Dear Friends and Supporters,
Welcome to the latest update from Tom's Trust - your chance to hear what our partner organisations have been up to over the last six months.
First of all though, we would like to extend a huge thank you from all of us at Tom's Trust and all the charities, schemes and projects we fund for your continued interest and support. Extra special thanks to Club Peloton for the continued and substantial support.
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ST GILES TRUST INSPIRES TEENS TO TRADE THE GANG LIFE FOR LEARNING A TRADE
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One of the brilliant initatives Tom's Trust is able to fund with your donations is St Giles Trust's preventative SOS+ Project.
The team runs engaging, life-changing sessions in secondary schools, pupil referral units and colleges with groups of young people identified as being at risk of becoming involved in gangs and violent crime. What makes SOS sessions so successful is that they are run by people who themselves managed to escape a life of crime and can relate to the young people's stories and give culturally credible advice. One such mentor explains how it works...
"We encourage our young people to open up about their personal issues. We use our own personal experiences about can talk about how we were caught up in the criminal justice system but have been able to turn our lives around.
During our sessions we aim to promote cohesion, raise confidence and develop communication to create lasting relationships in the community. We also challenge the thoughts and beliefs our young people have about the realities of crime and its consequences by dispelling any myths and relaying the cold hard facts.
I met a 13-year-old young man during a series of sessions in the inclusion unit at a secondary school. We attended on a weekly basis for a number of weeks, delivering sessions on Gangs, Knife Crime, The Reality of Prison, and Child Sexual Exploitation. We then went on to do mentoring with some of the students who had been identified as being at most risk.
This young man was from a travelling background and explained he had been in trouble with the police on numerous occasions for theft and burglary. He was described by the school as being very bright but also very disruptive. He contributed a great deal to our sessions and made many disclosures about his family - many of his family members had already served custodial sentences.
At the end of our sessions this young man told me he now felt a life of crime wasn’t for him. When asked why, he said that hearing what prison was really like and the amount of time he could potentially serve for the crimes he had already committed had made him feel there’s no way he would be able to cope with the strict prison regime, especially being away from his family, most of all his mother, for such a long period of time.
I asked him what he would change to ensure he didn't end up in prison. He said he was now going to concentrate on studying so he could get a job as a plumber and make his mother proud.
A few months later I went back to the same school to work with a group of girls. I happened to bump into this young man. He approached me and thanked me for delivering the sessions. He said they had made him realise there was nothing cool about being in trouble with the police. He told me he was now out of the inclusion unit and trying to stay out of trouble. I have every hope that if he continues the way he is going, he will be able to achieve good grades when he sits his GCSEs, go on to further education and follow his aspiration to become a plumber."
stgilestrust.org.uk
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INTRODUCING CAMDEN SPEAR TRUST
OUR NEWEST PARTNER
SPEAR is an award-winning 12 month programme to help disadvantaged 16 to 24-year-olds into work, education or training. It is currently offered by eight centres in London with plans to extend across the UK.
Tom's Trust has recently committed to support the course in Camden, the London borough with the second highest percentage of 16-18 year olds not currently in education, employment or training. Through partnerships with local residents, businesses and community representatives, Camden Spear Trust is able to transform the lives of disadvantaged young people in the area.
The trust is a joint venture between Resurgo, the charity which started the Spear programme in 2004, and Holy Trinity Swiss Cottage, where it is run. Chi-Chi Obuya is the chair of the trustees and also associate pastor at Holy Trinity.
The programme begins with an intensive six-week foundation to get young people prepared for work and the rest of the year Spear helps them find, sustain and progress in employment or further training. The majority of trainees have been failed by mainstream education or struggle with a range of social, behavioural, domestic or mental health challenges.
It is Camden Spear's commitment to help its students overcome these obstacles through the care, close observation and support offered by its coaches for the duration of the course.
Compared to other initiatives Spear's outcomes are outstanding. Over 2,500 young people have completed the Spear course over the past decade. More than 75% of students find work or go back into education and are still committed a year later. This consistent level of success has convinced Tom's Trust to support Camden Spear over the coming year. Our grant will help them offer invaluable opportunities to young people looking for work or training in the Camden area. All the trustees and coaches at Camden Spear have expressed their enormous gratitude to Tom’s Trust for our support.
camdenspeartrust.org
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MIDI MUSIC BURSARY AWARDS
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In July, Trustees Alex Young and Callum McGeoch visited The Midi Music Company in South London to hand out the awards to this year's recipients of our annual Budding Musicians' Busaries. After the prize-giving ceremony were fabulous musical performances of original compositions and old favourites from musicians and groups of all ages, abilities and genres. The warm nurturing family atmosphere that has made Midi Music such an important part of so many young people's lives for so many years, and our longest standing partnership, was clear for all to see and feel.
themidimusiccompany.co.uk |
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Real Action's Butterfly Readers Are Flying High!
Real Action is best known for 18 years work with thousands of disadvantaged children who flock – normally by word of mouth – to the Butterfly Saturday Reading schools.
Recently though, Real Action has been taking their unique approach to literacy directly into schools. Over 70% of the 11+ year-olds who start on the Butterfly technique began with reading ages below 10. But the Butterfly Reading System quickly has their reading levels flying high - with an average of 18 months’ improvement in 18 hours of teaching.
The leading case study this year involved six Year 7 secondary school children, all entrusted to Real Action to improve not only on literacy deficiencies of up to minus three years, but also challenging behaviour. First, the teachers had to work on commanding attention and then begin to teach the Butterfly lessons. The children's response confirmed the efficacy of the method. In an average of just eleven hours of Butterfly teaching, the average rise in the pupils’ reading levels was thirty months or nearly three years!
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12-year-old Jon became the star of this group. His fellow-pupils were all girls and very badly behaved. Aged just 8 when he joined us, his reading age put him firmly at the bottom of the class. His behaviour was excellent however - he always arrived on time and rarely spoke until spoken to. On one occasion he told us that he felt a victim amongst all those disruptive girls!
In fact, however frustrated he felt, he distinguished himself. Starting four years behind, he ended up one year ahead, advancing by five years in just twenty-one hours of our Butterfly teaching. Still not yet 13 he has a reading age of 13 and three quarters. Back in his normal classes he’s finding he’s ahead of many of his fellow pupils. All in all an amazing result!
realaction.org.uk
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Picturesque Picnic has Grand Appeal
Tom's Trust's bi-annual fundraising picnic took place at the beautiful and historic Claremont Fan Court School in Surrey last Sunday with around 70 loyal supporters helping to raise over £2,000 while having a great time renewing old friendships and making new ones.
There was plenty to distract from the less than perfect weather: cheerful music from an authentic barrel-organ; a home produce stall stacked with delicious donations of cakes, quiches, biscuits, jams and pickles; a guided tour of the historic former Royal residence provided by a National Trust expert; and an excellent treasure hunt around the stunning grounds.
We are enormously grateful to all those whose hard work made it such a success, everyone who attended and to the School for generously allowing us to use their fabulous grounds yet again.
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Tom’s Trust Forum July 2017
This year’s Tom's Trust Forum Meeting was generously hosted, in early July, by Linklaters. The meeting provides a useful forum for the exchange of ideas by charities who tend to work in isolation. As ever, it was very well attended. 24 representatives from 14 of the organisations we support were addressed by a number of interesting speakers.
Ann Lucas from South Central Youth described a new and successful mechanics programme which they run as a 10-week course and which is accredited by the Institute of Mechanics. This provides a good chance of employment for NEETs and reduces gang affiliations as well as instilling a work ethic in the young people. Ann said that all the boys on the programme have now got jobs. The course could be replicated by many other charities.
Pierre and Egerton told their heartfelt story of how the SOS+ project run by St.Giles Trust has helped them challenge their lifestyle and moral compass. They explained how being a criminal gives you limited options and that it is extremely easy to return to crime when you leave prison - you need a positive alternative. St.Giles Trust SOS+ workers are mostly ex-offenders themselves, and so understand the problems and can give practical help to those at risk.
Noad Kahsay gave a moving talk about the help he received from the Salmon Youth Centre and how he became a Youth Worker in Bermondsey. He is also now a football coach training the under-14 Salmon Tigers who are a winning team. Football was always his passion and it has helped him to live a fulfilling life as a coach and mentor to young people.
Two experts gave advice about fundraising. Tom Barratt from charity consultancy Frodas spoke about ‘Enterprise and Sustainability’ and explained how to diversify sources of income. Then Slaney Wright, a Charity Consultant and co-founder of Switchback, told us about ‘Resilient Fundraising’. She said that the main point to get across is the function of the charity and how effectively the money is spent. The message must be kept simple and backing it up with data is essential.
The final talk was given by Jane Edwards from Buttle UK who explained how families in crisis can be given grants by Buttle to help them with everyday items such as fridges or cookers. They also have money available to help young people studying or starting careers, such as books, tools, uniforms, laptops, etc. This was particularly relevant information to the audience, many of whom work with children or young people in need of equipment. The afternoon ended with a chance to socialise and exchange ideas over a delicious tea provided by Linklaters.
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