For Parents / Funders / Other Organisations
What is the Village Centre?
The Village Centre is part of the Portslade Community College, and
provides a diverse programme of fun, challenging and rewarding learning
opportunities and experiences to support young people in their transition
to adulthood.
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What is the mission of The Village Centre?
Our mission is to provide, advice, information, support, choices
and opportunities for young people aged 7-19 to enable them to develop
the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to become competent,
caring, and contributing adults. This is provided by experiential
learning and youth work. This is achieved through partnership with
the school and parents and the wider community of Portslade.
What is experiential learning and youth
work?
Youth work promotes young people's personal and social development,
helping them learn about themselves, others and society, through
non-formal educational activities which combine enjoyment, challenge
and learning.
It is characterized by its voluntary nature, where the young person
chooses to engage in an activity undertaken in their free time.
It starts with young people's view of the world, helping them to
develop stronger relationships and collective identities, respect
and value differences, take control of their lives and develop a
voice. It is delivered via a complex network of providers: community
groups, voluntary organisations and local authorities, in youth
clubs and community centres, in parks, on the streets, in mobiles,
in schools and further education colleges and many other settings.
Experiential learning is learning from environmental experiences,
action and doing. It has four main stages, ‘doing/experience’,
‘reflecting on the experience’, ‘forming a new
idea based on your reflections’, and finally ‘practise’ (more doing but applying these new ideas). Experiential learners
often increase their knowledge and skill through teaching others.
It is considered to be the cornerstone of effective youth work,
created by the educationalist David Kolb (see http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm
for details)
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Does it cost money to go to the Village
Centre?
The VC has no membership registration fee, but most clubs charge
weekly subs. This is usually £1 per session. Most activities,
and events are free-of-charge. Trips are available at cost or subsidised
which is usually minimal. Each club chooses whether to charge for
these extras and how much.
How did The Village Centre originate?
The Club was originally called The Courthope Centre and began in
1964 with just one club per week. But as youth services became valued
as an important part of developing young people, the Village Centre
became an important part of the Portslade community in offering
activities and programmes for young people.
Where does The Village Centre get its
funding?
We are funded primarily through Portslade Community College. However,
we receive significant funding form Brighton and Hove City Council,
Youth & Connections Service.
Additional funding pay for individual projects, such as
Positive Activities, Neighbourhood Renewal, Youth Opportunuities Fund.
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Who 'runs' the Village Centre groups?
Experienced and qualified paid staff run each of the individual
groups and projects, but many clubs are supported by a large group
of very able volunteers – the senior helpers. They are a group
of older young people who work at Action Sports and Junior Club
What facilities does the VC offer young
people?
The VC is a purpose built centre for young people with coffee bar
facilities, TV, games hall, pool room, IT room, arts and crafts
room, meeting rooms and a concrete outdoor games area with marked
out football pitch and basketball court.
Youth workers use their skills and expertise to provide a range
of experiential learning opportunities for young people to contribute
to and support their development.
How do you keep the young people safe?
All staff must undertake an enhanced criminal records check (CRB)
as a condition of employment, and two references are sought. Any
volunteer must also undertake a CRB check and will not work unsupervised
until this is satisfactorily received.
At every session, there will be at least two qualified first aiders.
All activities and processes are subject to thorough risk assessments
which are reviewed annually. In the event of any accident however
small, these risk assessments are reviewed and lessons learned.
We have numerous policies and procedures in place to protect our
young people and our staff. These include child protection, health
and safety.
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How do you supervise the young people
on the internet?
As part of the Portslade Community College, we have very effective
firewall systems to prevent access to sites showing obscene or inappropriate
images or content.
Do you offer counselling for young people?
All youth workers are trained in the knowledge and understanding
of the pressures, stresses and strains of growing up. Befriending
is a core youth work skill. Some of our staff are also qualified
in counselling. However, at the present time although we do provide
one to one support through our ‘Time Out’ programme,
formal counselling is not offered. However, we are working with
other key agencies in Brighton and Hove that work with young people.
Please feel free to contact us to talk about this. If we cannot
help you we will be able to refer you to another organisation that
can help.
I am interested in a career
in youth work, how do I go about this?
There are a number of colleges around the country that offer full
time training which leads to a professional diploma in youth and
community work. The Youth Support Service offers local training
which leads to a national certificate in part-time youth work and
provides good experience should you wish to pursue the full time
training route. There are also a number of part-time/distance learning
routes towards the Diploma. For more details about training and
qualifications contact our Youth Work Manager on 01273 416838 or visit www.nya.org.uk
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Are there any volunteering opportunities
within the Village Centre?
The VC is always looking for sympathetic, experienced and/or skilled
adults who are prepared to give a few hours a week to help out at
some of our youth groups or projects. Because the nature of our
work is with children and young people we will require all volunteers
to undergo a criminal records and identity check.
If you are interested and feel you have something to offer and
enjoy the company of young people give Pete a call on 01273 416838.
I am looking for employment and would
like to work with young people; do you have any vacancies?
The VC is often looking for part-time support staff to work on the
various clubs. There are a variety of grades of posts. Some do not
initially require any qualification, as training is provided whilst
others do require a qualification. All vacancies are advertised
in the local community.
What training does your staff receive?
Most of our staff have undergone training in youth and
community work or a related field. All staff are offered the foundation
course in youth work, which most have completed.
All staff are offered various training courses from time to time.
Recently, this has included First Aid, Working with young people
with Speech and Language difficulties.
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How do you ensure your clubs and groups
are run properly?
As part of the Brighton and Hove Youth Support Service & Portslade
Community College, we are regularly assessed by Ofsted to ensure
we are working to the curriculum and we compile a written report
to the school governors every term.
How do you evaluate your work?
All pieces of work are planned methodically with key aims and objectives
which are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-specific.
We use various quantitative and qualitative techniques to review
our programmes. Young people are central to all our programmes,
and play a key role in their evaluations. They take the lead in
the qualitative evaluation through formative and summative feedback,
and developing subsequent work programmes. This may be informal
such as a ‘round’ at the end of the night, or more formal
such as a report.
Additionally every session has a nightly recording sheet, where
the staff team evaluate clearly defined targets alongside the progress
on the developmental needs of both individuals and the whole group.
Our work is also evidenced through photographs, displays and other
tangible outputs.
Quantitatively statistical analysis of attendance is provided, questionnaires,
consultations and before and after benchmark surveys.
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How do you involve young people in the
planning, delivery and evaluation of your programme?
The programme for each group is negotiated with the young people,
formally (through forums and committees) or informally through feedback,
conversations and consultations.
The Portslade Youth Forum is responsible for developing the programme,
the magazine and contributing to this website.
The development of the Senior helpers is structured so that before
they move on, they will be planning, delivering and evaluating their
own specific activities at the Action Sports or Junior Club and
participating in the nightly recording.
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