Case studies
Back to previous pagePositive Futures in Bradford
The bare, brightly lit, breeze block walls of a small activity room in Keighley Sports Hall are quivering with the noise of a dozen teenage girls, all low-slung jeans and cropped t-shirts. Whoops and yeahs punctuate the air between the disco beats of Kylie Minogue and S Club 7."Come on let’s have you in line," claps an adult voice. A blur of silver-striped trainers and shoe-less feet scatter across the sand-coloured floor, forming three disheveled rows. "Are we ready now? Five, six, seven, and a one, two, three, four . . . "
Bunches and ponytails start bobbing to the beat as unwilling feet and hips try to follow the leader’s steps. A few struggle to keep up before the group descends into ecstatic giggles, followed by spontaneous cheers and applause. "Hey, it’s like Popstars: The Rivals is this," says Sue Carter, watching from the side. "Aren’t they doing well?"
Sue is the coordinator of Bradford Positive Futures and "they" are a group of 13 to 15 year-old girls referred to the project by schools, social services and tenancy enforcement units from three "deprived" wards in Keighley, a former mill town just a few miles from the West Yorkshire city. This is week five of GirlPower, a dance and choreography-based programme that meets one day a week for 12 weeks.
Celia Ross, a former teacher and youth trainer, runs the group. "I have one rule when they start which is that when they’re with us they’re going to have fun," she says. "They bring such a lot of baggage from home and school that it has to be fun first. And then, gently, we can show them what they can learn when they are having fun."
Many of these girls, she says, are at risk of third party abuse, many miss school, lots of them smoke, some may even do drugs. "They can’t solve their problems at school," says Celia. "And some don’t go to school at all. But they come here because I’m like their friend – not a teacher, a social worker, or a parent. If I can put some self-esteem into these girls, build up their confidence a bit so by the end they’re thinking ‘I’m better than this’, then it’s worth it."
As well as the dance – which culminates in a live performance – the GirlPower programme also includes group "counseling", and periods at Keighley College learning about fashion, hair and beauty, and food preparation, plus sessions dealing with drugs, alcohol, pregnancy and healthy living delivered by the local Primary Care Trust.
"We just kind of throw that stuff in so it’s not a big deal to them," says Celia. "It’s not got to be a big deal or they’d turn off, so we keep it under cover of the other stuff."
"I don’t want them talked at, I want interactive stuff," agrees Sue. "I was keen that whoever delivered this had the skills to engage difficult young people."
Sue was seconded from Bradford Youth Offending Team to run the two-year Positive Futures project when it started in April 2002 with £65,000 funding. Keighley, part of Bradford district, was chosen as the focus because it tends to miss out on the regeneration and renewal funds that some inner city areas of Bradford often attract.
The three Positive Futures wards of Keighley North, South and West are ranked among the worst 20 per cent in the country for child poverty, housing, education, income and multiple deprivation. All three secondary schools serving the areas perform at below national average for GCSE grades, and the two community schools of Greenhead and Oak Bank have significantly high levels of truancy.
"Many of the young people who we work with are experiencing problems in school," says Sue. "Several of the young people referred to us have been cautioned, or had police reprimands, a couple have been in court, some have come to the notice of tenancy enforcement, or had anti-social behaviour warnings. Basically the project is seen as something that can perhaps give them a bit of an interest, because some of these kids have nothing."
Forty-eight young people have been referred to Positive Futures so far, 25 of who are now regular attendees of the numerous sports activities on offer, while "a fair few more are hit and miss". The hard work of engaging the young people, getting their families’ consent, and leading the sessions is carried out by a local voluntary organisation called the Joint Activities Service (JAS), managed in Keighley by Dilys Simpson.
"We start by doing a home visit so we can get to know the young person, what they’re like, and what they might want to do," she explains. "Then we pair them up with our various sessional workers who lead the activities."
John Ackroyd, for example, specialises in outdoor activities, taking young people canoeing, sailing, climbing, caving and, most recently, on a residential weekend in the Lake District. Jason Ramshaw takes football coaching and rugby league, among other sports. A rugby league player himself with the local Keighley Cougars, he has already guided one young lad into the Cougar Cubs, the club’s junior team.
Abdul Shuqoor leads a number of the other sports activities, which include table tennis, swimming, ice skating, and ten-pin bowling. Sometimes the young people start with multi-sport activity sessions so they can try a few and see what interests them most. Others have been taken to a barge on the canal to learn about boat management and team building.
"What we decided right from the beginning was that we would try and put on what the young people wanted," says Sue. "Obviously, that’s affected by what’s available, but the main thing was to try and keep their interest up."
Sue hopes that Abdul will help the project attract more referrals from the large Asian (Pakistani and Bangladeshi) communities, mostly centred around the Lund Park estate. Only four young Asian people have been referred to the project so far, a disappointing number given the alleged problems of teenage drug use within the Asian community.
"There is an issue around integration in Keighley," she says. "So part of the problem is that the Asian young people who are referred to us don’t want to come without their friends. I think we need to tackle that area in a completely different way, just go in softly, softly and start activities there. But we haven’t the capacity to do it at the moment because we need to concentrate on targeting the ‘core 50’ kids."
Not that engaging young people from other areas – large mostly white council estates like Braithwate and Brackenbank – is exactly easy, as Dilys can testify. "Some of the families won’t even let you across the threshold," she says. "Sometimes you go and just get abuse thrown at you. And sometimes you end up doing the home visit in the pub because that’s where the parents are. With some families it’s a triumph just getting them to agree.
"It’s the first yardstick of success, to be honest – getting the young people to attend. And then you know, just from the kids turning up, that they must be enjoying it, because they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t."
Providing such a range of sports is clearly part of the appeal. "Sport is a good focus," says Sue. "It’s less stigmatising and threatening to say ‘Come and do some sport’, rather than ‘We want you to come on this programme for young offenders’. It’s got a completely different connotation.
"It shows them that there’s someone there to help them, not trying to punish them. And they get praise through sport, which they’re not used to, so it builds self-esteem."
However, Sue is keen to stress that sport on its own cannot be the answer. "I find dealing with things in isolation a bit false," she says. "Sport in itself is not always the way for some kids. But sport alongside other things, can be wonderful."
That’s why she is building in the personal development work, through the local Primary Care Trust, and will soon bring the local Connexions service on board. She is also keen to make sure young people carry on with the sports they’ve taken up, so she’s set up a "Sport Bank" to fund those who do well in the project and need money for club fees, memberships, kit and travel fares. Ultimately, she’d like young people to run the Sport bank themselves. They’ll also be given a ‘Passport to Leisure’ voucher allowing them access to local leisure facilities.
The project has already had some individual successes, like the 15 year-old that declared initially that he just wanted to drink and smoke, but is now horse riding, sailing, fishing and ten-pin bowling. Another 15 year-old was permanently excluded when he came to the project, but is now back in school working for his GCSEs because he wants to become a swimming coach and take a sports science course.
Then there’s GirlPower, of course. All those teenagers who "just need someone to talk to", somewhere to kick off all their troubles. "Between the beginning and the end of the course you wouldn’t believe the difference in them," says Celia. "For the first time ever they’re beginning to think for themselves. At the end, they’re walking tall."
Factfile
- Area: Keighley North, Keighley South and Keighley West, Bradford and District
- Agency: Bradford and District Youth Offending Team
- Funding: Positive Futures grant of £65,500 for 2003/4.
- Partners: Bradford and District Youth Offending Team; Joint Activity Services; Police; Tenancy Enforcement Unit; Social Services; Drug and Alcohol Action Team; Arts, Heritage and Leisure; Youth Service; Sport England; Sport Action Zone; Airedale Primary Care Trust
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Other agencies involved: Greenhead Community school; Holy Family Roman Catholic School; Keighley Cougars rugby league club; Keighley College; Keighley Sports Hall; Oak Bank Community school
Sports offered: barge and boat management; canoeing; caving; climbing; dance; football; horse riding; ice skating; rugby league; sailing; swimming; ten-pin bowling - What next: activities focused on the Asian community; more personal development sessions; ‘Passport to Leisure’ vouchers; more defined sports activity groups
- Top tip: Try and put on what the young people want to do.
