Three weeks ago 27 teenagers attended the annual Teenvine Summer Camp Out at Rough Close in Coventry to celebrate completing our 12-month intensive development programme to strengthen young people in the city who have special educational needs and disabilities.
And 17 of them braved the “glorious” British summer weather to stay overnight! Some in the site’s wooden cabin, some in tents… some staying away from home for the first time.
During their year with us they’ve made friends, connected with new people and places, increased their independence and their self-confidence.
Here we share a selection of our favourite photos (with the young people’s consent).
There was pizza, a BBQ and a cooked breakfast the next morning. We competed on the inflatable bungee run, on the coconut shy, hook-a-duck and giant Jenga.
Face painting was on offer too, plus the gaming bus for all of our gamers to enjoy. Meanwhile other youngsters donned boiler suits for a water gun / water bomb paint explosion with our Director of Projects, Naomi!
Evening entertainment included an end of year awards ceremony – voted for by the young people – and a presentation to each of their Teenvine yearbook, certificate and prize.
Nicely rounded off by some campfire cooking and the chance to learn to play some new musical instruments.
Firsts:
- James had his face painted for the first time
- Charlie spent his first night away from his parents
- Freya, Scarlett and Jason played their first game of Dungeons and Dragons.
Other highlights:
- Parents pitching in to help out – notably Ange and Nina running the BBQ buffet in the rain and Daz going on a last minute supermarket rescue for us all!
- Parent and now co-leader Laura managed 25,000 steps over the course of the day!
- Our Connect2Work project worker Kitty volunteered in the evening and spent time chatting to our older young people about employment opportunities
- The weather treated us well… until about 4.30pm when the heavens opened. This meant a very British BBQ in the rain.
What a lovely time we had.
Bethan, one of the parents, said: “It was a really lovely day. A massive thank you for not only the camping trip, but a wonderful year. All your help and support on so many levels. It’s been nice to see Morgan grow in confidence and independence.
“This group truly has been a godsend for him. Shame it has to end. But nice to know more people will benefit from all your support going forward. Long may the friendships formed flourish.”
Speaking of thank you’s. We must thank the following people, businesses and organisations who helped make this year’s Summer Camp Out possible:
- Naomi, Sarah, Herbie, Laura, Tom and Kitty from Grapevine
- Precious Events Coventry
- Sam from Gaming2U
- Andy and Raych from Bulldog Explorers
- Janine, Claire and Kay from Early Help (Coventry City Council), who funded the event
- Jade and Donna from Coventry Alternative Provision
- Lily and Ross from Transformations for the evening of music
- Volunteers Debbie, Charlie and a number of parents.
A new journey begins
Beginning at the start of September each year, 35 teens aged 13 to 18 join our team of passionate project workers on a journey of social meet ups and self-discovery.
Many experience life outside of home without their family accompanying them for the first time. They become part of the decision making when plans are formed as a group, all the while building plans for themselves and their futures.
We don’t operate from a set venue or on certain days of the week, instead we’re out at community venues at days and times to suit the young people. But with those plans shared in advance so each young person can make choices on what they want to be a part of.
Decisions are an important part of life at Teenvine (and life in general) and our team is there to help young people make them!
Teenvine Plus is an intensive development programme for teens with autism or learning disabilities in Coventry. We help learning disabled youngsters to get the friendships, confidence and skills they need in order to mature into independent young adults able to achieve their ambitions.
To refer a child aged 13-18 to our Teenvine Plus programme, we ask for a completed online referral form. This can be found here.
Please note there may be a waiting list – more details of this can be found at the top of the form. To contact the team email teenvine@grapevinecovandwarks.org.
Other feedback from parents
“Every one of the team is immensely dedicated to the young people they meet. The help, support and encouragement they offer, not just to our son but to us as a family, is nothing short of amazing.”
“This organisation is proactive, compassionate, innovative and genuinely cares.”
“Helping young people find a powerful voice for what they want for their future.”
Teenvine Plus and Teenvine Plus Next Steps form part of our Strengthening People work across Coventry and Warwickshire. Click here to find out more.