Amie and Latoyah's group at the International Community School held their fundraising funfair last Friday (see below) and raised over £150 to go to the NSPCC in what was a very successful day. Lindsay Gowlett, Project Officer at YTB, attended and said "It was wonderful to see the young people and facilitator's efforts come to fruition - they all worked really hard to put the event on. the atmosphere was great, and a good sum was raised for the NSPCC, Well done to all."

Martin's group, at Lilian Baylis, are conducting their final interviews with other students from various year groups on teenage pregnancy. They will be producing a podcast/MP3 file that can be used on the school's website and in other Citizenship lessons and will be uploaded onto the groups Project Page. Watch this space!

Brand new projects in London will involve Candice and Luna at The Charter School, Jake and Rafaela at William Morris SEN School and Milica and Nisha with Shpresa, a group for young Albanian refugees.

Our three collaborative pilot projects with Envision have had their teething problems, but certainlt not down to a lack of enthusiasm, commitment or creativity from our Volunteer Facilitators.

At Greycoats, Av and Oma's group are organising a gun and knife crime t-shirt competition. The group is inviting entries from other students on the theme of gun and knife crime and teenage violence. They are currently putting the finishing touches to their posters and advertising strategy to publicise the competition - with a deadline for entries proposed for the New Year.

After false starts at St Augustine's and Westminster Academy we are speaking to teachers to explore ways that the projects can run in the New Year. Thanks again to all volunteers working on these projects for their continued patience and dedication.

Manchester News

Mahla and Vicky's group at All Saints, are working with the Oakie Club, a local group for children with disabilities to organise a disability awareness fashion show, with a mixed group of able-bodied and disabled young people as participants.

Tim and Joaquim are working with three groups from Cedar Mount on a citizenship project where the young people have to research a local charity and prepare a presentation about their work. They will present their ideas at the end of the project to the Philanthropy Association in the hope of securing funding for their chosen charities.

Aarti and Hannah are supporting a group of Year 10 students from Levenshulme to run their own Enterprise projects. The groups have decided to raise money for Islamic Relief by making products in five groups.

At Meade Hill School for Children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties Alayna and Julia are nearly finished with their series of two hour drama workshops exploring some different elements of discrimination: racism, disability and gender. They will also be using art as a medium to explore these issues.

And finally, Cara and Donald's group from Parklands is putting the finishing touches to their film on bullying - the film will be available to view on the group's Project Page once it has been edited - we'll give you the link in a future newsletter.

Volunteer voices

This month, Joaquim Cirilo, a former teacher in Angola tells us about his experiences as a Volunteer Facilitator at Cedar Mount High School in Manchester.

	Joaquim Before volunteering as a YTB Facilitator you were a teacher in Angola, how did you find changing your way of working with young people to being a facilitator instead of a teacher? Joaquim: Well it was an issue for me, the teaching here is different to Angola; in Angola it is very traditional whereas here it is much more progressive. However it was a new challenge for me and a new experience to sample how it is to work with young people here. Facilitating is much more like coaching them. I can't tell them what to do as it has to come from them. I have to motivate them so that they can achieve their goals. Do you think having previous experience as a teacher made being a facilitator easier or harder? Joaquim: I think it made it easier for me to be in the role of facilitator. It meant that I was not shy speaking in front of lots of people and I felt comfortable working with the young people - even on my first day. Were there any techniques/approaches/activities you learnt teaching that you could apply to facilitating with YTB? Joaquim: Listening is the most important thing to remember. To get them involved without doing it all myself I gave them the lead and the initiative. My normal approach was to try speaking one-to-one with the young people and then do some follow-up questioning with the group as a whole.

Opportunities and resources

CHANGEit is an award scheme that recognises, supports and rewards young campaigners aged 11-18 who are determined to make a difference in their communities. For information on how to apply for one of their awards or to nominate a group or individual visit www.changeit.org.uk. The site is also full of useful links and resources including a Campaigns Toolbox to help get your campaign off the ground - so make the most of it!


Please do get in touch you you have any questions, queries or suggestions and in the meantime good luck with all you are doing over the next month - I hope you all enjoy a well deserved break over Christmas!



Young TimeBank team

E-mail: helpdesk@timebank.org.uk

Phone: 0845 347 9363