If you are told enough times, you are not good enough, not clever enough, can’t do that – you will start to believe it. We give our young people that ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ to know there is something more, they can achieve what they want to achieve, but finding that interest, that spark and building their confidence in their own abilities.
Over in photography this week we went down a storm tunnel and had some fun with light…
More photographs of this young man who last week visited Thetford Bus Services and had an amazing time in the cab of the bus.
This week a visit to Elveden Church, one of the only Christian Churches to have a Sikh custodian and a trip to Languard Fort – two great history lessons (outside a classroom) for our young people.
Over in Arts & Crafts this week some great work going on, from pottery painting to pencil drawings and painting.
The theory behind art therapy suggests drawing, coloring, painting, and sculpting can help you tune into and express painful or difficult feelings you have trouble putting into words. Drawing and coloring can be a helpful tool for anyone seeking new ways to manage anxiety symptoms. (www.healthline.com)
Whether younger or older students, learning to read, write and do maths is a life skill we want to encourage. At Pushforward we believe in ‘educating differently’, many subjects are learnt outside of the classroom environment, but if a young person can sit in a room and do these academic subjects and importantly wants to – we will find that interest, support them, and build on their skills.
Sometimes though we do like to learn maths with games – here we have adding up with darts.
What was on the Menu this week over in cookery? A massive batch of Mac N Cheese, Curry (from scratch), Triple Chocolate Birthday Cup Cakes, A birthday cake for one of your young people’s mum’s and Spaghetti Macaroni Pasta.
As well as an important life skill, cooking as a therapy is effective because it encourages creativity. It makes people feel good about themselves, because it’s a way for them to nurture others.
Following the Zog Trail and recognising some favorite Gruffalo characters at High Lodge. That cuddle and smile on the face shows you how much fun this was!
This week’s sporting activities included: Climbing, Cycling, Golf (in the fog), Trip to the ball park with climbing and slides.
Keeping active not only keeps children mentally and physically healthy research has shown that children who exercise regularly have better focus, memory and concentration.
Being creative with music is an amazing tool for young people to be able to express themselves through the medium of sound. Listening to music can reduce stress, creating music has the added benefit of expression and involvement, which focuses attention.
Another way to be creative is with your nails! Here we see creativity, design, handwriting skills and spellings – all to allow this young lady who is performing in a Panto and getting into the character of someone who loves bold colours – so her nails had to show this off – beautiful.
Geography, history, biology this week with discovering fossils and minerals or as our young person called it “treasure”. And comparing skeletons of animals and humans.
A trip to some charity shops to find props of a performance using a budget of £10. Then time to create characters.
This young man is carefully screwing the shiplap fencing (all neatly in a line) to the canti-rail at Newmarket 1.
Getting to know you! When a young person works with a new instructor its important they get to know each other. Understanding what the young person enjoys allows us to see what interests them, find that spark and build on their life skills through a trusted relationship. So we do this by getting them to show us what they enjoy doing. Here our young person shows Steve how to play Xbox 360 games.
Helping a young person with building the base for a new shed in the garden. Working on life skills in their own environment, where they feel confident, where they feel a sense of achievement.
We finish this week of activities with Skipping Stones at Miami Beach…Felixstowe!
We wish all of our young people a great half-term break, stay safe and have fun and thanks to our amazing team for working so hard to help our young people find their spark, learn through play, build on life skills, grow their confidence and know their own worth.
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