Our ACADEMY Youth Worker
Working in partnership with the Academy and local churches, ICE Ilfracombe has employed a Youth Worker based at the school since 2017.
As our ICE Youth Worker, Karly Jackson-Wells is a valued member of the school team. We feel that the provision of a dedicated Youth Worker is key in giving young people opportunities to explore and understand the Christian faith, helping them experience 'life in all its fullness.'
Karly is available for mental health and pastoral support during break times. She also leads a range of initiatives including the Christian Union, mentoring programmes, assemblies, PCRE lessons, and prayer spaces. Headteacher Steve Rogers says, ‘We are excited about the positive impact Karly’s work will continue to have on our students and the community’.
SPREE 2025
SPREE 2025 truly was an epic weekend where our young people were able to experience lots of different activities, some for the first time! We are very grateful for all the support that has helped make this trip possible. All of our group are hoping to go back next year, perhaps with some more friends alongside us!
A huge thank you to Ilfracombe and District Lions Club for supporting our trip to SPREE by funding two minibuses to help get all our youth and their luggage and camping gear to Westpoint in Exeter and back! And thank you to Ilfracombe Community Transport for your friendly, helpful and flexible service!
And another big thank you to Ilfracombe Round Table, Ilfracombe Rotrary and Davie-Barnstaple Trust for providing funding to cover other expenses over the weekend, enabling us to offer subsidised spaces on the trip, cover the cost of food and the cost of leaders tickets etc.
REFLECTION
I regularly visit the tutor groups within Year 10 to deliver a tutor reflection. This is a great time to hopefully encourage students to "Live life to the full".
I've been having some fun with Lego with Year 10 students as I've encouraged them to consider their goals for the next year; what do they want to build in their lives, what are the building blocks they have available to them.
We've considered the serenity prayer as part of the reflection. I also now have a pile of envelopes of letters students have written to themselves as part of the reflection time that will be sent to them at the start of Year 11 to hopefully encourage themselves along towards their goals.