Podcast Season 2: Episode 7 – Building Relationships with a Virtual School

Please note that this transcript is auto-generated and therefore will contain some errors and natural pauses in conversation.

[00:00:00] DAWN: Welcome to the Creative Life Story Work podcast, where we explore how a creative approach to life story work can help children and young people who are in care make sense of their past and build a brighter future. A new model for life story work is being rolled out in the northeast of England, and this podcast shares the latest learning and investigates how it could help improve the lives of care experienced children and young people across the country.

[00:00:32] My name is Dawn Williams, and I am an associate at Blue Cabin, one of the partners on this exciting work in the region. Today, we are exploring how Blue Cabin and Darlington Virtual School have been collaborating to deliver creative activities which has relationship building at the heart. And I’m really, really delighted to welcome to our podcast studio Two guests who have been instrumental in steering this work.

[00:01:03] Owain Davis is an education officer at Darlington Virtual School and Lucy Ridley, our very own Blue Cabin Associate and freelance theatre practitioner. A very warm welcome to both of you this morning. Hello. Hi Dawn.

[00:01:19] OWAIN: Hello and thank you. Hi.

[00:01:21] DAWN: Lovely to have you here. Um, Owain. I wanted to ask you the first question because when I first heard the word virtual school.

[00:01:33] In my head, I thought it was some sort of, um, an online academy that children logged online to. Um, I was quickly put right, but I wondered if you could give us a better description of the virtual school.

[00:01:50] OWAIN: Absolutely. Um, it’s a really good question because I think, you know, particularly Based on the fact we’ve, we’ve had COVID, we’ve had lots of children and young people learning from home during that time, you know, it’s, you hear the words virtual school and you would automatically assume, ah, it’s a, it’s an organization that delivers lessons online, but it’s not the case.

[00:02:11] Um, it’s virtual schools are essentially part of the local authority. And. Every local authority in England, particularly, will have a virtual school. And the role of virtual schools, in a nutshell, it’s about promoting the achievement and the well being of children and young people in care. But, you know, wider than that, there are lots of other strands of, of work that we do, um, primarily it’s working with schools, it’s working with our children and young people and their carers and, uh, their social worker, uh, to ensure really that, you know, Everything that they need to support their education, to support their socio emotional well being, um, is in place, and we are, we are kind of the, the, the element in the local authority that, that kind of spans education and social care, and kind of, I suppose, Provides that link, um, between those two things, uh, but, but we are one part of a multi agency team that, you know, works with and for our children and young people to, to make sure that, you know, their educational outcomes can be comparable to their peers.

[00:03:39] their peers that aren’t care experienced, you know, the impact of, of being in care, being a child with a social worker, you know, it’s huge in terms of, of, of the outcomes that we see in, in the data. So, so that’s, that’s what we do, but wider than that, you know, we provide advice and guidance to all sorts of, uh, you know, other professionals, schools, we offer training to other institutions, you know, and it’s all around that core aim of, you know, raising the narrative of

[00:04:15] trauma informed practice, if you like, making sure approaches and strategies within schools, within colleges are meeting the needs of our children and young people.

[00:04:26] DAWN: Thank you, Owain. So that’s an Absolutely huge brief. Um, but Lucy, um, I wondered if you wanted to say something. Owain talked about working in partnership with a wide range of partners, um, and Blue Cabin.

[00:04:43] has certainly been, uh, privileged to be one of those partners working alongside the virtual school. And I wondered whether you, as the person managing that, wanted to say a bit about the type of work we’ve been involved in with the virtual school in Darlington.

[00:05:00] LUCY: I’d love to, Dawn. Um, Don’t tell them, but Darlington Virtual School is one of my favourite projects.

[00:05:07] DAWN: We’ve said it now. Oh,

[00:05:10] LUCY: oh yes, we’re recording. I didn’t hear anything. You didn’t hear anything, no. Yeah, so I, I came on board, gosh, you think, before the world turned upside down and there was such a thing called COVID. Um, So to work in one of the projects at that point was working with the virtual with Darlington Virtual School and coming together to offer activity for children and young people and their trusted adults as part of a holiday program.

[00:05:41] Um, So to begin with, unfortunately, because of COVID, we couldn’t deliver face to face activities. So we have to, we had to throw everything up in the air, um, and come up with new models and ways of working, um, which involves sending packs out. It involved, um, uh, delivering sessions online. It involved sending, um, activity books out in the post, uh, until we could actually be in a physical space.

[00:06:12] Um, to dream up, uh, opportunities that care experienced children, young people and their adults could come together to take part in, uh, creative projects, which have often involved, um, watching performances. Um, have involved taking part in, um, creative activities together and always involve a hot chocolate at the end.

[00:06:38] It’s like become my signature trademark, hasn’t it, Orwine? When’s the hot chocolate coming and the biscuits?

[00:06:48] DAWN: Yeah. Yeah. Um, and Um, what has your experience been of some of these Blue Cabin, um, activities? You, I know that you’ve had a role in some All About Me sessions, but I wondered with your role as education officer, where you see this work, creative work, supporting, um, the relationship building with the child and the child and their trusted adult.

[00:07:18] What’s your experience of that been?

[00:07:20] OWAIN: First and foremost, it’s been absolutely fantastic. Um, I think a really great part of what virtual schools can offer is those, those really positive opportunities and activities that go, that go beyond school. You know, I, I think. You know, with the aim of, of, of kind of raising achievement, promoting progress, thinking about well being, you know, it’s, it’s those additional opportunities that, that children and young people can access that, you know, You know, they just add that extra thing there.

[00:08:07] You know, it’s that breadth of opportunity. You know, yes, we focus a lot in school in terms of that support there, but having the activities and opportunities that we’ve been able to, to kind of engage with Blue Cabin and our young children, young people with it. It’s, it’s been absolutely wonderful.

[00:08:27] LUCY: And I, and I think I’ve noticed what you’ve commented on staff within the virtual school or wine is that actually that opportunities to see those young people in a different way to, to be able to,

[00:08:38] DAWN: to be able to make a film

[00:08:40] LUCY: with.

[00:08:41] Um, to be able to make a puppet, um, after we’ve seen a show that’s included puppetry in it and that actually to be able to sit and work with those young people in a different way and physically as well. Cause I know a lot of your meetings have been happening, um, Uh, particularly during COVID, we’re online, et cetera.

[00:09:02] So actually to be able to sit next to that young person and, and get to know them in a different way. I know you’ve talked about that and I know other staff in the virtual school have talked about that.

[00:09:12] OWAIN: And that’s such a key, isn’t it? You know, in, in knowing your children and young people and understanding them better, seeing them.

[00:09:24] Uh, you know, take part in these things have, you know, I think when you talk about relation, you know, that sort of relational aspects of things, building relationships, sharing positive experiences together. That’s absolutely amazing for us. But, but seeing that happening between. The children, young people, and their, their carers, their parents who’ve attended together.

[00:09:50] It’s such a, a wonderful opportunity for that dedicated time, for them to be together, to, to come to these lovely events, have these experiences together. You know, it’s shared experience, it’s so important, and, and to, to have that as a An aspect of, of what we can, we can offer as a virtual school with, you know, your support, um, your involvement.

[00:10:21] Um, it, it’s, it’s so important, you know, it, it is all about promoting that progress, that achievement and that social emotional wellbeing. But all of that stuff doesn’t just happen in school. And, and having this part of what we can offer it is, is so, so valuable and, and. you can see the value that it has for our children and young people and their parents or carers that come.

[00:10:53] It’s such a positive experience. It’s, and I think when you talked about Privilege before dawn about working with the virtual school. I think it goes absolutely the other way too. You know, it’s a privilege working with Blue Cabin and having that partnership and being able to, to have that as part of our offer.

[00:11:14] It’s, it’s, it’s great.

[00:11:16] DAWN: Lucy, I wondered if you wanted to say a bit about, um, What Blue Cabin’s learning about how we bring that work together, what needs to be in place for this work to happen for some of the artists that we’re working with, but also things about the spaces that we choose to work in, whether that’s online or face to face, because there’s a huge amount that And is being brought to the sessions that we’re doing with the virtual schools.

[00:11:48] LUCY: So we’re very keen, um, for the activity when it’s happening face to face to happen. Um, obviously we’re working in Darlington, so happening in cultural spaces. in Darlington. Um, so that there’s that connection there for the children and young people and the adults. And we’re finding actually that people haven’t been to these spaces.

[00:12:12] Um, so that’s been an important part of this is, is, you know, letting people know that these are here, they’re welcoming, uh, they’re wonderful, creative spaces to come to with us. And then hopefully Beyond, uh, our project and, and building those relationships for life. Um, so, so the thought in that, and the thought also in terms of who the artists are, who’s coming together, um, working together, of being, building a model of core delivery between the artists.

[00:12:45] So that it isn’t just one artist working with a group. It’s two artists. And what does that mean? Who are these two artists? How do they work together? How do they support the young people and the adults in the space? Um, supporting those relationships to be built because within that group, we have a lot of diversity of who’s in that space.

[00:13:11] We might have foster carers, um, we might have kinship carers, we might have birth parents. There, we might have people having contact time. So, so it’s Quite a diverse group of people with different needs as well. But actually I found, and hopefully Orwine will agree, that it’s been a very inclusive, welcoming space and, and, and everybody has felt, um, whatever their circumstances are, um, that they should be there and they’re welcomed into that space to be together, to make and create.

[00:13:48] And also another thing that I’m quite passionate about is the resources that we’re using are always high quality, um, lots of them, and, and, and that young people can take them home as well, um, and maybe continue an activity at home or have more resources to, to continue that, to, to show other people, to take into contact Um, and I know we’ve had some, some really good lovely feedback around that where they’ve been able to go into a contact time following our session and then showing um, uh, both family members what we’ve been doing.

[00:14:26] Let’s make this together. Let’s continue that. And I think that’s wonderful.

[00:14:30] Will: Did you know that this show is available to listen to on Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and many other platforms. Search Creative Life Storywork wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:14:47] DAWN: One of the great things that we learnt. After being forced to work online and send creative packs out, it’s almost like the, it’s the gift, isn’t it? Here’s the gift of some really amazing, high quality materials that are yours to keep. You do as much with them in the session as you want. And then you continue afterwards as well.

[00:15:08] I say this because in one of the projects, I was sent a stash pack with all the kit in it. So I get to understand what that feels like to come through the post or have it delivered to your door. This amazing, beautiful parcel that somebody’s. put together for you as well. It’s really lovely. Um, oh, why? I wanted to ask, one of the other things that I know that, um, Darlington Virtual School have, um, embraced is, um, using, uh, a framework called Arts Award to support the work that’s happening in the school.

[00:15:45] And I wondered if you wanted to say a bit about that, because it’s something that Blue Cabin’s really interested in working with lots of virtual schools on.

[00:15:53] OWAIN: In partnership with Blue Cabin, we were given the opportunity to, um, initially have a consultation about Artsmark, how, you know, gathering the thoughts and feelings and understanding of, um, children and young people in Darlington, uh, in relation to what the arts are.

[00:16:17] And we came together for a day, um, And essentially through activity, through some guided, fairly short guided sessions with the associate artists that came for the day, we worked with our children and young people to basically explore what they felt the arts were. Um, to, all about getting their voice, their thoughts and feelings, what they’d like to sort of pursue and explore further in, in, in terms of creativity and engaging in arts, um, and, and using that to further inform the work that we did essentially.

[00:17:02] But through that day, we, the end point was All of these activities led up to a film being created about this incredible model that they’d built called Arts Town and within Arts Town incorporated all of their, their thoughts and feedback that they’d, they kind of put together over the day. So that, that was the start point.

[00:17:29] And then from there, actually the Darlington Virtual School, we became a, an arts awards center. So that’s, that allows us to then, to then roll out Arts Award Discover, um, which is again, a kind of program and award that our children and young people can become involved in again to sort of further explore their own creativity, their own, their own path.

[00:18:00] into exploring arts and exploring crafts, exploring creativity and, and with, with the early stages, but we’ve had our first session we did discover in a day in Darlington a month or so ago, and again, absolutely wonderful day, another brilliant opportunity for children and young people to get stuck into to further their own experiences and understanding about the creative arts and culture and, and yeah, it was, it was, it was great.

[00:18:31] LUCY: Yeah, great day that we had. Um, and, uh, and all the young people, they all got, uh, an explore, uh, sorry, a discover, didn’t they, or wine? Did they all pass at the end of it?

[00:18:43] OWAIN: They, they did. And, and I have to say, they arrived the other The other week, last week that they came, I saw them for the first time, these certificates that came through from Arts Award, you know, affiliated with Trinity College London.

[00:18:56] And I’ll tell you what, they look absolutely amazing. And I think as when we talk about the virtual school promoting achievement, provo, Promoting engagement in positive activities and again, you know, that well being aspect, doing something positive, the, the impact that can have for our children, young people, for any child or young person getting stuck into something, something good, you know, great experience, you know, this is, this is, The end of that, of that chapter, the end of their Discover bit, you know, they can go on to, to do others, but it’s such an amazing thing at the end of the day.

[00:19:34] This is something I did. This is, this is, uh, recognition and acknowledgement for their efforts, for their, for their engagement, for their, for sharing their, their work, their thoughts, their enthusiasm. Um, and it’s, it’s, it’s a lovely thing to get at the end. Uh, they, they’re great. I think they’ll, they’ll be very proud of them.

[00:19:55] LUCY: We worked with a filmmaker, didn’t we, or why we worked with Laura Degenham, um, one of the, um, artists who, who works with Blue Cabin and, and does wider work across the, uh, the region. And, and I think their stop motion film. Uh, making that they did where they made little models and they were brilliant. And I loved it when one of the young people, one of the young persons started to tell Laura, um, a technique that you could use.

[00:20:22] DAWN: I love it

[00:20:22] LUCY: when those lines between Participant and facilitator, merge, who is who here, yeah, and the creations that they made, those little models were just fantastic. Um, and I think that was meant to be just a short activity, but it turned into a really long activity because the young people really loved it, really got into it, didn’t they?

[00:20:44] OWAIN: Absolutely, yeah, and that’s You know, for, for me, you know, seeing, seeing children, young people come into an activity and maybe, you know, they’re slightly reticent at the start, bit shy and, you know, that’s sort of, you might ask them and that they’re not necessarily particularly forthcoming about, you know, What, what, what they’re able to do.

[00:21:07] And, and then you get this incredible surprise where they get so engaged and engrossed in this activity and their talents and their, and their skill just comes to the fore and, and, and it’s, and. It’s the most wonderful, wonderful thing to see, and what they created, and the level of, sort of, concentration and care that they put into this activity, was just absolutely fantastic.

[00:21:37] And you learn so much about, the people that you work for and with, you know, when you have that chance to work, work in that environment and have that time with, with the children, young people you work, you work for. So it’s a wonderful part to validate what we do as well. It’s not about us, it’s about them, but it’s an opportunity for us to, to see, you know, the possibilities and the, the potential.

[00:22:10] Um, Again, you know, it puts that at the forefront of like, yes, all of this potential is there, it’s great.

[00:22:23] LUCY: An Orwine actually question, I was just thinking there, do you then get any feedback from the young people? You know, because for me, I’m only there in those days and those moments, and then I’m planning the next event.

[00:22:37] But I suppose those, you know, when you might see that young person next, for example, do they still talk about it? Do they still talk about, Oh, yeah, when we, when we met up and we were working with Laura, or we’re working with another artist, do they still talk to you about it?

[00:22:51] OWAIN: They do. They do. I think one thing we could do more of actually is try and seek.

[00:22:58] Feedback a bit more proactively, actually, but certainly within, within, uh, times where I’ve, I’ve seen, you know, the children, young people have come to all of the different of the different events that we’ve, we’ve had, that they, I think the fact that they immediately talk about these things, they talk about the experience they had, they, and they, and the smiles there and the memories coming back, Coming out through that smile of what they did, what they achieved, how it felt to be part of it and, you know, it’s, that just shows the power of these opportunities and these experiences.

[00:23:42] I think it’s, it’s so positive. Yeah, it’s a great thing to be part of.

[00:23:50] DAWN: So lovely to hear you describing such joy, joyful experiences. Um, Lucy, I wondered, um, if there were, what are the plans that are in the pipeline that you referred to before that you’re always busy thinking about?

[00:24:05] LUCY: Yeah. So looking at other holiday activity.

[00:24:08] So we’ve got. Got things in the pipeline for, for holidays coming up. Um, and then, but picking up from what Orwine’s just mentioned in terms of, um, arts awards. So there was that group of young people that have now achieved discover. Um, and we’re looking to perhaps over the summer to think about coming together over a longer period of time to look at explore, um, as I think there’s a real appetite within those young people to, to explore.

[00:24:38] to do that. Um, and the summer would be a great time because there’s a little bit more capacity in terms of being able to come together and meet over a longer time. But yeah, there’s also other holiday activity in the pipeline as well. Um, where we’ll bring together, um, children, young people and the adults in their lives to, to have creative experiences together.

[00:25:04] OWAIN: And hot chocolate.

[00:25:07] LUCY: Always. The venue even knows. They even tell me, oh and there’ll be hot chocolate as well, Lucy. Oh, oh yeah, of course.

[00:25:13] DAWN: Of course, of course. Always there for the hot chocolate. My final question. To, um, to both of you is just to finish our conversation this morning. Um, I wonder what, if I asked you what a future, what hope do you have for the, for our work together in the future?

[00:25:33] What would be something that you would hope will happen? If we’re sitting in three years time, uh, having another podcast, what do you hope will happen? have happened? What will we have seen? What will we have heard? Lucy? Shall I jump in? Yes, you jump in. I could see you about to jump

[00:25:52] LUCY: in. Yeah. I think, you know, to continue this brilliant relationship and partnership, um, Which has been ongoing for several years and to build upon it as well and think about different ways that we can work together.

[00:26:11] Um, so perhaps more regular activity alongside the holiday activity, um, looking at cultural, um, venues and places outside of Darlington as well. I think I’m really interested in exploring that further and also Orwine and I keep talking about food. We do. Following on the themes of the hot chocolate. I was going to say it’s an emerging theme.

[00:26:37] Yeah, and Orwine, you used to be a chef.

[00:26:40] OWAIN: I did. I did.

[00:26:42] LUCY: Orwine

[00:26:43] OWAIN: used to be a chef. I don’t know what it means, uh, the fact that I’m no longer a chef, but yes, I was a chef.

[00:26:49] LUCY: He used to be a chef, so, and obviously food features quite heavily in Blue Cabins. Work and world. And so I’d like to bring in a more food aspect into our work.

[00:27:02] So maybe, uh, maybe because not everybody wants to take part in creative activity. Um, so maybe an element of some people coming together to make food. And then eating together and things like that. So that’s something that I keep talking to Orwine about. And when I found out he was a chef as well, I was like, well, this is, we have to.

[00:27:23] OWAIN: Yeah, we need to carry on talking about that. Don’t we? Yeah. We need to get back on that. Definitely. Definitely.

[00:27:30] LUCY: Yeah. So I’ll pass, I’ll pass off as Orwine.

[00:27:33] OWAIN: Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think it’s about, you know, continuing. It’s about, you know, developing, um, why, and when you talk about food, you know, I also kind of start thinking about music.

[00:27:47] I think about, you know, opportunities for theatre. you know, thinking about all of the associate artists that you work with, you know, bringing all of their different, um, you know, respective disciplines in and, and, you know, widening that offer for, uh, for children and young people in Darlington, you know, trying to broaden the offer of activities and opportunities that are available, um, and also the regularity of them.

[00:28:16] Um, I think, you know, in the years to come, it would be, I keep thinking about. the idea of opening doors, you know, through the opportunities. And I think it would be wonderful to see, and I’m hopeful of seeing that actually the, the children and young people that have already been to some of the, the events that have been put on, you know, that door has been opened and they can carry on.

[00:28:44] On that journey in terms of creativity, in terms of exploring arts, their talents, their strengths, their, that their wish to, to be involved more and more in, in, in these sorts of things. And, and, you know, over time, seeing their strengths and their talents blossom through more opportunities that hopefully will be, will be happening as, as we go on, you know, um, Yeah, that’s, that’s kind of my, my hope for it all, I think, you know, but I think it’s such a, such a, a valuable part of, of what?

[00:29:23] we can offer for our children, young people in Darlington. Um, and, and there’s, there’s more to explore. There’s, there’s more to plan. There’s, there’s more things to, to do, isn’t there? Food, music, whatever. Let’s just do it. Better get on with

[00:29:40] DAWN: it. Owain and Lucy, thank you so much for our conversation this morning.

[00:29:48] Really lovely to take a deeper dive into the world of the virtual school and. How we’re working in partnership with Blue Cabin. Thank you very, very much.

[00:30:02] Whether you’re a foster carer, someone who has experience of the care system, or you work with children and young people, we hope this episode has given you an insight into how we could make Life Story work better for young people. You can find out more about our show We are blue cabin. com forward slash podcast.

[00:30:23] And we’d love to hear your thoughts. You can record and send a direct question or message to the show via the website, or you can tweet us at we are blue cabin. If you’d like to listen to future episodes, remember to subscribe wherever it is that you usually get your podcasts. And if you’re able to leave us a review, please do.

[00:30:44] It really helps others to find our show. Bye for now.

[00:30:52] Will: The theme music on this show is by Madofan, sourced from Pixabay and used under license. You’ve been listening to an Anya Media production for Blue Cabin. Find out more at anyamedia. net forward slash podcasts.