SkyWay has a long-standing tradition for staff and trustees to come together once a year to share information, look at our future objectives and generally catch up.
This year the day was organised by our sessional staff who planned activities designed to give our trustees a first-hand experience of what goes on at SkyWay on a daily basis.
First off we started with the Alternative Education session, run by Fiona and Esther. After a brief introduction we were split into groups and given a political ideology with a set of policies. Each group had to come up with a party name and nominate one member of the team to go forward in a debate against an ‘opposing party’. The session was a great success and lets just say by the end we could have had our very own House of Commons!
The next session was a music session run by Angel and when I say music I mean singing, rapping and making beats! That’s right, we had the trustees rapping! It was great to see everyone getting so involved in this session, especially as it took a lot of people out of their comfort zones. By the end we had a great track (if I do say so myself) dedicated to Marlon and his ten years here at SkyWay.
Then it was time to get our running shoes on as we headed outside for a sports session with Alfie. With a few quick warm up exercises it was time to get serious, teams were formed and the football matches began! Everyone gave it a good go and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, a few even scored goals! Maybe a staff and trustee football team is on the cards?
The final session was with our estate and detached workers Yohanna and Joseph. Each group was given a scenario between young people and youth workers, the group had to decide how to best deal with the situation and then act it out to the rest of the room. At the end, everyone was encouraged to discuss whether they thought it was handled correctly and what if anything they would have done differently. This session gave trustees a chance to experience the type of issues that staff deal with on a daily basis and highlighted the importance of a youth worker’s role.
The day was a great success where a lot was learnt, and lot of fun was had.
“I have been involved in SkyWay for several years and I am constantly in awe of all the amazing work that is done here. It’s great to see staff continuously growing and developing and the confidence the sessional staff show.”
– Joseph Castle, Trustee
See you all next year!