Spoon Charitable Work 9 David Choules, former Saracens and


Wasps scrum half, cut the ribbon to the new section of the centre, he then recounted his various extreme challenges that he has embarked on since retiring from rugby. Last year he ran 6 consecutive marathons (2 in one day) across the Sahara desert. This year, for Spoon, he plans to do a “round Mont Blanc” 160 Km run, which climbs over 30,000 feet.


Chilterns WESTFIELD SCHOOL


OUTDOOR LEARNING CENTRE For children aged 5 – 11 with severe behavioural problems Spoon donation: £15,000 Opened by: James Burridge on 29th November 2011


BBC Radio Commentator, James Burridge opened the Wooden Spoon outdoor play area at Westfield School, Buckinghamshire Built in 1995, Westfield School is a Special Needs School catering for 35 children aged 5 – 11 years, who have been excluded from mainstream school. Until three years ago, all the children who attended Westfield were considered ‘unteachable’. However, the introduction of a range of new educational techniques championed by the Psychology Department at London University has seen significant improvements, with about 20% of the children expected to return to mainstream education as a result of the education they have received at Westfield.


While the investment in an activity centre and two “study stations” may appear recreational rather than educational, these have been carefully chosen so that the one- on-one teaching regime at the school can be maintained, to monitor the children’s social interaction, and to use the outcome to support their behaviour modification strategies.


Chilterns BROKFIELD SCHOOL


HYROTHERAPY POOL CHANGING FACILITIES For 194 children with multiple and severe learning difficulties Spoon donation: £25,000 Opened by: Sir Clive Woodward OBE on 27th February 2012


Five years ago, then head of Brookfield School Mr Byrne, approached Spoon to help renovate the existing hydro-therapy pool. Unfortunately, in common with several other special needs schools, Brookfield had been “promised” a


launched their HITZ programme in Barking and Dagenham. HITZ runs two sessions a week for the children in the local community, one on a Monday at Abbey Green in Barking from 4.30-6.30pm and another on Friday at The Leys in Dagenham from 4.30-6.30pm. Attendance varies but with over 25 at Abbey Green and 40 at The Leys, and considering this is on a completely optional basis, working with young people who are new to the game, this is the sort of attendance most junior rugby clubs can only dream of.


The HITZ team work hard to recruit the young people from Barking and Dagenham


Community Projects


On a cold Monday evening, in a public park on the outskirts of East London, a small team from Wooden Spoon sat and watched something rather remarkable.


One by one, children from the local area arrived at the park in Barking to a warm welcome from Saracens community coach, Kieth Hughes, someone who they have built a special relationship with in the last few months.


This small phenomenon all started at the beginning of November when Saracens, Premiership Rugby and Wooden Spoon


for their sessions, using a combination of school visits, taster sessions, youth websites and flyering on local housing estates to try and give as many youngsters the opportunity to get involved. In the last two months they have delivered over 150 hours of activities in the community, three members of their coaching programmes have gone on to join their local junior rugby clubs and in November they took 40 young people to Wembley to watch a match between Saracens and Harlequins.


The plans for this area do not stop there. In this next term they will be delivering a Rugby Ready coaching course, an ASDAN qualification in rugby and will be conducting workshops in personal safety, sexual health and substance misuse for all of the regular participants.


Also present to watch the session were representatives from project sponsors, United House. Paul Nicholls, Business Development Director for United House said,


HITZ participants with the coaches from Saracens and sponsors United


HITZ LONDON INNER CITY


FOR YOUNGSTERS AGED 11-19 Spoon Funding: £105,000 Spoon Support: National funding Launched: January 2010


“Our work mainly consists of maintaining, building and developing council owned properties in this area, so the benefits to us are obvious. It gives us the chance to build relationships in the local community, as our normal dealings with the residents are often under stressful circumstances, so this sort of project helps us to show that we are here to help and gives us a platform to connect with the next generation of people in this area.” Erik Stein, Group Manager of the


Integrated Youth Service at the local council said,


“As a Local Authority we try to offer a wide range of projects to young people, and HITZ obviously forms part of that. It caters for young people who may not be interested in other areas and with Barking and Dagenham being such a Rugby-based area it provides a natural progression into the community for the young people who participate.” HITZ targets 11-19 year olds who are at risk of offending or already involved in crime. This is done by using referrals from pupil referral units, schools, youth services, social services or the police. As well as rugby sessions, the programme delivers personal development sessions, workshops and one to one youth-work activity to initiate long-term behaviour changes.


The HITZ project is currently running in 10 London boroughs and has over 750 participants registered at present. Wooden Spoon and Premiership Rugby are working towards expanding the programme through all 12 of the Aviva Premiership Clubs across the country. Turn to Page 39 for more about Spoon Community projects.


www.woodenspoon.com Spring 2012 Spoonews


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