New Directions welcomed a group of students, who are taking part in the Challenge with the National Citizen Service (NCS) to Community Choices Network. After learning more about what we do and discussing how they could help us, the students agreed to create a Fairy Glen with sensory items at the allotment.
The students decided what resources they would need for the project and what items we had already so they could purchase accordingly. The students also decided to put an Art and Craft bank in Asda, for people to donate items.
The students made sensory items which Bob and Tony, who attend our day opportunities service, placed on a tree at the allotment. Customers will paint stones that they will also place around the tree. The students then joined Bob and Tony to help do some essential weeding. Later that week the students returned to CCN and presented us with a box of art and craft items that had been kindly donated from members of the public.
NCS is a four-phase programme specifically designed to offer young people a wide range of new experiences that will build essential skills for work and life preparing them for their future. Almost half a million young people aged 15 to 17 have taken part in NCS since its foundations in 2009. The activities are designed to empower young people, help them to take social action, understand democracy, discover their role as a citizen and how they can influence social change. The scheme runs across England and Northern Ireland. Managed by the NCS Trust the programme works in partnership with charities, not for profits, and the private sector to develop stronger and more integrated communities. The aim of the programme is to help young people to explore who they are, build their confidence, see what they are capable of and get their voice heard.
For more information about NCS The Challenge or to find out how you can get involved click here.