Borough of Wandsworth Community Trust - grants awarded
In 2024, The Borough of Wandsworth Community Trust awarded grants totalling £21,230 to five organisations.
CARAS (Community Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers)
Grant awarded: £4,941
Funding has enabled the expansion of out-of-education support services for children waiting for a school or college place, through literacy classes. This enables them to gain accreditation through the English-Speaking Board exams along with accessing counselling and mental health support. The programme will support 40 children with the opportunity to learn and prepare for the future in full-time education.
Education Dance Provision Services (MovementWorks)
Grant awarded: £4,965
Funding has enabled a new project which supports residential students at Oak Lodge School with a before school dance movement therapy session to start their day. Day students also enjoy a similar session tailored around their school day. Pupils of the school have complex needs so cannot access traditional after-school type activities. At Oak Lodge School, 20 students live on-site. The sessions give students the opportunity to regularly engage in transformative therapeutic dance activity which helps them to improve coordination and physical abilities, boost their self-esteem leading to increased confidence and engagement.
Spencer Lynx
Grant awarded: £5,000
Funding has enabled 100 children aged 9 to10 to access a two-year programme of free weekly hockey training in the form of a Sunday Club. Children are recruited from eleven Wandsworth schools with high levels of pupil premium, with help from teachers to reach children who would most benefit. Children from low-income families and/or black, Asian and minority ethnic groups are prioritised. The project provides an opportunity for children to get physically active building social skills and confidence alongside physical activity and skill attainment.
St George's CE Primary School Battersea Trust
Grant awarded: £2,000
Funding has enabled the school to upgrade their food growing project in partnership with Groundwork London. A series of workshops were delivered to pupils in Years 3 and 4 in the school allotments, spanning the growing season so they get the opportunity to witness the lifecycle of annual plants. They will learn about growing vegetables which they are also studying in their science classes. The project aims to inspire a love of gardening together with providing an understanding of where food comes from and how it is cultivated.
Wandsworth Bereavement Service
Grant awarded: £4,324
Funding has supported an art therapy group for children experiencing bereavement. The project provides eight group art therapy sessions across a year facilitated by two children’s counsellors, allowing the children to explore their feelings and experiences in a group setting, whilst waiting for their individual sessions with a children’s counsellor. This peer-to-peer support will help these children to open up and prevent them from ‘hiding’ their feelings. Currently, there is a waiting list of four months for individual sessions and this group support will help to fill that gap for the children.