(from left) Beyond The Classroom youth mentor Ruby, participants Evan and George, Foundation lead Steve Beaty and Jamilah Hassan of the Banks Group
A Cramlington community charity is helping local young people build their self-confidence and capabilities with the help of a four-figure grant from a regional employer.
The Rockets Community Foundation has set up the Beyond The Classroom project to help highly vulnerable young people aged 13-16 who’ve experienced significant issues and problems with severe anxiety in their upbringing.
The project will feature a range of off-site experiences, creative and social activities which will help to reduce isolation, build confidence, strengthen peer relationships and encourage sustained engagement, all with the support of a team of trusted adults who understand the group’s complex needs.
A £2,000 grant from the Banks Group’s Banks Community Fund is covering the transport, activity and staff costs linked to the Beyond The Classroom project right through the year, so that financial barriers to participation can be removed for everyone.
The Rockets Community Foundation grew out of Cramlington Rockets RLFC’s community outreach work and utilises sport as a vessel to engage people within vulnerable communities.
It became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation five years ago as part of taking over and refurbishing its Launchpad headquarters in Eastfield after Cramlington Town Council leased the building to the Foundation.
More than 1,000 young people now use the building every year for a range of different activities, with other community activities including fitness classes, chair yoga, well-being sessions and the Cuppa Club for older people also taking place there.
The Beyond The Classroom project participants will also be working in the new vegetable garden that has just been set up in the grounds of the Launchpad.
Beyond The Classroom is an extension of the Foundation’s Teen Talk programme, a weekly Children In Need-funded project which provides a safe space for local young people to spend time with friends, prepare meals, gain food hygiene qualifications and talk about things that matter to them.
Rockets Community Foundation lead Steve Beaty says: “Our Beyond The Classroom participants have all experienced really difficult situations and experiences during their young lives, meaning that things that many of us take for granted are extremely difficult for them to even think about.
“Our aim is to help build up participants’ self-confidence and give them more of the life skills they’ll need to manage these sorts of public situations in the future.
“Our first group activity was a visit to Nando’s, with the trip being the first time that some of the group had ever been in a restaurant or felt comfortable with the idea of going there.
“Being able to order their meals for themselves and then eat them in public was a very challenging prospect for many of them, but the conversation around the table and the feedback that we had from everyone afterwards was really positive and made us feel really optimistic about what we can all achieve together.
“Banks’ support will make a huge difference to what we’re able to put on and achieve over the coming months, and will help to ensure that no-one misses out on activities that we know will make a real difference to their lives in both the short and long-term.”
Jamilah Hassan, community relations manager at the Banks Group, adds: “The Foundation has a clear understanding of the needs of its community and makes such a positive impact on lots of local lives through all its different activities.
“The Beyond The Classroom project has been carefully designed to support vulnerable young people’s development in the most appropriate ways and we hope that the Foundation achieves all its project goals.”
The Banks Group’s community funds are independently managed by Point North (formerly the County Durham Community Foundation).
Anyone from a community close to a Banks Group project who is interested in applying for funding from the Banks Community Fund should contact the company via its website enquiry form (www.banksgroup.co.uk/contact-us/) to find out if their group or project is eligible.