Cage football at Meadowcroft Rec!

BIOS — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:47:40 +0000

Bios were delighted to be joined by the Nomad team at Meadowcroft Recreation ground last month. Nomad are a travelling team of cage footballers, who use the cage to engage young people in fun, positive activities. Themes explored through using the cage were self discipline, self worth and respect. A highlight of the evening was local beat officer PC Frank Key getting in the cage for a young people V Police match. The young people were triumphant, much to the delight of their friends watching on. The evening was captured by the Swindon Advertiser providing some positive news of what is going on for young people in the Stratton area.

Youth advice cafe

BIOS — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:11:33 +0000

As part of our ongoing partnership with Kingsdown School, BIOS has been going to the youth centre on site each Friday, where they run an information cafe for pupils during the lunch break. The sessions look at a wide range of social and personal issues – these include self-harm, relationships, drugs and alcohol, safety in the community and online safety.

The aims of these sessions are for BIOS to offer support to young people who may be facing these issues in their lives, to inspire them to make positive changes in their local communities and to informally educate young people.

From the work that we have been doing, we will be developing the sessions to work with specific student groups for a more in depth look at the issues that young people face on a day to day basis.

Kingsdown emotional literacy days

BIOS — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:37:04 +0000

Emotional literacy is the ability to recognize, understand and appropriately express our emotions. Just as verbal literacy is the basic building-block for reading and writing, emotional literacy is the basis for perceiving and communicating emotions.

The days explored anger, acceptance, arrogance, jealousy, love, rejection and intimidation. When the girls group discussed anger one girl said; ‘the little things get me so angry’. We then discussed what she meant by ‘little things’ and then looked at why these things made her angry and how she could appropriately show her feelings. Following discussions the young people undertook reinforcement activities, for anger this was a traffic light to remind them the stop, think about the problem and go make a positive plan. When looking at acceptance and love the young people decorated photo frames to give to someone who they felt showed them love and acceptance.

The days were very positive and will provide a platform for running the course for larger groups and in partnership with other schools.

‘This day was very good and fun, it provided lots information and detail about my emotions. Thank you.’

(RF, student age 14)

‘The kids really enjoyed themselves and actually seemed to enjoy learning. They were more confident afterwards and more equipped to talk about their emotions.’

(TH, staff member)

Charity bike ride

BIOS — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:28:13 +0000

On Sat 10th Sept, BIOS staff took part in a sponsored bike ride around the Churches of Wiltshire. In total we visited 25 churches and cycled nearly 40 miles. The day was very enjoyable and raised some much needed funds for the work of the BIOS project as we look towards what the next school year holds. In total we raised £250. Please remember that there are still ways that you can be involved in supporting the work of BIOS, for more information please visit our support page.

Student Support

BIOS — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:00:19 +0000

BIOS staff have been undertaking schools work over the last 8 years in various schools across Swindon funded through ‘Schools Outreach’. Staff have run1-1 and group sessions, extra curricular and sporting activities as well as assisting enterprise days and mentoring programs. This has helped support both the personal and educational development of students. Working in partnership with school staff the work has sought to help students reach their full potential. Key areas of work involve anger management, self-esteem, family and relationships, bereavement, behaviour, stress reduction bullying and self-harm.

We are currently working with a number of schools developing support packages and partnership work. Please contact BIOS If you would like more information on our school based work.

Support BIOS

BIOS — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:48:38 +0000

BIOS is now registered on the GivingMachine web site, so now you can shop and support the work of BIOS. Just follow the link on the ‘support’ page, sign up and support the work of BIOS when you shop online Just remember to set BIOS-Settings for Life as one of your chosen charaties.

Check out the support page for other ways to support the work of BIOS.

BIOS Out and About

BIOS — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 11:21:37 +0000

One of the highlights this year was the ‘inflatables’ day run in partnership with Swindon Borough Council Youth Team held on the Medocroft Rec. Over 50 young people attended and took part in activates including a bungee run, jousting, sumo suits and a bouncy castle. On the day we also ran a non alcoholic cocktail bar and a variety of sports.

Over the winter months the detached projects are continuing to provide support for young people out in the community.

The BIOS partnership work with The Hub Detached Youth Work Project supported by Stratton Parish Council has seen a growing team and we will be working on Tuesday evenings with teams based at Medowcroft and Grange. We will be engaging in wide range of activities alongside supporting the young people we meet to make positive choices for themselves and their communities.

On Wednesdays we ae working in partnership with Swindon Borough Council Youth Team /Positive Futures, Play Services, SYFC and the Pinehurst Youth and Community Chaplin as the ‘Bus Project’ returns to Pinehurst Circle.

Over the autumn we have been out playing sport, offering art activities, exploring the hopes and dreams of the young people who we meet and keeping them warn with hot chocolate and pizza.

Aside from the activities the aim of the detached youth work projects BIOS runs is to empower the young people to make positive choices and changes for themselves and in their own communities and seeking to build more positive futures.

Pinehurst Art Project

BIOS — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 22:39:56 +0000

Over the half term break young people from in and around Pinehurst worked with youth workers form BIOS, SYFC, the Youth Service and the Pinehuest Youth and Community Chaplin to create variety of art works. On offer was candle painting, ceramic tile art, mosaic mats and various other art and craft activities.
The key focus was working on a large piece of ‘community art. the young people worked on a mosaic which contained urban art and individual tiles by all the young people involved .
The aim is to display the work on the hoardings of the new Pinehurst Community Centre once building is underway.