At the end of each session each Beacon student has a log book which they have to fill in stating details such as their favorite part of the day, what they learnt, how they feel and so on. The member of staff for that day also fills out a section for each week detailing how they felt the student did. These log books are in paper format and are reproduced each time a new group starts. When speaking to the staff about the feasibility of transferring the log books to digital format they all stated that they prefer paper format due to the short attention spans of the young people that attend the course and the lack of computing facilities.
The team leader Chris, has trialled SMS messaging in the past and found that it worked extremely well, especially to remind parents about the passout parade details at the end of the course and to remind students about any particular equipment or spare clothes they will need for the session. However due the high demand of his time he found it hard to keep up the service and continue using it. It is something however that he would like to reintroduce. If this became a scheduled part of each member of staff’s day I believe that it could be managed successfully.
When asked about an online facility which would allow students, past, present and future, to share experiences, they agreed it would be useful but would be weary of the security issues. It was agreed that Facebook is an excellent way to promote issues and create discussions as well as keep in touch with students due to its popularity, but the filtering and monitoring of content would have to be investigated fully.
I recently spent the day with the Beacon Course Team based at Derby Road in Bootle. The Beacon course involves one day a week for 12 weeks and is designed to help young people understand fire safety, prevent arson, provide positive role models and help develop confidence, resilience, and self-esteem. The group that I joined consisted of twelve young people from a school in West Derby who were in their sixth week of the course.
The session included a fireworks safety talk, attacks of firefighters talk and a foam induction drill. The firework safety and attacks on firefighters talk both consisted of a PowerPoint presentation combined with video clips. The member of staff, Tony, taking the session used the PowerPoint slides as reference points to have a discussion and then the video clips to supplement the discussion.
As well as these classroom based activities, Tony did a team-building exercise with the group outside. Simple ball games refreshed the team, got them working together and helped to keep their enthusiasm up.
The highlight of the day was the foam induction drill. This consisted of everyone, including myself, getting into Firefighters uniform and going out to the Fire Appliances to learn about and use the different types of hose attachments to create foam. Each member of the group had the opportunity to use the hose and each attachment making the foam vary in thickness. Once everyone had a go there was a large pool of foam which didn’t go unnoticed by the group and before long everybody was covered in foam!
The variety of activities and the constant enthusiasm and dedication from the staff shows why this course is such a success.
Last week Liverpool One hosted Talent Week; a “showcase and celebration of young peoples’ talent and their aspirations for the future”. By helping young people recognise their talents the event hopes that this can then be used as building bricks for their future. This is demonstrated by the ‘Talent Wall’ that has been created. Young people have had the chance to create a ‘Talent Brick’ on which they put their talents and ambitions, these bricks have then been put together to create the ‘Talent Wall’ which represent the talent and future ambitions for the young people of Merseyside.
There are two ‘Talent Walls’ in Liverpool, one at Chavasse Park and the other on Paradise Street. In addition to this all the ‘Talent Bricks’ from around England are showcased on the Talent Week Website.
Click on images to enlarge
The event ran throughout the week Monday to Friday with various performances, activities and demonstrations running throughout. I went down to Liverpool One on Friday to look at the Walls and see what was happening.
In Chavasse Park there were a group of street dancers from Page Moss based group ‘Morphine Dance Company’ performing on the podium. This was an excellent way to show other young people how accessible being a street dancer is no matter what age, gender, size and shape you are or where you come from. The dancers attracted a large crowd which in turn attracted more people to a marquee which had been set up.
Inside the marquee, there were various groups available giving out information on the demonstrations and how others can join in. The theme for Friday was healthy eating. The social enterprise ‘Not Just Cooking’ had stands up where chef were preparing healthy food with the help of anyone who was passing, showing how it can be done without spending a lot of money or taking a long time and having fun. These practical activities encouraged more young people to get involved and therefore increasing the chances of them taking enthusiasm and confidence away from the event. 
By creating a ‘Talent Brick’ young people are encouraged to state their skills, building self-confidence and say how they want to use their skills in the future. This also encourages the young people to think forward and consider that what they do now may affect their future. By writing this down and showcasing it alongside others it gives the young people the drive to accomplish their aspirations.
By integrating the ‘Talent Brick’ idea into the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Youth Engagement Programs, such as Prince Trust, students would be able to create their ‘Brick’ at the start of the program, staff could then channel their focus into the skills and aspirations that the students have. These ‘Bricks’ could then be used in the final presentation and students can comment on whether they feel they are now closer to achieving what they originally stated.
