Tag: Curiosity Collective

Youth Charity’s support reaches new heights as demand for offline resources soars

Curiosity Collective has distributed over 20,000 ‘Wonderbox’ packs to date

Marking the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, Curiosity Collective has announced that its dedicated offline learning and wellbeing resource, the ‘Wonderbox’, has reached a significant new delivery milestone.  Over 20,000 free resource packs have been distributed to date and the charity plans to build on this success with a new longer-term offering to be launched later this year. 

Curiosity Collective operates with a vision that every child in Scotland should have the opportunity to learn for fun and receive the support they need to positively protect their health and well-being.

Guided by young people, the charity designs and delivers activities to 1) build confidence and knowledge in children and young people 2) enable them to try new things and 3) equip them with the tools and understanding they need to better protect their mental health and wellbeing.  

Responding to new needs, the charity refocused its activities through the pandemic; switching away from online models to concentrate on dedicated offline support helping to reach the often under-supported groups of young people who lack regular online access.

Curiosity Collective packs are provided for free and the pack contains everything needed to enjoy the activities – no additional resource is required.  Over 95% of survey respondents say that “Wonderbox” helped them to feel less isolated and stressed.   

The charity works with partners and stakeholders operating on a national level such as One Parent Families Scotland, Families Outside and the Women’s Aid network to distribute the resource effectively to those most in need of support, including those who are shut out due to poverty and hardship, including urban and rural communities.  

Chloe Goodall, Executive Director of Curiosity Collective said: “Our activities and resources have never been needed more.  Almost a quarter of children in Scotland are growing up in poverty, a situation made worse by the impact of the pandemic and the bleak reality of the cost-of-living crisis.  

“As a result, children and young people are missing out on opportunities to learn and have fun and this can have a detrimental impact on their health and wellbeing.  

“We are proud that we are providing support that works.  The demand for our offline resources has been even greater than we anticipated.  We thank all our generous funders for making this support possible. Feedback we are receiving from young people has been overwhelmingly positive and the demand continues to grow as children and young people are asking for more resources to enjoy at home.  

“We are working with our partners and funders to extend this cherished resource into a longer-term offering that will ensure young people receive a continuous support journey with the resource pack.

“We strongly believe that all children have the right to learn, play, have fun and express themselves, and through our programmes and resource packs we can ensure young people have more tools with which to realise those rights. We have ambitious targets and we look forward to making them happen with our committed partners.” 

As a registered charity Curiosity Collective relies on the generosity of its funders, such as The Scottish Children’s Lottery, Wheatley Group, ScottishPower and The Robertson Trust, to enable the organisation to deliver its vital activities.  

Lorna Wallace, Funding Officer, The Robertson Trust said: “Through our Education Pathways theme at The Robertson Trust, we are interested in funding projects that support educational engagement and attainment, and in particular projects that include engagement with parents and wider family members.

“Education is recognised as one of the best protections against poverty and we know that access to support such out of school activities which stimulate development, encourage independent learning, build confidence and resilience as well as encouraging participation in learning, helps to close the attainment gap.   

“We look forward to seeing how Curiosity Collective progresses and learning from its work on the way and congratulate them for reaching their incredible milestone of distributing 20,000 Wonderboxes to date.” 

For more information visit https://www.curiositycollective.org.uk  

Curiosity Collective announces new Executive Director

Learning and wellbeing charity has supported over 15,000 young people

Curiosity Collective has announced the appointment of Chloe Goodall as the charity’s new Executive Director. Chloe started with the charity over five years ago and led the development of the organisation’s ‘Wonderbox’ which has reached over 8,000 under-supported children and young people since the start of the pandemic. 

Originally established in 2013 as ‘Children’s University Scotland’, the charity rebranded as ‘Curiosity Collective’ last year to increase its appeal to all ages.  With a vision to ensure all children in Scotland are given the freedom to explore and enjoy learning outwith school, Curiosity Collective creates and distributes free and accessible resources designed to improve children’s skills, confidence and wellbeing. The charity has reached over 15,000 under-supported children across Scotland to date.

Chloe Goodall, Executive Director of Curiosity Collective said “I am proud and honoured to step up and lead the organisation. 

“By 2030, it’s thought that as many as one in three children will be growing up in poverty; a situation made worse by the impact of COVID-19 and the bleak reality of the current cost-of-living crisis. As a result, young people are missing out on opportunities to learn and have fun that boost their confidence and help to build skills for life.

“Curiosity Collective gives children the freedom to explore a world of learning beyond the classroom. We provide immediate support and long-term solutions for under-supported children who are shut out due to poverty and hardship, including urban and rural communities. We have ambitious targets and I look forward to making them happen with our committed partners.”

Mary De La Peña, Chair of Curiosity Collective said “We are absolutely thrilled that Chloe has agreed to lead the organisation as our new Executive Director. 

“Since starting with Curiosity Collective in 2016, Chloe has impressed us all with her passion and determination in helping under-supported children across Scotland. 

“Our programmes and activities have never been needed more.  As children and families struggle to cope with the extreme loss of learning through the pandemic and growing mental health concerns amongst young people, we need to work harder than ever to reach those who need us most with the best possible support. 

“We are confident that Chloe will continue our great successes, leading the organisation from strength to strength in our ambitions to support over 150,000 children by 2030.”

Curiosity Collective created the “Wonderbox” resource at the start of the pandemic to provide vital resources to inspire and enable under-supported children to learn and keep mentally well through the height of the restrictions. 

The resource has been hugely successful and is now an integral part of the charity’s long-term offering. Over 8,000 children have benefitted from the “Wonderbox” to date and 95% of survey respondents say it helped them to feel less isolated and stressed.  

The charity works with partners and stakeholders operating on a national level such as One Parent Families Scotland, the Fostering Network and Women’s Aid to distribute the resource effectively.

On a local level the charity collaborates with food banks and regional support groups.  Curiosity Collective has been working alongside Edinburgh Young Carers since earlier this year and together the partnership has supported over 100 young people with the distribution of Curiosity Collective’s Wonderbox resource. 

Leaders at Curiosity Collective visited EYC’s Under-12s project with one of the projects key funders, Cash for Kids, to announce the new appointment and meet some of the young people involved.

Gary Shaw, Youth Development Worker at Edinburgh Young Carers, said: “Through our partnership with Curiosity Collective we have been enabled to enhance the vital support we provide to the hundreds of children, young people and families that we reach across the city. 

“Being a young carer can be extremely challenging and often activities and days out as a family can be very limited – if at all.  We help to address this by hosting sibling support groups giving these families time and space to be together. 

“We were delighted that the Curiosity Collective team were able to come along to our most recent sibling coffee morning and introduce their Wonderbox to new families.

“The brilliant resource is already making a huge impact; the activities within are invaluable in supporting families to have fun and learn together at home giving young carers something of their own to cherish and the opportunity to engage in memory making and connection with their family members at home, at any time.”

As a registered charity Curiosity Collective relies on the generosity of its funders, such as Cash for Kids, The Robertson Trust, Wheatley Group, ScottishPower and the Scottish Children’s Lottery, to enable the organisation to deliver its vital activities.

Becca Stenhouse, Fundraising Executive at Cash for Kids said: “We were delighted to fund Curiosity Collective, earlier this year in order to support them in developing accessible programmes, tools and resources that can change under-supported children’s lives for the better across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and Falkirk.”