INFORMATION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Welcome to our children and young people’s page, where we aim to answer your questions, whether you’ve been invited on a Free to Be Kids project for the first time, or you’ve just got back and are thinking about what happens next! We hope that this page will answer your questions, but if you have any others which we don’t cover here, we’d love to hear from you.

To help us find the right answers for you, choose which of the following statements applies to you:

I’VE GOT SOME WORRIES ABOUT THE TRIP!

We know this is a big worry for many children coming away with us for the first time, particularly if nobody you know is also joining the trip. The short answer is yes! Most children won’t know any of the other people on their trip when they first arrive and so the first few days are designed to help you make friends easily. You’ll be part of a small group of about 5 children who are around the same age as you, so it won’t feel too overwhelming to learn their names and get to know them. There will be two adult helpers who are part of your group too and their job will be to help you all make friends and get along.

Absolutely! You’ll have a packed schedule of exciting activities, so there won’t be time to sit around and get bored! The exact activities will change depending on the project you come on, but expect them to include things like: going swimming, trying horse riding, having a go at water sports like canoeing or kayaking, meeting animals at the farm and maybe going to the beach!

Many young people who come on our trips are nervous to try new things, and often surprise themselves by having a go at them. They tell us that doing this improves their confidence and that often the things they try are lots of fun! There will always be adults around to support and encourage you when you are feeling nervous and we hope you too might challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone! Having said that, it is very important that you know that you will never be forced to take part in anything you don’t want to do. We want you to have a fun and relaxing time and so it is important that you feel safe and comfortable while you are with us.

Quite a few of the children and young people who come on Free to Be Kids projects have moments where they feel homesick. It can be difficult to be away from home, especially if you’re doing it for the first time. The adults on your project will be very used to supporting children who are homesick and will help you to get through the difficult moments. We find that it is most usual to feel homesick during the quiet times, so there will always be somebody to keep you company and listen to your worries, right up until you fall asleep at night. Usually, once you’re occupied with a fun activity, you’ll find that the homesickness fades away. Lots of children tell us that overcoming their homesickness leaves them feeling more confident in their abilities to overcome challenges in future.

Please don’t worry – this is something our adults are very used to sorting out sensitively. If you think bed wetting might happen on the trip, you or your parent/carer can always mention this to the Project Coordinator when they call you before the project – they can let the adult helpers in your group know and make a plan with you about how you’d like things to be managed.

Don’t worry if you’d rather not talk about it though, or if it happens unexpectedly – we check all beds each day and change any wet bedding that we find while you’re out on your activities. You’ll also always have some adult helpers sleeping close by, in case you need someone to remake your bed in the night.

Thousands of children and young people have come on our projects over the years, and very, very few have really not wanted to stay. We tend to find that even young people who think they won’t enjoy the trip change their mind once they arrive and settle in. Saying that, if you did come and were really, really miserable, we wouldn’t make you stay on the trip against your will. We’d generally set up a conversation between you, your Project Coordinator and whoever looks after you at home, to problem solve.

I’VE GOT SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW THINGS WORK!

We have sent a kit list as part of your invite letter, so your parent/carer should have a copy of this. If you can’t find it for some reason, you can access it here. Don’t worry if you don’t have everything on the list – we have spares of most things!

We use a number of different venues for our projects, but they all have some things in common. All of them have lots of outside space to play and a big indoor space for eating together. You’ll share a room with the other children in your group – there will normally be around 5 of you in the group, all of the same gender and similar age. You’ll all have a bed and somewhere to store your belongings. Bathrooms will also be shared with children of the same gender. The adults supporting your group will sleep separately but close by, so they can be on hand to help if there is a problem in the night.

Here are some photos of a typical project site:

We don’t allow you to bring mobile phones on Free to Be Kids’ trips for two reasons. Firstly, there is a risk of phones being lost or damaged when you’re out and about doing activities and we know how expensive and inconvenient it is to replace them. Secondly, we want you to be free to fully enjoy the things you’ll do on your trip without being focused on your phone screen – the trip is an opportunity to get away from everyday life and we’ve found that it’s much easier to do this when you don’t have constant contact through your phone.

That’s not to say you can’t speak to people at home when you’re away with us. The adult helpers in your group will have a phone that you can use at convenient moments to ring home and share all that you’ve been up to. Your parent/carer will also have this number, so they can contact you easily if they want to.

The food on our projects is tasty and home cooked. We aim to make the menus simple and familiar. You’ll have a selection of fruit, cereal, yoghurts and toast for breakfast. At lunch time, you’ll have a sandwich (you’ll be able to pick which filling you’d like), cereal bar, crisps and fruit. For your evening meal, you’ll have a hot dinner – things like mac and cheese with barbeque chicken, spaghetti bolognaise or chicken curry and rice. There is always salad and/or a selection of vegetables too. On some days, you might have dinner as part of your evening activity – this could be a barbeque or perhaps you’ll try campfire cooking and make jacket potatoes and various fillings yourselves.

There is space on our consent form for your parent/carer to let us know about any food allergies and other dietary requirements you have, including foods you really don’t like. We’ll always work with you to make sure you have food you like to eat.

Yes, we’re always happy to help with this – there is space for your parent/carer to let us know about any requirements in the consent form. We are able to provide Halal food for all meals and arrange private spaces for prayer, if needed.

I’M STILL CURIOUS!

Give us a call (the number for your Project Coordinators will be on the invite letter we have sent to your parent/carer) or drop us an email. We’re always happy to answer any questions you may have.
Free To Be Kids

I’VE ALREADY BEEN ON A FREE TO BE KIDS TRIP

We hope you really enjoyed your project! Here are some answers to the most common questions children ask after returning home, but you can contact us at hello@freetobekids.org.uk if your question isn’t answered here!

We send everyone some photos from their trip as a memory of the people you met and the things you achieved. These are sent to your home address through the post. Please be patient if they don’t arrive with you straight away – sometimes, especially in the summer, our whole team is away running projects for many weeks. You should receive the photos within 7 or 8 weeks of your trip.

It’s great that you made good friends on the trip! You’ll need to ask your parent/carer to get in touch with us by email (hello@freetobekids.org.uk) to ask about this. Once we hear from them, we’ll contact the parent/carer of the child you would like to be in touch with. If they too agree, we’ll link you up!

We’re so sorry to hear that things are tough right now and that you’re missing the people you met on your project. If you’d like to get in touch with the Free to Be Kids team, you can email us at hello@freetobekids.org.uk

We’re glad you enjoyed your time at Free to Be Kids! The best thing to do is to speak to the person who referred you to us. Often this is a teacher at school or your Social Worker. It is up to them to refer you back to future projects. Once we receive the referral from them, we’ll do what we can to offer you a space. Since there are always such a lot of children who need a Free to Be Kids break, and we want to make sure that there are places available for the children who need a break from home the most, we can’t always guarantee that you’ll be able to return on future trips, but we’ll do our best!

If you are no longer in contact with your initial referrer, please get your parent/carer to email us at hello@freetobekids.org.uk and we can try to problem solve with them.

Young Leaders are former children on our projects who come back as volunteers when they are aged 15-18, working alongside our adult helpers. We only have space for a small number of Young Leaders to join the team each year, so the competition for spaces is very high and, because of the amount of responsibility the role involves, we have to feel completely confident that those who become Young Leaders are going to be able to manage in the role. If you are aged 13 or 14 and reaching the end of your time as a Free to Be child, we’d suggest that you chat to your Group Leaders and Coordinators about whether there are any ways that you can help to demonstrate your skills. Each Autumn, our team select a shortlist of young people to invite on a Young Leader’s Training Weekend and write to those who are successful. Often, we will wait until young people are 14, so if you are successful, you may hear from us around a year after your last project with us.