Kristina Leu

A report about a practical training placement at Prospects, a children’s centre at Bersham, near Wrexham in North Wales. The placement was arranged through the Professional Experience Programme (PEP) of the Federation Internationale des Communautes Educatives (FICE).

Kristina Leu is a resident of Aachen in Germany and worked at Prospects during the period of 1st February, 2003 through to 25th April, 2003.

The aims of the placement

The learning needs which I listed on my application form were :

1) Exchanging experiences concerning therapeutic methods with colleagues
2) Looking for challenge to broaden my knowledge base
3) Hoping to get a chance to reflect upon my work as a therapeutic pedagogue
4) Looking forward to getting to know Wales and total UK culture
5) Having the excitement associated with socialising with people from different countries
6) Intending to improve my English skills on a general basis.

Prospects

PROSPECTS is an independent organisation founded by the current Co- Directors, Stephen Elliot and Chris Edwards in 1994. It is registered as a children’s home and as a residential independent school, and is located in Wrexham, Wales. It is made up of a number of units.

The Units

The main house has been divided up into small self- contained flats, each with its own kitchen, lounge, diner and single accommodation. Each flat is semi- autonomous with its own staff group. The flats provide medium/ long term residential care and education for up to four children/ young people between eleven and sixteen years.

DEWIS is based in a detached house located in Wrexham in a rural setting with spacious accommodation for up to four children/ young people aged ten to sixteen
years. It creates the necessary space for children and young people to re-establish a positive direction in their lives as well as providing safety, stability and security. DEWIS provides short-term residential intervention and assessment.

TY CORNEL provides short-term residential intervention with spacious accommodation for up to two children/ young people aged eleven to fifteen years in the West of Wales. The house is based on a top of a mountain, in a very isolated environment, and is used for emergency placements.

LLYS MAELOR, a house in Wrexham, provides accommodation for up to two children/ young people aged ten to sixteen years. It offers medium-term residential care and
education.

OUTREACH is offered in houses in village locations near Wrexham town centre. It is
intended that the OUTREACH facility will accommodate young people aged fifteen or above for up to two years. PROSPECTS has established an extensive outreach resource within the community where young people will receive support to develop living and social skills as well as having the opportunity to experience the realities and
challenges of living on their own and preparation for adulthood within the community.

PROSPECTS provides a small individual and alternative environment for children and young people who are experiencing difficulty and disturbance in their lives. The purpose is to create real opportunities for children and young people, enabling them to change and to take control of their lives.

Care and Education

The staff team are committed to achieving a 24-hour curriculum in two to three groups, offering consistency and continuity of care and education in a total living environment in which to pursue agreed individual targets. The staff team, supported by a number of
consultants, specialists and therapists have a wide range of skills, interests and experience, intern training and official courses.

PROSPECTS has its own educational resource offering a range of educational facilities for the nine children and young people on site. It is led by a Head of Education and a team of four teachers and three classroom assistants. However, it is not the policy of
PROSPECTS to assume that education can only be provided in house, and if, through regular assessments, a child or young person shows an ability to cope in mainstream education, then arrangements are made for the child or young person to attend a local school.

The teaching task at PROSPECTS is tackled via a thematic approach in which a particular topic is studied each half term with a curriculum map for the topic encompassing skills in the areas of English, Mathematics, Science, Personal, Social and Health Education etc. Much of the work undertaken by each learner will be individualised and appropriate to his/ her particular level of attainment in the basic skills areas.

My Programme

I started my practical training at PROSPECTS on 4th February 2003, when I met Ron Troughear, Placement Co- Ordinator. He introduced me to the organisation and I received a programme for my three-month placement The first two weeks I met Ian Whelan, Head of Care, Donna Seamarks, Group Leader Flat 1/ 2, Vicky Simms, Outreach Manager, Wendy Cook, Ty Cornel Manager, Tracy Evans, Manager of Llys Maelor and Tony Evans, Manager of Dewis for introductory talks. I also studied the National Minimum Standards, the All Wales Child Protection Procedures and the Practice Handbook during that time. I saw every part of PROSPECTS as well.

Reflections on Placements

FLAT 1/2, 17th February 2003- 28th February 2003
Both flats belong to PROSPECTS main building in Bersham Road. Both the staff and young people were very friendly towards me. I worked morning/ late shifts (a) 8am- 3pm; (b) 3pm- 11pm). I visited Chester Zoo( whole day) with a group of children, took young people for clothes shopping, went to McDonalds and an internet shop.

DEWIS, 6th March 2003
I spent a full day at Dewis, attended a drama lesson, took young people for clothes shopping and joined their daily work/ free time. Staff were very friendly, as were the children.

LLYS MAELOR, 10th March 2003 - 14th March 2003
Llys Maelor was quiet, with only one young person, who was very respectful to staff and myself. During my visit, an unannounced inspection happened, which was quite interesting to observe. I had the opportunity to share the daily life of the young person. Again, very friendly staff.

OUTREACH, Bennions Street, 17th March 2003 - 20th March 2003
Again, friendly staff and young people. I shared daily life with two young persons, clothes shopping, cooking, watching TV, chatting at tea-time.

OUTREACH, Gerald Street, 24th March 2003 - 28th March 2003
Very friendly staff and two young people; quiet atmosphere. I accompanied the young people in their free time activities.

TRAINING AT NEWI UNIVERSITY OF WREXHAM, 1st April 2003 - 2nd April 2003 Topic: Child development and the effects of trauma. The course was very interesting, and included theories of development, childhood and adolescence, interrupted development, and effects of environmental factors.

SCHOOL WEEK, 7th April 2003 - 11th April 2003

STUDY WEEK, 14th April 2003 - 18th April 2003

REPORT, REFLECTIONS, TY CORNEL VISIT ( over-night), 21st April 2003- 25th April 2003
I visited the school at PROSPECTS every Wednesday during the three months and made contact with all the teaching staff, who were very open and friendly to me. I joined all kinds of lessons, which were very interesting for me. I found out how daily school lessons are prepared and structured.

Every second Friday I had supervision with Ron Troughear, which I always looked forward to, reviewing my work at the different placements. I had time for exchanges of ideas and discussing anxieties.

Review of Placements

The staff were very friendly and open, and always had time to explain questions. The placements were well-structured and had a warm and homely relaxed atmosphere. I had no problems with the children/ young people; they were friendly and patient, even if
sometimes language communications problems appeared.

Review of PROSPECTS

I am impressed with PROSPECTS, because the whole staff were very friendly, seemed to be well trained and tried always to give their best for the children’s home. I felt very welcome, my whole programme was very well organised, and I observed daily work in all areas of the organisation. PROSPECTS’ quality of care is very good and is child-centred, which makes the work with the children/ young people more intensive.

PROSPECTS for Young People provides resources where the largest group is five and smallest is one. “Individuals can be Individuals” is the theme, and I agree that smaller establishments are more effective in achieving the overall aim of providing care and
education for children and young people with a range of complex needs, but some of them also need extra special supports, for example therapy.

Based on my experiences during my placements the benefits of smaller scale resources are :

- an opportunity to achieve real and tangible outcomes for young people both socially and educationally
- staff’s ability to respond to individual rather than group demands, shifting the emphasis from control to the development of care
- greater opportunity to maintain good standards of primary care particularly in terms of physical standards within each home
- the opportunity for young people to develop a greater sense of identity and feel the care they receive is more personal
- the creation of smaller staff teams, which can develop effective ways of working as a team including strategies for positive behaviour management
- encouragement for young people to use public transport and for the home to have domestic scale vehicles rather than minibuses
- greater integration of the home into the local community
- less chance for young people of being ‘lost’ in the group.

However, there are some considerations :

- high unit costs due to smaller numbers of young people resident
- the greater scope for intensive work undertaken particularly for staff attempting to address the complex needs of young people
- the chance to reintegrate young people living in a resource on their
own into larger groups
- the need to recruit and retain higher levels of staff
- the issue of maintaining the economic viability of a smaller resource where two young people live, since, if one leaves, there is a more urgent need to fill that vacancy than if one young person leaves from a group of, say, 20.

I had the chance during this placement to reflect upon my work as a therapeutic pedagogue and realised that it is important to understand that mistakes and wrong decisions can happen. Work with children and young people in a children’s home is a necessary, great job, but it is also very exhausting for both sides. Sometimes you must be very spontaneous, always keeping your eyes open, and no university lecture or training book can give you the right answer to children’s behaviour.

Teamwork is a very important topic in childcare for the staff, and you must never lose your sense of humour. It has been very exciting for me to get to know the different culture in some points. People I met here in Wales (Wrexham) are more relaxed, and do not take things too seriously. Staff do not only meet each other at work, but share their free time together. My experience was that everybody was very friendly to me, tried to involve me in the daily work and asked me to join them for free time activities.

Thanks

Thanks to PROSPECTS, especially to Stephen Elliot and Chris Edwards, for the opportunity to work in their organisation. Thanks to Ron Troughear, who created my placement programme, which was quite colourful and interesting, and who supported me during my whole training. Thanks to the whole staff for their support and friendliness. Thanks to Ian Whelan and his family for the great accommodation.

Best wishes.