We are Charity Awards 2023 Finalists!
We are proud to announce that the innovative three-year partnership between Lightyear Foundation and inclusive dance charity Flamingo Chicks has made the shortlist for this year’s Charity Awards, the longest-running and most prestigious awards scheme in the charity sector.
We have been shortlisted in the Disability category in recognition of our unique fusion of science and dance, offering active learning classes to disabled children using the magic of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) to teach life skills, build confidence, inspire curiosity and have fun!
With so few social, physical and informal science opportunities for disabled children, we fused the accessible STEM expertise of Lightyear Foundation with the inclusive dance power of Flamingo Chicks to create a three-year series of ground-breaking educational dance classes for disabled children.
Across the three years, we designed and delivered:
170 regular classes
473 one-off workshops
13 virtual classes with over 275,000 views!
This was a staggering total of 18,122 disabled children discovering new STEM topics and expressing themselves through dance over the three years!
“All too often disabled children are overlooked in this area, with people assuming they will be unable to participate. Yet actually science has a great appeal – particularly when applied practically, as children can begin to learn there is no right or wrong when exploring and things can go wrong, which is fine, a valuable life skill which special needs children often have difficulty with in life. It can even offer a viable career path for some of our children. All special needs students can benefit from sensory science. For some it’s a support to what the session is about, for others it’s a reinforcement to further scaffold or consolidate learning.” Jessica Butler, Science Teacher, New Fosseway Special School
Meet one of our science dancers, Daniel. When he first joined us, he had very limited physical movement. He stunned us one week by creating a circling motion on his own. As soon as he got the feeling of the movement and understood its relationship to the concept of orbit, he was off! When studying gravity and black holes, our children pulled a colourful band away from the centre of a circle before letting watching it ping back – Daniel loved this. He showed great use of strength and concentration, and delighted in flicking the band with his hands to hear the noise. He squealed with happiness when he made the band ping! His teacher said, “It is incredibly gratifying to see the huge progress Daniel has made and how happy he is in class.”
At the end of the three-year partnership:
79% of children said their physical ability had improved (60% by ‘a lot’)
83% of children said their confidence and resilience had improved
73% of students said they had an enjoyment and interest in STEM
The Charity Awards are the sector’s most highly-regarded excellence recognition scheme. Shortlisted charities this year have been judged by an independent panel of sector leaders as having demonstrated best practice in leadership and management, from which other organisations can learn. Winners will be announced at a black-tie dinner on 7th June, held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. We’re keeping our fingers crossed!