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Torfaen Young Carers Cooking Session in Westmon High School.

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Torfaen Young Carers Cooking Session in Westmon High School.

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This Pin board aims to display one of the sessions, I run on my placement at Torfaen Young Carers.  This session was chosen by young carers who attend Westmon, after we held a consultation to find out reasons, why they don't attend some of our larger group sessions at Ashley House Youth club. The young people asked us, to run a smaller group session in school where they felt  more comfortable. Cooking sessions won the vote with every young carer choosing cooking over any other activity. The aims of cooking session was to build professional and positive relationships with the young people at Westmon, by, using effective communication and providing on-going support and encouragement to the young people (LSIS, 2012 p.16 YW01). I  acknowledged the insights and input of the young people and I listened to and respected their ideas and opinions (LSIS, 2012 p.22 YW02).

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We began each cooking session,  with a quick ice breaker game to help the young people comfortably interact with each other. Ice breakers help to warm up conversation and enable the young people to get to know each other better. Knox's states that "Ice breakers encourage sharing, openness, listening, cooperation and discussion, providing a useful ‘getting to know you’ or ‘group building’ introduction for a small group study or teaching time" (Knox et al., 2019).  In this photo the young people are playing the marshmallow game

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After each ice breaker - I ensured that the young people with long hair had it tied back,  that everyone was wearing an apron and every one had washed their hands. I also read out a list of health and safety rules to ensure everyone was safe and happy when using the kitchen equipment. I always follow the health and safety training policies at Torfaen Council and adhere to the training I received in my induction. Before the cooking session, I identified the hazards and evaluated the risks of the cooking kitchen. (LSIS 2012, p.177 HSS1).

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Next, I would hand out  recipes and then I  would call out a list of equipment that they were required to cook with. The young people would work together to find the equipment and to set up their work stations. They would then pre-heat their ovens and ensure they have the correct ingredients for their recipe. I wanted to provide information, advice and learning opportunities to help the young people develop their skills that included decision making LSIS, 2012 p.22 YW02).

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In the first session the young carers wanted to cook a basic recipe to help build their confidence in the kitchen. They choose pizza and home made chips. They began by rolling out their dough, topping their pizzas and then cooking the chips whilst their pizzas cooked in the oven. .

Fletcher states that "a strategy, philosophy and personal approach to acknowledging the ability, authority, and knowledge of young people as powerful, purposeful catalysts for personal, social, cultural, and institutional growth and transformation"  (Fletcher, 2008).

I would encourage the young people to work as independently as possible , when following the recipe. I would then acknowledge and praise their efforts and skills, when they've managed to achieve what they set out to do.

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Each young person cooked a pizza each and a plate of chips. They had the option to take the food home or to sit down together and eat.

After the kitchen cooking had finished and the kitchen was cleaned, I sat everyone down so we could evaluate the activity. I did this by “encouraging the young people to express their views regarding the provision of youth work and to relate it to their needs and goals” (LSIS, 2012 p.120 YW27).  The young people said they were happy and more comfortable accessing our support in school with, familiar faces.

Every young person who attended, said they enjoyed the session and would like to attend again, next week.  I used flip chart paper to ask them to write down ideas for cooking recipes - as a group they decided to cook flapjacks next, and researched the ingredients they needed.

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8 young people attended this cooking session therefore, I asked 2 additional staff to help support. Before this session, I supported and encouraged my colleagues to express their own ideas on how they would like to support myself and the young people during the cooking. I  involved the members of staff in my planning and I allocated roles - for example; one member of staff wanted the opportunity to work with the young person who required 1-2-1 additional support (LSIS, 2012, p.158 MLB5).

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I also encourage the members of staff who are involved with the service to provide feedback and evidence towards the activities I organise, this helps towards the progress made against agreed objectives (LSIS, 2012 p.128 YS29) .