Young people's work

The Ashwood Centre has fantastic youth provision headed up by a full time youth work co-ordinator and a part time youth work assistant. Our wide curriculum of educational and fun activities are planned around the ‘Every Child Matters’ document and encourage young people who access the centre to develop and learn new skills and experiences. We have a range of fun and educational resources including an IT suite consisting of 4 computers each with internet access, a pool table, play stations and x boxes, table football, healthy eating cafe and quiet area.

Our youth initiatives include:

• Detached Contact Work

  Meeting young people in the town centre and local parks.

• Girls and Lad's Nights

  Provide gender run nights during the year, girls nights have increased the number of girls attending other sessions.

• The Drop In

  A thriving youth club which attracts a large number of young people twice a week.

• Changers Programme and Volunteering

  We had a number of young people volunteering at the sessions as part of the changers programme. 7 young people have signed up for the millennium volunteers programme of which 2 young people were nominated for the volunteer of the year award.

• Jigsaw After Schools Club

  We gave young people the opportunity to be creative, do home work and engage in meaningful activities including; nail art, sewing, clay work, model making and bullying issues.

• Issue Based Sessions

  We challenged the young people on a number of issues including; racism, fair trade, sexuality, crime, obesity and healthy lifestyles.

• Youth Forum

  An open meeting is held for young people to have input on the running of the centre. The young people were involved in choosing the colours for the refurbishment, the crockery, pictures, equipment and bar stools. The group are encouraged to decide what activities the youth club puts on and express their views of how the provision is run.

• Big Breakfast

  The big breakfast is a holiday club for 8-18 year olds which has loads of great activities on offer and of course great breakfasts!

• 23 Junior Youth Club

  23 is aimed at young people under 14 years of age. The programme allows the young people to be informally educated and take part in craft and other fun activities.

• Locally Run Fun Days

  We worked in partnership with local organisations and supported locally run events including a cultural carnival, careers evening, sporting spectacular gala day and Kirkby by the sea.

• Rich Kids Project

  During the summer the Ashwood centre worked in partnership with The Kirkby Trust to help set up the 'Rich Kids' project. This is an inclusive youth group for young people with a disability based at Kirkby Trust. The project now has 2 paid staff helping deliver the project and the Ashwood Centre provides a volunteer.

• Fanzine

  We keep up to date with young people by posting all members a copy of the fanzine. This is an informative and fun document that is packed with information, quizzes and articles some designed by young people. This has been an effective tool for promoting youth work activities.

• The Space

  A project aimed at young people aged 16 plus or young people who are excluded from school. The session takes place on Tuesday lunchtime and offers the opportunity for young people to search for work, do CV's and build relationships with youth workers. We have signposted a number of young people to other agencies to help support them.