Expected outcomes:

• Young people , who would not normally participate or who are considered to be vulnerable or at risk of offending, are engaged in positive activities
• Young people build their confidence and self-esteem, and develop positive behaviours
• Young people develop confidence in their skills and develop aspirations for further learning and development.

Project Description

The project is aimed to engage young people who are in care at Kibble Education and Care in a film–making project.

The young people worked with a range of creative artists and staff from the Royal Conservatoire to develop a film script which reflected their experiences of being in care. All young people were involved in this stage, then had the opportunity to choose which element of film making they wanted to be involved in (music, camera, on screen, editing etc). Professional staff  were brought in to support each stage of the film, but young people were given freedom and encouraged to take responsibility for the finished product.
Through the project, young people also visited the Royal Conservatoire, and a  group also visited the Royal Ballet. This was a ‘first time’ experience for all of the young people, many of whom have had no opportunity to experience the arts or cultural organisations.

Outcomes

Young people, who would not normally participate or who are considered to be vulnerable or at risk of offending, are engaged in positive activities

16 young people participated in the project.  All of the young people are in care –  some are residential pupils at Kibble, some attend Kibble day school and one was a  care leaver (who had been residential pupil at Kibble and now lives in supported accommodation).

Many of the young people who attend Kibble display a range of challenging behaviours, including aggressive and self-harming behaviours. Many have a history of offending and are at risk of re-offending. This often means that they lack motivation, have low self-esteem or poor social skills, making them reluctant to take part in activities of this nature.

The Creative Arts Development Officer at Kibble recruited young people to the project. He targeted young people who had shown some interest in drama or young people who he though would particularly benefit from the experience.

The movie-making project ran over a 16 week period  and was delivered in evenings at weekends, providing opportunities for young people to engage in an ‘out of hours’ activity. All young people participated voluntarily and had to make a commitment to participation. For those who are residential, the project provided a positive and stimulating activity to do  ‘out of hours’ , but in some cases the commitment meant that young people had to give up weekend home visits to participate, other choose to forgo other activities with their friends to participate.

For those who live at home, they had to make  the commitment to staying behind after ‘school’ to participate and coming along at weekends to participate.

As a result the project has been successful in engaging young people who otherwise would not engage in arts activities, but also in providing the activity at times which have potentially diverted young people from anti-social behaviours

Young people build their confidence and self-esteem, and develop positive behaviours

Staff identified that all of the young people were very proud of their achievement but that for some young people, the project had had a profound effect. Although many of the young people have behavioural issues, there was evidence that participation in the project provided a focus for positive behaviours:

• · Young people choosing to stay behind after school to participate
• · Young people staying focused for a whole day of filming (many do not ‘stick‘ at anything)
• · Some young people (many of whom do not have positive relationships with adults) developing enough confidence and trust to build relationships with the drama staff
• · Young people making the decision to film very early on a Saturday morning to get the best light , even although that meant getting up really early to do so
• · Young people resolving conflicts –  in situation which would normally result in argument , fights or young people absconding, young people were seen to resolve conflict in order to continue with the project

Young people develop confidence in their skills and develop aspirations for further learning and development.

As a result of the project, one young person has joined a local drama group in Paisley (PACE) and one young person has joined a drama group in Kibble.

2 young people applied to college (one for music and one for drama). While this outcome is not wholly attributable to the project, the project provided the young people with the purpose and focus to apply, and provided them with valuable experience for their auditions.

Case study X is 16 years old and had been in care for many years. She is vulnerable and has history of offending and has spent some of her time in care in  secure units. She dropped out of formal education at age 14. K is in residential care and got involved in the project  to give her ‘something to do in the evenings’ . She had done a bit of drama in the past, and had enjoyed it but had never followed it through. K ended up playing  the lead role in the film and showed incredible commitment to the project. As a result of the project, she has had to make decisions and take responsibility for herself in a way that is often difficult for her. She committed to turning up in the evening  and at weekends – some weekends, she had to cancel home visits because of filming commitments. She also had to learn to deal with disagreements with other participants.  Her usual pattern is to ‘storm out’ of any situation where she finds herself in conflict or faced with a problem, but during the project  resolved a conflict with another participant which would have led to one or both of them ‘walking away ‘ from the project. K reports that her focus has come from the fact that she has found something that she values and wants to do “This is the first time that I really wanted to do something “ “ If I hadn’t been doing this, I’d be out doing crazy stuff, getting into trouble, getting drunk…….” As a result  of the project, K decided to apply to college to study drama. K’s key worker reported that this was the first time in her life that she had achieved something (she has no formal qualifications).  The project had been ‘great for her, providing her with a focus– in the past she would last about 20 minutes in a lass then she’d walk out –  and helping her to consider her behaviours. “We’ve been using the project as an opportunity to get her to focus on her behaviours. She has found something she likes and she’s good at, and that has provided a focus for her. (Previously, she was very chaotic).  She’s been practicing for her college audition and has started to plan – for example planning not to go out on Friday nights when she had filming on a Saturday morning.”