Tag: Community Cohesion

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SUCET teams up with Mencap to deliver The Round the World Challenge

Southend United Community & Educational Trust (SUCET) teamed up with Mencap to deliver The Round the World Challenge at Roots Hall.

Supported by Mencap, Sport England and The National Lottery, The Round the World Challenge aims to support people with a learning disability to get out and get active in a way that is flexible, fun and empowering.

The South Essex version was launched at Roots Hall on Wednesday 22nd January, as participants took part in a variety of activities including yoga, boccia and sitting volleyball.

The number of hours of activity the participant completes takes them further around the world, with three different routes on offer – UK (20), Europe (40) and World (100).

The participants were treated to rewards throughout, such as postcards from the countries they visited as well as a The Round the World Challenge certificate and t-shirt to take home.

Faye Dixey, Mencap Round the World Challenge Project Manager, commented:

“People become healthier and feel less isolated by taking part in The Round the World Challenge, as they keep active and make new friends.

“It’s about getting people to work together and learn new skills, which they can then hopefully use to go into Sports Activator, Volunteering and Employment opportunities.”

For more information about Mencap’s The Round the World Challenge, please click here.

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Every Player Counts has positive impact on Rachael

To mark EFL Day of Disabilities and the relaunch of Every Player Counts, participant Rachael has explained how the programme has benefitted her personal development.

Every Player Counts supports the EFL Trust’s aim of increasing sports participation for all and has significantly changed the lives of people by providing those with a disability a pathway into sport.

A further £0.5m donation from Wembley National Stadium Trust will create new opportunities as the disability football programme moves into its fourth successive year.

Twenty five Club Community Organisations (CCOs) from the EFL Trust run the Every Player Counts programme and Southend United Community & Educational Trust (SUCET) is one of those clubs that tailors the programme to the specific needs of its local community.

Sessions take place weekly at Papworth Trust’s Basildon Centre, which provides person-centred support for adults who live with physical and/or learning disabilities.

Rachael, who is from Basildon, has been developing her confidence and fitness through the sessions put on by SUCET coaches.

Rachael commented:

“The main skills I’ve developed are teamwork, confidence, coordination and focus.

“The sessions make me happy and I enjoy all the activities that we do, such as throwing, catching and moving.

“I feel as if I’ve improved my wellbeing and generally as an individual.”

For more information about the Every Player Counts programme, please visit this page.

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SUCET and Me & You Education deliver anti-extremism message

In partnership with Me & You Education and the Home Office, Southend United Community & Educational Trust has been educating Southend’s young people about anti-extremism, anti-radicalism and anti-racism.

Me & You Education Co-Founder, Irfan Chishti, and Associate Trainer and former English Defence League member, Ivan Humble, delivered a series of hour-long assemblies to pupils at St Bernard’s High School in Westcliff-on-Sea in their latest outing.

Prior to that, they visited Cecil Jones Academy, Chase High School, Southend High School for Girls and Victory Park Academy, an Alternative Provision establishment.

The assemblies are designed to raise awareness on far-right extremist dialogue, provide counter arguments to extremist narratives and equip people with the know-how on how to raise a concern.

The motto throughout the day was very much to help encourage the young people to think for themselves.

Chishti commented:

“The core of Me & You Education is all about identity and belonging.

“We’re saying to young people ‘Look, we’re all very different…we’ve all got our own unique aspects of who we are.

“The big message is be comfortable, be confident with who you are.

“All we can hope for is that God forbid, if any of these kids get attacked, experience grooming or get affected by radicalisation, they’ll be able to step back and say ‘Hang on a second, we had that little exercise where we were told how important it was to think for yourself.”

Temi, a Year 9 pupil at St Bernard’s High School, commented:

“I found the assembly really informative.

“It shows how it doesn’t matter what race or gender you are, or anything about you.

“It’s just about your personality and you shouldn’t be judged on your skin colour.”

For more information about SUCET’s Community Cohesion scheme, please visit this page.

For more information about Me & You Education, please visit www.meandyoueducation.co.uk.

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Barratt visits young players at Premier League Kicks session

Southend United’s Sam Barratt paid a special visit to Southend United Community & Educational Trust’s Premier League Kicks (PL Kicks) session at PlayFootball Southend.

PL Kicks is a national project which uses the hook of Southend United Football Club and the power of sport to engage with young boys and girls aged 12-19 in deprived areas across Southend.

Barratt offered words of encouragement and advice to the excited young players and cheered them on as they played against each other on the PlayFootball Astroturf.

A mini round-robin tournament took place at the beginning of the session before the young players split off and played longer games, with plenty of goals scored, skills on show and smiles on faces.

Barratt commented:

“Programmes such as PL Kicks are massive for the local community and mean a lot to the young people who attend them.

“It’s great that 12-19 year-olds in Southend get to come down to their local facility, make new friends and enjoy themselves.

“I took part in community activities and grassroots football myself growing up, so I know it means a lot.

“My advice to these young boys and girls would be to work hard in school and keep playing football – which can be a great release for when things might get frustrating.”

For more information about SUCET’s PL Kicks programme, please contact Dan Hall on 01702 341351 or d.hall@southendunited-cet.co.uk.

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SUCET combines with Project 49 to help Southend’s disabled

Southend United Community & Educational Trust (SUCET) has combined with local community group, Project 49, to deliver weekly fun and engaging activities to adults with learning disabilities in Southend.

Project 49 is an award-winning, community-based resource run by Southend Care promoting healthy living and wellbeing for adults with learning disabilities, with a focus on putting people first.

Taking place from the start of September across six weeks at David Lloyd Southend, the weekly sessions put on by SUCET are aimed at encouraging physical wellbeing, independence and confidence.

The participants have a wide variety of learning disabilities including Downs Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Dementia and Global Developmental Delay.

Pete Shrimplin, Project 49’s Community Inclusion Co-ordinator, commented:

“The coaches Chloe and Jake have formed a good relationship with the participants, using verbal and physical instructions for everyone to understand in a simple and clear way.

“The variety of warm-up drills involved challenge everyone’s hand-eye co-ordination but are inclusive to all. The participants have to work and think individually as well as in teams and follow the coaches’ instructions, thus developing listening skills in a controlled and safe manner.

“Each person has responded positively by trying to the best of their ability, with some exceeding themselves in this short amount of time.

“Every week the participants clearly look forward to attending the session due to it being run by a local professional football club.

“We’d like to thank Southend United Community & Educational Trust for their input, the sessions really are proving to be popular amongst our group.”

For more information about Project 49, please contact them on 01702 212434 or project49@southend.gov.uk.