London
(Projects are listed alphabetically)
Adventures in Learning
Animate
Aylesbury Kaleidoscope Project
Barnet College
Beyond Prison – bringing the outside in.
Featured Bhalo Ranna (Healthy Cooking) View more...
Stifford Community Centre delivers a range of educational, youth information and communications technology (ICT) training, and elderly and health related provision in Tower Hamlets. The Bhalo Ranna project planned to impart basic knowledge on the nutritional aspects of South Asian cuisine amongst Bangladeshi women aged 45 and above.
The project aimed, through informal sessions, to combine theoretical ideas about the nutritional issues surrounding Bangladeshi cuisine with practical demonstrations on how slight changes to the cooking of different dishes can bring perceptible changes to the health and wellbeing.
It delivered:
- A four week core healthy cooking course through partnership with 10 community venues;
- practical demonstrations, with contributions from the Star Anise Social Enterprise, Primary Care Trust (PCT) Health Trainers, and Pride of Asia Restaurant;
- optional aerobic sessions for participants who want to go beyond simple food balance to physical body balance; and
- a joint research project with the PCT to test the validity and relevance of such programmes.
Sessions delivered for 316 Bangladeshi mothers aged 45 and above.
Around a quarter of the learners were offered support and basic training with the objective of entering the labour market.
The project developed a unique partnership model, bringing together the third, public and private sectors.
The event marking the success of the project was a huge accomplishment.
Phoning clients the week before, the day before and on the morning of sessions ensured a successful turnout.
Recruiting Outreach Workers that matched the target client group‐ ensured the initial engagement was effective.
It is also crucial to keep sessions local, as some learners have difficulties walking long distances. If sessions are held away from local organisations, then transport must be arranged.
Stifford community Centre
2-6 Cressy Place
London
E1 3JB
Featured BookBite View more...
Bookbite aimed to:
- engage and consult with older people across England to develop a magazine and website resource to encourage and support people over 60 to engage with reading and creative writing;
- offer competitions to inspire older people to get involved in reading and creative writing;
- promote Bookbite to library services and other informal partners across the third sector via publicity and events;
- offer training and project familiarisation sessions to partners and volunteers;
- encourage 200,000 older people to get online to enjoy reading and writing activities in addition to gaining new skills for online learning; and
- offer support for participants to access the website and establish reading/writing groups.
Booktrust worked in partnership with WRVS, a national service provider that promotes health and independence for older people, and UK online, a network of centres set up by government in 2000 to provide public access to computers.
The project designed and launched a website, created biography templates for participants, produced a booklet and CD-ROM, and a range of interactive online resources.
Three learning champions were involved with the project, working with a range of partners including 163 library services.
169,000 older people accessed the magazine and 32,470 people used the website, thereby increasing their participation in learning. Bookbite also received over 1200 entrants for the Bookbite competitions.
Do not underestimate how much older learners will want to interact with your organisation. Booktrust has been surprised, delighted and overwhelmed by the response to Bookbite.
The use of competitions encouraged people to engage with the project. People loved them and they proved to be a useful way of engaging people in a fun, inspiring, interactive way.
Booktrust
Book House
45 East Hill
London
SW18 2QZ
Kate Lawton: Project Manager
Contact: 020 8875 4829
Featured Camden's Inspiration Market View more...
The project aimed to:
- strengthen and broaden the adult learning partnership in the area;
- engage local residents to take up learning;
- create a learning market in local shopping areas and social housing estates; and
- use technology to provide information about the opportunities available.
The project secured several community hubs where partners developed and delivered a range of informal learning opportunities. These included workshops on: arts and drama tasters and exhibitions, a Bengali community arts project, one community choir, arts in residence programme for writers, poets and artists, community sleep over at the British Museum, local library active readers, creative writing ,story telling, folk dancing, outdoor activities, quilt making, local history workshops, museum outreach and information technology (IT).
The project engaged with 1000 local residents across all ages and appointed 30 Community Learning Ambassadors. 630 learners completed their workshops. Several of the Community Learning Ambassadors have been offered either employment or are continuing to study with a new career focus and are determined to continue to support and motivate others to take part in informal learning.
By delivering courses at a wide variety of venues such as children's centres and community locations, the project attracted a wide range of people from a variety of backgrounds, including a high proportion of vulnerable and deprived people. As a result, wide cohorts of learners from different backgrounds have been engaged in joint activities, supporting community cohesion.
Camden Adult and Community Learning
Crowndale Centre
218 Eversholt Street
London NW1 1BD
Church Street Memories
Dads in Demand
Featured Drumming Arts and Photography Alliance View more...
The Occupational Therapy Department at Tower Hamlets Centre for Mental Health provides rehabilitation services to adult with severe and enduring mental illness. The aim of the DAPA project was to increase access to informal learning opportunities for mental health service users in Tower Hamlets.
The DAPA project provided drumming and photography workshops to adult users of mental health services in Tower Hamlets.
The workshops were very successful and well attended, reaching over 100 individuals. The local press also supported the marketing and publicity of the project.
Participants in the workshops created 20 framed and mounted photographs as part of a travelling exhibition.
It was important to get support staff involved. This allowed ongoing support to be provided for individuals using the mental health services.
Expert Patients Informal Learning
Family learning inside and out
Globe Media
History along Harrow Road
Hothouse: Inspiring a love of creative learning
In the (Sister)Hood – Women Learning Together through Art & Culture
In the Limelight
Featured Inspirational Spaces View more...
The Inspirational Places project aimed to fund informal learning activities in 5 hostels across London. It also aimed to encourage clients on to further learning and into work, and build the capacity of St Mungo's staff and centres to work effectively with local learning providers.
Inspirational Places delivered a range of short learning programmes and taster sessions in 7 centres for homeless people. Short sessions included art and design (collage, relax and paint sessions, decoupage, art, jewellery making and magazine illustration); practical skills (cooking and healthy eating, team building, nail and beauty and aromatherapy for stress); physical fitness (yoga, fitness using the Wii, gym sessions, swimming, cycling and British Military Fitness outdoor sessions); and other creative skills (creative writing, reading, script writing and Literacy).
Longer programmes included digital skills, hairdressing, jewellery-making, clothes-making, basic do-it-yourself (DIY), cake decorating, cakes and patisserie, painting and decorating, and bike maintenance and mechanics, film clubs, discussion mornings, anger management, yoga and driving theory.
The project resulted in:
- 23 staff accessing Level 2 training on Skills for Life Awareness;
- 269 learners engaging with the project;
- 524 learning opportunities being made available; and
- 95 individuals progressed onto further learning, either within St Mungo's or externally.
Learning providers needed time to understand the problems involved with this client group so that they did not expect too much and get disillusioned. Initially there was some disappointment among providers with the numbers of clients attending sessions, whereas hostels were impressed with the response to their offer.
Engaging clients in planning is seen as crucial to the success of any activities. Sessions should not be run in isolation: there should always be an identified progression route for those who want to do more.
Finally, projects with big partnerships need plenty of time to develop.
Interactivity
Know Your Borough
Lambeth Ambassador Project
Lambeth Quilt
Leading Informal Learning
LEAFEA Pan London Portal
Learning Clubs
Learning Plus
Featured Learning Revolutionaries View more...
The project aimed to create a network of thousands of individual citizens and develop the infrastructure and support that would enable them to establish learning circles across the country.
The project recruited, trained and supported adult learners to become volunteers known as 'Learning Revolutionaries'. The volunteers were trained to become community learning facilitators and, via community based self organised learning circles, engage adults in learning.
In addition to targeting specific communities at regional and local levels, the project also collated information and research material to develop a national picture of learning needs. It raised the profile of the 'Learning Champions 'approach to the promotion of learning and embedded it in a wide range of activities.
The Learning Revolutionaries project was able to signpost learners to other avenues of learning. This was one of the significant outcomes of the project, particularly for those who were looking to take up community and adult learning opportunities.
The Learning Circles developed during the project brought together several hundred partners through networking and joint working arrangements. In this way, the project reached out to a whole host of people and groups who have traditionally not engaged in community learning or informal education.
Established networks do not always mean that working partnerships run smoothly and for this reason some delays took place in building up the network of volunteers and learners in order to start the programme.
When setting up this type of project, it is important to have a project plan for each region, so that volunteer coordinators are able to identify sub-regional cultural issues and identify regional strengths and weaknesses.
Workers' Educational Association, 39 Mapperley Road ,Nottingham NG3 5AQ.
London
These are the projects from the London region
London Multimedia History Tour
London’s Learning
Featured My Nav View more...
The MyNav project aimed to create a learning and support model which included an interactive virtual learning environment, a blended programme of informal learning and delivery of development activities through 5 regional Foyer Hub centres.
The project developed:
- an online portal learning environment including a facility for e-portfolios and learning plans;
- packs of learning opportunities; and
- staff and 'ambassador' training.
Young people were involved in the creation of the learning opportunities and testing of the portal. They also discussed and logged their learning journeys and goals.
The project achieved:
- an ongoing sustainability partnership to support ongoing work;
- the establishment of 5 MyNav Hubs;
- a MyNav national portal;
- 192 learners enrolled onto MyNav activities;
- 100 learners using the Portal to inform and develop their learning journey; and
- the creation of a dissemination guide including an evaluation of informal learning, a podcast on learning journeys and local and national promotion events.
In addition, 20 young people formed a formal group of national 'ambassadors' for the project, with 5 involved in promoting MyNav to policy, funders and decision makers at a national policy event in Westminster and reception at Number 11 Downing Street.
Technology is an effective tool for the ongoing tracking of learner progression, and as a platform to support learners at a distance including those who had moved on from the project.
Open Access for Carers
Featured Our Kingston, Our Future View more...
The Our Kingston Our Future project aimed to bring together young adults and elders from a cross section of the Royal Borough of Kingston community in a series of arts-based informal learning events.
Using the creative arts and media, residents of Kingston-Upon-Thames were invited to remember the past, explore the present and imagine the future. Residents worked alongside artists, film-makers and designers to create ideas together, which were captured and edited into a documentary. The project also delivered 9 engagement events, a series of promotional and support activities and 1 celebration event.
The project was an effective partnership between People Brands Ltd and Transition Town Kingston under the ArtgymTM brand. It engaged 314 people throughout the project and produced:
- a 40 metre painted vision;
- 150 stories from the past;
- 54 unique ideas for a greener, brighter future in Kingston;
- a range of video clips uploaded to YouTube; and
- 1 documentary.
Having a detailed project plan is important for the success of a project and helps all those involved to approach a large scale and complex project with a clear sense of focus and structure.
Face to face interaction with target groups greatly assists recruitment and engagement. It is important to make the sign up process as simple as possible and to capture learning throughout the events and activities.
People Brands Ltd
G10 Clerkenwell Workshops,
27 - 31 Clerkenwell Close,
London,
EC1R 0AT.
Past Caring
Featured Physical Activity Peer Activator project View more...
The project aimed to develop a team of volunteers to encourage and support the use of outdoor gyms (OG) and outdoor spaces in Camden.
PAPA recruited 38 volunteers and offered them training about using outdoor gyms, exercising and staying healthy. This training was provided by YMCAfit, a registered charity that trains fitness professionals.
Once trained, the volunteers ran outdoor gym sessions, supporting 359 participants - all residents of Camden.
The PAPA project brought together partners from across the private, public and third sectors and was able to engage with people who would not normally participate in learning.
It opened up local public and private spaces and facilities that would not normally be available for informal learning. Participants reported better physical well-being.
- Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks can take some time and this can cause delays and impact on timescales;
- local volunteers were more committed than volunteers from outside of the area; and
- Health and Safety, risk assessments and insurance are important for projects like this.
Sport and Physical Activity Section
7th Floor
Camden Town Hall Extension
Argyle Street
London
WC1H 8EQ
Ripples Project
Shaping places: Training in town planning for visually impaired people.
SOUL
Spread your Wings
St Giles Trust Professional Skills Coaching
Stitches into Print
Stomping Ground
The Arts Cellar
The Evolution and History of British Chinese Workforce
The Family Learning Project
The Learning Together Volunteer Training Programme
The Saturdays
Transform
Urban Craft
Volunteer Learning Facilitators
What's Your Story?
Widening the Scope
Writing our Roots and Creating a Community Quilt
You, Me and Us Project
