barnabas-northumberland.org.uk

As I write it is the summer holidays. We have planned an ambitious range of activities for young people for the 6 week summer period. We have an excellent team of sessional staff who are delivering youth arts activities and bouldering. Activities have been marketed through distribution of flyers at schools during the last week of term.

Our Housing Project which is staffed by perminant staff is subject to rotating staff holidays with staff covering for each other and locum staff comissioned to fill gaps.

From a line managers perspective its a challenge staying on top of the housing project while pulling together the Summer Activity programmes and supporting sessional staff. I really think I must plan staff holidays better next year to avoid key personel being off at the same time.

We’re exactly half way into the summer programme, we have a sk8/BMX ramp building project which is going well, our bouldering wall has reopened and we are getting alot of requests for under 9s instruction but not over 9′s, our arts activities have engaged a limited number of teenagers. We have had a number of our supported housing service users making use of the facilities. While the activities are not as well attended as I had hoped, In some ways I am thankful that we are coping well, are learning and have got some good outcomes and in other ways I am wondering what we have done wrong.  Was it not getting marketing out sooner? Did the marketing get distributed? Was it priced up wrong? Did the competition (BVAL) do better? We are thinking on our feet. Yesterday we did some consultation with young people hanging out in the park and market place to see if they have heard about whats on offer, and to find out what we could do in future. Last week we set up our Yurt in the park and offered arts in the park. This was not originally envisaged. This week we are beginning to get bookings for animation activities.

I have started thinking about marketing for afterschools session after the holidays. The new flyers have been designed and are now at the printers. We are getting 10,000 twice as much as we ordered for the summer programme. I have started thinking about progression for climbers at the bouldering wall and we are looking at how we can offer roped climbing as a progresson.

Tomorrow It is going to rain, the bouldering wall may well be busy and under cover activities may also be in demand.  One of our youth workers has time booked away so we can only run limited activities.  I need to deal with a Housing Service User who has all but abandoned one of our properties. A reminder of our core purpose in the middle of the fun and excitement of the summer programme.