One of our team Andy has been meeting a young lad since September who is shy and nervous and a lot going on in his life.

This week barriers were finally smashed through and lifted as they went across Ipswich to visit a music studio. He chatted with others openly about his likes and dislikes, asked for help and was keen to work with the outside providers.

Working with young people is not just about ticking boxes and obtaining grades, but showing students that they matter, and we’ll be there no matter what, is far more powerful – Andy is super proud of this young man and looking forward to continuing the good work started.

This week was all about breaking barriers and one of our Young People broke amazing barriers by transitioning to a new school this last week. It went really well, and we were super proud of how well he managed himself. The work done by the team at Pushforward has had a massive impact on a young man who is now destined for greatness. To finish off our sessions we headed to Abbey Gardens with some nuts to feed the squirrels, but the birds were much more interested 😀 I feel like these photos really sum him up!

Photography is one of our newest activities – providing our Young People with a new way to be creative. And WOW what an amazing image that was captured!

Photography can be a great hobby (as well as a career!), it allows you to be creative, get outside and enjoy fresh air, connect with nature as well as enjoying photos from experiences such as going out with friends, your family etc. You can take pictures of buildings and architecture – it all helps towards creating memories.

Cooking helps to develop a young person’s planning and time management skills, as well as math’s with measuring, reading with recipes etc. It’s a great way to clearly see and reap the rewards with a tasty treat after!

Our Yew Tree Resin Bench project is coming along nicely! Working on fabricating two legs and finally breaking the resin mould to see the beautiful end result! Can’t wait to see the finished article!

Creative Play is so important in a Young Person’s development – it has massive benefits from fine motor skills, communication, being able to express yourself whether building marble runs and focusing and problem solving, to history and drawing an Anglo-Saxon Village to making your own puppets – learning how to be confident in your ability and be proud of your achievements.

Visiting Abbey Gardens ruins to learn some History with discussions on the Roman Empire. Creating their own tribe and conquering their own area. Asking questions, engaging, curiosity. Making History Fun!

Over in Newmarket this week we have been doing some drilling and soldering – as well as our staff being looked after by a First Aider in the making!

Sometimes our young people don’t want to come in. They have been rejected from so many places, they put up a barrier to liking new experiences. But after our team show them that we are there to support them, to provide them with opportunities the barriers slowly come down. Even though this young person didn’t want to be here, he still got up and made it in. And learned how to weld for the first time. Maybe this is a new career he never thought would be possible for him?!

We also have Carpentry in Newmarket. Today we started to make a Chopping Board, by gluing and clamping the wood in place.

Being a young person has so many challenges, not just your everyday life skills such as reading, writing, finding a job, learning to cook, but also how to stay safe. So, this week we have been discussing lived experiences and public relations project work as a group. Looking at County Lines – what this means to them.

We got a message from a young person’s Mum. She says – “He is laughing again and looking really happy. He loves Pushforward.” This is from a child that did not engage with school, a child that was rejected, a child that was told he is not good enough. We’ve made a small difference in his life and found his spark. Well done to the Pushforward Team for making this possible, not just for one young person but for many.

Our Ethos

No one can begin to affect the world around them until they are CONFIDENT , COMFORTABLE, happy in their own skin and have found their SPARK! We take the time to understand and develop programmes from where the learner is in the world not where we think they should be. The work is underpinned by the Pushforward Wellbeing Index which looks at five key factors to wellbeing.