Get-a-LifeStyle Case studies
Get-a-LifeStyle Award Pilot
Hi, my name is Candy I am doing the get a Life- Style Programme with help from Kay and Annabelle who work at By the Bridge.
Annabelle came to my house and we chatted about what I would like to do and what the course would involve, and what I would achieve at the end of it.
We discussed the skills I already had and the things I would like to improve on.
The first part of my programme is a ten week course doing a Community Sports Leadership Award. At the end of this course I will have an accreditation worth two GCSE’s and also a first aid certificate, this course will give me the opportunity to do different sports and get the chance to lead and steer groups of young children and young people.
At the end of the above course as a reward for completing it I will be going to Somerset House in London to ice skate the day away with a friend
Also I am doing another programme which will give me a Personal Health Management Award in this course I will be cooking meals healthily on a budget and looking at different ways in cooking and portion control, amongst other things.
I will also be doing a Financial Management Award which looks at opening Banks and Savings Accounts learning how to set up Direct Debits and Standing Orders, and what bills you have to pay when running your own home.
At the end of each of these I will have achieved getting myself a voucher to go
Ice Skating as a reward for completing each programme
In doing this course it will enable me to learn how to be more confident in myself, and become better at things I am struggling with at the moment.
I am really enjoying myself and already my confidence has improved, I have also got fitter on the Sports Leaders Course, my family are enjoying the cooking I’m doing, so we are all happy and pleased with the challenge.
Written by Candy
The Get-a-Lifestyle programme is a project in development in By the Bridge and it will eventually have its own interactive website. A company called PointBlank London will design and build the site – with lots of participation from children and young people in By the Bridge.
Point Blank Day
It was Thursday 29th October 2009, There was Kay, Annabelle from By the Bridge, Louise, Phil and myself. We all arrived at Point Blank Music College in London at 5 to 12 am.
We then walked through the college to the meeting room where we had the discussion about creating a website on the Independence living between 14 – 19 year old and start preparing ourselves for leaving our Foster families.
We came up with some really good ideas where everybody contributed. Here are some of the ideas we come up with so you know what our website is going to be like.
The ideas we come up with were to have a website that has not got a normal layout that it is going to be unique and funky for the age range it is looking at and to attract everybody between this age range as well so it can live on for decades to come.
The website IS FOR the YOUNG PEOPLE NOT the social workers or link workers; the only authorised people who can have access to this website will be certain people in By the Bridge so they can see that we aren’t abusing this website.
Overall the day was a total blast and it sounded like what we are creating is going to be fun for everyone that is aged between 14 – 19 year old so I can gladly say it was a success.
Many thanks to Kay and Annabelle for organising and creating this for us.
Written by Alison
I’d like to thank Kay for taking us up to London to talk about the website, I really believe this will be an amazing website especially with the music mixer we saw. Still loving the idea of it being a flat that you walk into, can’t wait to see what it turns out like. Thanks again
Written by Phil
I really enjoyed the day and being involved in the discussions. I am so glad that I started doing this Web Designing course. I am just so pleased with the ideas that people have came up with. It sounds like this website is going to be rather interesting. When this website comes out I ‘m going to have to check it out. Thanks for letting me be involved in this. I am very grateful.
Written by Louise
By the Bridge KIDZ Angling Club
We woke up at 7am on Sunday 25th October 2009 to go to Monk Lake fishing competition. We had to get there for eight thirty for starting at 10 am. When we got there we were allocated an adult for every child as a team. When we started we had to set up our rods and bait and then we waited for bites when we got a bite you kept getting bites over and over again every 5-10 mins there were loads of people that turned up. The winner was decided by the group that got the heaviest bunch of fish.
Written by Karl
What young people say: By the Bridge outings
By B
Me and my sister live with my foster mum and dad Jane and Brian. In October we visited a nature park, My foster mum told me that By the Bridge were having a Halloween Party. I was very excited. Jane took me and my sister to buy a costume. I chose to be a vampire. It had a purple waist coat but the best bit was my fangs. We got all dressed up and Jane drove to the party. There were lots of other children there and they were all dressed up too. They weren’t scary though. We sat around tables and made some craft things, we made an amulet. Then we followed the leader out into the nature park. Everyone was running around and laughing and shouting. We then played some games. One of the games was to hunt for bats hidden in the woods. I found a couple of bats. We made a spell card and a wand out of sticks. Before going back into the party hut we collected sticks and leaves. I wondered what this was for it was so that we could make dream catchers when we got back to the hut. It was good fun, I made lots of friends and played with some of the boys. At the end Joannie and Lee from By the Bridge said there would be some prizes for the best costume. When they called out my name for the best boy costume I was really pleased. I jumped up and down and collected my prize – it was the best, it was Transformers! On the way out we were given party bags – how cool. We all had a great time.
