Stepney Bank Stables

BASIC INFORMATION

Case study date: November 2007

Local authority in which project based: Newcastle City Council

Date started: 1992

End date if not ongoing:

Type of organisation: Voluntary organisation

Brief description

The Stepney Bank Equestrian and Activity Centre is a community horse project set in Newcastle’s inner city. With a state of the art riding arena and stable yard, the centre is also a British Horse Society accredited riding school and a Pony Club Centre with around 60 members. The project was originally established in 1992 by the City Farm Byker, becoming an independent organisation in 1999 and a registered charity shortly afterwards.

The project works with young people from some of the most socially disadvantaged wards in the North East, most of whom become involved to meet a variety of personal, social or educational needs. Stepney Bank aims to use horses and equestrian activities as a tool for motivating, educating and passing on key social skills to young volunteers.

Collaboration

The centre works with a range of referral agencies including pupil referral units at schools, youth and community groups, and youth offending teams.

Funding

Income is generated through the provision of riding activities and private donations, coupled with funding from local grant making and charitable trusts. National funders include Sport England, The National Lottery, Children in Need, Lloyds TSB, the Four Acre Trust and the European Regional Development Fund.

Staffing

The project employs eight staff, including a full-time volunteer co-ordinator and a part-time education worker, and 15 sessional workers.

NATURE OF PROVISION

Which groups of young people does the project work with and why?

Each year, the project works with around 230 young people aged 12 to 17. About 80% are young women. Many of the young people have basic literacy and numeracy skills, suffer from low self esteem, and experience social exclusion as a result. This is exacerbated by the effects of poverty, drugs and alcohol. Approximately 10% of users have some form of disability.

How was the need for the project identified?

The project manager originally identified the need for a young volunteers’ programme based on her conversations with young people who were involved when the centre was in its infancy.

How do young people become involved? What, if any, commitment do you ask for?

Referrals are made by individual schools, youth workers, training advisors, education welfare officers, social services, youth offending teams and community service placements. Many young people are also encouraged to join by their friends who already volunteer at the centre. A new volunteer completes a registration form and is then given an induction into the centre. Young people under 16 are also assessed by the volunteer coordinator.

The centre also runs educational training days for young people from local schools which result in many attendees getting involved as volunteers. Two examples include a monthly racism awareness training session, ‘Horses know no colour’, and ‘Gallop to learn’, a six week holiday course aimed at young people who have been excluded or bullied.

What are the main approaches used and activities offered?

While often busy and noisy, Stepney Bank has a welcoming and caring atmosphere and strong ethos of community involvement and social inclusion. It adopts a holistic approach to addressing the needs of young people, by providing opportunities to volunteer, a mixture of horse related and social activities, formal and informal learning programmes, accredited training, and support and encouragement.

Horses can have a very strong appeal to young people, including the most excluded, drawing many of them into the centre and then into volunteering. The core activities on offer to young volunteers include yard duties (mucking out the horses, feeding and watering, sweeping the yard and cleaning tack), leading ponies and horses during lessons and helping at summer camp. For many of the young people, caring for horses provides purpose and routine and may be their first experience of working in a team with a common interest. Young volunteers also have access to a broad range of other opportunities at the centre including office work, dealing with bookings, database design and data entry, reception, helping to run the gift shop, promotional and marketing activities, arranging special events, and fundraising.

Those young volunteers who have behavioural problems or need high levels of support - around 40 at any one time, most of whom are young men - receive extra support and supervision, regular one–to–one meetings and training through the volunteer coordinator. A qualified youth worker, he responds to the individual needs identified in each young person’s personal development plan. This can include career advice, liaison with parents, and advocating on a young person’s behalf with external agencies.

How are young people involved in shaping the project?

Staff are in very close contact with the young volunteers and work hard to build relationships with them. They all have an open door policy for young people at the centre. Staff hold regular group meetings and forums with young people where they are consulted and encouraged to pass on ideas as to the type of activities they want to do.

How does the project respond to the needs of different young people, particularly the most marginalised?

The centre works hard to dispel the myth that equestrian activities are elitist and strives to be as inclusive as possible. It makes all its activities accessible to all interested parties within its community, including hard to reach and disengaged young people. Horse riding is particularly enjoyed by young people with poor coordination and body image, those who do not enjoy team games and those who have been bullied in the past.

OUTCOMES OF WORK

Does the project contribute to the five Every Child Matters outcomes for young people?

Through their volunteering at the centre, young people have access to personal and social development opportunities and enjoy their recreation time. They are also making a positive contribution to their local community and environment.

What skills do young people gain through their involvement in the project?

Young volunteers develop their interpersonal and social skills through working in teams, and increase in confidence and self esteem. Their attitude towards learning becomes more positive and for many, volunteering acts as a catalyst for them to re-engage with formal education, go on to further training or employment in a horse related environment.

How are young people's progress and achievements measured and recorded?

The centre offers young people training focusing on all aspects of horse welfare and stable management, accredited by the OCN, the British Horse Society and the Pony Club. Accreditation is particularly valued by the most excluded young people: for many it is the first time they have achieved a certificate. Young people are also rewarded with riding lessons, based on a ‘Time bank’ system of the number of hours they accrue at the centre. Young volunteers generally prefer hands-on work with horses than doing office-based tasks. To encourage them to volunteer for the less popular tasks, these are rewarded with double points.

The centre also offers a scholarship programme which is awarded to those volunteers who show a real aptitude for working with horses. Young people can work up to one day a week and in return receive training, riding and support while studying for horse related qualifications. The centre supports up to 11 young people (known as ‘scholars’) a year in this way and places are hotly contested.

What has changed for other young people, organisations or the wider community as a result of the project?

The centre provides a focal point for the local community, thus promoting a sense of cohesion. Young volunteers at the centre are strong role models for other young people in the community, who are drawn to the centre because of them.

MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS

How is the project evaluated?

External evaluative reports are written on a regular basis for the centre’s funders. These include qualitative and quantitative information about young people.

Young people have strong relationships with staff and are able to feed back comments whenever they want to. Those young people who receive additional support through the volunteer coordinator are also given the opportunity to feed back ideas within their supervisory sessions.

What are the findings of any evaluations to date?

In 2003, Stepney Bank Stables received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, which recognises outstanding achievement by volunteers.

Informal and formal feedback received by the organisations and young people with which Stepney works shows how they value the service on offer:

“It would be impossible to overstate the support given to these students by Stepney… none of this would be possible without the dedication of staff and volunteers there” [Letter from a teacher from a local school for young people with behavioural issues]

“Before I came here, I spent time hanging around on the street with my friends drinking. I can’t imagine doing that now as most of my free time is spent volunteering” [Donna, 16 now a scholar at the centre]

What changes/developments have occurred as a result of evaluation?

Young people’s comments and suggestions are incorporated into all aspects of the stable’s work. One of the many tasks undertaken by young volunteers at the stables is to lead novice riders on their horses. Although the stables cannot operate without it being done, the task is unpopular as it is fairly monotonous. The young volunteers fed their comments back to staff, resulting in both sides working together to come up with a solution. A leader card system is now in operation, whereby the young people claim back riding credits according to the amount of leading hours they complete.

What has worked well and why?

The combination of horse related activities with informal youth and education work has proved very successful in re-engaging marginalised young people.

What has been difficult and why?

The main difficulties experienced have been due to uncertainties of funding. When the centre first opened, much time and energy was spent attracting funding and building credibility.

PARTNERSHIP AND STRATEGIC IMPACT

What specific experience and expertise do you bring to partnership work?

The centre has expertise in working with horses and using them to re-engage marginalised young people.

Have you experienced any particular difficulties in partnership working?

Much of the success of partnership working to date has relied on partners staying in post, with frustrations arising when staff leave and relationships have to be re-established.

Do you consider this project to be innovative?

The centre is open every day of the year except Christmas day and is seen as a safe, inclusive venue for all sections of the local community.

How do you disseminate the learning from the project?

The project has been highlighted as a good practice case study drawn up by Sport England which has been distributed to equestrian centres nationwide. It also features regularly in the local press and radio.

What plans do you have to sustain/develop this work?

The centre has just secured funding to run a volunteer training programme which will enhance the training currently available. As part of this, it hopes to develop a mentoring programme where older volunteers at the centre can train to mentor young volunteers, particularly those who the most excluded.

CONTACT

Susan Tron, Stepney Bank Stables, Stepney Bank, Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 2PN Tel: 0191 261 5544 Email: info@stepneybank.co.uk

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