Active Training and Education
Founded1996
FounderChris Green MBE
TypeNot for Profit Educational
Registered Charity
Location
OriginsSuccessor to Colony Holidays
ProductHoliday camps for children 8-16
Company number: 3364551
Charity number: 1062448

Active Training and Education (a.k.a. ATE Superweeks) is a not-for-profit, educational charity which provides residential holidays to children of a school age within the United Kingdom. These holidays are called Superweeks.

Holidays

ATE's core activity is providing residential experience for children of a school age within the United Kingdom. Superweeks are residential holidays (at New Year, Easter and Summer) that take place in country houses and mansions at various locations around the United Kingdom. The holidays are designed for children aged 8 to 16 years.

The children

Children come on Superweeks from all over the United Kingdom and some from beyond. They come from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, and although most are paid for in total by their family, a significant minority (about 15%) are sponsored either by ATE's own sponsorship fund or by other bodies such as the Social Services.

Superweeks are designed to be accessible and enjoyable to children from all walks of life, regardless of their personal tastes. They do not focus excessively on physical or outdoor pursuits, but instead use a wide range of activities including games, singing, drama and handicraft as the framework for a happy and constructive experience of community living.[2] The organisation makes every effort to be inclusive and will accept children with special needs or behavioural difficulties whenever it seems reasonably clear that their attendance will be successful.

Key people

ATE was founded by Chris Green, who was awarded the MBE in the New Year Honours List 2011 for services to education through ATE and summer camps.[3] He had previously been involved in establishing and managing Colony Holidays (est. 1963), a provider of summer camps in the United Kingdom from the 1960s to 1980s. Green still campaigns for summer camps in the UK.[4]

Governance

ATE is a non-denominational body whose only aim or allegiance is educational, and as such it has strong links with the educational establishment. Most of the main educational bodies are represented on its Governing Body, and many of the senior staff on Superweeks are school teachers.

All of the activities of ATE are overseen by a Governing Body which includes representatives from most of the major educational bodies in the UK, and meets on three occasions each year.

History

The Council for Colony Holidays for Schoolchildren (CCHS)

The Council for Colony Holidays for Schoolchildren was set up as an educational Trust in 1963, following initiatives by a number of young British people who had worked in the French national system of “colonies de vacances” (which catered for 5 million children a year) and who thought a similar system would have much to offer to children and young people in the UK. It was started with a launching grant from the then Ministry of Education, with a distinguished governing Council chaired by Sir John Wolfenden, and with Sir William Alexander as Secretary. In 1965 Chris Green and a colleague left teaching to work full-time for CCHS.

By the early seventies over 5000 children per annum were enjoying colony holidays during school vacations and half-terms.

Key figures

Sir John Wolfenden was succeeded as Chairman by Lord Hill of Luton, then by Lord Vaizey of Greenwich. Sir William Alexander was succeeded as Secretary by John Brooke, Director of Education for Worcestershire (when full-time operations started CCHS established a Headquarters in Malvern).

Activity

Between 1965 and 1985 around 80,000 children experienced a colony holiday, and around 12,000 17- to 25-year-olds were recruited and trained to look after them.

CCHS worked with local authorities and others to enable poorer children to take part. It collaborated with organisations such as the Puffin Club, the National Trust, the WRVS, Manchester University Settlement and Birmingham Settlement, to run special colony holidays for them. It helped set up Discovery Holidays in Northern Ireland which ran holidays for 1,000 or more children from all backgrounds in the province each year. It worked with the Union Française des Centres de Vacances to run Anglo-French holidays. It published some books of children's games, songs, and holiday activities.

Longevity

Residential training courses were developed for Monitors, and later for the more experienced Monitors to become Assistant Directors then Directors. These courses were cited as “good practice” by D.E.S. Inspectors.

Legacy

Those who had set up and run Colony Holidays for 18 years handed over to a younger leadership team in the early eighties. The organisation then ran into financial difficulties and closed in 1986. The Active Training and Education Trust was established in 1996, to revive the work and the expertise of Colony Holidays.

Training courses

The young people, mostly university students, who join the organisation to work directly with small groups of children on Superweeks, are known as ‘Monitors’, and in order to act in this role they must first attend an intensive seven-day residential training course. Monitors are given feedback and targets for improvement at the end of each Superweek, and when they have performed well on at least three Superweeks and have reached the age of at least 21, they can be invited to train as Assistant Directors. This involves a further five-day residential training course and when an individual has successfully acted in this role on at least three occasions, they can be invited to train as a Director, another five-day residential course. The Director is responsible for all aspects of running a Superweek with up to 60 children and 25 staff. Most (but not all) ATE Directors are school teachers. ATE staff, like the children, come from all over the UK and some from other countries too.

The work of Monitors and Assistant Directors on Superweeks is voluntary; they only receive expenses and bed and board for the work they do. This is a deliberate and very important part of the ATE ethos.

ATE provides ‘in service’ training and support to its volunteer staff by providing feedback and goals for improvement at the end of each Superweek, by distributing a free magazine to staff three times each year, and by offering two residential staff weekends each year. This training and support programme is overseen by a Training Group chaired by the Director of Training and comprising senior ATE staff, including a Governor, and two head teachers.

References

  1. ↑ "Home". superweeks.co.uk.
  2. ↑ Henderson, Josephine. "ATE Superweeks: children's summer camps", The Daily Telegraph, London, 24 May 2009. Retrieved 6 July 2012
  3. ↑ "2011 New Year Honours List" (PDF). Directgov. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 September 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "Campaign for Summer Camps". Retrieved 26 December 2011.
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