Apple Seed – growing great ideas!

Delivery

Sharon is an experienced teacher and youthworker and because of this she is able to adapt her skills to a variety of needs and settings.

She has planned and delivered a range of sessions and projects, tailored to the needs and context of each location. Such projects include:

Portsmouth High School’s Peer Mentoring group, 2008 – a 5 session course developed with the students and focussing on mentoring techniques as well as marketing and communication. Sharon has also spoken at PHS Parents evening on ‘How to Handle Your Teenager’ for the past four years.

Street Pastors, 2007, 2008 – Sharon delivered two sessions on youth culture & youthwork skills for the Street Pastor volunteers.

St Mark’s School, 2011 – This was part of a Creative Partnerships project and utilised Sharon’s story-telling skills. Sharon created a story themed around the school logo: a winged lion. She developed the story over the course of the project, incorporating the ideas and suggestions of the children and developing a range of follow-up activities covering Literacy, Maths, Geography and Design skills.

“The teachers were really impressed with Sharon’s very detailed planning as they knew exactly what to expect which made them feel more confident in what she was going to do. They have enjoyed using the story since too and when I talked to the year R children this part of the project had really struck a chord with them as they came up with all sorts of different ideas for stories which meant they didn’t really answer my questions which I suppose is 5 year olds for you!” Janet Aughey, Creative Agent at St Mark’s School.

Project evaluation: “The staff thought Sharon’s contribution was exceptional. Her plans and detail were superb but she did not stick to them rigidly so the staff felt very prepared for her input even though she had come to the project after the initial planning session was completed.”

North End Library Bounce & Rhyme time (on-going) –  Sharon has volunteered at the library for almost two years now, running the half-hour long singing session for children aged 0-5. She aims to visit fortnightly and also runs special themed sessions during the school holidays which includes a craft activity. These sessions include children aged 3-8 approximately.

Portsmouth Deanery Youth Development Project: SureStep Mentoring & Minibus Outreach (on-going)

Sharon and her husband, Project Leader Adam Court, plan and co-deliver the training sessions for volunteers from Anglican churches across the Deanery of Portsmouth, who are engaging in the SureStep Mentoring scheme and the Minibus Outreach project. The training course covers four areas:

- the theology of youthwork

- youth culture

- youthwork skills

- practicalities (this session varies, depending on which project the volunteer is deployed to)

The project is entering its third year and is growing positively as it reaches out to young people across the city.