• Water Week
• Wildlife Week
• Around the World Week
• Inspiration Week

Each week brought a series of fun activities, including trips out, experiments, arts and crafts activities and special themed movie nights and meals. We strive to offer the children the opportunity to learn and try new opportunities alongside just having lots and lots of fun!

The photos below came from the final week of the summer, Inspiration Week. Throughout the course of the week there was a different daily topic for the children to learn about some amazing and inspirational people (and animals). On Inspirational Animal Day, we were lucky enough to be visited by an amazing mobile farm and petting zoo. The children (and adults!) hugely enjoyed meeting the goats, pony, guinea pigs, farm dog and ferrets, and the ‘skinny pig’ was a particular favourite! On Inspirational Science Day, the children enjoyed some very fun (and very messy) science experiments, including the skittles experiment (pictured) and making Coke and Mento rockets in the garden.

Despite challenging circumstances and lots of changing plans, we had a great summer at Earthsea House. Now for Christmas plans!

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Games were conceived and stalls were designed with great care and effort. As is tradition, the children all chose a ����Ӱҵ to support with the proceeds from their stalls. A wide variety of charities were chosen this year, from the RSPCA, a long-standing Earthsea favourite, to a small ����Ӱҵ working to get children off the street in India. Equally varied were the children’s choice of games and challenges. We had welly wanging, speed puzzling, a wheel of fortune and many more. The raffle was a great success as always, as was the cake stall! We were joined by some Friends of Earthsea, to whom we are very grateful for their support in helping to make Earthsea a success.

Once the last guest had left, we could commence our annual water fight between children and adults. We ended the day with a delicious BBQ and telling stories around a fire.

It was a very exciting day for our young residents who ended up awake way past their bedtimes! The day could not have gone better and we are already excited for next year!

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Adults and children alike really enjoyed settling into our woodland lodges for the week, a highlight being the special visits from deer, birds and squirrels in the gardens.

We spent the week enjoying all that Center Parcs has to offer. The children boldly embraced the opportunity to try new activities such as kayaking, pottery painting, laser combat, holding owls, tree trekking and driving electric boats. We shared two lovely meals out together, including one at the famous Pancake House.

As well as exploring the resort itself, we also took two special day trips. We enjoyed a fabulous day out at Gullivers Land Theme Park. The children loved the drive-your-own digger area and of course, seeing the adults get absolutely soaked on the log flume!

We rounded off the holiday with a trip to Woburn Safari Park where we saw giraffes, tigers, bears and more.

All in all our week was, as always, a truly special time to share together and make memories as a Community to last a lifetime.

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The determination to still give the children their annual experience of tent life drove a relocation of our camping experience from the Welsh Mountains to the football field at the house.

The children coped excellently with the sudden change and the whole Community embraced the new plans with great enthusiasm. Our usual circle of tents was set up and everybody imagined that we were really away on a camping holiday, the house was there for nothing more than use of the facilities!

In typical Earthsea style, we devised a jam-packed schedule of outdoor fun for the children, including arts and crafts, nail painting and hair braiding, badminton, water slides and the highly addictive ‘9 squares game’. We had our traditional camp fire sing song, toasted marshmallows and we even enjoyed an outdoor cinema in woods. We even put on a fireworks display!

Despite the change of plans, the most wonderful time was shared by all and perhaps we’ll all remember Camp 2021 even more for its’ uniqueness.

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“I found latitude adventurous and exciting. My favourite part was seeing the famous people on stage dancing and singing. It was amazing! I also liked the secret garden where I held a snake. The tent was very spacious and comfortable. It was a very good place to go and I would go there every day.” Greenfields resident, aged 12.

Greenfields has made history; To celebrate Freedom Weekend we took the girls group to the first music festival the children have ever been to! The three day event was absolutly EPIC.

We took off with our bags packed on a Friday afternoon, straight from “Oakfest”, our own festival-themed summer party that we had thrown for all the children and young people resident in our Kent communities. We were all really excited for what was to come and spent the three hour car jouney listening to our favourite tunes which was the perfect start to our girls trip!  

When we found our Emperor bell-tent (Number 19) our excitement only grew. It was fully equipped with comfortable beds and bedding, decorated with fairy lights and we each got our own little self-care pamper pack. We ditched the bags and headed straight out to explore the vast festival site. We eventually ended up at the Main Stage to see Mabel perform, followed by Wolf Alice.

Latitude is the first festival to have taken place after Covid restrictions lifted and the atmosphere was absolutely buzzing! It was a new experience for all of us and one that we will remember forever.

The girls stuck together, supporting each other to find confidence in navigating their surroundings. The joy was contagious as the night drew to a close and we made our way back to Number 19 to get some beauty sleep. It had been a long and exciting day but we managed to get some rest in in preparation for another day of adventures.

Day two, in true festival spirit we got dressed up, did our makeup and face paint and headed back to the Main Stage to see Super Grass and Rudimental. We somehow managed to get right through the crowd to the front of the stage which was amazing!

The festival experience does have it’s challenges but we weren’t about to let long queues for food or portaloos dampen our spirits. We stuck together and helped each other fight off the hanger while we waited.

By bed time on the second night we were all exhausted but intensely happy with having shared such a memorable experience together.

On our final morning at Latitude, we opted for some Cosmic Yoga before heading home and we couldn’t wait to tell everybody back at Greenfields all about our special weekend!

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We are so grateful to the Oakwood family for hosting and organising such an incredible day!

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There is no better way to cheer each other up than getting stuck into a theme night. The adults dressed up as famous singers, most of whom weren’t known to the children (the adults showing their age!). The children were also encouraged to dress up which was hilarious!  

Everyone came together and had a fun filled evening with some questionable karaoke, topped off by a delicious Indian takeaway. It was lovely to see everyone allowing themselves and each-other a break from some of the current stresses of life to have an enjoyable evening which was appreciated by all.  

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Stephen has steered the organisation from being a provider of traditional ‘therapeutic communities’, at a time when these had fallen out of favour, to leader in the field of specialist psychotherapeutic residential care for Looked After Children.  In clinical, academic and statutory excellence, the organisation is recognised as a beacon in the field.

Childhood First now has four outstanding contemporary psychotherapeutic homes, with a fifth shortly to open, and a sixth at the planning stage.  We have a therapeutic special school and a pilot therapeutic fostering service.  All of our care and education staff are trained in our unique Integrated Systemic Therapy approach, accredited by the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy.  Thus, all of our children are looked after by qualified psychotherapeutic professionals 24/7.

Building on his experience with Cambridge University, Stephen has developed the leading clinical training and research Institute in children’s residential care. The Institute of Integrated Systemic Therapy is currently conducting fifteen research studies aimed at improving outcomes for seriously disturbed children and young people.

It has been a privilege to lead this work, alongside our inspiring children and colleagues.  I am delighted that Gary has been chosen by our trustees as my successor.  There is nobody who better understands therapeutic residential children’s care and our psychotherapeutic approach.  Gary’s love for the organisation’s spirit and values is also second to none.  I know that under his leadership the ����Ӱҵ, and the children who come to us, will go from strength to strength.

Stephen Blunden

Gary has over 20 years’ experience with Childhood First, leading specialist therapeutic care for children and developing new services, including as Therapeutic Services Director.  Gary is a UKCP-accredited psychotherapeutic professional with a Tavistock MA, who also holds an MBA specialising in the Healthcare sector.  Gary was appointed following a national search which attracted a strong field of ����Ӱҵ and clinical professionals hoping to lead this 100-year pioneering organisation.

It is my pleasure and honour to lead the organisation at this time, building upon the work of my predecessor, Stephen Blunden. I am looking forward to steering the ����Ӱҵ into the future, continuing to improve and develop new services to meet the needs of some of the most traumatised children and young people in the U.K.

Gary Yexley

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After the idea came to light the staff were thrilled to get to work planning and purchasing to make the room perfect. They worked really hard to make this as special as possible, knowing that the children had already missed out on some of their usual events at Christmas.

Each child went into the grotto one by one. They received a lovely goodie bag full of treats and a Christmas cup with their names on it. There was Christmas music playing, fairly lights twinkling and pretend snowballs at the ready. The staff had made a make believe chimney and fire place which had presents all around it, under the Christmas tree. Although we couldn’t have the real Santa with us he popped up on the computer via video call much to the children’s delight. He spoke with each of the children and wished them a Merry Christmas!

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Download Issue 76 .

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