Registered charity number: 1112775. Company limited by guarantee in England and Wales no: 2806910. Registered office: 3rd floor, 70 Clifton Street, London, EC2A 4HB

This is the sixth edition of the WEA West Midlands Projects’ Newsletter, which aims to showcase

some of the educational projects funded by external funders and provide an update on recent

developments and good news stories. For further information about any of our projects please

visit www.westmidlands.wea.org.uk/educational-projects

Welcome to the 6th Edition

Page 1

WEA West Midlands has been awarded £327,596 from the BIG Lottery Fund to

design and deliver sustainable community based health education courses

that promote the benefits of physical activity within Birmingham.

The ‘Community Learning for Healthy Living’ project, which will run for three

years from August 2010 until July 2013, aims to improve the health of adults

residing in communities to the North and West of the city, in particular Lozells

and East Handsworth, Soho, Perry Barr, Ladywood and Aston.

Project work will focus on identifying and engaging adults leading sedentary

lifestyles to participate in low cost, fun and friendly physical activity pro-

grammes by:

• carrying out intensive outreach work in the specified communities

• engaging at least 1500 people in a community context

• designing and delivering over 100 local and structured health education/physical activity adult classes and activities

• making use of community venues and a limited amount of exercise equipment that is stored and transported to various locations

• recording and reporting on health improvement outcomes

Learning opportunities will include initial health assessments, short taster

sessions, and longer courses (for example 1.5 hours once a

week, for 10 weeks) to meet identified needs. We will shortly

be recruiting for project staff including a Project Manager, a

Project Organiser and a Project Administrator.

For further information visit www.westmidlands.wea.org.uk

Funding secured for WEA health project in Birmingham

Special points of interest:

• Special Edition: Health Education Project Update

Inside this issue:

Community Learning for Healthy Living:

Birmingham

1

Tandrusti Project:

Dudley 2

Learning for Health: Stoke-on-Trent

3

Action Research: Stoke/Sandwell/Bham

3

Health Project: Worcs 4

West Midlands Region

WEA West Midlands Projects’ Newsletter

Summer 2010 6th Edition

Workers' Educational Association (WEA)

Registered charity number: 1112775. Company limited by guarantee in England and Wales no: 2806910. Registered office: 3rd floor, 70 Clifton Street, London, EC2A 4HB

Tandrusti (Dudley)

WEA West Midlands Projects’ Newsletter

Page 2

An end of year 3 monitoring report has recently been submitted to funders. It confirmed

that, during the period May 2009 to April 2010, 77 culturally competent health education

and physical activity programmes were designed and delivered. These engaged nearly

1200 beneficiaries in and around Dudley.

In particular courses were delivered to target a variety of medical conditions such as: Pos-

tural Stability Instruction (PSI) Multiple Sclerosis, Cardiac Rehabilitation, Falls Prevention

(modular based) Stroke Care and Diabetes Care. Tandrusti also offered a wide and varied

programme of general exercise courses including: Community Gym, Boxercise, Kick Fit,

Cardioblast and Anatomy & Physiology. The majority of learners rated their course highly;

see table below:

Learner Feedback (from completed ‘Tell Us About It!’ forms) 2009-2010

In addition, learners participating in the project have gained significant health improve-

ments; see summary of selected outcomes below:

The project ends in April 2012 and discussions are already taking place with Dudley Met-

ropolitan Borough Council and Dudley PCT regarding the possibility of future funding as

part of the exit strategy.

Excellent Good Satisfactory Disappointing

Learners rating course content 88% 12% 0% 0%

Learners rating teaching 89% 11% 0% 0%

Learners rating accommodation 66% 31% 0% 0%

Learners rating equipment 66% 31% 3% 0%

Learners rating induction/support 81% 19% 0% 0%

Weight Fitness level

Sample size

Improved Main-tained

Sample size

Improved Main-tained

753 383 231 1110 837 271

Systolic Blood Pressure Diastolic Blood Pressure

Sample size

Improved Main-tained

Sample size

Improved Main-tained

1096 528 218 1096 550 241

Registered charity number: 1112775. Company limited by guarantee in England and Wales no: 2806910. Registered office: 3rd floor, 70 Clifton Street, London, EC2A 4HB

The above project (now completed) developed a new course with online

courseware tailored to the needs of learners with health conditions that

make attending a course regularly difficult. We targeted networks of

people with different health conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis and stroke, as well as their

carers. They were reached through charity branches and agencies working with them such as

the physiotherapists, local nurses and Football Clubs. We also used local media and con-

tacted online networks like ms.shift. This resulted in increased referrals from the target

groups and improved our knowledge of the other services available in the local area.

Publicly-available resources were developed where they haven’t previously existed, such as

an Open Learning & Physical Activity Map, and utilised content from NHS Choices website.

The project enhanced partnership working between education, health, digital and creative

arts organisations in a range of sectors by building the capacity of staff and partners to work

with digital tools and online resources to improve access to information and learning amongst

health disadvantaged groups. A selection of project resources have been uploaded to the

School of Everything website and can be viewed at:

http://schoolofeverything.com/person/weastoke/scrapbook

Page 3

6th Edition

The Big Lottery Fund Research Programme was set up to fund medical and social projects

led by voluntary and community sector organisations. WEA West Midlands successfully ap-

plied to the Fund and our three year (2010-2013) ‘Community Research for Better Health in

the Midlands’ project started on 1st April.

The project, which is supported by the University of Leicester’s Institute for Lifelong Learn-

ing, will explore the barriers to regular exercise which people living in health deprived com-

munities face and how these can be overcome. Community Researchers (from WEA tutor

panel) will be recruited and trained in research skills and will work directly with 200 adults,

particularly those at risk of obesity within the inner city areas of Sandwell, Stoke-on-Trent

and Birmingham. Health education and physical activity programmes will then be designed

and delivered in response to the needs of local communities to help them adopt and sustain

healthier lifestyles.

The Project Management Board comprising staff from WEA, Heart of Birmingham Primary

Care Trust, Loughborough University and University of Leicester has met and agreed the

research framework. Also, a Project Researcher has recently been

appointed to lead on implementing the research. For more information

please contact Iram Naz on 0121 237 8134 or inaz@wea.org.uk

Lottery funded action research project underway

Learning Partnerships for Health (Stoke-on-Trent)

Registered charity number: 1112775. Company limited by guarantee in England and Wales no: 2806910. Registered office: 3rd floor, 70 Clifton Street, London, EC2A 4HB

If you would like further information about a project or the work we do please contact:

Howard Croft

Regional Projects Coordinator

Phone: 0121 237 8133

E-mail: hcroft@wea.org.uk

Page 4

General Enquiries :

Tel: 0121 237 8120

Fax: 0121 237 8121

Email westmidlands@wea.org.uk

Visit our Website: www.westmidlands.wea.org.uk

The WEA is one of the UK’s largest charities and voluntary sector provider of adult educa-

tion and we are committed to providing access to learning opportunities for adults from all

backgrounds. We continually strive to respond to the needs of local communities and in

doing so we have developed a strong educational project focus. of the current projects re-

gion wide.

Address:

WEA West Midlands

4th Floor, Lancaster House

67 Newhall Street

Birmingham B3 1NQ

Workers' Educational Association (WEA)

Bids in the pipeline:

Recent bid successes:

• LSIS Flexibility and Innovation Fund

• Aston Pride English Language Learning Project (Birmingham)

• LSIS Resource Utilisation Fund

• Heritage Lottery Fund: Your Heritage

Community Education for Better Health (Worcestershire) Sound progress has been made in relation to project delivery during Year 1. The

encouraging developments during the period January—March 2010 included:

• 2 more tutors recruited/inducted and 3 further identified

• 7 health education courses delivered for example ‘Fit can be Fun’ & ‘Strictly Dance’

• Wider range of exercise equipment ordered

• First tutor team meeting held

• 8 courses planned for next term

• Commencement of collation of Health Awareness Information Packs

• BLF Reaching Communities Health Education Project (Birmingham)

• WEA Learning for Community Involvement Project (Staffordshire & Shropshire)