Preventing Homelessness for Young People Project

With a national shortage of affordable housing and ever impending strain on the councils housing waiting list, Bassetlaw District Council has a strong focus on preventing homelessness through community engagement this year.

The Statutory and Strategic Housing Team has now delivered its first secondary school homeless project which aims to prevent homelessness for young people in Bassetlaw.

Participating schools in this first project were Retford Oaks Academy and the Elizabethan Academy. The programme was split into two elements, the first a series of workshops provided by Officers from the Councils Housing Needs Team, Anti-Social Behaviour Team and A1 Housing’s Income Recovery Team. The second part was a live theatre production set provided by Zest Theatre that delivered a true story of a young homeless man.

The project was delivered successfully, with fantastic results from pupils who completed evaluation forms.

Evaluation from Council Workshops

Elizabethan Academy:

• 80 pupils completed the evaluation form
• 86% of pupils enjoyed the workshops
• 69% of pupils stated that they would go on to tell friends and family what they had learned from the day.
• We also asked the pupils to score out of 10 how useful the content from the day was to them, we were pleased to see that the average score came out at 7 out of 10.

Pupils Comments on the Day:

• "The Housing Needs Workshop was active and fun"
• "The day made us realise about the financial part of our future and the amount of money that needs to be paid out when we get our own house"
• "The A1 Housing Quizdom game was good and informative"

Retford Oaks Academy:

• 163 pupils completed the evaluation form
• 91% of pupils enjoyed the workshops
• 79% of pupils stated that they would go on to tell friends and family what they had learned from the day.
• We also asked the pupils to score out of 10 how useful the content from the day was to them, we were pleased to see that the average score came out at 7 out of 10.

Pupils Comments on the Day:

• "Great interaction, the sessions got us involved"
• "Understanding the problems with Anti-Social Behaviour in the district"
• "Very factual, got lots of good information in a short space of time"
• "Learning about the support available if you become homeless"
• "Learning things I didn’t know before and the consequences of our actions"

What the Schools/Teachers thought of the Project:

• “We need more performances like this”
• “The sessions were very helpful, as it touches on topics that pupils find awkward to talk about to teachers”
• “It certainly had the desired effect of getting the students to think about the matters raised”

If you would like any further information on relation to the Preventing Homelessness for Young People Project please contact Gemma French in Strategic Housing on 4547.

Schools Go Green!

In support of the UK’s National Climate Week, which runs from 12^th March – 18^th March 2012 we have been working with local primary schools on our Schools Go Green Project.

The project, which is ran in conjunction with the Councils Sustainability Officer and sponsored by A1 Housing, aims to educate pupils around the use of energy by looking at the types of energy used within both the school and household.

Schools from across the district were invited to submit a 4 week Go Green Plan, which addresses the wider issues of Sustainability, to be implemented into their schools commencing on the 12th March 2012 in line with National Climate Week.

The project plans were judged by Councillor Alan Rhodes and A1 Housing, and the winning school was the Primary School of St. Mary and St. Martin, Blyth. Pupils from years 4 and 5 enjoyed taking part in an Energy Day provided by the Charity, Marches Energy Agency which formed part of the winning prize.

The school has successfully implemented its Go Green Project plan, which was themed Recycling, Environment, Energy and Business Enterprize.

Download a copy of the Go Green Project Plan.

The Bassetlaw Climate Change Challenge

SCHOOLS from across Bassetlaw joined our special design-a-poster competition to mark the UK’s first national Climate Week from 21^st to 27th March 2011. The campaign was sponsored by Focus DIY Retford and A1 Housing.

In total 9 primary schools joined in the fun, with over 150 pupils involved.

The winning poster was designed by Beth Clarke from Serlby Park Junior School at Harworth, followed by our runner up Abby C from Redlands Primary School in Worksop.

Both pupils had a tour of Bayliss Printers where they took part in transforming their winning designs in to glossy posters and received a hoard of goodies!