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Witherslacks Group Home
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"The review was held in very comfortable surroundings for the young person " - Social Worker, Cumbria

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Continues to Expand

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Walking Tall

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Opening of the Woodlands

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Witherslack Care Launches new Website

WCEI  are pleased to launch their new website.  The website aims to outline all of our provision and news and events that the company is involved in.  It also provides answers to some questions that young people may have.
 
The website also has the facility for people to contact us either with regard to staff vacancies or by subscribing to our Newsletter to keep people up to date with regards to information and developments within WCEI.

Official Opening of the Grange

North West Durham MP Hilary Armstrong officially opened the 10-acre site on 2nd April 2009, which has accommodate up to seven young people and has a specially equipped Learning Centre. 

Ms Armstrong said: “Caring and supporting children and young people can never be taken too seriously and for the small number of children who cannot live safely at home or who have emotional and behavioural difficulties a safe, caring environment is essential.”
 
Mike Davey, Managing Director of Witherslack Care & Education Initiatives said: “The Grange is a groundbreaking facility. The highly personalised approach reflects our determination to provide meaningful outcomes for each young person which will help prepare for positive life opportunities.  The new facility will provide a fully integrated service consisting of 52-week care, education and therapy.”

Research Project

Witherslack Care & Education Initiatives has commissioned a piece of research among the staff and young people from two of its children's homes.
 
The research was conducted by Dr. Madeleine Portwood, an internationally renowned Chartered Educational Psychologist and Dr. Gillian Bell, Statistician. It focussed on the emotional well-being of the young people and what they felt was important in the running of a successful children’s home.

Those taking part were asked to talk about their likes and dislikes of the provision, personal qualities that they thought were important in the staff, to numerically rate aspects of provisi.  aspects of provision. Staff were similarly asked to rate the provision, aspects of personal characteristics in themselves and how they thought young people would rate these and their own work within the home.

Mike Davey, Managing Director of Witherslack Care & Education Initiatives said "It is vital that we listen to the views of our young people and what they think about the service we provide. It was also important for this to be an independent piece of research and focus on gaining quantitative as well as qualitative data."
 
"The research revealed that their emotional wellbeing is being supported and that they really value what we do."

Opening of the Woodlands

Since opening in May 2009, five young people have been placed at the Woodlands Home.
 
As we have grown in numbers we have been able to take part in more and more exciting events in the local area, allowing all our young people the opportunity to involve themselves with activities and events in the community.
 
Joining the local gym was a great development and has led to our young people not only maintaining their physical fitness but also given them the chance to independently go to and from the gym.
 
We’ve had lots of great days out including a trip to the British Motor Cross event in Doncaster, visiting the Illuminations at Blackpool, Mountain Biking in the Lake District as well as undertaking the Cross Bay Walk to help raise money for Cancer Research.
 
Morgan, the youngest of our young people has recently joined the local Cub Scouts and is enjoying making lots of new friends as well as taking part in Church Parade and Remembrance services. Apparently the days of “Bob-a-Job” week are no longer, but Morgan is excited about the different charity and voluntary work he will be able to contribute to as part of this organisation!!!

Walking Tall at Witherslack Group Children's Homes

Bradley Wilson, who is 16, walked seven and a half miles from Ormskirk to Southport to raise money for the NSPCC. He was joined on the journey by his family,
friends and staff from the home.

Bradley trained for his sponsored walk with his Key Worker, Paul Mowatt, by walking from Freshfield to Southport, along Fisherman’s Path.

Paul Mowatt said: "Bradley is always doing things for charity so we were not surprised when he told us that he planned to do a sponsored walk. We are all
extremely proud of his achievements and look forward to seeing what fundraising activity he comes up with next."

Bradley said: "Many people came to support us along the way which was great and we were able to raise a lot of money for a good cause."

Witherslack Group Children's Homes Continues to Expand

 ‘Orchard House’ is a new children’s home located in the Carnforth area and is due to open in Spring 2011. Orchard House has been established in response to requests from local authorities who comment that they value the high quality existing childrens homes provide and the outstanding education that young people can access at Witherslack Hall School and Cedar House School.

The availability of specialised fully integrated, personalised post-16 packages is an additional feature of this provision.

Mike Davey, Managing Director, Witherslack Group Children's Homes, says: “Local Authorities tell us that they value our high quality provision which leads to young people achieving some remarkable positive outcomes.

Tom Crook, currently Deputy Manager at The Woodlands Home, has been appointed as Manager of Orchard House and commented: “We are really looking forward to establishing a caring supportive home and achieving the outstanding reputation our existing homes have.”