Author: The Seeds Of Change

The end of another school year is nearly upon us and it is time for many of our learners to move on to the next stage in their life, hopefully with confidence, qualifications and transferable skills acquired through their time at The Seeds of Change.

Our learners generally come to us with no qualifications, disengaged from mainstream education and dealing with complex issues and conditions which restrict them from achieving their full potential. Our coaches and horses work with these young people to encourage them to open up, develop coping strategies and make positive changes in their lives. For some it is a long process, others relatively short, but we aim to give each learner the best chance possible of finding a way to navigate the challenges in life and achieve happiness and fulfilment.

During the lead up to the end of term we’ll be reporting on the experiences of some of our older (16-18yrs) learners as they prepare to move on from The Seeds of Change.

Annabelle’s* story (Yr 11)
“My time at The Seeds of Change has been difficult, sad and fun.  On my first day I had a great welcome by Rachel, Lisa (the coaches) and the other students on the course. I used to be very immature and I had a short temper and would flip out at the tiniest things and would head off down the road. I didn’t have a great relationship with the coaches and would repel any advice they would try to give.

Over time my relationship with the coaches became stronger and I started to warm up to them. I have become more mature and have a better outlook on life. I have reflected on the way my behaviour was, my anger has become less of a problem and I’ve started to reflect on the way I treat others because my coaches have helped me understand where I was going wrong.

The horses here are lovely, they have really helped me calm down and chill out. When I first started I worked with a horse called Chesney and he helped me open up towards the horses and has made me warm up towards other horses. When Chesney retired a horse called Noah came in and I fell in love with him. I’m still a bit unsteady with him but he’s helped me realise I have to be comfortable for him to feel safe.

I was working with a horse that I feel very unstable around called Rainbow. I will always have a fear that he will turn on me and will nip me or kick me. One of my coaches, Charlie, had gone inside the stable with him and I burst into tears because of my fear. She helped me overcome that fear and I managed to stand in the stable with him alone; I felt proud at that moment that I was able to do so.

Whilst being here The Seeds of Change has helped me learn how to open up to them and that has led me to be able to do that with other people away from The Seeds of Change. They’ve helped me with my anger and how to control it.

I’m grateful for being able to be a student at The Seeds of Change because without it god knows where I’d be today.”

Annabelle has applied to begin an apprenticeship in retail and is looking forward to entering the world of work. We wish her and the rest of The Class of 2019 the best of luck with their new adventures.

*name changed for anonymity

Yesterday (8th May) The Seeds of Change was privileged to be featured on BBC Look East’s evening news bulletin, broadcasted to homes across the western counties within this region.

The piece centralised around Leah’s story, one of our past learners, who came to The Seeds of Change following multiple expulsions from mainstream schooling and a difficult home life which ultimately lead to an arrest. Working with the horses and The Seeds of Change coaches changed her life. She suddenly found somewhere where she could be calm, herself and learn at a pace and through methods which helped rather than hindered her development. She is now tackling her issues head on and has achieved things she never thought possible; qualifications and a dream job in a yard.

Leah said: “We’re not problem children, we’re just children with a problem. We’re just misunderstood and that is the thing with The Seeds of Change, they understood me and helped me to overcome my problems. They helped me to realise that not everyone is against you.”

The Seeds of Change works with local authorities’ referral units and offers an alternative setting for young people to learn, develop and try to cope with and overcome their underlying issues, feelings or conditions. The feature went on to discuss how local authorities are trying to support and encourage mainstream schools to find alternative education routes for children who have not thrived in traditional settings or are on the verge of exclusion.

Lorraine Moir, from Luton Borough Council said: “Excluding children from school is a last resort. Heads have to make a very difficult decision that affects the future of that child, and they don’t like doing it. But, for some young people, there’s no option, and that is where my team comes in to support them. The Local Authority does not want young people to be out of a traditional setting for the rest of their school life, but for some it just not the right place for them to flourish.”

The Seeds of Change has been operating for 14 years and has worked with over 3000 young people over that time, many of whom have experienced challenges at home, school and in their community which have often left them vulnerable or with debilitating mental and emotional conditions and little education. Rachael Frossell, one of our directors, reflected on how things have changed over the years: “In the past we would have seen mainly young people dealing with severe bullying or domestic abuse, for instance, but now we are working with young people actively involved in and subjected to gangs, knife crime and county lines issues.” Our recent County Lines event in Bedfordshire highlighted the dangers of County Lines and Child Exploitation that young people today are subjected to.

To find out more about the work we do with young people read Our Stories or get in touch.
You can also view our feature in the evening news bulletin here from 16mins 46 secs.

Thank you to everybody who participated in the piece.

Last month, The Seeds of Change hosted a hugely successful event highlighting the dangers of County Lines and Child Exploitation. The event, held at Wootton Lower School, was organised in partnership with Bedfordshire Police, CYPFirst and YouTurn Futures and was supported by charities Unseen and Link to Change. Over 100 local parents, carers and professionals attended the information evening which aimed to educate the audience about the risks of child criminal exploitation; the prevalence of this issue in our communities and online, the grooming process and its impact, and how we can help and protect young people most at risk.

As well as providing an opportunity for local people to find out more about the serious and disturbing issues affecting young people now across Bedfordshire and beyond, the event also aimed to raise money for a local charity, Link to Change. Link to Change offers support to young people aged 12-26 across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough who have been victims of exploitation. Ticket and refreshment sales amassed a fantastic total donation pot of £650 for the charity to help further their projects.

The cheque was presented to Link to Change’s CEO, Hayley Brown and Project Manager, Kelly Panaghiston this week by Rachael Frossell, Director of The Seeds of Change.

Thank you to everyone who helped to organise and support such a worthwhile event.

The Seeds of Change is proud to have recently been granted membership to four important organisations which support and promote outdoor learning and countryside activities for children, young people and adults of all abilities: The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom, the Forest School Association, Social Farms and Gardens and Leaf.

The Council for Leaning Outside the Classroom is a registered charity existing to champion learning outside the classroom (LOtC). They believe that every child should be given the opportunity to experience life and lessons beyond the classroom walls as a regular part of growing up. They also aim to:

– Influence and challenge learning outside the classroom policy and practice

– Raise the profile of learning outside the classroom and promote the benefits

– Provide support for education and LOtC professionals, aiming for good quality learning outside the classroom that meets the needs of young people.

The Forest School Association is the professional body and UK wide voice for Forest School, promoting best practice, cohesion and ‘quality Forest School for all’. It also aims to promote the wide ranging educational experiences in the natural world that are on offer to children, young people and adults across the UK.

Social Farms & Gardens supports thousands of grass roots projects across the UK that have helped millions of people to use farming and gardening as a way to transform lives and connect with others, putting pride back into communities and improving health and well-being.

They work with community farms and gardens, school farms, wildlife and roof gardens, community orchards, community-run allotments and community supported agriculture schemes.

Leaf (Linking Environment and Farming) works to inspire and enable sustainable farming that is prosperous, enriches the environment and engages local communities. They also organise national events such as Open Farm Sunday, which encourages families to find out more about farming.

The four organisations’ values and missions are aligned with the work that we do at The Seeds of Change and our passion about the benefits of working in an outdoor educational environment.

The majority of our work takes place outside, in the fresh air, surrounded by nature and the open countryside, and we see how it affects our learners in such a positive way: mental and physical stimulation, improved wellbeing and focus, a sense of calm and safety, and renewed enthusiasm for learning.

We believe passionately that young people, in particular, should have regular exposure to opportunities that allow them to learn through the natural world around them and we look forward to supporting these four organisations in their work.

In June we begin an exciting, new adventure which will continue to build on these ideas and take us further into the world of outdoor learning. Wild for Life is a new business stream which we are piloting this Summer term in schools in Bedfordshire and will focus on delivering nature-led learning experiences to children, families, schools, communities and businesses, within the grounds of schools and other outdoor environments. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discover more and to follow our progress.

More than 100 parents, carers and professionals attended an information evening last night aimed at educating them around the risks of child criminal exploitation (CCE).

Presentations from Bedfordshire Police school liaison officer Richard Denton and specialist training providers CYP First focussed on the dangers and techniques of county lines gangs.  There was also an opportunity for guests to ask questions of an expert panel of frontline agencies involved in combatting the exploitation of children and young people.

The event was organised by local education provider The Seeds of Change, and featured contributions from modern slavery charity Unseen, child sexual exploitation charity Link to Change and Central Bedfordshire Council, on behalf of the county’s three local authorities.

The event at Wootton Lower School heard about the extreme violence and grooming techniques used by criminal gangs involved in county lines, who target children to deal drugs across the country.  There was also guidance on the threats that children face from being groomed online and how parents can respond to these challenges.

Lisa Robinson, Bedfordshire’s child sexual exploitation coordinator, who helped organise last night’s event, said: “I was delighted to see so many people make the effort to come on a Thursday night.

“This shows the level of concern there is in our communities and the desire out there to stop our children falling victim to this criminal exploitation and serious violence.

“We have made great progress in terms of raising awareness and spotting the dangers around child sexual exploitation.

“Similar efforts must now go into combatting criminal exploitation and county lines, as this often goes hand in hand with sexual abuse.”

Helen Matthews, a director at CYP First, said: “Tackling youth violence and gang culture in our country cannot be done by police and other organisations alone.

“We must ensure that parents and communities are equipped with the information and knowledge of this abhorrent grooming process, to arm them in the safeguarding of not just their children, but the children in their communities.

“County lines and the grooming of children for this is so widespread and last night was a true testimony to such an invested area with parents, community members and professionals all coming together to learn more about how they can safeguard children.

“Thank you to The Seeds of Change who hosted such a wonderful event, and Bedfordshire Police who are running a brilliant campaign across all of Bedfordshire #bedsagainstcse. The only way we will fight this is if we all stand together to fight this abuse and coercion of our children.”

The event raised £780 for Link to Change, an independent charity which works with children and young people at risk of sexual abuse and other forms of criminal exploitation.

Rachael Frossell, a director at The Seeds of Change, said: “As a business professional who attended the Beds CSE Event in December last year, I found the event to be really enlightening from a business perspective, but essential as a parent.

“CYP First identified so many behaviours in teenagers that I had observed in my own son, but the CYP presentation highlighted to me what a close link there is between normal teenage behaviour and violent gang crime and exploitation. These activities are not isolated to inner city areas, they are here, right now, in our communities; the same communities that our children have access too.

“I decided that we needed to act, to do something to raise awareness in our communities, not just amongst professionals. Lisa, Richard and CYP were all on board with the idea immediately and between us we were able to arrange and put on last night’s event.

“The turnout was fantastic and the feedback has also been positive, with more than 74% of attendees requesting more information about future events.”

Following on from the success and positive response to Thursday’s event, similar events are now being planned, which will be announced in due course.

Yesterday, one of our post 16 learners was privileged to be offered the chance to visit Bedfordshire Police HQ, in Kempston to find out more about the role of a police dog handler.

Alex* is almost 18 years old, profoundly deaf and living in care. He attends The Seeds of Change Post 16 programme, which focuses on exploring young people’s employment options and supporting the often tricky transition from education to employment. During a conversation with Sam, his coach, Alex discussed ‘dream jobs’ and Alex shared that he loved watching police dog handlers and was fascinated by the obedience of the dogs.

This conversation led to yesterday’s visit, where he was invited to shadow the Bedfordshire Police Dog Handling Unit during one of their training sessions, accompanied by his coach. They were met at the police station by Sgt Andy Greenacre who is head of the Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Police Dog Handling Units. Sgt Greenacre was on hand throughout the day to answer Alex’s many questions and to explain the processes the dogs and their handlers were demonstrating.

Alex met four police dog handlers and their eight dogs; each handler had one General Purpose Dog and one Specialist Search Dog. All General Purpose Dogs are trained to track for persons/offenders, search open areas and buildings, to hunt for and find recently discarded items of property and also to detain suspects. The Specialist Search Dogs are trained to detect firearms and ammunition and cash, drug and media related items.  Alex learnt that the dogs are assigned to their handler and remain and live with their handler for the duration of their working life. On retirement from duties, the majority stay on with their handler as a pet.

Sgt Greenacre and his team explained that the police force now use rescue dogs and retrain them. Alex asked if these dogs were ‘not as good’ as the dogs that were bred for police usage: Sgt Greenacre explained that after following the training programme, the end result was much the same. Alex identified correlations with his own life, as a young person in care; just because someone’s early life does not follow convention or a desirable path, it does not mean that with the right support, care, training and education that their long-term outcome and achievements needed to be overshadowed by their start. Much like many of our learners, the police officers had allowed the dogs the opportunity to rewrite their life story.

They observed the dogs and their handlers run through a number of training exercises including a property search and agility and obedience tests. Alex was in awe of the speed, nimbleness and velocity of the dogs, whilst also recognising how intimidating and effective their perceived power and determination could be. Additionally, he was amazed by the dogs’ flexible mental capacity to switch between duty and off duty mode, something most working adults can have difficulty doing. It was evident how passionate and dedicated both dogs and handlers are about their work and partnerships, and the invaluable role they play within the police force.

The day was beneficial on many levels: building a new perspective of the police force and a newfound respect for the work they do and the level of skill and dedication required; understanding the potential work opportunities that exist in the emergency services for people with hearing impairments; and educating one young person about the true repercussions of committing crimes.

Thank you to the Bedfordshire Dog Handling Team for allowing us the opportunity to experience and learn about this line of work.

*Name changed for anonymity.

We were thrilled this week to celebrate the fantastic commitment of our young people. In particular, One Year 10 learner has achieved a phenomenal 100% attendance rate since he started at The Seeds of Change way back in Year 7.  That’s turning up for every one of his sessions come wind, rain, snow or sunshine over the space of three years, and it was great to see him take pride in this awesome achievement.

We’re always impressed by our learners’ willingness to turn up, join in and work outside with the horses whatever the weather. Many of our learners have struggled to attend mainstream education before joining us at The Seeds of Change, which makes this kind of achievement even more impressive. So, it was our pleasure to present a certificate and specially made rosette cake to this young learner to mark this magnificent milestone. Well done and keep up the fantastic work!

In the news this week we have heard how Instagram are proposing to remove all graphic images of self harm following the suicide of Molly Russell in 2017. Molly’s parents saw posts of her Instagram account after her death and concluded that the social media giant was partially to blame.

All this is a world away from young people working with horses, you would think? Well think again.

According to Self Harm UK (TM) there could be as many as 13% of 11-16 year olds involved in harming themselves. It is very difficult to gather accurate data as most young people will not disclose what is going on, so the actual figures could be much higher.

As an organisation working with young people, examples of self harm are just one of many of the increasing conditions we have witnessed over the last 15 years. High levels of anxiety and stress, depression and low self esteem have all been linked to the act of self harm.

During our work with learners we try to focus on how they are feeling rather than why they are harming themselves. Horses are experts in helping us build a learner’s self esteem and confidence; the natural therapeutic environment that is created by simply being around a horse can make all of us feel better about ourselves and thus reduce our levels of stress and anxiety.

We are not a substitute or a replacement for the specialist organisations out there who actively offer support to those who are self harming and their families. However, improving our mental health and well being can only help to make us more resilient and more confident in the choices that we make.

For specialist support or if you are concerned about someone self harming then contact:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/self-harm/

youngminds.org.uk/find-help/feelings-and-symptoms/self-harm/

www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/self-harm/

www.selfharm.co.uk/

We have recognised the difficulties facing our learners when leaving a provision age 16 and venturing unsupported into mainstream education such as a college placement or into the world of paid work. Therefore, we have created an environment for support to be offered to our most vulnerable learners until they are more equipped with coping strategies and life skills to manage this transition with a successful outcome.

We are currently assisting our post 16 learners with their transition from education to the world of employment. The support on offer is not only around careers advice, CV and interview practice and work placements, it will also focus on seemingly simple things which are, in fact, a huge challenge for some of our learners, like negotiating public transport in order to get to work.

For instance, recently Callum, one of our post 16 learners commuted from his home address to the our head office in Astwood, accompanied by Sam, his coach. This journey involved a lot of supported forward planning from Callum and even the completion of a risk assessment to allow him to overcome his anxieties around travelling on public transport, crowds and unforeseen changes to travel plans (train cancellations etc.). Following this experience, Callum feels more prepared and confident in making his way independently to any work he may be offered in the future.

Some of our learners already have clear ideas about the sort of further education or career path they would like to take, others need more help. We are working with them to explore their ideas through visits to a variety of industries to give our learners an insight into different careers and working environments. We are also organising supported volunteer and work experience roles, relating to our learners’ interests which will allow them to develop important work and life skills and improve levels of confidence. These trips and placements will take place alongside and contribute to their education at The Seeds of Change where they are completing City & Guilds Land-based diplomas, Employability Level 1 and 2 diplomas and functional skills certificates in both English and Maths.

If you would like to find out more about our work with Post 16 learners, please contact us.