South Cumbria PRS Welfare Van

We have been working closely with Katie Simpson our Enterprise Co-ordinator and Chris Knight from our Management Committee both from Morgan Sindall. They have worked hard within their company to raise money for equipment that we can use in our green spaces and wellness woods. Chris has been mentoring some students in school and has listened and understood the barriers that some of our students face in moving on from school life transitioning into post 16 provision. He was inspired to try and provide experiences that emulate that of a work place coupled with well-being experience and raising students confidence to work outside the PRS grounds and in the community. His idea of a welfare van similar to what his teams use when completing projects for Morgan Sindall was the foundation of what has now become a successful part of our curriculum. The students go out into the community to complete tasks with Natural England, Dunescapes, completing John Muir Award and sometimes to change students environment and support their well-being and emotional regulation- students complete classwork in the van whilst surrounded by nature.

We ran a whole school competition for the students to design graphics for the van and how it would represent the students from our school. Chris Knight and his bosses judged the competition and amalgamated 3 designs. The students at this point didn’t know that their designs would become a reality and Chris had their images wrapped onto the van. The van was presented to us on the 13^th December 2022 and the students designs looked amazing!! Each student received a £50 voucher and were delighted that their designs were picked!!