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Northumberland Catholic Partnership WENDY PARKER Strategic Lead Tel: 01670 822 795 E-Mail: |
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LYN HORTON Extended Services Coordinator Tel: 01670 822 795 E-Mail: |
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NATALIE DOUGLAS Assistant Extended Services Coordinator Tel: 01670 822 795 E-Mail: |
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LINK TO OUR PARTNERSHIP WEBSITE
The Northumberland Catholic Extended Services Partnership
SCHOOLS WITHIN THE NORTHUMBERLAND CATHOLIC PARTNERSHIP:
St Aidan’s RC VA First School
Ashington: 01670 813 308
St Andrew’s RC VA First School
Blyth: 01670 352 606
St Bede’s RC First School
Bedlington: 01670 822 389
St Benedict’s RC Middle School
Ashington: 01670 813 658
St Benet Biscop RC High School
Bedlington: 01670 822 795
St Cuthbert’s RC First School
Amble: 01665 710 413
St John’s RC First School
Alnwick: 01665 602 547
Ss Peter and Paul’s RC Schools
Cramlington:
01670 716 343 / 01670 713 553
St Robert’s RC First School
Morpeth: 01670 512 031
St Wilfrid’s RC Middle School
Blyth: 01670 352 919
Thomas Percy RC Middle School
Alnwick: 01665 602 650
The Northumberland Catholic Extended Services Partnership believes that young people and their families are individuals who are encouraged to talk freely to each other and have their opinions valued and respected at all times. The team is highly motivated and creative and are always open to new innovative ideas especially focusing on family and community cohesion.
Our partnership is unique in that it is countywide covering a 30 mile radius. We pride ourselves in being a true and strong partnership with all head teachers, staff, governors, young people and communities working together focusing on greater value and opportunities to our families.
Our multi-agency steering group is directed by a committee of link governors (one representative from each school) and regularly seeks external support from parents, volunteers, young people and other relevant professionals. We also have excellent links with the third sector.
Over the past year we have launched our website, trained and skilled-up a robust team of volunteers both adults and young people and conducted a detailed community inquiry run by our young people to discover what their peers really think. We subsequently implemented their suggestions for improvements ensuring we have a young people and family led provision. We often celebrate our partnership successes on a large scale – and this year we booked the Sage in Gateshead.
The schools within the Catholic Partnership all offer the full core service. However, we are not stopping there and are striving to achieve the Quality Mark for Extended Services which will be a true representation of our schools, community and families working in partnership to offer the opportunity to ‘live life to the full’ for everyone.
Northumberland Catholic Extended Services Partnership,
Youth and Extended Services Centre,
St Benet Biscop RC High School, Ridge Terrace,
Bedlington, Northumberland, NE22 6E
Victory for Volunteers!!
Since January this year, we have been delivering a fantastic nationally accredited programme for both parents and young people. It involves looking at their strengths and offering them transferable skills workshops including K’nex, face-painting, first aid, drugs misuse, film work, cycle leadership and bike maintenance. In addition to this we give our volunteers training in policies and procedures necessary to work with people and especially young people and children. These include courses on safeguarding children, equal opportunities, health and safety and confidentiality issues.
At the moment we have volunteers working with all ages of children, some are in the schools, others are working in youth clubs or helping to deliver a wide range of after school activities for both families and their children. We have dads and mums who are coaches, referees, driving mini buses, helping with reading, running an art club, helping with our music road show, running family days, taking families out on family cycle days and making films.
Our team of young volunteers, namely the Youth Ambassadors, are thriving by the minute. We are now up to 40 and expanding! Visit our website www.ncesp.org.uk to find out more.
Rock On with families!
We believe that in order to maximise effectiveness and inclusive lifelong learning it is important that families, schools and young people all work in partnership. Since November 2007 extended services have worked with parents and families from right across the partnership encourage this communication and build relationships between all three key areas. This last two months families have been involved with a huge variety of activities and opportunities including cooking, art, climbing trees, Supermarket Sweep, 'Are U Smarter than a 7 year old?', BBQ's - sometimes with a difference, family finance to name but a few. Visit our website www.ncesp.org.uk to find out more.
The young people have worked on projects such as drama, a youth magazine which involved interviewing parents, reviewing the latest youth bands and cinema releases and reporting on family days out.
Our latest venture involved the families visiting Newburn Leisure Centre and experiencing rock climbing together as well as participating in team-building challenges.
Our Youth Ambassador champions!
For the past year we have had the privilege to work with 12 young people who have been an inspiration to us all. They have tirelessly worked with the extended services team and have visited many of our schools, often taking over the entire school for a whole afternoon!
Once in the schools they have delivered dance, drama, song and art under the ‘Live Life to the Full’ theme. In addition to this, they have fund-raised, marshalled at our annual Walk-4-Water family festival at Druridge Country Park (this year is July 4th 2009 10.30am - 4pm), helped with the summer transition weeks to name just a few. They have been so successful, they have now formed a steering group to collectively support the role of the coordinar and have now recruited 36 more youth ambassadors. They have definitely been the highlight of this year! 4 of our Ambassadors were given an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit South Africa at the end of 2008 to learn more about social enterprise and young cooperatives and they have brought back with them a wealth of knowledge to share with the younger peers across the partnership.
