Saint Matthews - Toy Cafe Partnership
Saint Matthew’s is
developing a partnership with the Toy Cafe, an organisation that aims
to foster an understanding in parents and guardians of the importance of play in
the learning process.
The Toy
Cafe was
set up under the auspices of the CHAT Shop Trust to address the significant lack
in Arthur’s Hill for children to learn and develop through play and to provide
parents and guardians with guidance and advice as to how they can stimulate
their children’s development through these media.
Saint Matthew’s
sees this as an important way of engaging with the real struggle that many
parents and guardians in the area have in bringing up their children.
In areas of deprivation such as ours, opportunities for fun, which are
significant influences on the way in which we grow up, are very limited.
The programmes provide frameworks for adults, who might struggle with
their role in caring for children, to spend quality time with those children.
The work is
complementary to the formal education that children receive and the Toy Cafe
works closely with the schools to ensure that there is a consistency of message
and approach. In particular, we work closely with Moorside School, with
which Saint Matthew’s has had links for a number of years.
The aims of the
Toy Cafe are:
To
encourage and support all the family to play together and thus strengthen
the family as a unit.
To
develop new play facilities that stimulate and encourage children’s
creativity and imagination.
To
reach out through Toy Cafe activities and workshops, to usually excluded
groups.
To
find innovative means of removing barriers to access.
Saint Matthew’s is
committed to supporting these aims whenever possible, presently by adapting the
Hall for use by the Toy Cafe. In
the longer term, we envisage underpinning the expansion and consolidation of the
programme by a wholesale development of the Hall as a purpose-built facility.
Whilst the operation
of the Toy Cafe is increasingly based at Saint Matthew’s Hall, much of its
actual work is done in centres throughout the communities around and about.
We are exploring the
possibility of working with other organisations, though we are confident that
the project would thrive as it is. For
this reason we are seeking funding to commission a substantial piece of research
to ascertain exactly how we might most effectively engage with the need and
ensure sustainability of the project in the long term.
Current staff
list:
Richard Evans, project coordinator.
Father of two, with a background in Computing and business management, recently gained a HND in Early Years education and found his way into a child friendly career through the Chat shop.
Sara Thirlaway, project worker - play and learning.
A wealth of previous experience in business administration, and a more than useful grasp of European languages, Sara also attained an Early Years HND at North Tyneside college, where she first worked with Richard and Jackie.
Jaqueline Wallace, project worker – healthy lives.
Jackie took some time out from her post as a Dental Practice manager to bring up her 2 adorable girls, and liked it so much that she too went to North Tyneside college in search of a career change.
Dominic Townshend, sessional support worker.
Dominic has a very engaging, yet laid-back manner with children at our workshops. His background in performing arts, and expertise in technological matters, means that he can offer a different dimension to our work with families.
Home page: http://stmatthewsnewcastle.org.uk/