Horsham District Council’s Southwater Neighbourhood Wardens work closely with young people in the parish and recently contacted Southwater Junior Academy and Castlewood Primary schools in the village and asked them to nominate some Year 6 pupils who deserved special recognition for their personal contribution to the community and going ‘above and beyond’ to support and care for others.
The wardens then liaised with Southwater Watersports at the Country Park, to deliver free canoeing and stand-up paddle boarding sessions for the young ‘superstars ‘during the summer holidays. This was made possible due to funding support from Southwater Parish Council and Horsham District Council.
One of the Neighbourhood Wardens, Dominic Woodhead, said: “Within minutes these young people were not only standing on the paddle boards like they had been practicing for years but doing summersaults from them into the lake.
These activities develop so many social skills such as collaborative working, communication, leadership, self-reliance and confidence, all while they are having a great time.
Dominic Woodhead, Southwater Neighbourhood Warden
Local residents who saw social media posts about the activities responded with “Lovely to see the local children enjoying the lake” and “What a lovely idea”.
Dominic added:
We would like to congratulate these young people on being nominated for special recognition and appreciate the chance we had to celebrate with them. We wish them future success as they start secondary school.
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