YOUTHREACH County Coordinator 24 Millfield Heights, Buncrana Co Donegal Tel/Fax: 074 93 20908 Email: sandrabuchanan@donegaletb.ie

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Donegal ETB

Restorative Practice Project Research Published

Follow Us! You can now follow Donegal ETB’s

Youthreach programme on Twitter

through @DonegalYR

Pictured left is Ballyshannon

woodcraft tutor John Richards

with the Minister of Research

and Innovation Sean Sherlock at

the launch of the Education

Matters Yearbook 2013 in Dublin

on 12 November.

Education Matters Forthcoming EventsForthcoming EventsForthcoming EventsForthcoming Events • Thursday 19 December: Annual

County Table Quiz, Letterkenny

• Envision Photography course, Buncrana Youthreach, 16-17 December

• Adult Learner Fair, 22 January 2014

• NAYC Annual Conference, Cork 26-28 February 2014

During the lifetime of the Peace III Funded restorative practice project (2011-

2013) the University of Ulster carried out research to measure the progress of the

work across all participating schools, Youthreach centres and youth work

organisations. The report Developing a Whole System Approach to Embedding

Restorative Practices in Youthreach, Youth Work and Schools in County Donegal

has now been published and is available on Donegal ETB’s website at http://

donegalvec.ie/wp-content/upload/2013/11/Co-Donegal-Restorative-Practice-

Project-Research-Report-Final-Sept-13.pdf).

For our health related fitness task 2013 we held a football blitz for all the Youthreach Centres in Donegal. Every Youthreach played each other once etc (LK vs BC & LF vs GH). It was a charity event so every player on each team had to pay a small entry fee of €3. We got the venue and referees for free from Illistrin FC as it was a charity event. So the way it ended up was Buncrana came last in the groups, Letterkenny and Lifford drawing second but Letterkenny went through to the final on goal difference and Gortahork had topped the group. So the final was the last game of the day between Gortahork and Letterkenny. It was a very tight match and Letterkenny were the underdogs because they had been beaten by Gortahork in the group stages. After about eight minutes there was a one nil lead to Letterkenny but the game was still very hard to judge The game kicked of again and about three minutes in Letterkenny had gained a two nil lead and the last kick of the game Letterkenny had gained a three nil advantage. We are very grateful to all the Centres for attending. Refreshments were served at Letterkenny Youthreach. Kyle Keenan, LCA Yr 1

Successful Youthreach 2013 Football Blitz Welcome...Welcome...Welcome...Welcome...to the final edition of our 2013 newsletter. The last few

months have been spent getting used to our new name of Donegal ETB (Education and Training Board). Learners and staff alike have also been busy with a range of activities including FETAC assessments, fundraising, open days and training.

Since our last newsletter we’ve also joined Twitter which provides us with another way of informing you what we’re up to. You can follow us @DonegalYR

Merry Christmas and happy new year!

Dr Sandra Buchanan, Youthreach County CoordinatorDr Sandra Buchanan, Youthreach County CoordinatorDr Sandra Buchanan, Youthreach County CoordinatorDr Sandra Buchanan, Youthreach County Coordinator

Donegal YOUTHREACH Donegal YOUTHREACH Donegal YOUTHREACH Donegal YOUTHREACH NewsNewsNewsNews

Donegal ETB December 2013

Volume 11, Issue 4

Lifford Fire Safety 2

Buncrana’s Wee

Library

2

MAPA Training 3

Letterkenny

Fundraiser

3

2013 Football Blitz 4

Inside this issue:

Youthreach is co-funded by the Irish Government and EU under the National Development Plan

2007-2013.

Buncrana Hosts Annual Open Day On Friday 6 December, Buncrana Youthreach hosted their annual open day in the Adult Education and

Training Centre. There was great turn out to see work created by learners which was on display around

the centre and visitors were treated to tours of the centre as well as meeting the learners and staff.

Parents were also able to discuss progress to date of learners with staff. Well done to everyone involved!

Pictured above are

photos of the Buncrana

Youthreach open day

held on Friday 6

December, including

learner of the year

(above) Jason Campbell.

Page 2 Donegal YOUTHREACH News Volume 11, I ssue 4

Gortahork Fundraise for Breast

Cancer

Lifford Complete Fire Safety Training

Buncrana Assist with ‘Free Wee Library’

Pictured below are learners from Lifford Youthreach who recently undertook fire safety training as part of

their programme.

Pictured left is Máire Ferry presenting a cheque for

€415.00 to Sharon Curran, Letterkenny General Hospital

Breast Care, and Betty Holmes, Donegal Action for Cancer

Care (DACC) at the Annual LGH, Breast Cancer Research

Ball held at the Silver Tassie on Friday 22 November

2013. Also present in the photograph is Orlagh McGee.

Earlier this year learners from the Buncrana Youthreach centre assisted with the Free Wee Library project in

Buncrana by making one of the five wee libraries dotted around the town. The project makes books available for

free to adults and children; each library has two shelves, the upper one for adults and the lower shelf for children.

The idea behind this free community book sharing scheme is that users take one book and leave another. The

people behind the project hope to encourage more ‘green time’ by placing libraries in some of Buncrana’s many

scenic areas. The project was launched by Buncrana playwright Frank McGuiness and both RTE and BBC have run

features on the initiative. Pictured below with tutor Tommy Delaney (second from right) are learners Christopher

Doherty, James Leedham, Michael Hegarty, Liam Mc Dermott and Kevin Harkin with the library they made.

Youthreach has agreed to maintain this library and keep it stocked with books!

Page 3 Donega l YOUTHREACH News Volume 11, I ssue 4

Managing Aggressive and Potentially

Aggressive (MAPA) Behaviour

On 18 November 54 staff from all centres undertook MAPA training, provided by Crisis Prevention

Institute. The day had two key objectives: (1) identifying behaviour that indicates an escalation toward

aggressive and violent behaviour and taking appropriate measures to avoid, decelerate, and/or

de-escalate crisis situations and (2) assessing the level of risk associated with crisis behaviour and making

appropriate decisions related to the management of such risks. The training was positively received by

staff who found it very practical and useful.

Ballyshannon Host Annual Coffee Morning

Letterkenny Raise €1,100 for Charity

Learners in Letterkenny Youthreach were once again a focal part of An Taisce Christmas Craft Fair. For the month of November under the guidance of Denise Ferguson, Craft Tutor, and Dolores Dunleavy, Art Tutor, learners were busy cutting, painting, stitching, sewing, gluing, felting, and decorating hand crafted items such as wreaths, tree decorations, Christmas stockings, aprons and logs. Monies raised from the Fair goes towards named charities decided by learners which this year were the Donegal Hospice and the Philippines Typhoon Disaster Relief Fund. A great day was had by all with staff and learners helping out on the day. The amount raised was

in excess of one thousand euros so well done to all involved. According to reports the standard of craftsmanship at the Letterkenny table was the talk of the fair!

On Friday 15th

November, Ballyshannon Youthreach held

their annual coffee morning in aid of the Irish Guide

Dogs. Learners were busy baking all sorts of niceties the

day before to get ready and everyone thoroughly enjoyed

the morning. A total of €130 was raised. Well done and

thank you to all involved!

Pictured l-r are learners from Ballyshannon Youthreach with

show dogs from the Irish Guide Dogs: Keelan, Cody, Aisling,

Casey, Christy, Matty, Georgina, Aaron, Ciara, Evan, Callum,

Joey, Shane, James, Rebecca, Peter and Kieran.

Youthreach Participate in SPARKS Mental Health Road Show Pictured left are learners from Buncrana Youthreach along with two hundred other young p e o p l e w h o r e c e n t l y participated in the SPARKS youth mental health road show.

This was organised by the Donegal Youth Council as one of five road shows around the

county for young people. It was attended by almost all the Youthreach centres in the county.