The Big Wide World programme was initially designed by NE Youth staff to support young people with their development of basic life skills. We identified a great need in these skills through working with the young people at Throckley Youth Project, and in February 2024 we delivered a series of workshops and an overnight residential to put their learning into action.
The programme covered 4 main areas;
- Running your household
- Daily Routines such as making your bed
- Cleaning up and basic hygiene
- Dealing with money and being able to prioritise what you spend your money on by using different budgeting methods.
The final area was surviving on your own, where the young people used all of their skills they developed and put them to practice. The young people were given £200 to use on a food shop and go on a residential where they made their own beds, cooked all of their meals, did all of the washing up, and decided what activities to spend their budget on.
9 young people took part in the programme itself and we took 7 young people on the residential to Bird Oswald’s bunk house as a part of our Pilot programme. Every young person learned something new from the programme and their skills wheels showed increased improvements.
This programme was developed thanks to funding received from the RW Mann Trust to develop and deliver a new pilot programme based on the local needs of young people. The programme was a huge success and we look forward to securing further funding to impact more young people.
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