Big thank you to Sandra and Lloyd Caldeira for their generous donation to our charity shop! It makes a great difference to our service users. 

A big thank you to Tweendykes for having us at their Macmillan Coffee Morning with their parents and  students! 
They all had a blast doing mindful crafts with us - salt jars and lavender bags - and we loved talking to them about what we've got on offer and what opportunities are available at our building. Hopefully we'll be able to go again sometime soon! 

The young people have started on their newest campaign - all about periods! 

Younger girls have kicked it off by making a poster to be put up in all of our toilets letting service users know we have free period products available to them at all times. We're excited to see this campaign develop over the next few months. 

The toddlers and parents alike enjoyed the session outside in the sun with a delicious teddy bears' picnic this week! With snacks and the garden to run wild in, the parents were able to have a nice chat while the tots tired themselves - and Rachael - out for the afternoon. 

We were able to give out food parcels with enough in that the parents will be able to make their own picnics at home on another day, or use the food towards lunches during the Summer Holidays. 

We had a blast with all of the families and young people that attended our Summer event today; the face painting and floor games went down a treat and we were happy to have Shaun on the grill!

Thank you to all of the organisations that were able to attend, good weather and great company made the day an unforgettable one - what a great start to the Summer Holidays already! 

As we come towards the renewal of the NYA Quality Mark, we have been thinking about how we can develop as a project. We are always looking for ways that we can move forward in order to meet the needs of the young people and community that we work with. The process of attaining the NYA Quality Mark has supported us to look at which areas we should prioritise. Thus, to develop the standard of our Youth Work Practice, this year we have delivered some internal, non-accredited training around the values of Youth Work.

It is really important to us that we understand the needs of those we are working with and ensure
that this is at the forefront of our practice. The training very much embodied this, covering how we
can support young people’s personal, social and educational development in a way that starts where
young people are at. This highlighted the importance of youth work being a completely voluntary
service in which young people have the option to engage with, providing a unique source of support
where young people feel safe and listened to. 

We had in depth discussions around the basic approaches within youth work, including anti-
oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice focusing on how we can ensure our practice is inclusive, accessible and engaging for all young people. Additionally, we thought about how we embed Voice and Influence into our everyday practice to empower young people to take ownership of their lives and experiences. 
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The training also covered the National Occupational Standards of Youth Work, Safeguarding
practices, effective planning and delivery, and the pivotal role of reflective practice. This allowed us
the space and time to think about our current approaches and ways in which we can develop this.
The Youth Workers engaged wholeheartedly with this training, and it was promising to see how
committed they are to their own learning and development in order to benefit the young people
that we work with.

“I found the Youth Work Training really informative. It opened my mind to different ways to better myself as a Youth Worker and to understand why we do certain things. Ayisja was happy to answer any questions and always made sure we understood what had been said.”