Parent & Child
The sense of adventure is within us all and conventional forms of education rarely meet the needs of young people who want to explore and try new things.
The Bushcraft course is just one of the programmes we use to develop leadership qualities in the children with which we work. It is especially designed to provide an opportunity for fathers to spend time with their children and allows for an opportunity to escape the pressures of modern life for a weekend.
In the past few years we had five Bushcraft events; a weekend away for parents and their children. Why parent and child? Well, in this busy and demanding world many things get in the way of parents being able to spend time with their children. Ark in Oundle recognised that need and gave fathers the opportunity to take their children away to Derbyshire for a night’s stay in the woods.
Bushcraft and survival based activities provide an excellent basis for helping people to understand social skills, team and personal development, as well as environmental issues, building confidence and self-esteem in young people.
The Pit Stop is a name given to a project designed to engage young people in Oundle, and to offer them the opportunity of personal growth through the challenge of the Outdoors. Inspiration comes from the detached youth work project run in the past by the CROPs educational charity in Peterborough- ‘WHEELIES’.
The Pit Stop van itself is a motor home with hot drink facilities fitted and additional space via an attached awning. The vision for its use can be described as a ‘sofa on the street’. In warmer weather when young people congregate around the skate park it was parked as a regular Friday night feature at the Recreation Ground / Pocket Park. Through the winter it was even located in town and offer young people a focus for a hot drink and a chat, particularly those who hang out around town but are too young for the pubs. The project very much wanted to demonstrate respect by meeting young people within the safety of their own rules and on their ground. It was able to do this by being mobile, able to go to where the young people are. It offered to them people’s time and interest in them.
Holiday Club
Since 2008 Ark has been the lead sponsor of Oundle's popular summer holiday club Chattabox, which runs every August and provides a week of craft activities, music, sports and games for children aged 5 to 11. Chattabox also provides a leadership development opportunity for young people over 11 to acts as leaders and helpers during the week. And for the teenagers there is on-site camping and an afternoon and evening youth programme.
Basketball taster
The basketball taster is an excellent way to get a taste of the sport and it's also great for those that really want to improve their game. We bring qualified coaches to provide quality training.
In 2010 we had basketball sessions from august till December at Oundle School Sport Centre. For two hours each Friday evening young people aged 12-16 yrs old tried their abilities and enjoyed the sport. We also had a match with a youth team from Rushden. It was a close game that could have gone either way; unfortunately we lost by two points to a more experienced team.
Climbing
The freedom and personal satisfaction one feel when climbing is very difficult to put into words. Some describe climbing as ballet on rock. In our case the artificial climbing wall substituted the rock as we had a Climbing Taster Session at Oundle School Sport Centre, providing opportunity to young people to learn how to climb and enjoy all the excitement that climbing has to offer.
Climbing is an excellent activity for building personal confidence, strength, fitness, as well as confidence in others through challenging personal boundaries. By making ambitious moves on the various walls the young people will learn their own limits and will then strive to overcome them through a combination of improved fitness, mental strength and trust in their support buddies.
Rugby
Ark in Oundle has been supporting through sponsorship a local seven-a-side rugby squad – The Gladiators.
Football – Oundle Junior
Sport provides a positive learning experience that will enhance children ability to develop self confidence, good sportsmanship and teamwork skills. Sport also teaches all of us to work hard and have a little fun at the same time.
Ark in Oundle is proud to support the development of sport in local youth and sponsors Oundle Football Club.
The Pit Stop van can often be found providing coffees for parents at training sessions, Saturdays on South Road.
The Ark Endowment Stewardship Award
Ark in Oundle has a mission: to support and encourage young people in the Oundle area. We see ourselves as facilitators, providing opportunity where it otherwise wouldn’t exist. One of the ways that Ark aims to do that is through our Stewardship Award.
This award is given to any child who would not necessarily obtain an award for their academic achievements. It is given to those who excel outside of the classroom. A typical candidate would be encouraging of others and would be seen to look after and mentor those more vulnerable or younger than themselves.
One head teacher wrote “I am thrilled that you are looking to expand the idea – it has been a real hit here at our school and I cannot thank Ark enough for proposing the Award to us.”
The award has been created with the aim to reward students who display helpful and caring characteristics, who put others before themselves and help to create cohesion amongst students. Each award can be adapted to suit the school ethic and we would love your support.
