All Posts By

Graham

9th January 2023
Graham
In Uncategorised

Healthy Christmas holidays

December saw us welcome around 80 children to ROKT Foundation to climb, run, jump, escape, yoga, eat and be merry this Christmas.

Aged seven to 16 they’ve all had an amazing time on the programme.

It was great to see youngsters with special educational needs also involved and just under half were new attendees, who tested their nerve with new activities from yoga and bouldering to climbing for candy canes and hunting for presents in the cave.

They also channelled their inner Santa by abseiling down the famous ROKT chimney before trying to escape from the Project Breakout escape rooms.

As part of the programme, we welcomed nine refugee children thanks to our work with St. Augustine’s Centre in Halifax, and they said they had a great time with us.

All enjoyed the fabulous hot food provided by Crust and Crumb 77 and thanks to our amazing instructing staff of Phil, Paul, Tom, Caleb and our Project Breakout team for creating such great experiences.

 

25th November 2022
Graham
In Uncategorised

Finalist in charity awards

We didn’t win, but we were delighted to make the final for the Charity of the Year at the amazing Community Foundation for Calderdale awards.

Brilliant event and a packed room full of amazing people doing great things for Calderdale and beyond.

Well done to The Maurice Jagger Centre for winning ‘Charity of the Year’ in their 40th anniversary year!

And of course to everyone who was nominated. What a town we have.

5th November 2022
Graham
In Uncategorised

Ground-breaking police early intervention pilot

This month we hosted a pilot session of a small group of youngsters on the West Yorkshire Police Calderdale Early Intervention Programme.

The four week-long, intensive support programme which has taught about the dangers of knife crime, gang culture, assault and County Boundary Lines, culminated in a final learning session in ‘Active Urban Adventure’.

To kick start the day the students were treated to a session with experts from British Weight Lifting, learning how to lift a variety of weights safely and the impacts of weight training on mood and physical health.

This was followed by a learning session with the Early Intervention Team where the students discussed about the common crimes youngsters of their age are at risk of getting involved in and the consequences.

The students were then challenged with two hours’ of hard climbing activity including low level bouldering, indoor caving and high rope climbing.

We were amazed at how well they worked as a team and two students, fearful of heights, made it to the top of the 21.5 metre lead wall – what an achievement!

Finally, the group tested their problem solving and team skills to master the Project Breakout escape room in under 60 minutes with great success.

This small group showed excellent manners, listening skills and teamwork. They all tried something out of their comfort zone and were amazing to work with.

Our very own ROKT Foundation dog, Murphy loved them! Well done all of you and keep making good choices.

9th December 2021
Graham
In Uncategorised

Free mental health/wellbeing courses for Kirklees schools

ROKT Foundation and Invictus Wellbeing charities have joined forces and secured funding to support mental health and wellbeing for children and young people aged 12-17 years old in Kirklees schools.

It is completely free. Thanks to the generosity of One Community in Kirklees and their commitment to supporting mental health for young people through their grant programme we can do this potentially life-changing work.

We can offer free courses to Kirklees schools to support pupils who are specifically in need of extra support with their health and wellbeing. These may be children that have been identified by teachers or the pastoral team.

Read our online brochure here: www.yumpu.com/s/5T7h31EJbH0GKml9 

So, what can you expect? Basically all the exciting things listed on the other
pages in this brochure!

Do you have students you think would benefit from this project?
Then get in touch and we’ll arrange a chat about the programme in more detail.
Email katie.kinsella@roktfoundation.co.uk or call 01484 937180.

9th November 2021
Graham
In Uncategorised

Watch our participants reach for NICAS qualifications

Climbing for Wellbeing - ROKT Foundation, Invictus and NICAS.mp4 from ROKT Foundation on Vimeo.

This latest film shows how we are helping young people achieve a formal national NICAS climbing qualification in partnership with Invictus Wellbeing at our Foundation.

The aim is to support children suffering from a broad spectrum of mental health and wellbeing challenges.

These kids were incredible and are now well on their journey to achieving their NICAS as well as bags of fresh confidence and self-belief.

With interviews from ROKT Foundation instructor, Paul, and some awesome kids.

19th October 2021
Graham
In Uncategorised

Watch our groundbreaking police partnership project in action

A new route from ROKT Foundation on Vimeo.

ROKT Foundation has joined forces with West Yorkshire Police on an innovative project to support young people to keep them on the right track.

Watch our film as we harness the power of climbing and teamwork to put these great kids on a new route and a brighter future.

Aimed at those at risk of crime or becoming victims of it, the course has enabled these amazing young people to build their self-confidence, teamwork and self-esteem.

7th October 2021
Graham
In Uncategorised

Watch our healthy holidays scheme, inspired by Rashford

ROKT Foundation healthy holidays film 2021 from ROKT Foundation on Vimeo.

During the summer ROKT Foundation supported Calderdale’s Healthy Holidays programme – see our film at the bottom of this page.

As part of the Marcus Rashford (who retweeted us about our work recently!) inspired programme we provided four weeks of activity where children learnt to boulder, rope climb, cave and abseil.

They had a great time escaping the Project Breakout escape rooms and mastering the giant puzzle boxes. Children learnt about food nutrition and how calories are needed for energy during physical activity.

The programme primarily supports children that are on free school meals. We hope to be running a condensed programme over Christmas.

If you are a school based in the Calderdale area and would like the opportunity for your children to be involved in the Christmas programme please get in touch. katie.kinsella@roktfoundation.co.uk

Here’s our film:

7th October 2021
Graham
In Uncategorised

Supporting mental health

We are very aware that the last 18 months has been particularly challenging for children and young people.

The pandemic has had a significant impact on children’s mental health. Throughout the last three months we have been working with Invictus Wellbeing Foundation to deliver a series of confidence boosting courses, using climbing as the catalyst.

We have seen great results with 60 children engaging in our fun filled taster sessions over the holidays and 20 of them going on to our NICAS level 1 climbing course.

We now have 16 young people qualified in NICAS level 1 which is a fantastic achievement!

In the coming weeks we will be developing our mental health programme in Calderdale and Kirklees and we are keen to work with schools to do this.

We want to provide a series of bespoke taster sessions and development courses for children aged between 12 and 17 who have identified as struggling with their mental health.

The activity will be delivered within school term time and geared towards boosting confidence, helping young people to challenge themselves, rely on peer support and overcome obstacles.

If you would like to know more about the programme please get in touch with katie@roktfoundation.co.uk

Watch our film about this project here: