Avocet House
Turnstone House
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At the end of June we were joined by Sharon and Steph, hosting separate PATH days for Avocet House and Turnstone House. The entire community of young people and adults gather together bi-annually for this inspiring and motivational look at our journey forward, imagining all kinds of amazing adventures we can have if only we promise to make the first steps.
The colourful illustrations were rapidly and expertly drawn by Steph as everyone shouted out ideas of fun and heart-warming things we could do and places we could visit. Sharon skilfully helped lead us to our end goal, a plan of small steps we can take to achieve a variety of what has been suggested. This plan is presented on an eye-catching banner, which will be turned into a wall-mounted canvas to display at each home, providing a constant reminder of our shared hopes and dreams.
The national Engage Awards were held in Warwick on the 30 June 2022 and we are delighted that three of our young people won awards;
All three were presented with their awards by Tre Whyte who is a former BMX British National Champion.
engage in their future is a charitable organisation that seeks to improve services for children experiencing social, emotional and mental health difficulties (SEMH) and was formed to enable Head Teachers working within SEMH education to address and influence issues affecting this sector locally, regionally, and nationally. It represents a collective group of likeminded leaders who seek innovative solutions to challenging behaviour in the learning environment and provides advocacy for those with challenging behaviour and those working with them.
Lynn Richards, member of the engage in their future Advisory Committee and Chair of the National Awards Judging Panel said – “The engage in their future National Awards is such an incredible scheme and it’s always such a privilege to judge the nominations. Every student that was nominated has achieved something uniquely amazing – whether it’s cohesive team work or personal resilience, innovation and creativity or sporting prowess. Every one of them fully deserves to have their accomplishments recognised and celebrated on a national platform as part of this unique scheme. Their progress and achievements – and the journey they’ve been on to get there – is truly inspirational”
Exciting update since the previous news item…………. our young person has been competing in a team of three formed in January, consisting of another player from the chess club and an adult from Avocet House. The team called themselves the Broadland Kingfishers and got together to compete in the internal cup tournament, this is a knock-out competition and it started back in March this year. Our adult from Avocet House has felt that the other two team members have carried him through the tournament and both maintained a 100% record as they entered into the final. They won the final match by 4.5 points to 1.5 to bring home the trophy. Well done Broadland Kingfishers!
One of our boys regularly attends a local chess club and has proven himself more than capable when representing the club in league matches. He has recently attended Chess Congresses in Great Yarmouth followed by one in St Albans. He had an amazing time and managed to win two games against adults who were rated higher than himself. Checkmate!
One of our young people has been working hard across the last couple of months applying for different jobs, throughout this time he was successful in getting and attending three different interviews. He realised that attending an interview was the first time he had done something to that magnitude on his own, previous work experience had always been arranged for him by adults at Specialist Education Services.
One of the interviews he had was at a popular riverside pub, he successfully got through the first stage and was invited to work a trial shift. Following this, he was offered the job and was also paid for the hours worked on the trial shift. He will be working in the kitchen and carrying out front of house duties.
He is looking forward to starting his first proper shift, this is a big leap forwards as six months ago he was adamant he didn’t want, or need, to work. He has gained the confidence to show his abilities to prospective employers. He is looking to purchase a push bike to enable him to get to and from work without having to rely on the adults for transport.
Specialist Education Services is excited to announce a new provision opening in Beccles, Suffolk. This new provision will provide supported accommodation for young people aged 16 and above, giving them access to vital support to develop their life skills further and lead to independent living as they move into adulthood. It will be situated near our existing provision for young adults over 18s.
The supportive environment will offer nurture, guidance and time to allow the young people to flourish, giving them opportunities to access further education, employment and to continue the development of life skills.
The aim of the provision is to deliver high-quality support, making young people feel safe and secure within their surroundings with other young people, all working towards independent living.
For more information, please see the brochure below:
This academic year, our young people had the opportunity to attend sessions with ‘Back to Wilderness,’ a high quality Bushcraft, Survival and Wilderness educational platform that helps people to reconnect with nature and learn a range of bushcraft skills.
The sessions were situated in the heart of Thetford Forest providing an authentic location to engage in the planned activities. Our young people had an amazing time building dens, wood carving, fire lighting and campfire cooking with a clear emphasis on safety protocols and the legal aspects of what the activities involved.
It was a pleasure to be a part of creating the inspiring experiences that have formed memories to last a lifetime for all who attended.
Throughout the Spring Term, young people at Avocet House have been learning about West Africa and the historical Kingdom of Benin. As part of this, they have been exploring the food and culture of West Africa and have weekly cooking sessions planned to help them in learning culinary skills and techniques.
At the end of February we took this a step further with the Great British Fruit Off!
With a broad and exciting array of fruits young people were given the challenge to design and create an amazing fruit creation, suitable for use as a centre piece in a 5 Star hotel or banquet! Points would be given for the range of fruits, creativity, knife and carving skills, height and ambitious structure.
One of our Child Care Practitioners has experience of 5 Star catering and was asked to be the Judge; with such a high level of quality throughout, this was no easy task!
We are extremely proud of one of our young people, as she has successfully gained a place on a Level 2 apprenticeship at an equestrian centre. She had to go through an interview and introduction day followed by two trial days. The owner and staff were very impressed with how she did and they have offered her an apprenticeship which is likely to start in a couple of weeks.
By getting accepted onto this apprenticeship she has secured a position doing something she is passionate about, surrounded by people she likes, whilst gaining a qualification and getting paid. A huge step towards independence!
