We had such a busy Easter here at SSG, delivering fun activities to hundreds of children across the region. Our enthusiastic staffing team moved around various venues over the Easter holidays. Here’s a few highlights for you…
We had such a busy Easter here at SSG, delivering fun activities to hundreds of children across the region. Our enthusiastic staffing team moved around various venues over the Easter holidays. Here’s a few highlights for you…
Northants Reload
Over the Easter holidays, we were one of a number of providers who received funding from Northampton Council to offer activity day places to children who may not otherwise be able to access these. We delivered a variety of different activities to primary & secondary age children, including archery, archery tag, team building games & our amazing Terminator inflatable. These activities gave fantastic opportunities for these children to try new things, make new friends, get active & have fun. Special thanks to our Project Lead, Beth Tomlin who oversaw the programme on the ground & helped make it run as smoothly as it did. Over 4 days we delivered to over 150 families at Montsaye Academy, Kingsthorpe Primary & Upton Meadows Primary. We feel proud to have been part of it & look forward to more opportunities like this in the future.
HAF programme (Bedford)
In Bedford, we were able to deliver a provision for a number of children eligible for Holiday Activity Funding from Bedford Borough Council. This was hosted at the wonderful Castle Newnham site, with themed days running during the Easter holidays. Our enthusiastic staffing team hosted around 60 participants who enjoyed a full programme of activities similar to those offered at our main holiday camp. The Project Leads for this site were Emily Dickerson & Leah Beale & they both did a fantastic job leading their team to deliver the programme.
Easter Holiday Active Childcare Camps
Our active childcare camps were full every day, with dozens of children enjoying themed days such as Hotshots, Wacky Crafts & Mad Science, Outdoor Adventure & Mission Survival at our Alexander Sports Centre venue. This site was overseen by our Project Lead Chloe Watson, who managed her team beautifully & made sure every day was a huge success & that all the children attending had a brilliant time.
Short Breaks (SEND provision)
We were so happy to be able to continue our SEND provision over Easter, in partnership with Bedford Borough Council. In total we ran 176 swimming, 54 sensory, 59 inflatable & 59 sports sessions, hosting over 150 families. As an outcome of the SEND provision:
- Families have been able to look forward to & enjoy time having fun together following many hard months in lockdown. Siblings have re-bonded & relationships have improved.
- SEND children have been able to exercise in a COVID safe environment within their own bubbles, improving physical & mental health.
- Disabled children have been able to access swimming in a hydrotherapy pool. Where they are unable to take part in other sports due to their disabilities, this has been highly beneficial when all other swimming pools have been closed due to lockdown.
- Sessions have been accessed by SEND children with carers for something positive to do during their time with their carers when all other facilities have been closed.
It has been such a privilege to work with these amazing families & we were delighted to receive some lovely feedback about the sessions & our staff:
“This has had a huge positive impact on my children. We are so grateful for this provision. Truly excellent staff with excellent enthusiasm” K Ryan
“Just wanted to say that my son had his first session there on the inflatables and I haven’t seen him smile and laugh that much in ages! He was upset when we had to leave but is looking forward to the next one. We had so much fun and the young girl that was there this afternoon was fantastic” R Daly
“Massive positive impact. Just a massive thank you to the team. Just 30 minutes means the world under the current circumstances” L Campbell
Staff Training days
We recently hosted a series of bespoke training sessions for new & existing staff, with over 35 people taking part over the 4 days. Not only was this a fab opportunity to get everyone together for some team bonding & to introduce some new faces, it was an excellent way of updating existing skills & learning some new ones. We revised all our safeguarding training to make sure everyone is up to date and learned how to deliver some of our most popular activities, such as archery tag, the climbing wall and much more. We have an amazing team of people here who are ready and raring to go for all the activity days & camps coming up in the next few months. We can’t wait!
MEET THE TEAM
Every month we introduce you to a member of our team, this month it’s Leah!
Leah Beale
How long you’ve worked for SSG:
Since November 2019
Favourite part about working for SSG:
Being able apply my content knowledge from my university studies and adapt this to support the various programmes i deliver across. I also find the whole experience of working with children and young people extremely rewarding.
Something interesting about yourself:
I sleep with my eyes open!
Looking Forward…
Summer is always one of our busiest times & we have lots of schools booking in activity days for their students this term… we have lots of fun to catch up on after lockdown! Fingers crossed for some good weather to go with our amazing activities!
