be on November 1, where carers and partners will discuss progress.