At long last we have received an outstanding piece of funding from six years ago. We were granted £40,000 from the St Pancras Trust, applied for through our founder treasurer Ron Wolfe. Due to some legal technicalities the funds were transferred to the St. Christopher's Fellowship for distribution and they and we have had to jump through hoops and wait for legal approval to transfer grants to the chosen organisations.

What a great time to receive it: we are feeling closer to securing the lease on Cedar's Hall, have the funding and loan from Future Builders, have a contract working on the refurbishment figures for us and have some other bids in for additional funding to ensure that the finished building will be just what we want and need.

We have experienced some fantastic changes with some of our particularly chanllenging children and I would like to thank the staff for their dedication and commitment to these kids.

We now provide services 7 days a week every week and my thanks again to all the staff that facilitate these activities.

Finally a huge thanks to all of you who support us, incredible staff who respond to anything thrown at us and to a Management Committee without whose continued involvement life would be considerably less smooth.

Yours as always
Julie Browne
Chief Executive

 

 

Saturday Club

We are considering setting up a monthly Saturday Club for our under 12s and need to get a feel for demand.

The club will be similar to Play Scheme and include a range of activities.

Please let us know if you are interested in a Saturday club and if you have any further suggestions for weekend activities.

Membership

We have been busy putting the finishing touches to our new Membership Scheme. It only costs £1 to become a member and you can make a real difference to KCA and the kids. As a member you can help us provide activities, services and support for children and young people with special needs and their families.

A good membership base enables staff and trustees to speak from a position of strength when campaigning, applying for funding or representing our members at meetings.

Anyone can join. You might be a person with special needs, a parent, a family or professional carer, a person or organisation with a professional interest in special needs or someone who just wants to support us.

You will be made very welcome and encouraged to feel part of this friendly and active organisation.

Benefits include

• Regular newsletters with news of services, activites, events and developments at Kids Can Achieve, Kids Can Crew and The Haven.
• The Kids Can Achieve Annual Report
• Invitations to all Kids Can Achieve general meetings and the right to vote on important issues, have your voice heard and get involved
• Invitations to Kids Can Achieve events

For every person we help, another may go without. KCA does not have the funds to run all the services needed by our children and their families. For every family we help there are many more on the waiting lists for day care, holiday clubs, outreach support etc.

To become a member click here

 

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A message from the chair...

I am now starting my third year as Chair of Kids Can Achieve and I have to say that the organisation has never stopped surprising me, and at times amazing me.

Julie and the staff team show a rare ability to cut through the most complex of problems and find solutions. Because of this boldness and abililty to think differently, there are many children managing well in school today who without us might have found themselves excluded and marginalised.

I hope also that we have made life more manageable and happier for many local families. One more little success to help things get better for families is our recent securing of Big Lottery funding so that After School Clubs can now operate five evenings a week.

I am sure the reason the Kids Can Achieve approach works so well is that our starting point is respect for and belief in the child. This helps to foster an inner belief in the child that they are worth something, they do have something to contribute and there are people who are prepared to listen to what they have to say.

The effect we have had since taking on the children's advocacy contract in Harrow is testament to our belief in listening to children and making sure that others hear what they are saying too.

We are keen to keep making the voice of children, and their parents, heard. As part of this we have a membership scheme to ensure that everyone who comes into contact with Kids Can Achieve and uses its services has a say in how we are run and what we do.

It will only cost £1 to join (extra donations are always welcome though!) and I do hope that all of you will take full advantage of this chance to have a voice in our organisation.

And then I look forward to meeting you at our Annual General Meeting next year!