Some of the participants in the Pastoral Project
At Nottinghamshire YMCA we are keen to develop brand new areas of work and to pioneer new projects. With this in mind we started the Pastoral Care Worker project in schools, which aims to provide the specific level of support required to facilitate the development of young adults. This is a fantastic partnership with the school, and extremely pleasing results have come from the first year's work, showing that a need is definitely being met.
Below are some brief bullet point details of the work which takes place, and a case study to highlight the benefits of this type of work. If you are interested in receiving more details, or would like to investigate a partnership with Nottinghamshire YMCA regarding this project, please use the Contact Us section for assistance.
| Getting to know Young People | 'One-to-Ones' (1-1) |
| Establishing and maintaining relationships with young people. This is key to what we do in terms of building up trust and respect to impact young people's lives. Young people need support and people they can trust to turn to in times of need. This is done in a number of ways: youth work, openness, friendliness and an office that is always open! The Pastoral Care Worker office is hardly ever quiet outside of lesson times. The young people can pop in for a chat or simply to hang out for a while enabling the Pastoral Care Worker to build relationships and have opportunities to encourage and speak into young peoples lives in a relaxed and non-threatening way. |
Young people who need support for whatever reason, family issues, at risk of exclusion, bereavement, self harm, relationships, etc, can receive 1-1 support/mentoring from the Pastoral Care Worker. This may come about either by them being referred by a teacher, approaching the Pastoral Care Worker themselves or perhaps observations by the Pastoral Care Worker whilst in-group meeting. It is a safe and confidential place to come and receive support, guidance or just an opportunity to offload. |
| School Relationship | Resourcing |
| The project works closely with the school in order to represent a united front to the young people. This means being involved in some lessons, working with difficult pupils whilst also working on a 1-1 basis. A close partnership is maintained with the Achievement Team in the school, looking at raising levels of achievement, rewards, working with children post exclusion, etc. | The project has a number of links outside of the school which it draws on to enhance the work within the school. Recently it has supported the PSHE lessons for year 8 and 9 by bringing in a team called 'OASIS ESTEEM' to educate pupils on issues of relationships, sex and self esteem. Assemblies are also a way in which the project supports the school, either by themselves taking an assembly or bringing in outside youth organisations. |
| Extra Curricular activities |
| The project runs an after schools club for girls aged 12-14. This enables girls to have fun together in a safe environment whilst also receiving input on relevant issues such as self worth, alcohol, relationships, etc. The 'LIFT' lunch club is run weekly by a group linked to the project called 'Destiny' (a Christian-based Youth Project). Both prove very successful in what they do. Some of the participants in the Pastoral Project |
Simon* was at risk of being excluded from school due to constant poor attitude and behaviour towards staff and teachers. He started receiving input from the project, and part of this began going to the weekly youth group on the bus (provided from the school). Following a weekend away with a number of other young people from the school and the youth group, Simon is a completely different person. Staff comment on the change in him and how his behaviour has drastically improved. Simon's personal problems simply needed discussing, and an appropriate place and time was offered, where the issues could be discussed. Through the help of the project and its link partners Simon's future now looks positive.
* Names have been changed for anonymity