Past Work

The First Residential (Lead Learners)

This residential was to get us young people together to run our own clubs outside school and college. For this to work an organisation called DCSCF (Deparment for Children, Schools, and Families) gave us some money to have a residential where the skills are taught and the young people can go off and show more young people how it is done. The residential was attended by 35 enthusiastic and energetic young people who ranged in age from 13 to 17 years old. The young people were from 6 different UFA partnership areas and represented 8 schools. The residential was facilitated by 3 UFA National Team members and the Director, supported by nine YoUFA representatives, whose ideas from a previous residential had helped to shape the event. All through the residential we felt that the atmosphere created was excellent; us young people worked and lived together very well. That is what UFA is, making friends and having fun while learning after all. The challenges that we all did, were very productive and gave us a sense of ownership. We all feel that all the new participants and the YoUFA reps pushed themselves well outside their comfort zones, especially with the raft building challenge; we were really reflective about the impact that this had made on our personal development. The YoUFA team were viewed as very positive role models by the other young people and a number of them would be interested in taking up this role. It’s a great way to get more involved in UFA, just by being part of it, opens your eyes to more things that a young person can have access to within the UFA. The YoUFA team had a clear commitment to the Learning Festival and were excited by the ideas they had generated. A further two-day residential is being planned with them in order to progress their thinking. The residential was a great time for everyone; young people (participants), YoUFA reps and UFA adult supporters to work together and realise their personal aims.

In the beginning

This was the first residential that the UFA had experimented with on a national level, it was all about getting young people to help in the leading of the UFA’s Progress. It was a great chance for the young people that had already had some level of involvement within the organisation to say exactly what was going wrong and how to make it much better for other young people experiencing UFA. This residential was in Tenbury Wells, this was a central location that was accessible from all the areas that UFA had reached at that time. It lasted a weekend and involved many activated to build teamwork and to get as many ideas out of us as possible. So the group that was put together like in all UFA activity felt like a family. The residential had a mostly adult, if not all adult leadership. Up until that point young people had not had a chance to be able to direct the UFA’s development first hand other than in the form on evaluations.

The Second Residential

This residential was based in Birmingham and involved many different venues within this area, all relevant to the work that needed to be created. The atmosphere of the residential was much the same as the previous one; it has many happy people all with passionate ideas and clear visions. In this residential the three ideas that were thought of in the first residential were actioned in a further way. The ideas were to hold a young persons board that could have a direct link with the main adult board. The second idea was to have a website where all the content could be held for young people to access at anytime. This would also be used as a communication domain for all of the young people to access from a not central location. The third and final objective was to lead the UFA’s promotional material with a DVD of some dances and advertisements that could allow young people to see what UFA does and how is can benefit a group of people from all ages directly and in-directly. The process that was undertaken by the whole YoUFA team brought the ides to a stage where they were ready to bring into action, with a brief overview of some adults.