How does it work?
After choosing a pack, the child or young person can start going through it. The pack will have:
An introduction to the NHS, explaining what it is, who it's for, and how it works.
A sheet for noting down the challenges they've completed for each theme.
One section for each theme with 3 different challenges to pick from. Each challenge covers a slightly different topic. Participants can choose one challenge or complete all 3.
To earn a Rainbow Award, the child or young person must choose and complete one challenge from each coloured section and write it on their sheet. We've designed the challenges to be flexible so that participants can complete them in a way that suits their personality and interests.
Once children and young people have finished a challenge, they also need to write what they have learned on their record sheet. By the end of the programme, they’ll have a completed record sheet showing all the different ways they have thought and learned about the NHS.
This record sheet is for you and the child or young person to reflect on together. Once this is done, you can download the Rainbow Award certificate to present to them.
What if a child or young person wants to try the challenges but doesn’t feel ready to complete enough to receive a full award? can someone just complete one or 2 challenges?
If participants aren’t ready to finish a full award, they can still gain a Taking Part certificate and have a go at just one challenge to see how they get on.
What if a child or young person really likes one of the themes and wants to do more?
If they enjoy a particular theme, they can complete all 3 challenges in that theme and achieve a Colour Award. There is a record sheet to complete for this as well. Once they have done this, reflect on their work together and download the respective Colour Award certificate to present to them.
In theory, a child or young person could therefore get 7 Colour Awards (one for each theme) and a Rainbow Award in each of the 3 stages, Get Interested, Get Involved, and Get Leading.
Can a child or young person complete more than one toolkit?
Yes, however it’s best if they have increasingly challenging toolkits to work towards. If an older child or young person has finished their Get Leading toolkit and to continue their learning, they might like to consider joining the NHS Cadets or another voluntary service for the NHS. Please see links to these options at the end of each pack for more information.
How much time does it take to complete a challenge / colour award / rainbow award?
It really depends on which challenges are chosen to complete. Some are very short, others might be completed over the course of a week. We haven’t included timings on each challenge as we expect each person will spend different amounts of time completing them.
If you have limited time to complete the toolkits or challenges, we’d recommend choosing the appropriate toolkit and having a quick look through to see which are most suitable for the time you have available. For example, you might have an hour for 4 weeks - so can select shorter challenges and complete 2 per session.
What resources do we need?
Again, this really depends on which challenges are chosen to complete. We’ve tried to ensure the challenges included in toolkits use as few resources as possible to increase the number of young people who can take part. However, some do require resources.
Again, where you have limited resources, we’d recommend choosing the appropriate toolkit and having a quick look through to see which are the most suitable challenges to complete. Most challenges are suitable for those who have limited or no resources, so all young people can achieve the award they want to.
Young people want to change one of the challenges. Can they do that?
Yes, we fully welcome young people shaping and adapting the challenges to suit their needs and how they want to engage in the programme. You can use your discretion as the supervising adult to agree if it meets the theme or not, and to make sure the challenge is fully safe and risk assessed before the young people begin. Please also share their feedback and ideas with us - we’re constantly learning and adapting the programme, so the more ideas the better!
Young people want to do an entirely different challenge which isn’t included in the toolkit. Can they do that?
Yes… again! We fully welcome young people shaping and adapting the challenges and their experience of using them. This toolkit has been co-designed with young people, but we know there are plenty more ways young people could build their knowledge, skills and awareness around the themes they identified. Again, use your discretion as the supervising adult to agree if it meets the theme or not, and to make sure the challenge is fully safe and risk assessed before the young people begin. Please also share their feedback and ideas with us!
How do I risk assess the challenges?
It is your responsibility to follow the child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures, including risk assessing activities, as per the process you usually follow within your organisation. We’ve included guidance on Safeguarding and General risks to consider in the Get Guidance toolkit on pages 6 and 7.
I have feedback. How do I share this?
Please share any feedback to the team at Barnardo’s via the email address: YPHealthChallenge@barnardos.org.uk - we’ll reply to your email in 3 - 5 working days.