Disability Outdoor Activities Centre Celebrates First Birthday
A South Staffordshire based outdoor activities centre celebrated its first birthday this month (December) after a loss of funding for a local special school prompted staff and volunteers to run the centre themselves.
Kids Adventurous Activities (KAA) is a registered charity and runs out of South Staffordshire Sailing Club in Gailey, near Penkridge. It provides small groups of young people who have a range of special needs, disabilities or emotional and behavioural difficulties outdoor learning experiences from water based activities such as sailing and canoeing, to land based activities such as orienteering and outdoor cooking.
Previously KAA had been run through Westcroft Sport and Applied Learning College and based at the Sailing Club since 1999. A change to funding arrangements threatened to shut down the service last year prompting the organisers, Wendy Shipley and Chris Beddow, to set up KAA and look to attract more special and mainstream schools to take part in activities.
“By getting outdoors and doing activities they might not have tried before you can really see the children grow in confidence,” explains canoe instructor Wendy. “They start to believe in themselves and in what they can do by overcoming fears. Then they take that belief into the next time they try something new.”
Teacher Heather Johnson from Westcroft Sport and Applied Learning College in Wolverhampton also sees how the students are developing new skills from the sessions: “They get so much out of it, there’s the social aspect, learning new skills, confidence, team working and getting outdoors and experiencing things they don’t do on a daily basis. This current group of Year 7’s are coming every week this term and it’s good as they get to know each other and bond as a group. They are thoroughly enjoying coming and really look forward to it, you can see that from the look on their faces.”
Chris Beddow has been involved in teaching young people how to sail since 1999. He is a member of South Staffordshire Sailing Club where KAA is based, and provides work experience placements for club members and older special school students: “One of the things I get out of it is see the kids blossom and grow. Because the groups we have can be quite challenging they really develop their communication skills and we are able to adapt to suit the range of abilities the children have as individuals.
“We have had around 15 different groups attend the centre this year so it has been a good first year for KAA. We also achieved RYA Sailability Centre status recognising our ability to cater for groups with disabilities.”
Heather added: “Considering we have such mixed groups the teachers here are great; they help each child at their level and always make them feel welcome.”
Wendy continued: “We were fortunate to get some funds from charitable trusts this year but we need to keep finding financial support to keep us going. We weren’t sure if the centre would be able to continue this time last year so to be celebrating our first birthday as KAA is very satisfying. I enjoy seeing the children grow, develop and have fun. Even if it’s pouring with rain they are smiling, that’s the reward for us and knowing that this is something some of them would never get the chance to do. We are just 15 minutes from Wolverhampton, Stafford and Cannock and yet the children can come and experience something they would usually have to go further away to experience.”
To find out more information about KAA and the range of activities provided contact Wendy Shipley by emailing: gaileylake@gmail.com
Note to Editors
Kids Adventurous Activities (KAA) is a registered charity specialising in providing young people with a range of special needs, disabilities or emotional and behavioural difficulties hands on outdoor learning experiences from water based activities such as canoeing and sailing to land based activities like orienteering, raft building, orienteering, problem solving, cooking on an open fire, shelter building.
Located just off Junction 12 of the M6 and easily accessible from Stafford, Cannock, Wolverhampton, KAA caters for special school groups of up to 12, including staff, with an age range of 5 to 23 years. Taster sessions for larger groups and main stream schools can also be arranged.
The sessions are run by Wendy Shipley who is a Canoe England Level 3 Coach in Kayaking and Canadian Canoeing and Chris Beddow who is an RYA Senior Instructor and Powerboat Instructor. All specialist equipment is provided.
For further information about booking a taster session school Contact Wendy Shipley by emailing: gaileylake@gmail.com
For further general information about KAA or South Staffordshire Sailing Club contact: publicity@southstaffordshiresailingclub.co.uk