'Just before Christmas I decided to show my senior youth club here at the YMCA, Taunton the awareness video that has recently been launched by Stand Against Violence. In all honesty I wasn’t really sure what to expect, even though I had seen the video and found it very moving, I didn’t think I would have such a strong reaction as I did form the young people I showed it to. The only reaction I really expected was for them to be quiet as it was quite an emotive piece, but I was mistaken. Originally I invited a local PCSO to come along and watch it with us, so that we could have an open discussion about the issues that were raised in the video- but due to work commitments he was unable to make the showing. Inviting the PCSO along in a fairly informal setting I thought would encourage young people to talk to him about violence and the issues around it.
As soon as the video came to an end you could visibly see that the young people in the room were moved by the video. All of the young people in the room had come from a variety of backgrounds and each one of them become deeply involved in an open discussion about violence with myself, Adam and Cllr Nicci Court. What surprised me the most was that the two quietest in the group spoke the most about how they thought differently about getting into fights. They talked about how they never think about the repercussions of their fights, how they just get caught in the moment- not thinking about the after affect. As the attackers in the video were under the influence of alcohol we also talked at length about alcohol. Some of the young people revealed about how easy it was to get hold of alcohol and drugs at school. What I found most interesting was that the young people really felt that PCSOs and the police in general didn’t do enough. One young person talked about how he was taken home by a PCSO for displaying anti-social behaviour and after a few minutes he just went back out again. I am not entirely sure if they would have discussed this if the local PCSO was present, but nonetheless it was an insightful discussion. When the discussion drew to a close I soon noticed that an hour had passed since we first had shown the video. We had been deep in discussion for all that time, which just goes to prove how powerful this video was. As we only had half an hour of youth club left some of the young people were still talking about the video and how they would like to do role play. They also requested if they could have wrist bands (one of which Adam Fouracre was wearing), in aid of the campaign and of course Lloyd.
With all the youth work I have done around social issues, this was the most powerful and effective piece of stimulus for all the young people.'
Friday, 26 February 2010
Monday, 22 February 2010
TV advert
Hi all,
Exciting update! As previously mentioned i have now had a meeting with ITV fixers, a major campaign enabling 16-25 year olds to 'fix things' for the better. As a result of this meeting we will be working together to make a hard hitting TV advert that we can use not only on TV but also to promote our material and even use it in A&E departments around the country. Better still, they will aim for cinemas too! This will be a very interesting ride!
Here is a previous advert made by the guy who will help me make the SAV one. Its powerful! Ours will be based more around the violence but his work is pretty amazing.
Exciting update! As previously mentioned i have now had a meeting with ITV fixers, a major campaign enabling 16-25 year olds to 'fix things' for the better. As a result of this meeting we will be working together to make a hard hitting TV advert that we can use not only on TV but also to promote our material and even use it in A&E departments around the country. Better still, they will aim for cinemas too! This will be a very interesting ride!
Here is a previous advert made by the guy who will help me make the SAV one. Its powerful! Ours will be based more around the violence but his work is pretty amazing.
Boy Racers from ITV Fixers on Vimeo.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Anne Frank and SAV
Just a note to say that i am currently in talks with the Anne Frank trust regarding involvement in one of their new projects. They would like me to go to London to talk with young people about SAV the campaign and how it began. Im not 100% clear on the project yet but it seems like they will be working with young people who want to start their own campaigns using people and organisations who already run campaigns to offer advice.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Plymouth meeting and ITV fixers
Hi all,
A positive update this time.
ITV fixers, a major campaign enabling 16-25 year olds to 'fix things' for the better, are very interested in helping with the campaign. They would work with me using their knowledge, funding and contacts to develop the campaign. Like many others they cannot help with projects already in existence so i would have to think of a new project or a way of adapting the current one so they can help. I have a meeting with them on Monday and will update the blog on the outcome.
I attended a very positive meeting with 2 people from PSHEE Citizenship and Healthy Schools, Services for Children and Young People, in Plymouth. I contacted them a while back asking for their help to get the material used in Devon and Cornwall. We finally met and covered many areas in our discussions. Basically the outcome is as follows;
They will develop a couple of new lesson plans, one around violence and one around alcohol.
They have invited me to a meeting next month which representatives from many servces and the council attend to discuss violence and how they can tackle it. Here i can introduce the work i do and make contacts. This may also lead to working in partnership with community safety and allow possible funding.
They are very keen to encourage their schools to use the resource and use it in teacher training.
Basically their offer to develop an alcohol focused lesson plan can make us eligable for the Drink Aware grant of upto £100,000!
Whilst at the meeting we discussed ITV fixers and the need to develop a new project. We have now got 2 avenues. One is to hire/employ a facilitator and trainer who will travel to schools facilitating lessons and training PSHE teachers about using the material in an effective way. The other would be to employ someone who would be responsible for creating new lesson plans. The meeting threw up some names for possible employees which is handy.
The other avenue which can be explored as well is working with A&E departments. SAV would produce or adapt the film to play on screens in A&E departments which would be silent and have scrolling text. This is something i ITV fixers can help with im hoping as they can use their contacts to get me speaking to relevant people.
Obviously these are all at discussion stage although the lesson plans are a definet so i shall keep you all updated. I'll also raise promotion of new lesson plans with ITV fixers on Monday as they maybe able to help there.
So thats the update for now. Its been a good day! Im knackered!
A positive update this time.
ITV fixers, a major campaign enabling 16-25 year olds to 'fix things' for the better, are very interested in helping with the campaign. They would work with me using their knowledge, funding and contacts to develop the campaign. Like many others they cannot help with projects already in existence so i would have to think of a new project or a way of adapting the current one so they can help. I have a meeting with them on Monday and will update the blog on the outcome.
I attended a very positive meeting with 2 people from PSHEE Citizenship and Healthy Schools, Services for Children and Young People, in Plymouth. I contacted them a while back asking for their help to get the material used in Devon and Cornwall. We finally met and covered many areas in our discussions. Basically the outcome is as follows;
They will develop a couple of new lesson plans, one around violence and one around alcohol.
They have invited me to a meeting next month which representatives from many servces and the council attend to discuss violence and how they can tackle it. Here i can introduce the work i do and make contacts. This may also lead to working in partnership with community safety and allow possible funding.
They are very keen to encourage their schools to use the resource and use it in teacher training.
Basically their offer to develop an alcohol focused lesson plan can make us eligable for the Drink Aware grant of upto £100,000!
Whilst at the meeting we discussed ITV fixers and the need to develop a new project. We have now got 2 avenues. One is to hire/employ a facilitator and trainer who will travel to schools facilitating lessons and training PSHE teachers about using the material in an effective way. The other would be to employ someone who would be responsible for creating new lesson plans. The meeting threw up some names for possible employees which is handy.
The other avenue which can be explored as well is working with A&E departments. SAV would produce or adapt the film to play on screens in A&E departments which would be silent and have scrolling text. This is something i ITV fixers can help with im hoping as they can use their contacts to get me speaking to relevant people.
Obviously these are all at discussion stage although the lesson plans are a definet so i shall keep you all updated. I'll also raise promotion of new lesson plans with ITV fixers on Monday as they maybe able to help there.
So thats the update for now. Its been a good day! Im knackered!
Friday, 12 February 2010
Nothing for days and then it all comes along at once!!
Need to update on recent events (and have a bit of a winge).
The good stuff;
Take a Break
The article in take a break magazine will be published on the 18th of March which should be interesting to see what we get from that.
Anne Frank
The Anne Frank trust contacted me about a new project they are planning to run in education and want to discuss my involvement. Another possitive.
DVD request (latest)
We have sent a DVD to a Pupil Referral Unit in London following a request from them. Im planning to send out questionnaires online in March to those who have used the material to get some feedback. The idea has been raised to find a way to get pupil feedback so i want to look into an online link to a questionnaire and PDF form that could be printed off and posted to myself. Its always good to hear from the target audience.
Final steps for Charity Application
I am waiting for one more Trustee to sign the trust deed then we hope to get charity status. On that note we also have a volunteer to do accounts and manage the finances for audit and returns for the charity commission. This is a great help as im rubbish with that sort of thing.
Link to Teachernet
After much hassel trying to contact them, Teachernet has put a link to our resource on their website. It is a well known site used by teachers and linked to the DCSF. This should hopefully raise profile and get more teachers using it.
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/usefulsites/index.cfm?mode=search&intContent=1&ShowAtoZ=0
Funding
I had a chat with a lady at the Princes Trust about funding and ideas. As a result i have a couple of other routes to take to raise some funds including the Vinspired program. I have registered but am trying to figure out a little more as to what it is about and how to use it. I will update with developments.
Next meeting
I have a meeting next week in Plymouth at their council offices which i will include in my next update.
Not so good news:
We were declined the Awards for All grant on account of my application form. The chap that contacted me was very helpful however and he said that he has a very keen interest in what SAV does and congratulates us on our work. He said he had experienced loss through violence and would like to help me get funding. He said to get in touch with him if i get stuck next time. This is a great help and im grateful but the problem is the Awards for All program. Basically as i run the campaign, at present, pretty much single handedly people dont like giving money/grants/funding to individuals and want you to have a managment team. Obviously this is more work trying to gather people to help. They also wont fund current projects so i basically have to create a new idea and apply for funding to do that. Again more work i cannot afford the time to undertake! Basically, i cannot get funding from them to continue a project that has been running for 4 years and proving effective however, i can apply for funding for projects that people think will work and are a good idea but wont necessarily work! Does that make sense?? Surely you would invest in something that is already working. The plan was to use funding to increase awareness and cover printing expenses etc. They wont support this because it is a current project. So basically i have to create more work for myself just to get a small grant, i also have to create more work for myself to become a charity in order to get further funding and official charity discounts. It seems this charitable world is set to break you rather than help you! The fact that the charity commision wont allow you to be a charity unless you have an annual turnover of £5000 is proof of that. What came first, the chicken or the egg???? How can u get £5000 with nobody giving you funding! Any way that is my moan on unfairness. Forgive me but at the end of the day we all moan from time to time and i think this is a valid point. Any way we managed to get the money eventually so i can stop moaning about the charity thing.
Point of interest:
I have something that a)is a little winge (again) and b) will hopefully also demonstrate the brick walls you are faced with when it comes to the government.
I have been trying to contact the DCSF (Department of Children, Schools and Families). I have sent them 3 emails and below are each reply i have received...
29/04/2009
"Dear Adam
Thank you for your email of 23 April, about the anti violence DVD you are producing.
The Department is always interested in receiving information aimed at improving the educational experience of children, and I can see how the DVD you enclosed could help children in learning. However, the role of this Department is limited to setting the policy framework of the National Curriculum of what is taught in terms of content, attainment targets and how performance is assessed and reported. Therefore, we do not endorse, fund or promote specific resources or activities for use in schools.
We leave such decisions for teachers themselves to make, as we believe they are best placed to recognise the needs and abilities of their pupils. With this in mind, you may wish to contact schools directly with your suggestion, or Local Authorities (LAs). Details of LAs can be found on our website at: www.dcsf.gov.uk/localauthorities.
Once again thank you for taking the time to write to the Department.
Yours sincerely"
20/05/2009
"Dear Mr Fouracre
Thank you for your recent email with your project to encourage violent crime reduction through education. Your email has been forwarded to the Department for Children, Schools and Families. On this occasion I have been asked to reply.
The Department is always interested in receiving information aimed at improving the educational experience of children. However, the role of this Department is limited to setting the policy framework of the National Curriculum of what is taught in terms of content, attainment targets and how performance is assessed and reported. Therefore, we do not endorse, fund or promote specific resources or activities for use in schools.
We leave such decisions for teachers themselves to make, as we believe they are best placed to recognise the needs and abilities of their pupils. With this in mind, you may wish to contact schools directly with your suggestion, or Local Authorities (LAs). Details of LAs can be found on our website at: www.dcsf.gov.uk/localauthorities.
Once again, thank you for writing.
Yours sincerely"
Yesterday (11/02/10)
"Dear Adam
Thank you for your email dated 2 February about your resource for anti violence/alcohol awareness for use in citizenship.
The Department is always interested in receiving information aimed at improving the educational experience of children, and I can see how your resource could help children with anti violence/alcohol awareness. However, the role of this Department is limited to setting the policy framework of the National Curriculum of what is taught in terms of content, attainment targets and how performance is assessed and reported. Therefore, we do not endorse, fund or promote specific resources or activities for use in schools.
We leave such decisions for teachers themselves to make, as we believe they are best placed to recognise the needs and abilities of their pupils. With this in mind, you may wish to contact schools directly with your suggestion, or Local Authorities (LAs). Details of LAs can be found on our website at:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_contacts/
Regards"
Something slightly odd about these replies me thinks!? Each one a reply to a different question relating to gaining support for the SAV material. Notice that the language sounds genuine and the 1st paragraph is personalised but then word for word in the following paragraphs its identicle. This is the government for you. Below is the email i sent in response to this final email. Please read it and let me know if you would write the same. I was pretty fed up!
"Hi Samantha,
Ive been in touch with the DCSF before and it seems that other than the initial paragraph, you send standard replies which can come across a little insulting. What i was trying to get at in my last email was that i was trying to contact teachnet as they do talk about available teaching resources. However every time i clicked on the contact page it referred me to your site. I am trying to establish whether you are the same people? If this is the case then teachnet do promote other resources and id like to contact them.
If you are not anything to do with them then can i just add that it is impossible to contact every LA in this country or every school. I am trying to get a bit of help. I dont make money on this so im not asking for advertising to make money. You may not be able to push certain educational material but surely you can suggest or provide resource links? Im supprised that an educational organisation wont help. This is the 3rd time ive had exactly the same reply almost word for word. This material is proving effective and if the home office are serious with their plan to 'reduce crime via education' and all these other government initiatives including those by the DCSF, why wont the department that can make a difference pick up and help with material proven to be effective? I just dont understand it. Can you explain to me what it is the DCSF actually do?
Sorry to be stroppy, i dont intend to be but it is extremly frustrating when the main people that can help me in four years of struggling to get the material used wont and only reply with exactly the same templated email. Id appreciate a reply.
Kind regards
Adam Fouracre"
now i hope that didnt sound too rude but i feel something had to be said. I just wanted to bring this up as its a pain and very annoying and also i would be quite interested to hear how you would react to this and your views on this sort of attitude. Im still waiting on a reply and will post it when it comes. This will probably take them another few weeks to reply to!
Anyway, a long and wingeing entry is complete. As you can tell the last couple of days have taken their toll!
Cheers
The good stuff;
Take a Break
The article in take a break magazine will be published on the 18th of March which should be interesting to see what we get from that.
Anne Frank
The Anne Frank trust contacted me about a new project they are planning to run in education and want to discuss my involvement. Another possitive.
DVD request (latest)
We have sent a DVD to a Pupil Referral Unit in London following a request from them. Im planning to send out questionnaires online in March to those who have used the material to get some feedback. The idea has been raised to find a way to get pupil feedback so i want to look into an online link to a questionnaire and PDF form that could be printed off and posted to myself. Its always good to hear from the target audience.
Final steps for Charity Application
I am waiting for one more Trustee to sign the trust deed then we hope to get charity status. On that note we also have a volunteer to do accounts and manage the finances for audit and returns for the charity commission. This is a great help as im rubbish with that sort of thing.
Link to Teachernet
After much hassel trying to contact them, Teachernet has put a link to our resource on their website. It is a well known site used by teachers and linked to the DCSF. This should hopefully raise profile and get more teachers using it.
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/usefulsites/index.cfm?mode=search&intContent=1&ShowAtoZ=0
Funding
I had a chat with a lady at the Princes Trust about funding and ideas. As a result i have a couple of other routes to take to raise some funds including the Vinspired program. I have registered but am trying to figure out a little more as to what it is about and how to use it. I will update with developments.
Next meeting
I have a meeting next week in Plymouth at their council offices which i will include in my next update.
Not so good news:
We were declined the Awards for All grant on account of my application form. The chap that contacted me was very helpful however and he said that he has a very keen interest in what SAV does and congratulates us on our work. He said he had experienced loss through violence and would like to help me get funding. He said to get in touch with him if i get stuck next time. This is a great help and im grateful but the problem is the Awards for All program. Basically as i run the campaign, at present, pretty much single handedly people dont like giving money/grants/funding to individuals and want you to have a managment team. Obviously this is more work trying to gather people to help. They also wont fund current projects so i basically have to create a new idea and apply for funding to do that. Again more work i cannot afford the time to undertake! Basically, i cannot get funding from them to continue a project that has been running for 4 years and proving effective however, i can apply for funding for projects that people think will work and are a good idea but wont necessarily work! Does that make sense?? Surely you would invest in something that is already working. The plan was to use funding to increase awareness and cover printing expenses etc. They wont support this because it is a current project. So basically i have to create more work for myself just to get a small grant, i also have to create more work for myself to become a charity in order to get further funding and official charity discounts. It seems this charitable world is set to break you rather than help you! The fact that the charity commision wont allow you to be a charity unless you have an annual turnover of £5000 is proof of that. What came first, the chicken or the egg???? How can u get £5000 with nobody giving you funding! Any way that is my moan on unfairness. Forgive me but at the end of the day we all moan from time to time and i think this is a valid point. Any way we managed to get the money eventually so i can stop moaning about the charity thing.
Point of interest:
I have something that a)is a little winge (again) and b) will hopefully also demonstrate the brick walls you are faced with when it comes to the government.
I have been trying to contact the DCSF (Department of Children, Schools and Families). I have sent them 3 emails and below are each reply i have received...
29/04/2009
"Dear Adam
Thank you for your email of 23 April, about the anti violence DVD you are producing.
The Department is always interested in receiving information aimed at improving the educational experience of children, and I can see how the DVD you enclosed could help children in learning. However, the role of this Department is limited to setting the policy framework of the National Curriculum of what is taught in terms of content, attainment targets and how performance is assessed and reported. Therefore, we do not endorse, fund or promote specific resources or activities for use in schools.
We leave such decisions for teachers themselves to make, as we believe they are best placed to recognise the needs and abilities of their pupils. With this in mind, you may wish to contact schools directly with your suggestion, or Local Authorities (LAs). Details of LAs can be found on our website at: www.dcsf.gov.uk/localauthorities.
Once again thank you for taking the time to write to the Department.
Yours sincerely"
20/05/2009
"Dear Mr Fouracre
Thank you for your recent email with your project to encourage violent crime reduction through education. Your email has been forwarded to the Department for Children, Schools and Families. On this occasion I have been asked to reply.
The Department is always interested in receiving information aimed at improving the educational experience of children. However, the role of this Department is limited to setting the policy framework of the National Curriculum of what is taught in terms of content, attainment targets and how performance is assessed and reported. Therefore, we do not endorse, fund or promote specific resources or activities for use in schools.
We leave such decisions for teachers themselves to make, as we believe they are best placed to recognise the needs and abilities of their pupils. With this in mind, you may wish to contact schools directly with your suggestion, or Local Authorities (LAs). Details of LAs can be found on our website at: www.dcsf.gov.uk/localauthorities.
Once again, thank you for writing.
Yours sincerely"
Yesterday (11/02/10)
"Dear Adam
Thank you for your email dated 2 February about your resource for anti violence/alcohol awareness for use in citizenship.
The Department is always interested in receiving information aimed at improving the educational experience of children, and I can see how your resource could help children with anti violence/alcohol awareness. However, the role of this Department is limited to setting the policy framework of the National Curriculum of what is taught in terms of content, attainment targets and how performance is assessed and reported. Therefore, we do not endorse, fund or promote specific resources or activities for use in schools.
We leave such decisions for teachers themselves to make, as we believe they are best placed to recognise the needs and abilities of their pupils. With this in mind, you may wish to contact schools directly with your suggestion, or Local Authorities (LAs). Details of LAs can be found on our website at:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_contacts/
Regards"
Something slightly odd about these replies me thinks!? Each one a reply to a different question relating to gaining support for the SAV material. Notice that the language sounds genuine and the 1st paragraph is personalised but then word for word in the following paragraphs its identicle. This is the government for you. Below is the email i sent in response to this final email. Please read it and let me know if you would write the same. I was pretty fed up!
"Hi Samantha,
Ive been in touch with the DCSF before and it seems that other than the initial paragraph, you send standard replies which can come across a little insulting. What i was trying to get at in my last email was that i was trying to contact teachnet as they do talk about available teaching resources. However every time i clicked on the contact page it referred me to your site. I am trying to establish whether you are the same people? If this is the case then teachnet do promote other resources and id like to contact them.
If you are not anything to do with them then can i just add that it is impossible to contact every LA in this country or every school. I am trying to get a bit of help. I dont make money on this so im not asking for advertising to make money. You may not be able to push certain educational material but surely you can suggest or provide resource links? Im supprised that an educational organisation wont help. This is the 3rd time ive had exactly the same reply almost word for word. This material is proving effective and if the home office are serious with their plan to 'reduce crime via education' and all these other government initiatives including those by the DCSF, why wont the department that can make a difference pick up and help with material proven to be effective? I just dont understand it. Can you explain to me what it is the DCSF actually do?
Sorry to be stroppy, i dont intend to be but it is extremly frustrating when the main people that can help me in four years of struggling to get the material used wont and only reply with exactly the same templated email. Id appreciate a reply.
Kind regards
Adam Fouracre"
now i hope that didnt sound too rude but i feel something had to be said. I just wanted to bring this up as its a pain and very annoying and also i would be quite interested to hear how you would react to this and your views on this sort of attitude. Im still waiting on a reply and will post it when it comes. This will probably take them another few weeks to reply to!
Anyway, a long and wingeing entry is complete. As you can tell the last couple of days have taken their toll!
Cheers
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Probation Service meeting
On Monday of this week i met with the director of operations at the Devon and Cornwall Probation service. We discussed the possibility of the probation service using the DVD and material in their education programs. It is still in early stages but the outcome of the meeting was that not only do the Devon and Cornwall probation service want to use the material to educate offenders, they also want to use it to train future probation officers. It all sounds positive and i will know more by the beginning of April.
I have also asked my local MP to write another letter, this time to the department of children, schools and families, in an attempt to set up a meeting with one of their ministers. I have emailed the DCSF several times but they have only ever responded once and that was only to say that my email had been forwarded to the relevant department. The most recent email i sent wasnt replied to at all. Thats not unusual for a government body though, ive come up against this in the past although its still very frustrating. However, i have asked my MP to write a letter asking to meet with one of their Ministers. Maybe they will listen to him more than they will me.
I have also asked my local MP to write another letter, this time to the department of children, schools and families, in an attempt to set up a meeting with one of their ministers. I have emailed the DCSF several times but they have only ever responded once and that was only to say that my email had been forwarded to the relevant department. The most recent email i sent wasnt replied to at all. Thats not unusual for a government body though, ive come up against this in the past although its still very frustrating. However, i have asked my MP to write a letter asking to meet with one of their Ministers. Maybe they will listen to him more than they will me.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Feedback
Hi All,
I wanted to share this recent email with everyone. Our material truely works, even as far away as Shropshire.
'Dear Adam , I have now managed to download the D.V.D and incorporate it into a PSHE lesson on Violence to my Year Tens. It has provoked much thoughtful discussion and the pupils have asked to continue working on the topic next week. I will certainly be using the resource again. Yours gratefully, Year co-coordinator.'
We dont have much luck at getting feedback so its nice to hear this occasionally and its possitive.
I wanted to share this recent email with everyone. Our material truely works, even as far away as Shropshire.
'Dear Adam , I have now managed to download the D.V.D and incorporate it into a PSHE lesson on Violence to my Year Tens. It has provoked much thoughtful discussion and the pupils have asked to continue working on the topic next week. I will certainly be using the resource again. Yours gratefully, Year co-coordinator.'
We dont have much luck at getting feedback so its nice to hear this occasionally and its possitive.
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