Providing Real Opportunities for Young People in the Transition to

Adulthood

Regional SEN Transition to Employment Project Newsletter

March 2014In this issue

IntroductionWelcome to our latest newsletter.

The Benefits of Travel TrainingAmy Davies, WCLD looks at the benefits of travel training.

Game On in SwanseaThe Swansea Hub get involved in a local football league.

Training & EventsA list of upcoming project training and events.

Welcome to the March Newsletter. In this edition we have information from the Welsh Centre for Learning Disabilities about a study into the benefits of travel training, both for young people and their families and for Local Authorities.Neil Wilson, Swansea Hub Team Leader, tells us about his team’s involvement with a local project ‘Game On’, which aims to increase the participation of young people in football to improve health and well-being. We also have a story from the Carmarthenshire hub team about their new peer mentors!You may have noticed this month that the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi were being held. The Paralympics GB team secured a series of exceptional achievements in the Games that included the first ever Gold medal for Paralympics GB. It was also the first gold medal for any British Alpine skier, in either the Olympic or Paralympic Games. The Games culminated in an inspiring closing ceremony with the theme ‘Reaching the Impossible’, which celebrated the astonishing Paralympic athletes and illustrated that the impossible can become possible thanks to the strength of spirit and determination. If you feel inspired to get involved with sport, you can find advice and support from the following organisations:

www.paralympics.org.uk • www.specialolympics.org • www.sportwales.org.uk •

Laura GriffithsProject Information Officer

The Welsh Centre for Learning Disabilities have recently been looking at travel training and what the benefits for young people are as well as how much money it could save the local authority to have more young people travelling independently.

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Travel Training The benefiTs of

By Amy Davies, Welsh Centre for Learning Disabilities

They talked to the families of two groups of young people: one group who had earned a certificate in travel training from Elite and one group who had travel training from their local Hub staff. They found that although some young people were nervous about the training at first, none of them had any problems in learning how to catch the bus, train or how to walk from home to school, college or the shops. Some parents were worried about the young person getting lost or not knowing which bus to get on but the trainer was able to reassure them that the young person was safe and that the young person wouldn’t travel on their own until they were able to do it with support first. Some young people were still travelling independently.Some were catching a bus to college, or into town

to meet friends and this was more likely if they had training from Hub staff, as Hub staff were more likely to train them on a route to social activities, whereas Elite trained young people to get to a work placement. When young people were trained on a route that they wouldn’t need to use regularly or changed when they moved from school to college they needed more training so they keep using their new skills on a different route. Almost all of the parents interviewed said that the young people were more confident and it had helped build their self-esteem to know that they could use public transport. One person said “I think it’s built his confidence and now he knows that he’s capable of doing it on his own”. Another parent said “He’s become more independent, he can just jump on a bus and if he wants to go to town he’ll just go”.

The one big problem we found though was there were often no suitable buses to college, with young people having to get up really early to catch two or three buses. In these cases the young people were more likely to use a bus provided by college, get a lift from family members or use taxis. One parent explained: “The college is so far away she’d have to catch 3 buses. She already gets up at 7am to make it there in the minibus on time”.We looked at the case of one young person using taxis to travel to college and the cost to the local authority was £310 a week, which is over £12,500 a year. A bus pass costs the local authority just over £100 and travel training costs around £216 which means that in the first year after training the Local Authority could save around £12,300 for just one person. Providing a minibus costs around £12,000 a year for 12 people so the Local Authority would save around £700 per person for the first year (when they have to pay for the bus pass and training) and then £1,000 a year after that. And of course this is important for young people when they turn 19 and are no longer entitled to college transport. If they are able to utilise a free bus pass they could be saving money personally too.

Asking and paying for tickets.

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game onLast year the Swansea Hub Team were approached by ‘Game On’, a project aimed at increasing young people’s participation in football. They were trying to set up a new youth league in Swansea and they wondered whether we could put together a team, obviously we thought that was a great idea!

After attending a few training sessions last year we played the first official league match of the Real Opportunities Swansea Football Team on 30th January. Seven teams from all over Swansea took part in the first set of league matches.

In starting the league and encouraging more young people to participate in football, Game On aim to improve the health and well-being of the young people involved. Of course that’s a great outcome for our participants too. They will also get access to training and qualifications in football coaching, which some of our participants intend to take advantage of.

Our main aim was to increase the inclusion of our participants, and we think that has been really successful. Our team is made up of participants from different schools who didn’t know each other before they started playing together, and have been able to become friends. We also have a girl on the team so we are gender inclusive. Our team is the only one made up of individuals with additional learning needs, but we decided that it wasn’t important for anyone else to know that. So our participants get to be part of the crowd, everyone has a laugh and plays some football.

Game On Wales is funded by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, and in Swansea it is also running in partnership with Swansea City AFC’s Community Trust. Swansea City’s involvement also meant that there was a special guest at the first league match, former Swansea City Player and current Swan’s Community Ambassador Lee Trundle. Lee provided a lot of support and encouragement to the players; he even got on the pitch at one point, although due to a current injury he didn’t make much of an impact!

Lee said of the new Game On league, “I’m glad to be part of this. It’s a great idea to get kids together, not only for fitness but to understand the importance of working as a team.”

Chris Foot, the Training and Development Officer for Game On, said “The evening was a pleasure to run and we are delighted by the level of participation at this early stage. Through Game On we hope to train the next generation of sports coaches and community leaders to help develop and sustain teams and groups for children and young people across Wales.”

By Neil Wilson, Swansea Hub Team

in swansea

The Swansea team with Lee Trundle

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To get your story in the newsletter, or for more information contact Laura Griffiths on 01639 635650 or at realopportunities@learningdisabilitywales.org.uk. Submissions may be edited. Opinions expressed in the Real Opportunities newsletter are not necessarily supported by the project. Printed by 4 Colour Digital Print.

Project Information SessionDate: 9th April 2014Time: 10:00am-1:00pmVenue: Port Talbot Resource Centre, Port TalbotFor: All Welcome

Celebration Event - Real PartyDate: 25th April 2014Time: 1:30pm - 8:30pmVenue: Porthcawl Grand PavillionFor: Young People and Families (Invite Only)

Planning for the Future NetworkDate: 28th April 2014Time: 10:00am-1:00pmVenue: Forge Fach Community Resource CentreFor: PCP , Familiy Liaison & Independent Living Skills Workers

Project Information SessionDate: 1st May 2014Time: 10:00am-1:00pmVenue: Crug GlasFor: All Welcome

Employment and Opportunities NetworkDate: 13th May 2014Time: 10:00am - 1:00pmVenue: Forge Fach Community Resource CentreFor: Transition, Supported Employment & Social Enterprise Staff

Introduction to PCPDate: 22nd May 2014Time: 10:00am - 4:00pmVenue: Central South Consortium, NantgarwFor: All Welcome

Inclusion NetworkDate: 3rd June 2014Time: 10:00am - 1:00pmVenue: Forge Fach Community Resource CentreFor: Youth Inclusion, Peer Mentors & Psychology Support Workers

Real Opportunities Annual ConferenceDate: 5th June 2014Time: 9:00am - 4:30pmVenue: St Davids Hotel and Spa Cardiff BayFor: All Welcome

Training &To book onto any of the following training events or seminars or for more information contact the training and information team at realopportunities@learningdisabilitywales.org.uk or on 01639 635650.

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