faith comment newsletters annual reports archives audio video minutes Petersfield Radio

Annual Report for The King's Arms 2018

We make a strong commitment to offering the following services and activities for young people:

Over the year we offered the following:

Here is an example of a young person we have impacted over the last year in the Open Access After School:

‘I like Petersfield because there’s lots of going on that brings people together. It’s a close community. But there’s quite a lot of problems too that people don’t know about. I’ve been coming to the KA for nearly three years. Now I come nearly every day. If I wasn’t here I’d be sat at home wasting time. What do I like the most? You can always get help from the staff. It’s a totally non-judgemental place and a really healthy environment. The more you come here, the better off you can be. The staff are like a cool friend you can talk to. But it’s not just about getting help. It’s also about having fun! Most of the young volunteers have to be in Year 11, but they’ve made an exception for me. I want to work as a youth worker, thanks to the KA.’

Open access evening sessions

70 sessions with attendance of 1003 young people (2107 - 91 sessions with attendance of 754 young people)

This year we have made a significant change to how we run our Tuesday evening sessions. In 2017 it was still for the year 10’s and 11’s. As predicted the numbers were beginning to dwindle as the young people that attended were heading towards exams and becoming focused on revision. So in January of 2018 we started our New Year 7 club which was launched with Dynamo visiting.

Since then we have run the year 11’s and 7’s at the same time with the year 11’s having a room upstairs just for themselves in which to chill out and a youth worker available to engage with. Running two groups at once has caused an increase in attendance. The Friday night sessions continued in popularity giving us a decent average of attendance across our sessions. Also due to higher numbers at our after school clubs the team has had more opportunity to encourage those young people to come to our evening groups which is another reason for higher evening club attendances.

Here is an example of a young person we have impacted over the last year in the Open Access Evening Clubs:

‘I think more people should come to the KA, especially if they’re in Year 7. All the staff are really nice, there’s loads of stuff to do, you can relax and there’s sweets! You can meet lots of new people and make new friends. It’s a good place. What do I like the most? The staff treat you as an equal and respect you. My parents work in the evening so I come here a lot. I used to come here, but then I stopped – but I was bored, so I came back. Even the rules are quite good! People are really open and don’t judge you. The one thing I’d like to change is the location. Then more people could come!’

Young carers programme

43 monthly clubs with attendance of 563 young carers, 7 trips with 55 young people, 92 school support clubs with an attendance of 347 young carers, 105 one to one mentoring sessions (2017 - 43 monthly clubs with attendance of 520 young carers, 88 school support clubs at 4 different schools with an attendance of 201 young carers, 117 one to one mentoring sessions)

Club attendance increased by average one young person per club night, due to the increase of referrals. School support clubs increased as we supported a junior school in this period and an average of 4 young people were seen rather than an average of 3. 1-1 mentoring decreased by 12 young people due to the young people’s need, as we increased attendance at Lunch club that’s where the difference was.

Here is some feedback from a couple of young people we have impacted over the last year in our young carers programme:

A young carer started on our programme in May, she is 13 years old, she looks after her Mum, she also looks after her brother who has Autism. She helps Mum with her medication and with personal care. She cooks and helps with all domestic chores. She struggles with personal hygiene and healthy eating. She struggles with friendships and feels unable to take friends home.

Since starting on our programme, our young person reports feeling more supported, she attends the Lunch Clubs and our evening clubs. She has had 1-1 sessions and has attended two trips. She reports having made new friends in similar situations. She attended a session on depression and anxiety, she reported she learnt tools to cope. Our measurements show she has improved her resilience and is feeling happier. The whole family have attended all the family events through the year.

Special needs groups

70 clubs or trips with an attendance of 493 young people with additional needs (60 clubs or trips with an attendance of 535 young people with additional needs)

We have seen an increase in the number of club nights this year because we have completed a full year of weekly club nights for Supersonic whereas the year before we had only completed 2 terms of fortnightly clubs and 1 term of weekly clubs.

At the beginning of September we also lost a number of young people (a school cohort) from SuperKings due to them being over the age of our funding requirements; we needed to have time to recruit new young people. The current attendees at Supersonics have a lot higher need and therefore we have kept the numbers as they are so this allows us to spend quality one on one time with our young people to ensure they reach their full potential.

Here is an example of a young person we have impacted over the last year in the Special Needs groups:

Mum has reported seeing a significant change in this young person’s confidence since starting SuperKings. They can now have a conversation with an adult as well as with peers. Their self-esteem shows improvement through now being confident to make requests, particularly at tuck shop time! SuperKings has enabled this young person to gently explore socialising; engaging with peers by asking them to play and also by joining group activities. They have built up two really good friendships, regularly initiating games of air hockey as well as playing independently alongside others. Mum says that this young person is now chattier at home and more positive. Mums attitude has also become more positive, knowing her child can socialise on a weekly basis in a safe, fun and supportive environment.

One to one mentoring

141 individual mentoring sessions with young people (2017 - 205 individual mentoring sessions with young people)

Mentoring and Befriending accreditation has consumed much of our time during this period and laid a firm foundation for moving forward. It has been a struggle to recruit and train volunteers for this mentoring as our protocols need to be rigorous for 1:1 work. The mentoring that has been undertaken has been exemplary.

Here is an example of a young person we have impacted over the last year in the mentoring programme:

‘I have had about 9 sessions of mentoring now and I do feel it is making a difference. My mum definitely thinks so and has even rang the school to thank them. My mum referred me for mentoring because she thought I got too angry (I did used to throw things) and I thought I would like some help because I get overwhelmed with the way I feel. I wasn’t sure how talking would help but I knew I didn’t want to talk to my mum so I thought it might be good to talk to someone else. Talking has helped because I understand a lot more what is going on in my head. I was having a lot of thoughts that I didn’t like and couldn’t make them go away but with my mentor I have discovered ways to cope and most of all have found a way to talk to my mum about the stuff that’s bothering me and that’s made our relationship better.’

Inclusion programmes

39 group sessions with total attendance of 286 young people (2017 - 30 group sessions with total attendance of 240 young people)

We have seen an increase in the number of young people who have benefitted from the ReMind and S~TEEM programmes this year, this is particularly due to funding we received from HIOWCF and EHDC to develop the programme. Significantly, the new ReMind programme has received critical acclaim from other professionals, including youth workers, clinical psychologists and teachers. ReMind has proven to significantly reduce participants' anxiety levels.

Here is some feedback from a couple of young people we have impacted over the last year in an inclusion programme:

‘I used to struggle in difficult social situations. I used to self-harm daily and think that I wasn’t good enough. I would get sad and anxious over little things. But now I have stopped worrying as much about not being good enough and I don’t self-harm as often. I have learned to deal with my ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) and what to do when I get caught up in a vicious cycle.’ ReMind participant.

‘I used to get stressed about tests, homework and missing the bus which upset me both mentally and academically. Now, I am much happier about getting the bus, I'm more confident in tests and homework is less daunting.’ ReMind participant.

‘I was getting nervous about lots of things such as homework and talking to teachers or strangers. I now have at least basic conversations with teachers… for example, I now go to a teacher if I don’t understand my homework so that I don’t spend the rest of the day panicking about it.’ ReMind participant.

web design by SiteWeave