Bounce Higher!

Bounce Higher Animation made with BBC

2009-08-25T08:39:00.001-07:00

Hello all!
I know, I know, there has been so much exciting stuff going on, which hasn't been on the blog.
For those of you who are in contact with the project you've enjoyed a range of holiday fun day activities involving craft activities in the church, trips to the beach, an art exhibition, storytelling sessions and the annual summer holiday club, which was called Monsters Stink! If you want to tell us your favourite moment from the holiday club, click on the comment bit just underneath this post and tell us! I'm curious, did you prefer the crafts, hearing your joke being read out loud, singing and dancing or searching in the (spaghetti)monster intestines for the gel eyeballs? :)

One of the recent high lights were when we were offered an animation workshop for a small number of children by BBC via Children In Need.
We are so blessed by our funding from Children In Need and for accessing this resource! If you click on this link you will find an animation made by our young people about our project!
They tricked me a little, as I thought the children would be interview and not me! As the children rightly pointed out though, that will help me remember how embarrassed they feel when I film them.. So well done all you young storytellers for filming at so many storytelling sessions all those stories you made up yourselves! You are truly amazing! Also, you great volunteers out there, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Without you we wouldn't function!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/lab/workshop/video/groups/090722_children_in_need/

Here are some photos of some of the figures made by our "Bouncers" for the animation.
If you think you know what they are, write it in the comment field! A Bounce Higher fridge magnet to the first to guess each picture! :)

Bouncing Higher in 2009

2009-03-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

Hello all!
Please feel free to comment so that I know who's come by and checked out our bouncy blog!
The months have passed since my last post, and there has been many exciting new developments. We have had several new volunteers joining us, allowing us to offer services to more children and also improving the quality of our service, as we are able to give each child more individual attention. This is great and I am very excited about our new opportunities.
First up is fun day activities over the first week of the Easter holidays. We'll offer crafts, games, cooking and a trip to the safari park!
Stay posted for more details.
Remember also to check out the links on the left side of this page, as they offer information about many other resources, local, national and international!

What's on?

2008-09-03T08:22:00.001-07:00

A new school term has started and so has our activities at the bounce higher project.

The Family Fun Day on the bank holiday on the 8th of September will have families and children from several different groups all go together to 5 Sisters Zoo, West Calder. We are filling up the minibus and people are also taking their cars to cuddle baby skunks, hold a snake, have fun and get to know each other better.If you are interested please make contact quickly!

The Toddler Group is on from 10AM-11:30AM on Wednesday's in the church hall.
We do not have free spaces at the moment, but please make contact as our waiting list isn't all that long. We would like a volunteer to help out with the toddlers to do some admin work and also help with welcoming new families etc.

The Storytelling Club is on from 4PM- 5PM and we do a minibus run to pick up some of the children who need this. This group is also full, but if you have a child who is interested, please put the name forward for the next session, as this one finishes in September. As our numbers are growing we need volunteers to help run this group, so get in touch for some creative fun with this lively bunch!

The Parenting Workshop we started before the summer holiday will meet to finish the last 4 sessions. It will be possible to join in if you are interested, but a new workshop will be offered from the end of October.

The Messy Play Group is facilitated by Dianne and Catriona and has already started up again. It has free spaces for babies who are 6-24months old and their carers. They play with gloop, pasta and other surprising things and have a snack time together.

We will also gather interest for attending our next 6 session Step Forward Group, which is a peer support group for step families that will work through the From This Step Forward resource from Care For The Family. We running a successful pilot-group last term we would like to offer this one to the wider community, so please help us spread the word!
Another new venture for this autumn is a Bereavement Group for teenagers. Watch this space for further information.

There are also some free spaces for individual work, so if you think this would be helpful for you, give me a call and I can pop through and see you through the week!

Resources

2008-07-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

The blog is developing, has anyone noticed?
Well, there might not be that many posts yet, but there are quite a few links to good supports if you look to the left of this text and a little down.
I've been looking around cyberspace for resources for children, young people and their families and for people working with families.
Some of the issues covered are:

domestic abuse resources for young people
support re divorce and separation for young people
ADHD/ADD resources
Childline and other resources where you can chat to someone or read about issues
mental health and emotional well being for both adults and young people
bereavement and loss
marriage care
debt and budgeting support

and lots more! I've even added a link to a page with lots of other links!

We are going to gather resources so that we can give a type of directory to people looking for different supports, so I'm always on the lookout. So, if you know of some good resources to add, let me know! Also I'd be interested to hear if any of you have tried out any of these resources and what you made of them! You can leave comments by clicking on the little bit underneath the text in the post that says comments.
You can choose to sign in with your own name, write anonymous, or make up a silly name, like The Green Giraffe. Anyway, I know it's not always easy to know what to say, but feel free to give it a shot!
Hope you're all enjoying the summer!

The Leaflet

2008-07-04T05:57:00.000-07:00

Here's the Bounce Higher Leaflet!
Well, as it was a bit comlplicated to add it as a pdf file I've just added it as a two picture.
Anyway, it folds in three and I've added the front and back page, so you just get to use your imagination! Either that or print it out and have a folding session! :-)
I'll gradually update this site and add ongoing activities through the summer!

First post on second blog!

2008-05-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

The Bounce Higher Family Project is online! The family worker (meaning myself, Andrea, who's writing this very post ), has now finally joined the rest of the blogging St Andrew's lot in communicating on the web, giving opportunities for families and family workers to discuss scenarios, share helpful tips and point us to other helpful resources on the web or in real life!

I am hoping to gradually build this blog to be a resource to encourage us all and improve our bounce! We can all fall over at times, and my hope is that we can support each other to bounce back quicker and higher as we meet and share our stories and resources!

Don’t be shy and comment about topics you would like to discuss and also of resources you’ve found!

A bit of background info if you're wondering what Bounce Higher is all about:

So; Bounce Higher is the family work project of St Andrew’s Parish Church in Bo’ness. The Minister Albert Bogle and his team applied for funding from BBC’s Children in Need to fund a family worker to do outreach work for families in the parish and the wider community of Bo’ness. So far Andrea Woollard is employed as the family worker and undertakes individual support to families and also facilitates a variety of group along with some great volunteers. Please make contact to learn more on what we’ve got on offer and opportunities to volunteer!