The End Of Summer 2021
Coming to the end of the summer holidays, we enter the second half of our Summerversity programme where we focussed on wellbeing. Starting off with flying lanterns, the young people were asked to write down things they needed to let go of. At first, they were hesitant, but after settling in, the young people took to it. We were impressed at how honest they all were with themselves, and even in one moment, they gave one another permission to be honest with one another; asking each other “What do you think I should let go off?”. Afterwards, we then moved it outside and watched our worries and burdens be released into the sky.
Later, we moved onto breaking bad habits. The young people were all given plates. On it, we listed any bad habits that they felt needed to break. After they wrote on the plate, we took ourselves into a sheltered alleyway and threw them on the ground whilst yelling, “we are not our bad habits”. Afterwards, the young people felt free and creative. This energy was then shifted on taking leftover plates and painting whatever they felt like on them. We now have a mini gallery of painted plates.
The week of GCSE results came in, and the nerves were high. Once attained, each came in with their results, and to celebrate, homemade dinner was made at the centre for them to enjoy.
There was a plan to get a BBQ going to celebrate the end of our Summerversity plan; however, as we have all experienced, summer this year wasn’t giving us the sun we were asking for. Instead, it was moved to the final week of summer and indoors where a wholesome dinner was made for everyone to enjoy.
Trips became quiet. Ice skating, top golf and Go Carting were our last trips within the two remaining weeks. One thing to note, there are definitely no Tiger Woods protégé that went on the Top Golf trip; the girls can definitely burn rubber better than the boys in Go Carting and Ice Skating? Well, let’s just say everyone is on thin ice.
Slowly and surely the young people began to mentally prepare themselves for heading back to school. Nerves of attending new colleges lingered, but nothing a good support system within the centre couldn’t fix. For our last moment of summer, an evening stroll around central London eased the tension: enjoying the cool breeze and bustle of London. We have also managed to see a new wave of colouring fanatics who have spent a lot of their evenings adding colour to templates. The focus and attention to detail has definitely allowed their creativity to be part of a mentally soothing session.
Here’s to a new academic year for the young people. We have enjoyed every moment with them and we wish every young person ‘Good Luck’ with whatever journeys they have decided to follow. We support you. We believe in you. And you WILL do GREAT! CYP Summer OUT!!!