when people ask me to write something. I come from being ..... One young person said: âXtra Push taught me not to give
IMPACT REPORT
YEAR 2015-16
We’re here for everyone. Not everyone gets the same start in life. Whatever their situation, Sheffield Futures will make sure they are given every opportunity to achieve their full potential.
Over the past 20 years, our experience working with young people has demonstrated that through supporting people in four key areas, we can achieve our mission: 1. Improving social skills, life skills and independence 2. Enabling community participation and belonging
In 2015-16, we supported over 20,000 local people to reach their full potential
3. Meaningful progression in education, employment and training 4. Improving health and well-being At Sheffield Futures we have a variety of services that support young people and communities in our four key areas, but we can’t do it alone. Sheffield Futures is proud to work in partnership with agencies across the city, so that we can holistically support the most vulnerable people in Sheffield. Some of our partners include Sheffield City Council, South Yorkshire Police, schools, colleges, training providers, University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield College, Off the Shelf festival and so many more including Cadbury!
I am proud to introduce the Sheffield Futures Impact Report 2015-16. Over the last year, we have had a huge impact on the lives of the people of Sheffield. At Sheffield Futures, we provide a wide range of support and opportunities for young people and adults to help them to reach their full potential and a bright future. We are often referred to as being a young people’s life-line, supporting young people in risky situations to stay safe, helping them to improve their confidence and self-belief as well as their employability skills. This Report demonstrates the positive impact our work makes to individuals and communities. We would like to thank all our partners, supporters and funders for their continued support. Gail Gibbons, Sheffield Futures CEO
We contribute to 26 Strategic Boards and multi-agency partnerships across Sheffield, advising on young people’s services and sharing good practice.
We want to support schools to reach excellence in delivering careers guidance. To achieve this, we deliver the Sheffield City Region Careers Award. We are currently supporting 17 schools in Sheffield to achieve this careers standard.
IMPROVED SOCIAL SKILLS, LIFE At Sheffield Futures, we tailor our support to meet the needs of each individual by establishing a relationship with a key worker. By equipping young people with the skills and support that they need to be happy, healthy and safe, we will reduce risky behaviour, raise aspirations and support young people to develop the skills they will need. “Young people need places to go where they know with total certainty that they will receive skilful help that is in their best interests. Without that, their lives, and the lives of those around them, will not be happy or fulfilled or productive. We must do everything to ensure vulnerable young people have these places and people to whom they can turn.” (James Kenrick, Youth Access - The Outcomes and Impact of Youth Advice - The Evidence, 2011) Our work is award-winning, and our models of work have been adopted by other organisations who share our best practice. Our experienced staff ensure that each young person receives tailored help and all of our services are designed to support the following outcomes: • Improved social and interpersonal skills • Reduced risky behaviour and improved safety awareness • Raised aspirations and self-development We support these aims through a variety of ways, including fostering a positive strengths-based relationship, delivering issue-based group work sessions and enrichment activities designed to challenge self-development.
Sheffield Futures staff worked with world class athletes to deliver the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust ‘Get on Track’ programme, aimed at improving confidence, communication, teamwork, health and well-being. The disadvantaged young people on the programme were all not in education, employment and training and as such, needed to build their self-esteem. The group emerged confident and excited for the future, with most securing employment and training or re-entering education.
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When Sarah started the programme she just cried and cried, she wouldn’t talk and now she’s making an articulate and passionate presentation. This group of young people is unrecognisable from those who walked in on day one.
I come from boxing, I’m a girl who can throw a punch. I come from motivation - no pain no gain, from perseverance, from fun. I come from not knowing what to say when people ask me to write something. I come from being quiet on a first meeting to not being able to stop talking when I’m with my friends. I’m from a noisy family, from cold weather, from street lights and park benches, from snow and rain and sometimes sun, from chavs and hoods, from Woodthorpe, S2. - Written by a young person with help from their youth worker and a writer as part of Youth Word Up (Off the Shelf festival)
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SKILLS AND INDEPENDENCE “I enjoyed the group sessions, everyone was really nice. I’ve stopped being cheeky to my nan and hanging around with people who get me in to trouble.” – Young person who attended our Community Youth Team (CYT) Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) group work programme. “He has started to realise that his action don’t just affect him. This change in attitude has made home life much easier and reduced the tension and pressure we have all been under.” – Parent of young person who attended our CYT ASB group work programme.
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young people attended our CYT youth clubs and including our youth clubs for young people with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in 2015-16. Our youth clubs enable young people to tackle the issues they face in a safe environment.
We run a weekly support group specifically for young women at risk of child sexual exploitation. The young people who attend this club are taught how to stay safe by reducing their own risky behaviour and identifying dangerous situations. The group is a safe space for a vulnerable group of young people. “After attending the club, my daughter recognises the danger she was in. Now she can see when she’s unsafe and knows what to do in those situations.” We are responsive to the ever-changing needs of our service users. After receiving a rise in referrals for young people at risk of developing unhealthy relationships, our staff have been trained to recognise risky behaviour. We have developed one-to-one and group work programmes to help young people to stay safe.
I didn’t enjoy school very much because I never felt the courage to put my hand up in class for fear of being judged and picked on. Then I became a Youth Councillor with Sheffield Futures. I was pretty nervous but I began talking to people I hadn’t met before and I started to feel much more confident and happy in myself. Being more confident hasn’t just impacted on my Youth Cabinet role, but has shown in my school work as well. I am always taking part in class discussions and my grades have gone up. Being part of something like the Youth Cabinet can really improve your confidence. I urge more young people to find an activity or join an organisation that they feel passionate about and get involved!
We started supporting Adele when she got in trouble for anti-social behaviour. Adele was going missing from home and her school attendance was low. We worked with Adele and other agencies to create an individual support plan which included one-to-one as well as group work sessions in anti-social behaviour, victim awareness and drug and alcohol awareness. Through CYT, Adele attended a course on performance poetry (part of Youth Word Up, Off the Shelf festival) which led to a performance during the festival. Adele has grown in confidence, shown enthusiasm to learn new skills and treats other young people and staff respectfully. Her school attendance and attitude to learning have greatly improve and she has gained a part time job!
Our Sheffield Sexual Exploitation Service support young people who are at risk of CSE, we define at risk as ‘beginning to engage in emotional and sexual relationships with someone who is older, abusive and/or violent.’
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I first came into contact with Sheffield Sexual Exploitation Service (SSES) in 2009 as a young person who was at risk of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). Through the long term support and dedication of my support worker, I felt like I wanted to use my experiences to positively influence CSE services across the country. Thanks to the Young People’s Participation Group at Sheffield Futures, I have been given the opportunity to work with various professionals and organisations, working towards creating a better, safer, future for so many young people!
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We are putting together new guidelines for working with young people who are at risk of CSE in partnership with University of Bedford, the National Working Group (NWG) and the Minister for Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Crime, Karen Bradley MP.
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I feel like I have finally been given a voice and that I am being listened to.
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ENABLING COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION The Sheffield Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (2013) says “Sheffield is the safest major city in England in terms of the levels of violent crime experienced. Sheffield remains a safe city and the trends in falling crime and re-offending should be encouraged to continue.” In 2015-16 we have seen a reduction in anti-social behaviour and first time offenders in Sheffield. At Sheffield Futures, we believe in building strong and safe communities where young people have the opportunity to have their say about how the community is run. By celebrating difference and diversity, we are breaking down barriers that lead to social isolation and working together for a healthier and happier city. Here are some examples of what we do to improve community participation and belonging... In 2015-16, Sheffield Young Advisors won the National Young Advisors Impact Award for their work with Sexual Health Sheffield. The team conducted mystery shopping exercises, including phone calls and visits as well as reviewing the website, app and other publicity aimed at young people. The group produced a report of their findings and an action plan has been put in place to ensure that the recommendations were implemented. The Sexual Health Promotion Specialist at Sexual Health Sheffield said: “The award is thoroughly deserved as I know how hard the team work and how passionate they are about making Sheffield a great city for young people. The evidence and recommendations in the Young Advisors’ report will really help us focus our attention to ensure we improve and develop our services for young people in our city.” Sheffield Futures provide training, guidance and support to the Young Advisors to ensure that they are providing a quality youth-proofing service. We believe that it is important to bring young people from all backgrounds together, to celebrate difference and diversity. Each year our Community Youth Teams who work city-wide, get together to hold an event to celebrate International Youth Day. The event in August 2015 saw young people form teams to play sports, crafts and cling on to the Bucking Bronco!
Sheffield Futures’ social action project Sheffieldr recruited volunteers to brighten up volunteer-run Stocksbridge Community Leisure Centre. The group gave the disabled entrance to the freshly opened swimming pool a much-needed lick of paint. Young volunteer, Isaac Hanson said: “I feel that it is really important, especially as a Member of Sheffield Youth Council, to give back to the communities that we live in. I feel very glad to have been able to help!”
AND BELONGING Each year young people vote to decide the biggest issues facing young people in the UK today, and the UK Youth Parliament bring these to a debate at the House of Commons. Over 90,000 young people voted to say that tackling racism and religious discrimination was an issue that they were most concerned about. Young people in Sheffield, at our ‘Don’t Hate, Educate’ event pledged to help make a difference: • I pledge to report hate crime if I ever witness it and to educate people with my knowledge of the LGBT community • I pledge to ask people why they are prejudice and I will try to educate them • I pledge to discuss and educate my friends as well as people at my school, so it encourages people to be able to talk more openly • I will create PHSE days in my school with my peers • I will not allow hate crime that I see to continue, whether it is verbal or physical, by intervening at an early stage
“Young people predominantly receive negative press, but we want to show that young people in our city have a lot to offer. We want to promote volunteering and would encourage them to get involved in any opportunities with Sheffield Futures.” Involvement and Enrichment Manager, Sheffield Futures
MEANINGFUL PROGRESSION INTO EDUCATION, Fewer people work in Sheffield than the national average and “youth unemployment has significant implications for the health and well-being of the city.” (Sheffield Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Position Statement 2013) We believe that where you are born should not determine the opportunities you are offered, or your success in life. Everyone has the right to a bright future and the chance to achieve the best that they can. At Sheffield Futures, we support people of all ages and abilities to make meaningful progression into education employment and training. We improve employability skills by offering young people opportunities to get involved in a variety of projects, from advising how youth services should be run, to giving back to local communities through social action projects. We want to reach people at any stage, so we run drop-in Job Clubs five days a week, for adults and young people. Our services are fully accessible, with staff are based all over the city, in our one-stop-shop at Star House, our Community Youth Teams, in schools, Job Centres, and more. Sheffield Futures aims to support people to progress into education, employment and training through the following outcomes: • Improved engagement and attainment, with education, employment and training • Increased awareness of opportunities and options for education, training and employment • Improved employability skills
We have supported
As part of our Future Shapers programme, we mentor 944 young people in school and, of these,
615
have shown improvements in attendance, attitude and behaviour.
3030 young people in Sheffield into education, employment and training in 2015-16.
Our All Age Guidance team have helped
1659 satisfied adult clients to progress into employment.
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING Annually, we We have met with produce an Options Guide with all the information 16-year-olds need to make decisions young people with Special about their next steps. The Educational Needs and/or Options Guide is provided Disabilities to provide to 26 schools in information, advice, guidance Sheffield!
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and progression support. At Sheffield Futures we
understand that many young people lack employability skills that can be gained in other ways. Talent Match Sheffield City Region has helped 41young people to find volunteering opportunities, with a further 40 finding apprenticeships and 130 entering formal education.
Talent Match Sheffield City Region has helped
We provide independent careers guidance in
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young people to gain schools, including all employment in Special Schools, in 2015-16. Sheffield and our service is expanding!
John did not take any exams at school and didn’t work or study in the seven months after leaving school. I met him to discuss his options and what he was interested in. Our first visit to a construction training provider didn’t go well. After John had taken his Maths and English assessment tests, the tutor informed him that he “was not up to doing the course” and that they could not offer him a place. John was deflated and upset, so we worked together to build his self-esteem and a few days later, we attended another interview with a training provider. After the assessments, the provider offered him a place and he was happy to accept! A few months into his placement, John expressed an interest in spending time at the Army Preparation Unit based with the training provider. He is doing very well and has progressed from being a very quiet young man into a proactive person with leadership qualities! His worker says “finding an activity that inspires Sam has been the catalyst to reach his full potential.”
IMPROVED HEALTH AND WELL-BEING In Sheffield, it is a sad fact that 1 in 5 young people in Year 10 said that they feel stressed, while 1 in 10 said they felt depressed “most of the time” (Sheffield Every Child Matters survey 2014-15). It is also estimated that around half of adult mental health problems starts before the age of 14. At Sheffield Futures, we know that early intervention and support is vital, if we are to prevent issues escalating into adolescence and adulthood. In addition to meeting well-being needs through our other core areas of work, our staff and services all support the following outcomes for young people • Strengthen relationships, access to support and social networks • Increase young people’s sense of resilience and confidence • Work with partner agencies to improve physical, emotional and sexual health of young people Our skilled and dedicated staff are experts at engaging with young people to unearth underlying causes and will work holistically with the young person and a variety of agencies to support young people to be happy, healthy and safe. Well-being issues in young people are not always immediately transparent, and young people can present with a variety of issues, including: • Antisocial or criminal behaviour • Alcohol or substance misuse • School exclusions • Speech and language difficulties • Emotional, learning or behavioural difficulties • Running away from home
At our youth clubs for young people with learning disabilities and difficulties, we promote healthy lifestyles with exercise and information about balanced diets. “It’s important to know where your food comes from, so we grow fruit and vegetables in our youth club’s garden. We want to teach young people how to cook fresh meals from scratch, a skill that will provide not just health, but economic benefits.”
Sexual Health Sheffield Joint Strategic Needs Assessment states “Key to achieving good sexual health outcomes is the commissioning of universal open access sexual health services.” As part of our response to emerging local need, we launched a Sexual Health Drop-in at Star House, run by trained youth workers within a welcoming and confidential environment. One young person said “I find the service easy to access. I’m pleased it’s somewhere that I already visit so I don’t have to make an extra journey or go to place where it’s obvious why I’m attending.”
Sheffield Futures partnered with Sheffield Youth Justice Service to deliver the SEND Custody Project which provided professionals with up to date information on the Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) Reform and the Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) process and helped them to effectively support young people. Many of the training delegates reported an increased knowledge in the issues facing young people with SEND needs in custody and the policies that govern this.
In 2015-16 we provided one-to-one support to
In 2015-16 Sheffield Futures loaned
young people, helping them to make positive life choices and improve their health and well-being.
pieces of equipment to youth groups so that they could participate in outdoor activities, like camping!
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We have set up 7 sustainable sports clubs and do sports activities in We launched Mi Book all of our youth clubs. In ‘A pocket guide to your life 2015-16 we held 3 in Sheffield’ which deals with sports tournaments! issues to do with health and relationships and signposts young people to places and people who can help. Further to this, we developed the Mi LifeMapp app in 2014-15. Our partnership project with Northern General Hospital and Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, ensuring that all 16-19 year olds needs are recognised on entering A&E and that they gain a fast track referral to support from CYT, was named Highly Commended in the Children and Young People Now Awards for Partnership Working
A group of young people expressed an interest in boxing to one of our CYT workers, so we started a new boxing project. Initially, the group lacked confidence but they quickly gained a sense of achievement for their successes. The project covered self control and the importance of anger management, as well as physical and mental health, team work skills and healthy lifestyles.
Young people on the Future Shapers programme have their own Mentor who tailors support to meet their needs. This could be to gain confidence, attend extra-curricular activities, improve attendance, gain qualifications, socialise with other young people, search for employment and much more. Part of Future Shapers is Xtra Push, a fun-filled personal development training programme aimed at helping young people to gain confidence, assertiveness, control and show commitment. One school’s Associate Leader said: “Xtra Push has been a very positive programme for our students and we’re very happy to celebrate the success of Future Shapers at our school. It really is a fantastic programme for young people and I’m so happy that everyone is fully engaging with it.” One young person said: “Xtra Push taught me not to give up as you’ll never succeed in life if you give up when it gets tough. I now know that if I don’t do things right the first time, that I can always do it again and that it’s important to have patience and perseverance.” One Sheffield school’s Assistant Head Teacher said: “They were all so much calmer after the sessions.“ The Year 10 Manager, agreed and said: “I think it’s helped with their self confidence, I’ve seen a real difference.”
100 young people have participated in Xtra Push in 2015-16
Thank you so much to my daughter’s Mentor and the team, they have been so involved and done so many activities with my daughter. Without Future Shapers, I really don’t know how my daughter would be now.
HOW WE GIVE BACK TO OUR COMMUNITY Sheffield Futures undertakes a variety of activities to reinvest back in to local communities and add value, such as: fundraising activities, campaigns to tackle national issues, volunteer opportunities, providing training and events that bring together young people and decision makers, which enables their voice to be heard. A volunteer’s story: I am convinced that, given the chance, each individual has something special they can build on in their future. The Xtra Push programme gives young people the opportunity to learn what those skills are and I am glad I was part of it. To anyone who might be interested in volunteering with Sheffield Futures I would say: join in! The only things you have to bring is an open mind and enthusiasm. No matter if you are experienced in youth work or not, this is definitely one of the best opportunities to learn about others and yourself!
In 2015-16, volunteers and staff ran the Yorkshire Half Marathon to raise funds for Sheffield Futures! We will be holding lots more fundraising events over the next year - keep an eye on www.sheffieldfutures.org.uk for more information!
We regularly hold events for young people that give attendees the chance to speak about wider issues facing young people. In 2015-16, we held a Young People’s Question Time with Festival of Debate, the theme was youth unemployment and fit in with our #AFutureForAll campaign to get all young people earning or learning.
Do you like what you see and want to get involved? If you’re interested in becoming a Fundraiser, Ambassador or Volunteer, get in touch today to see how you can help us to grow:
[email protected]
Our Commitment to Quality At Sheffield Futures we understand that high quality services need to be responsive to both the long and short term needs of our service users and our stakeholders. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality service user experiences, wherever and however young people engage with us. We can only achieve this through the skills and dedication of our staff. We are committed to promoting professional development to meet the needs of our service users. Our in-house NVQ Centre also provides training to meet the needs of local organisations. The voice of young people is at the heart of all that we do at Sheffield Futures and they are involved at every stage of shaping our services, through providing opportunities for them to influence the people and policies that affect them.
Star House 43 Division Street Sheffield S1 4GE Tel: 0114 201 2800 Email:
[email protected] Web: sheffieldfutures.org.uk @SheffFutures @sheffieldfutures SheffieldFutures
© Sheffield Futures 2016 Produced by Sheffield Futures. Registered Number: 2963378. Charity Registration Number: 1044940
