Report for Parish Council – November 2021

Overview

Through another year of uncertainty and Government enforced changes we are proud that Congresbury Youth Partnership has and continues to deliver a varied range of positive activities and experiences at affordable cost for children and young people in Congresbury.

Overview of sessions; activities and events provided by Congresbury Youth partnership. All our sessions are run from the Youth Club building and are charged at £2 per session which includes a pre packed bag of tuck. Evening and after school sessions run during term time and Holiday activities during school holidays, apart from Senior Youth Club which is aimed at 11-18 year olds, all other sessions are for young people aged 8-16 years.

• Tuesday After school Club - Tuesday 3-5pm. This session is aimed to be a quieter, calmer session for those who struggle with the busy Wednesday session. This is a high quality provision with a higher adult to child ratio, but with the same fun activities provided. Our members are encouraged to engage in outdoor activities as much as possible weather permitting as well as the activities available inside such as the pool table, games consoles, arts and craft supplies and cooking/baking. Costs are £2 a session and include tuck.

• Wednesday after school club– Wednesday 3-5pm. This session is run as well as the after school club on a Tuesday due to higher demand for the Wednesday. Due to Covid restrictions members are requested to attend one session or the other to avoid mixing bubbles during these times. This session is very popular with up to 14+ young people attending weekly. Young People are encouraged to engage in outdoor activities as much as possible weather permitting as well as the activities available inside such as the pool table, games consoles, arts and craft supplies and cooking/baking. Costs are £2 a session and include tuck.

• Senior Youth Club - Sessions are held Wednesday Evenings from 6:30-8:30pm with currently 9 Young People attending weekly the numbers continue to grow. This session is for the older young people, with more of an unstructured chill out session, with music, cooking, trips to local shops, movie nights and of course just dance on repeat, the young people frequently getting into ‘dance offs’ and treat the space as their own. We have visits from outside organisations that help us address issues that affect young people, an example of this is when “Off The Record” attended one of our senior sessions and using a variety of fun activities to offer advice and support to young people, it enabled us to explore what stresses young people face and identified how we manage them in a creative way.

• Holiday activities – Our Holiday activities run over 8 weeks of the school holidays which are mixed over half terms as well as Easter and summer holidays, we provide a number of action-packed days Young People aged between 8-16. Activities have included days out on nature walks, activity centres, indoor climbing, archery and lots more. With some activity days based at The Youth Club where we have had sessions learning independent living skills such as cooking, taking time to enjoy watching movies together, playing team games and enjoying arts and crafts, we aim to provide activity days to appeal to our members interests and involve them in the planning of our activities.

After school club

Lucinda Thompson-Daw is the Youth Worker responsible for the delivery of Tuesday and Wednesday after school club sessions, with 1 adult volunteer. Both the youth worker and volunteer supervise the children and support the activities planned and provided by the youth worker, Volunteers are supported and encouraged by the youth worker to plan and implement their own activity ideas should they wish. Young People are equal partners in the learning and decision making process, activity ideas are led by the children’s interest and significant calendar events such as Christmas, Halloween, Diwali and Easter etc. We continue to provide volunteering opportunities for Churchill's School Duke of Edinburgh students.

On average we see 22 young people weekly that pay to attend sessions, we also engage with other young people that use the ball court and choose to congregate in areas that surround the Youth Club.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic we have had make some changes and think outside the box this year:

Sessions are charged at £2 and now include a prepacked tuck bag, packed under strict conditions with PPE equipment in place. Toast and drinks are provided to the children each session.

Youth Club

Youth club is staffed by Lucinda Thompson-Daw – Youth Worker; Glen Newman –Youth Support Worker and is open to young people aged 11-19 years of age.

Numbers average weekly 8-10 young people, currently a higher number of young women attending than young men.

Our Youth Work programme aims to offer a range of opportunities that stimulate challenge and empower young people, creating positive activities for recreational time our activities include cooking, arts/crafts, themed activities, quizzes, educational sessions around substance misuse, mental health, sexual health, online safety, trips away from club, visiting other youth centres, shopping, manhunt, football, backs wood cooking.

Fundraising

The young people also help with fundraising events such as the Summer fete and Christmas Fayre; Yeo Valley Lions walk. Young People use some of their sessions at Youth Cub to create and provide items to sell to raise money for the club During this year's Christmas fete we will raise some funds from selling our hand made apple juice on our stall as well as some of the young people's handmade crafts.

Summer holiday activities & half term activities

2021 saw an eventful and successful year, The Pandemic continued to cause consistency issues for delivery which at times slightly restricted activities choices and programmes which took place given Government restrictions were still in place until September we had to be creative in our activity planning.

This year’s activities included a trip to Weston and Bristol to visit local museums and places of interest. Art days, chocolate workshops, paddleboarding and a trip to the wild place.

October Half Term

October half term was a great success with the young people making over 120 bottles of apple juice. We went pumpkin picking and apple picking and made full use of Chris Days lovely garden for campfires and marshmallow toasting.