News Update: Brian Jackson College celebrates ‘Good’ Ofsted rating!

Fresh Futures Brian Jackson College are proud to announce that they have once again achieved a rating of GOOD during their recent Ofsted inspection!

At Brian Jackson College, we pride ourselves on the quality of work we deliver, and the outcomes we achieve to improve the lives of young people and inspire positive change to encourage better opportunities for their futures.

In June we welcomed Ofsted inspectors into Brian Jackson College, where they carried out a two-day inspection of our education settings across Huddersfield and Heckmondwike. We were delighted that the inspectors recognised the invaluable support, ongoing improvements, and dedication we provide to our young people on a daily basis.

Throughout their visit, inspectors spent time talking to staff and students, and discussing their views around various topics such as safeguarding, bullying and equality and diversity. The staff and students gave glowing feedback and spoke highly of the unique family-feel at the college. The inspectors agreed with the comments and observations made, so much so, they have awarded us, for the third time, a GOOD Ofsted rating.

The team at Brian Jackson College couldn’t be prouder of maintaining this achievement throughout the years.

Headteacher, Jacqui Green, was over-joyed to share the exciting news with parents, carers, students and colleagues. Jacqui said: “This is an excellent report, particularly at a time when the benchmark for ‘Good’ is at the highest level it has ever been. I am particularly pleased that Ofsted recognised the journey of improvements made at Brian Jackson College over the past four years and I would like to thank the parents/carers who have supported the school during this time. Once again, may I thank all those involved in the inspection itself, especially the staff, Brian Jackson College, governors, and the pupils who shone during the inspection process and continue to make a positive contribution to school life.”

Mark Farmer, Chief Executive Officer at Yorkshire Children’s Centre, added: “I am delighted that the great work our team do to develop our students continues to be recognised by Ofsted. Our model of blending academic and vocational learning, in a nurturing, supportive and safe environment, provides a fresh start for young people for whom mainstream schooling has not worked. Brian Jackson College is a shining example of good alternative education provision, and I am proud of the difference we make.”

Brian Jackson College is an alternative provision school, run across two sites in Heckmondwike and Huddersfield, teaching core and vocational subjects to around 60 pupils in years 9-11.

To find out more about Brian Jackson College, please visit: www.brianjacksoncollege.co.uk

#BrianJacksonCollege #WeAreYCC

Volunteer of the Month: May

Volunteer of the month is when we get to shout about our amazing volunteers and the, quite literally, life changing work they do to help Fresh Futures run smoothly and effectively.

This month we are giving a very special THANK YOU to Alison Hill who has been volunteering as a befriender at Fresh Futures for nearly 3 years. Alison has been able to see first-hand the difference that befriending has made to the lives of some of our community friends.

We caught up with Alison to hear about her Fresh Futures Volunteering journey so far…

  1. Name: Alison Hill
  2. How long have you been volunteering for the charity? Nearly 3 years since the beginning of Covid. 
  3. Please explain your volunteering role in a nutshell: I’m a telephone volunteer who calls two friends each week. I call them less now because they are starting to get out and about a little more which means we have even more to talk about. I started during the pandemic calling people who were alone. We still speak every couple of weeks.
  4. What made you want to start volunteering with YCC? I couldn’t take my friends out at the beginning of Covid and I thought telephoning people would help them as much as it helped me.
  5. And finally, what advice would you give to people considering volunteering with YCC? Just give it a go, I think both parties get a heck of a lot out of it, I certainly do. I’ve been volunteering for nearly 9 years with different charities and it’s the best thing I ever started.

If you feel inspired to become a volunteer like Alison, or if you would like to volunteer in any way for our charity, please contact Lucy on 01484 519988 or email [email protected]

YCC’s Huddersfield offices receive huge modernisation – Check it out here!

Throughout the month of March, our Building’s Manager Emma Cavanagh was busy coordinating a huge refurbishment of the first floor of Brian Jackson House.

The work, which involved a lot of rewiring, painting and new flooring took place in just three weeks and has transformed the space from what was an outdated working area (last refurbished over 2 decades ago!) to a more connected and modern space.

The project did not go without it’s hurdles, and it was particularly challenging in the first week when the lift broke down! Not great timing as all of the organisation’s huge wooden desks needed to travel down two flights of stairs to be removed from the building! But despite everything, the project was completed and everyone is delighted with the results.

The new, modernised space has seen brand new hot-desks with a new layout in bright and airy rooms. We also now have meeting rooms, break-out rooms and quiet spaces for different working styles, plus an amazing service delivery space where service users can take part in group sessions and 121 sessions.

What’s more, for the first time, staff at Brian Jackson House will soon have access to their own private staff room, allowing for downtime during the working day, which is absolutely essential for our teams who often work in pressurised and challenging situations and deserve a space just for them, where they can relax and reenergise.

Emma wasn’t working alone, and she would like to send out a massive thank you to everyone who supported the project:

“Thank you to everyone on the building’s team for all your help with the project at Brian Jackson House. It’s been a tough couple of weeks and if things could go wrong they have!! However the team really pulled together. There has been blood, sweat & tears!”

I would like to thank Katie for all the cleaning she has done in the project rooms, she has been a superstar and made these rooms look and smell amazing. It wasn’t an easy job with all the dust, wires and random bits everywhere.

I would also like to say thank you to Rebecca, Daniella & Janine for being amazing helping with the moving of all desks, being an absolute super team when the lift broke down and for being there when I’ve had a meltdown!!

Thank you to Tony & James for all the shifting, lifting, painting and moving of everything and anything.

Last but not least I would like to send a special thank you to our volunteer Gareth who has donated so much of his time these past few weeks. He has been brilliant and worked so hard. We really couldn’t have done it without him!”

But of course we all also want to say a big thank you to Emma, who has given her everything to complete this project on time and to a high standard. This project will have a fantastic impact on staff and service users alike, who will all benefit from this new and improved space. We are sure that you will all agree when checking out the photos, just how incredible these new changes are.

Check out the before, during and after photos of the new main hot desk office to see the huge difference that has been made!

BEFORE
BEFORE
DURING
DURING
AFTER
AFTER

As a large charity operating across 5 buildings, we always have refurbishment and renovation projects lined up. If you or an organisation you work with would like to get involved in any volunteer or pro-bono work with Fresh Futures relating to decorating or any other building or gardening work, please email [email protected] or call 01484 519988.

Fresh Futures Looks Back at a Successful 2022

And that’s not all. Can you believe we also packed ALL of the below into 2022, too!

  • We supported Children’s Mental Health Week, created by Place2Be, through our Thriving Kirklees Team, providing free activity packs and wellbeing guides and more!
  • We got a BRAND NEW website
  • We started a gardening group for our service users with Young Onset Dementia
  • We launched our 3-year strategy
  • We were FINALISTS for the Covid Hero Award at the Yorkshire Choice Awards
  • We ran mental health programmes with the Works Better team at Kirklees Council for our Brian Jackson College pupils.
  • We worked with Our Creative Connection to create a photography exhibition created by our Hopeful Families participants
  • We trained ALL our Service Managers in an accredited Management Training & development PRogramme
  • We hosted Safety Rangers for Year-5 pupils from disadvantaged schools – THREE TIMES!
  • We ‘Walked for YCC‘ taking on TWO walking challenges (Up Castle Hill in Huddersfield and the National 3 Peaks), raising awareness and funds for the charity.
  • We said good bye and good luck to another cohort of Brian Jackson College pupils
  • We launched a 3-year sustainability Action Plan
  • We ran our first ever ALL STAFF team day to develop the charity’s ‘One Team; One Charity’ ethos
  • We held a huge THANK YOU event for our employees and their families in the summer, plus a festive party at Christmas
  • We hosted a fashion show at Brian Jackson House to raise important funds for our services
  • We supported Ukrainian refugees through various projects including a Ukrainian job fayre and Christmas party
  • We hosted Stay and Play sessions for families through Hopeful Families where children could play whilst their parents and carers received essential support from professional mentors.
  • We celebrated Eid and Diwali across our sites with our employees and tenants
  • We were awarded the Household Support Grant by TSL Kirklees
  • We completed a big refurb project at Brian Jackson College, Heckmondwike with a cohort of volunteers
  • We sold Fresh Futures christmas cards, designed by a pupil at Brian Jackson College
  • We presented ‘Speak Volumes – the importance of amplifying children’s voices in domestic abuse perpetrator programmes’ as part of the White Ribbon Campaign with EdShift.

News Update: New Year’s Resolutions – What Will You Achieve in 2023?

New Year, New Opportunities!

January is always a time when we look forward and map out our dreams and goals for the year to come!

This year, why not consider some new year’s resolutions that are not only fun and innovative, but that could make a BIG difference, too!

Here are 6 new year’s resolution ideas for you to consider, and make 2023 a year to remember!!

1. Support YCC’s Charity Shop

YCC’s charity shop in Heckmondwike sells pre-loved furniture, white goods, and decorative items. We are always seeking support from our local community, whether you would like to donate items or your time, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Charity retail association also suggested three creative new year’s resolutions to support your charity shop!

P.S. Did you know that our Charity Shop has an eBay account for our Vintage pieces?

2. Get your business involved!

Could your place of work support a good cause? From regular giving such as unclaimed client funds, to pro-bono work and sponsored events in the name of Fresh Futures… there’s always plenty of fun ways that you and your colleagues could make a difference!

3. Tick something off your bucket list!

What’s that one thing you’ve always wanted to do? Shave your beard? Climb a mountain? Jump out of an aeroplane? Make 2023 the year that you set up a Just Giving Page in the name of Yorkshire Children’s Centre and MAKE IT HAPPEN! If you decide to carry out any activity or event for YCC, do let us know, and we can support you with sponsorship forms, publicity, and more!

Check out this list of Running Events that you could get involved in, in 2023!

4. Volunteer your time!

At YCC, we have SO MANY different opportunities for volunteers to get involved. From telephone befriending, and gardening clubs… to regular administrational support and fundraising… We’ve listed lots of different volunteer opportunities across our website. But if you have a special skill that you would like to bring to us, we would be delighted to hear from you! If you would like to learn more about becoming a volunteer, please email [email protected]

5. Make a one-off donation or set up regular giving

Perhaps you would like to make a one off donation to support one of YCC’s services, or maybe you are able to set up regular giving each month for the duration of Fresh Futures. Either way, THANK YOU SO MUCH! 100% of all donations made by the public go straight to Fresh Futures to help us continue and improve our services, reaching more and more people in need each year and fulfilling our charitable objective of improving lives and inspiring change. Please CLICK HERE to make a donation.

6. Take 60 seconds to set up a free donation service forever!

Did you know that both Easy Fundraising and Amazon Smile offer really simple ways to donate money… without spending an penny yourself!! Both programmes are linked to your shopping baskets; so that whenever you ‘check out’ online, a percentage of your spend is donated on your behalf by the company. It takes less than a minute to set up and doesn’t cost you anything at all! Why not tell your friends how easy this is and see how many people you can get on board to double… or triple your impact!

Easy Fundraising – Learn More

Amazon Smile – Learn More

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you post about it on social media to help spread awareness of our charity. And don’t forget to tag us (@WeAreYCC) so we can follow, repost and support your resolutions along the way! 🙂

News Update: YCC’s 2023 Sustainability Action Plan Announced

During the January 2023 Sustainability Forum meeting, the representatives agreed the following 20-step action plan which will be rolled out throughout this year, ending with a re-assessment of YCC’s carbon footprint, to determine if our actions have resulted in an improvement of our score.

You can also view the full presentation considered during the forum meeting, in PDF format below.

If you would like to join the forum, attend a one-off meeting, or simply make any sustainable comments and/or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact YCC’s Sustainability Champion, by emailing [email protected].

Fresh Futures Mourns the Passing of Queen Elizabeth II As a mark of respect Fresh Futures will be closed on Monday 19th September and Re-open on Tuesday 20th September

Fresh Futures are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Her Majesty The Queen.

As we offer our heartfelt condolences to the Royal Family, we reflect with gratitude and admiration on an extraordinary lifetime of service.

During 70 years of remarkable service, the queen demonstrated an unstinting passion for charities and ensured her patronage of hundreds of good causes was integral to her public duties

Many of our children and adult service users will have known only Queen Elizabeth II as the monarch of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Realms, for their lifetimes; so the next coming weeks may be a strange and upsetting time for many across our communities.

Fresh Futures is here to support the communities, across Huddersfield, Heckmondwike and Batley, through our Community Friend and Community Champion work. and you can find details of these services on our website.

All Fresh Futures staff across all the Fresh Futures buildings will be observing the bank holiday Monday on 19th September 2022, to celebrate the Queen’s life during her funeral, and services will therefore be closed for this day.

#WeAreYCC

CONGRATULATIONS: BRIAN JACKSON COLLEGE LEAVERS

Another year and another cohort of leavers at YCC’s alternative provision school.

This year, several pupils came to the end of their journeys at Brian Jackson College, after completing two years with us, studying the national curriculum, gaining important qualifications and certificates, and learning important life skills.

Brian Jackson College is an Alternative Provision supporting pupils with social, emotional and mental health difficulties. We are based in Kirklees across 2 sites (Huddersfield and Heckmondwike).

This year’s cohort completed courses in core subjects such as English, Maths, Science & Financial Education; plus vocational subjects including food technology, motor vehicle maintenance and construction.

Our aim is to inspire all our pupils to be motivated and successful citizens, equipped to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. We have created a positive environment that offers a fresh start and encourages and promotes pupils’ academic, social, moral, spiritual and cultural learning.

“Where does the time go? We are SO PROUD of this year’s leavers, who fought valiantly throughout the pandemic to continue to achieve to the best of there ability. At the end of the academic year, we always try to spoil our pupils and give them a great send off. This year, all pupils were invited back for an afternoon of pizza and laughter. This included the staff showing off their dance moves. On behalf of myself and every one of the college staff, we wish each and every pupil joy and success on the next part of their journey, and remind them that we area always here, if they need us!” 

A message from Brigitte Barrowclough, Deputy Head Teacher at the Huddersfield college
In the summer, before the academic year came to an end, staff and pupils held an impromptu Sports Day which was great fun!

If you would like to learn more about YCC’s alternative provision colleges, please click HERE to visit the college website.

If you would like to fundraise for, support, or collaborate with the college, please contact [email protected].

The college also has an Amazon Wish List, which includes appliances for the cooking and art classes, plus educational books. You can view this, HERE.

Safety Rangers Takes Place at YCC’s Brian Jackson House for the First Time

Between 13th and 24th June, Fresh Futures hosted their Safety Rangers event, delivering safety sessions to 247 year 5 pupils from six local schools: Clough Head, Fieldhead Primary Academy, Lowerhouses J&I, Netherhall Learning Campus, Newsome Junior School and Warwick Road Primary.

For the first time since the event was developed, Safety Rangers took place at YCC’s Brian Jackson House in the centre of Huddersfield.

Pupils learned about the importance of a balanced diet and where to find important vitamins and minerals to fuel their bodies.

The event is coordinated by YCC’s Thriving Kirklees team and runs for two weeks at a time, every week day. The day is run by Katie Lockwood – Thriving Kirklees 0-19 Service Manager; and Jodie Kavanagh – Thriving Kirklees Service Support Worker in partnership with local services.

Working on physical health

Safety Rangers focuses on three key areas:

  • Practical Safety
  • Emotional Health and Wellbeing
  • Physical health.

Each session is designed to educate the pupils to live safely; and the fun activities the pupils undertake ensure that the information is easily retained after they leave the event.

“I enjoyed my day because I learnt about something.
“I liked that you could be open with your thoughts and feelings.”
I liked that it was very calm and if you got something wrong it was okay”

Various Pupils who attended the June event
Learning about Emotional Health and Wellbeing from the team at Northorpe Hall. The pupils took part in a meditation exercise and discussed the importance of looking after your mental health.

Safety Rangers Sessions:

Morning Sessions:

  • Road Safety, delivered by Kirklees Road Safety
  • Anti-Social Behaviour, delivered by Safer Kirklees and West Yorkshire Police
  • Fire Safety, delivered by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

Afternoon Sessions:

  • Emotional Health and Wellbeing, delivered by Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust
  • Physical Health and Nutrition, delivered by Huddersfield Town Foundation
  • Physical Exercise, delivered by Huddersfield Town Foundation

Jodie Kavanagh who coordinates the event behind the scenes and facilitates the event during delivery, said that,Safety Rangers is made possible by a partnership of local services who give their time to deliver important safety and health messages to the pupils who attend. From the feedback, you can see that pupils and teachers alike find these sessions to be informative, useful and, of course, fun. We’d like to thank the aforementioned organisations for their help and participation, and we look forward to delivering again this coming October.“.

Safety Rangers runs four times a year, and usually takes place at Huddersfield Fire Station (winter events) and Dewsbury Fire Station (summer events). If you would like to learn more about Safety Rangers events, please visit our website.

Pupils sit down to learn about Physical Fitness from football players of Huddersfield Town

A fantastic event with vitally important messages, well organised. Would definitely recommend and wish to come again.

Teacher

Volunteer of the Month: June

We love this time of the month: when we get to shout about our amazing volunteers and the quite literally life changing work that they do to help Fresh Futures run smoothly and effectively.

This month we are giving a very special THANK YOU to Luke Russell, who has been volunteering for Fresh Futures for a year and a half so far, as a telephone befriender.

We caught up with Luke to find out a little more about his volunteering journey.

  1. Name:  Luke Russell.
  2. Tell us a little about yourself? I live in Huddersfield and work for a manufacturing company in nearby Meltham. I spend most of my time on my main interests which are cooking (& eating!), reading, and attending live music events. 
  3. How long have you been volunteering for the charity? Just over 18 months. 
  4. Please explain your volunteering role in a nutshell: As a telephone befriender, I make weekly phone calls to some elderly individuals in the local community. After the first few calls of getting to know one another, these typically become nice informal chats to talk about anything which has been going on for them and myself recently, and anything else which might have been on their mind. 
  5. What made you want to start volunteering with YCC? I’d been wanting to take up a volunteering role for some time, but had struggled to commit myself to an opportunity. During the 2020 Covid lockdowns and the growing awareness of community loneliness, which was particularly acute in some groups including the elderly, I saw this role advertised in an email and felt I couldn’t help but commit some time to helping in any way.  
  6. Sum up a typical day of volunteering for you? The befriending role is great for someone like myself who works weekday office hours as I can easily fit the time into the sociable hours I have after finishing work. Typically, I’ll try to call straight after finishing my job for the benefit of my friends, and just have a natural conversation with them about what’s happened in the last week, and anything which they want to talk about from their lives – I planned my holiday in Scotland last summer around trips one of my contacts used to make and often tells me about – he has such fond memories of Arran we had to check it out! I’ll make the odd note during the call, and then once we’ve finished our conversation, update the volunteering app with the call details. 
  7. And finally, what advice would you give to people considering volunteering with YCC? The main thing is making sure you’re honest with yourself about what you can fit in and find an opportunity accordingly. The Telephone Befriending role really suits me with the time I am able to commit with work and other commitments, and building relationships overtime is very rewarding as someone who enjoys bouncing off people.  

If you feel inspired to become a telephone volunteer like Luke, or if you would like to volunteer in any way for our charity, please contact Lucy on 01484 519988 or email [email protected]