Kibble Admin

On Friday 23^rd June, Young people at Kibble’s Safe Centre enjoyed an end of term Fun Day and celebration of Pride month complete with inflatables, a summer DJ set, colourful face painting and bucket loads of fun!

The outdoor sports pitch took on a colourful fun-park theme, as young people challenged staff on the large inflatable games, joined in the DJ Mixing and had rainbow flags painted on their faces. Even the rain didn’t stop play!

It was a day of celebration as the school term at Mirin Academy draws to a close, and an opportunity to promote diversity, inclusion and belonging. One young person draped the Pride flag over their shoulders and confidently stepped up to sing karaoke beautifully, with songs from Christina Aguilera and Gloria Gaynor.

The event marks the beginning of a jam-packed summer activity and events programme at the Safe Centre, with activities including bubble football, arts and crafts, dance classes and health and wellbeing activities.

On Thursday 15^th June, in front of a packed-out room of delegates working across the youth justice sector, a quietly confident Nova Patterson of Kibble co-chaired the day’s events alongside fellow co-chair Ranald McTaggart of the National Youth Justice Advisory Group (NYJAG).

This was a significant engagement for Nova, who at the age of 16, held the room like they were a regular speaker on the conference circuit. The overall theme of the 2-day conference was the Children’s Care and Justice Bill, with day two’s focus on children’s rights, the impact of the Bill on children’s rights, and sessions exploring the National Bairns’ Hoose model and international research showing alternatives to secure care. Nova’s role on the day was to link the sessions together by introducing the speakers, their experience and overview of the session which Nova did effortlessly.

For Nova, being asked to co-chair the event was a real honour, and one that they did not take lightly. Nova took time to rehearse the script, considering all aspects from their pace, tone and presentation style. They listened intently to the proceedings of the day, engaging in conversations with delegates from across the world who are actively working to improve the rights of children and young people in justice settings.

Having graduated from Kibble’s Goudie Academy just weeks before, and proudly celebrating with friends and teachers at the school prom, Nova is wasting no time in making her mark on the world. With Nova’s drive and ambition, the world is their oyster, and we can’t wait to see what Nova goes onto achieve next.

On Friday 23^rd June, the Gannochy Centre for Expressive Arts was the backdrop for ‘Kibble Keeps The Promise’, a celebratory event marking all that we have achieved, and continue to achieve, to keep Scotland’s Promise to care experienced young people.

The event was led by Kibble’s Promise Development Lead, Natalie Cowan, who shared Scotland’s collective ambition and updated young people and staff teams on all the incredible work happening every day across our services. Principally, Natalie described the ways that young people’s voices were being heard to impact the change they want to see. For many young people at Kibble, this was in opening up greater opportunities for friendships, more trips, being listened to and the importance of relationships. Language was high on the day’s agenda, with young people getting involved in the creation of a language dictionary aimed at eradicating the use of stigmatising language. The publication ‘Words Matter – Let’s Change the Patter’ is due to be published in the coming weeks, with design being led by from a talented young person.

Relationships Matter

Audiences enjoyed a thought-provoking performance from the drama group and interactive presentations were led by young people and staff teams on how their houses were keeping The Promise. All spoke of the importance of relationships, ensuring young people felt heard, loved and respected. Stories were shared of young people’s achievements and experiences with Ocean Youth Trust, Duke of Edinburgh Award, work experience opportunities, weekend adventures and summer holiday plans. One young person excitedly spoke of the Duke of Edinburgh Award as being one of the best experiences of their life! They shared:

“If you get the chance to do the Ocean Youth Trust voyage, I can’t recommend it any more highly! We got to see so many places, I even got to see Bute and never thought I would ever get the chance to see that in my life”. Young Person, Kibble

Also on the agenda were staff teams sharing the ways in which their practice has been shaped in line with The Promise and our therapeutic, trauma-informed practice model. This places the young person at the centre and combines a range of elements that work together to provide the right support, at the right time, for young people with experience of trauma. Insights were shared on how young people are supported to manage big emotions, and ways to help them open up and talk about their feelings. This included using sensory toys such as ‘worry monsters’ where young people can store their emotions in the toy which they can then talk through with an adult. We heard of the ways relationships were nurtured, the pride and admiration shown between young people and staff teams, and the jokes and typical rhythms and routines within the houses. Kibble is a place where children feel loved, respected and included. One young person shared:

“Before coming to Kibble, I lived in ten different places. Kibble is the best place I’ve lived and the one where I feel happiest. When I found the courage to come out, everyone supported and accepted me and at the school prom I wore a dress and thought people would make fun of me, but it was the exact opposite – so many people told me I looked beautiful.” Young Person, Kibble

The grand finale of the event, and the one that sparked much hilarity across the room was The Promise Rap. Young people and the staff teams at South and North Houses donned their finest hip-hop attire and found their inner Jay-Z to recreate the iconic Beastie Boys hit ‘Fight for Your Right’ in a video that wouldn’t look out of place on MTV.

The Largest Room in the World is the Room for Improvement

In the words of this infamous quote and reiterated at the event is that we should continually strive to do things better. There is phenomenal work being done across Kibble and we can look towards 2030 with hope and pride at what we have achieved; but there is always scope for change.

Kibble is committed to continuing our work to Keep The Promise, working alongside and for young people to ensure their voices are heard, and to collaborate with others across the sector to help Scotland become a nation where children grow up to feel safe, loved and supported.

Reinstating their commitment to The Promise, Kibble has partnered with Aberlour Children’s Charity and partners in the child and youth care sector to deliver a pilot programme aimed at reducing restraint in care settings.

Aberlour Children’s Charity was appointed as the lead partner on the initiative with Kibble joining as a supporting partner in the early stages. Both organisations embarked on the initiative aimed at reducing the use of physical restraint where safely possible in children’s care services – one of the founding principles of the landmark 2020 Scottish Government pledge.

Both organisations recognise that restraint should be used as a last resort with trauma-informed, reflective practices continuing to form the basis of culture, service-design and care provision.

In addition to Aberlour Children’s Charity and Kibble, another four partners were invited to join the evaluation group. After a rigorous selection process involving 19 organisations, the charities identified Glasgow City Council, City of Edinburgh Council, North Lanarkshire Council and St Philip’s School to collaborate on the delivery of the project.

All appointed organisations involved were already on a journey to reduce restraint in their services, with The Promise funding helping to facilitate the sharing of effective practice, knowledge and research.

Central to the project were the views of young people, care staff, Promise Development Workers and Leadership teams to ensure a comprehensive evaluation, and a subsequent report, The Promise – Rethinking Restraint, has been published today (30 May).

Jim Wallace, Director of Children and Families at Aberlour, said: “It has been our privilege to work alongside Kibble on keeping the Promise that Scotland becomes a nation that does not restrain its children.

“Through our work with Glasgow, Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire and St Philip’s School, we supported them to continue to develop their efforts to engage distressed children in residential care differently without having to use physical restraint. The children and staff who contributed to our evaluation advocated strongly that restraint does not have a place in residential care in Scotland, which mirrors the respective efforts of Aberlour Children’s Charity.

“We have shown that change is possible, even when it has felt unlikely. If we support staff differently to use their relationships with children to help them when they most need it without resorting to unnecessary restraint, create space for the staff to feel safer and develop cultures where restraint doesn’t exist then a new future for care in Scotland will not only emerge, but be sustained.

“I want to thank our colleagues in Kibble and our four partners. But most importantly I want to thank all of the children and young people who contributed to our evaluation. The findings in this report are not an ending but provide many helpful considerations that other organisations in Scotland can take forward to transform culture and practice.

“When this happens, I believe that Scotland will have kept the Promise and becomes a nation that does not restrain its children”.

The research project was conducted by the Social Value Lab, with a number of research methods being used, including the use of vignettes and semi-structured interviews with young people to gain valuable insights in a sensitive manner.

The research followed the Scottish Approach to Service Design – a framework developed by the Scottish Government which aims to create public services that are more effective, efficient, and responsive to the needs of the people they support.

Sinclair Soutar, Kibble’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “This was an important piece of partnership working across public and third sector organisations, which underlines the collective ambition and drive to meet the recommendations made in The Promise.

“By working together, and hand in hand with young people, we have been able to amplify the voices at the heart of this work and share best practice, research, knowledge and insights to meet the needs of young people and deliver change across the sector.

“Of course, this project does not sit in isolation and sits within a wider context of understanding and responding to the needs of young people affected by trauma. This involves promoting shared understanding, building positive relationships, developing staff training, culture and working alongside families.

“While we have taken good strides forward at Kibble, we will continue to learn and develop to improve care experiences for young people. Working closely with other providers on this important matter has also provided us with rich learning to reflect on.”

Funding for the initiative was provided by the CORRA Foundation’s Promise Partnership Round One Diagnostic Route.

Fraser McKinlay, Chief Executive of The Promise Scotland said: “The Independent Care Review was clear that Scotland must strive to become a nation that does not restrain its children. It’s great to see the work being taken forward by Aberlour and Kibble, funded by the Promise Partnership, and the progress they are making in this really important area.

“The Promise Scotland is pleased to have played its part, supporting the teams who are working to make physical restraint a thing of the past for Scotland’s children and young people.” 

Social Pedagogy Development Network Mini-event

Date: Thursday 8th June 2023
Time: 9.30 – 12:30
Location: Paisley
Cost: Free to attend

We warmly invite you to join our newly reimagined in-person Social Pedagogy Development Network mini-events. This year, instead of organising one large central event, SPDN are holding several small events, all happening at the same time and in various locations, all inter-connected via video link and social media.

We are delighted to tell you that Kibble will be hosting one of these events in Paisley and we hope that you will be able to attend.

About the Event

From its very first meeting in November 2009, the Social Pedagogy Development Network (SPDN) has explored what social pedagogy could mean within a UK context and how different concepts and traditions of social pedagogy could be translated, discovered and connected. No matter how often participants have been to SPDN events or how much expertise they already bring with them, we want the SPDN to be a welcoming and inclusive forum that creates learning opportunities for everybody.

The plans for the mini-SPDN events are, using theory and creative activities, to focus on how we can recognise children’s inherent resourcefulness and potential. We’ll build on Rutger Bregman’s Humankind: A Hopeful History to show that we’ve got good reason to see human nature in much more positive terms, and to enable participants to think about and discuss how they can bring out children’s inherent richness and help wider society recognise this too.

Registration:

Please go to this booking page on Eventbrite that allows participants to register for free to any of the mini-events. Click on get tickets and select ‘Kibble’ for the Paisley event.