Going places

We recently told you about the great work Claire Brack is doing at Pavilion Nursery in North Ormesby to improve the outdoor space there. So, on this note of reflection and improvement, we are taking ownership of our future growth and we are proud of our roots in East Middlesbrough, so we’d like to share what everyone else is getting up to at CVL because Claire is not the only one building her skills and learning more to better support our community.

Sophie Dobson, our Facilities Lead, recently completed her Level 2 Youth Work qualification and has gone on to use these skills with our regular youth sessions, which run Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 3:30pm to 4:30pm every week, including the holidays. Sophie is such a vibrant and positive character that she brings joy and laughter to everything she does, something the young people thrive off. Their confidence has skyrocketed since working with Sophie and they are now contributing to looking after the community with their healthy snacks and passionate outlook.

Nursery Manager, Donna Pepper is currently taking part in the Early Years Professional Development Programme (EYPDP) alongside Nursery Assistant, Hannah Patton. The objective of the EYPDP is to help them to support the children who have been most affected by COVID-19, by developing our knowledge and skills in the key areas of communication and language, early mathematics and personal, social and emotional development (PSED). This will strengthen children’s foundations for learning, building their school readiness, so that they can engage in learning and thrive when they enter school.

The complete nursery team have also been working towards their Level 2, 3 and 5 qualifications in Childcare over recent months to ensure we keep up to date with regulations, local needs and styles of development. These qualifications and the EYPD programme will enable all the staff to play a vital role in the future life chances of the children we support.

Let’s not forget our Trustees who also come from the local community and are going through a developmental process to ensure they are resilient enough to support the organisation through its next phase. This includes their recent Safeguarding training update and a new recruitment process which will bring in more Trustees to ensure we have a varied perspective on our community’s needs.

We are very happy to welcome three new faces to the team too! Peter Jones, Gemma Milward and Ian Pemberton. Each bring their own skillset and powerful journey so you will hear more about them and the rest of the team over the coming months. Our team is made up of passionate people from the local area who have experienced struggles, made it through, left the area and come back, whatever life threw at them or wherever it has taken them, it’s lead them here and we are so grateful.

As we meet more people, grow our organisation and have more conversations, it’s really reassuring to see that we’re not the only organisation feeling stifled sometimes. Every day we meet people who cannot access what they need and the systems in place just don’t work for them. We work creatively within those systems and give people the space and freedom to get where they need, but it can be hard work. Even we struggle to think positively sometimes, but we will consistently turn up and keep knocking at doors to make change for the better, and it’s really great to hear that others believe in our voices, so let’s see how we can use them!