JULY 2011 - Stoke-on-Trent City Council

16 Our City <strong>JULY</strong> <strong>2011</strong>Supportturns livesaroundTHOUSANDS of vulnerablepeople in <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent areturning their lives around thanksto the city council’s SupportingPeople Programme.Ex-offenders, people at risk ofdomestic abuse, older people,refugees, those with mentalhealth needs or drug or alcoholproblems, learning disabilities orpeople with HIV/Aids are justsome of those who receivesupport that helps them liveindependently.A network of council services,agencies and voluntary sectororganisations are commissionedby the team to provide supportwhich is usually housing-relatedbut can also provide help inother ways like benefits adviceand access to training andemployment.During the year 2010/11alone, more than 1,700 peoplewere supported with short-termservices, while many others arehelped on a longer-term basis.Supporting People helpedpeople achieve more than 8,000outcomes in 2010/11 – includinghelping them move on toindependence, manage debt,maximise income, attendtraining or education and find ajob.Samantha Williamson,Research and DevelopmentOfficer with the SupportingPeople Team, said:“The emphasison what we do is to helpvulnerable people to leadindependent lives, or to provideolder people with support tocontinue to live independentlyin their own home.”● For more information or toget involved in theIndependent Advisory Teamphone 01782 232123 or emailsupporting.people@stoke.gov.ukHeads takeon UK rolesHEADTEACHERS RachelBeckett and Dianne Masonhave been selected forleading UK-wide roles insupporting schools inchallenging circumstances.They are two of only 100 tobe appointed to the role ofNational Leader of Education(NLE) in its latest recruitment.Rachel – Headteacher atSandon Primary School inMeir and ExecutiveHeadteacher at HollywallPrimary School – and Dianne– Executive Headteacher atSt. Wilfrid’s Catholic PrimarySchool, Tunstall and St. Peter’sCatholic Primary – will gaintraining to drive forwardimprovements in schoolsfrom the National College forLeadership in Schools andChildren’s Services.EthanHoskins, 10, ofSt. Joseph’s atGoldenhill, and KeeleyReynolds, 10, ofGoldenhill PrimarySchool.Pupils forge funlinks with localfirefightersCOMMUNITYrelationships at thenew Sandyford FireStation really are growingin more ways than one –especially now localchildren have teamed upwith firefighters to tendfour allotments at the site.The £4.5 million facility isalready proving a big hit after itopened as the city’s first everfull-time community station inOctober last year.Several organisations andgroups use it for meetings, one-offopen days have been staged thereand local people even use thestate-of-the-art gym facilities.Now four schools have joinedforces with the four differentwatches at the station to growfruit and vegetables in plots onthe site.One and a half hour sessionsare staged for youngsters fromHaywood Engineering College aswell as younger pupils fromGoldenhill, Summerbank andA NEWLY-FORMED cycling club has very close linkswith Sandyford Community Fire Station and creditsStaffordshire Fire and Rescue Service with helpingthem to get started.Members of the Kidsgrove Wheelers, formed in 2007,started staging their monthly meetings at Sandyford assoon as the station opened in 2010.They use the community room for free each monthand up to 16 members attend ‘turbo training’ with theirbikes one night a week during the winter off-season.Club Treasurer Pauline Wilkinson said:“The ladsattach their bikes to the turbo machine, whichSt. Joseph’s Catholic primaryschools.Watch Manager Pete Hall, whois also NeighbourhoodCo-ordinator, said: “We look atSandyford as a community facilitywith a fire station attached sowe’re trying to break downbarriers. In the past people justwalked past the bay doors.“Now we get all sorts of peoplein. It really is the bees knees. Twoscout groups have their meetingshere, Approach staged anAlzheimers open day and theKidsgrove Wheelers are basedhere too.“Our community room isfantastic. But for our latestinitiative we decided to go outsideand set up the allotments.“The kids learn about roadsafety as they come down hereand all sorts of other things whilethey’re weeding, planting andgrowing, like measuring andmaths.“We are also hoping to tie inhealthy cooking and cookingsafety, adding some simple firesafety messages.”Children aged eight to 11 fromGoldenhill Primary School areamong those enjoying gettingtheir hands dirty.Assistant Head Teacher SarahHowson said: “We’re trying to getour Eco Silver Award at themoment so we were looking at alarge initiative to help us do this.”Two classes have already beento the station armed with seedsCyclists think station is wheely greatmeasures their performance, and they get instructionsfrom a DVD on the community room’s TV screen.“The firefighters at Sandyford are brilliant. Everyonetakes care of us and it’s a massive help to us that it’sfree. We didn’t have much money when we first formedthe club so it’s a real asset that we don’t have to pay.”The club recently rook part in a family fun day at thestation and is using it as the start and finish point of itsHill Billy 50 mile challenge ride on 4 September.● Partner and community groups canbook the facilities by ringing 01785 898897during office hours.HarrietHockins, aged9 and Ryan Taylor,10, from St. Joseph’sof Goldenhill, tendto the runnerbeans.and planted their L-shaped plotwith runner beans, lettuce, herbs,a pumpkin, courgettes and evenstrawberries.Children take turns and goalong four times a term, thoughthe school is considering fivetermly trips instead.“They love it and it’s beenreally useful helping them learnabout the life cycle of plants.Some children don’t know wheretheir food comes from so this is alovely experience for them.“They also like getting theirhands dirty,” said Sarah.“It’s a wonderful place and thefirefighters are so helpful.“The community room has aninteractive white board so we’reable to take lessons down there.“Altogether it’s been very goodand one of the watches looks afterour allotment in between times.“They really do look after uswhich is great – just so long asthey don’t eat all ourstrawberries!”