This year, we’ve been marking 25 years working with schools in Berkshire.
It’s been great fun celebrating with our friends, supporters and neighbours all year. We have really enjoyed the birthday events from coffee to jazz, curry to quizzing, and a couple of big noisy parties! The celebrations also raised over £5,000 for Soulscape’s work as we look to the future. Thank you to everybody who joined in!
At the start of the year, we shared a bit about Soulscape’s history and journey. We recently asked someone who was there from the beginning about her memories of how it all began.
Angela Shipton recollects:
“More than 25 years ago our girls were at Emmbrook school and we joined a parent and teacher prayer group which met once a month. During one meeting, somebody said they had heard of school workers in another area and wondered if this was something we could consider doing.
“We decided to contact other groups like ours, individuals and local churches to see if they were interested. We said to come to a meeting about it if they were.
“We held the meeting at our house, and I was blown away to see every chair filled and folk sitting on the floor, so great was the interest! That’s how it all began in Wokingham.
“Some time later, youth worker Jon Bearden was employed, followed by Gaby and Yvette. I used to help by offering our home for meetings.
“When Yvette came up with the idea of serving coffee and cake to the staff, I became actively involved on the baking team for Emmbrook School. It was great to see the teachers’ faces light up when they saw us.
“We have so enjoyed following the progress of this venture over the years and seeing it develop and change all the time. Well done team!”
Still growing
This birthday year has been a big one for Soulscape.
For many years we’ve been working with Wokingham’s four big secondary schools, but this year we forged partnerships with seven more secondaries outside of Wokingham Town.
We have loved getting to know and supporting wonderful young people at:
- Holme Grange School, just outside Wokingham
- Bohunt Wokingham, in Arborfield
- Wellington College, Crowthorne
- Edgbarrow School, Crowthorne
And in the Reading suburbs:
- Oakbank School, Shinfield
- The Piggot School, Wargrave
- Waingels College, Woodley
All in all we’ve worked with nearly 4,500 young people this academic year – a record for Soulscape! Some of them have been involved in more than one of our projects, which means we’ve been able to build a more meaningful and supportive relationship with them.
The next 25?
What’s next for Soulscape? School leaders and parents understand the massive impact the pandemic has had on young people’s mental wellbeing, and we will continue to support schools to deal with this until all their young people have their needs met.
Local and national governments are looking to prioritise wellbeing too, and also to increase the standard of RSHE (education on sex, consent and healthy relationships) within schools. We are very pleased because we know how important it is to make space for young people in these areas.
It’s great that Soulscape is here to provide expert support to Berkshire schools – watch this space to see how many young people we work with across the county next year… and in the next 25!
This generation needs you
There’s a big opportunity to support and have a positive impact on a whole generation across Berkshire. We want to see them thrive and grow freely, not crumble under the pressure. We’re going to need more hands on deck:
> click here to find out about volunteering
And more funding to make our valuable projects affordable for schools:
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