News Archives - Page 2 of 10

“I think we need more of these sessions.”

Mel Carlisle2026-09-25T04:32:06+00:00News|

When they were researching the effects of porn exposure on young people's relationships, researchers from Middlesex University concluded: “We found that children and young people need safe spaces where they can freely discuss the full range of issues related to sex, relationships and the accessibility of online porn in the digital age.” Our project, 'Object', is an innovative way of opening up discussion on this very important topic. It's something young people are desperate to talk about, but something that adults at school and home can feel out of their depth trying to address. With 'Object', we get young people's peers involved. Drama college students aged 16-19 perform a thought-provoking play for Year 10 students, and help facilitate open discussion [...]

Soulscape’s in the running for £1,500

Mel Carlisle2026-09-25T04:33:20+00:00News|

Soulscape could win a Tesco Community Grant of £1,500 if we get the most blue tokens at Tesco between January and March! We want the grant for our mentoring project. £1,500 could pay for a whole year of mentoring at one Berkshire school. That means holding weekly 1-1 sessions for selected young people for one year. How and where to vote Vote during January, February and March 2022 – as many times as you shop! Collect your blue token at the till - you can usually help yourself to one at the self-checkout. Post it into the ‘Soulscape young people’s mentoring’ box on your way out. You’ll find a Soulscape box at these two local Tesco stores: Tesco Wokingham: RG40 2NS [...]

Celebrating 25 Years

Mel Carlisle2026-09-25T04:34:39+00:00Articles, News|

This year, we’re celebrating 25 years of Soulscape! Looking back… 25 years ago, we weren’t called Soulscape – we were just a single youth worker (and then a couple more) sent by local churches to run lunchtime drop-in sessions at local schools. Even then we had a desire to create space for young people to stop, reflect, express themselves and explore life. The lunch club (‘Random’) was appreciated by schools in Wokingham and they soon shared other needs with us. It wasn’t long before we started our Mind the Gap project, helping Year 6 students with the transition to secondary school. As our vision grew, we formed the Soulscape charity, enabling us to get more projects off the ground. We were [...]

Year 7, here they come

JoeEdwards2026-09-25T04:38:05+00:00Articles, News|

With a new Year 7 cohort safely settled into secondary school, Soulscape's Michelle McLeish reflects on this year's Mind the Gap project. Mind the Gap remains one of my favourite projects. It’s a project that is easy to get involved with and really valued by students and staff. We've had to adapt Mind the Gap over the past two years thanks to the pandemic. But we're so grateful that it's gone ahead! Last year, I delivered all our Year 6 workshops by videolink. This year we got to do them in person again, but 2021 was still a little different. "Mind the Gap explained lots of things to us about secondary school and they eased my worries. I am looking [...]

The difference a mentor makes

Mel Carlisle2026-09-25T04:39:10+00:00Articles, News|

For the past year, Soulscape has been mentoring 18 individual young people at Wokingham primary and secondary schools. Meeting for a one-to-one mentoring session each week, these young people have grown in confidence and appreciated having somebody who is simply there to listen to them – whatever’s on their mind. Our mentors are specially-trained volunteers with a great rapport with young people. Neither teacher nor parent, they can play a unique role as another trusted adult who values, accepts and invests in them. “I think it’s really important for all young people to feel they have someone they can talk to,” says one of our mentors. “Every young person deserves a champion – someone who makes time to listen to [...]

Explore Year 6’s exhibition!

JoeEdwards2026-09-25T04:40:08+00:00Articles, News|

View the final artwork from More Inside Out Year 6 students from across the Wokingham area have been busy preparing some amazing artwork at our More Inside Out project. Now their final pieces are ready for you to see. They invite you to take ten minutes out of your day to explore their virtual exhibition. You can press the "fullscreen" button below the book to view the pieces larger. More Inside Out - An Online Exhibition The young people have used exciting new art techniques that they learned at the project workshops to express something about their emotions, characters and the community they forged during the project. We had a brilliant time with More Inside Out. We hope you enjoy the exhibition, [...]

Pornography and sexual harassment in schools

JoeEdwards2024-10-17T09:52:07+00:00Articles, News|

There's been a lot of news coverage recently about sexual harassment experienced by young people, from young people, at school. Thousands of stories have been shared online that make shocking reading and have sparked fresh debate about sex and relationships education. We run REAL workshops with Year 9 students across the Wokingham area. One of our workshops is a safe space to discuss relationships, including sexting and what good boundaries might look like in a relationship. We believe it's so important to have open conversations about this that really make young people think and grow in self-confidence. "Boys have constantly asked my friends and I for nudes, and some have sent them as the boys have repetitively asked for [...]