About Clapham Youth Centre
Clapham Youth Centre provides a safe space for young people to socialise, participate in activities, and learn in an open and informal environment. We support young people aged 8-16 from the Blenheim Gardens estate in Lambeth, which is in the top 20% most deprived areas in England. Young people attend one of two 2-hour sessions – Juniors (ages 8-12) on Mondays or 60/40 Club (ages 11-16) on Wednesdays – which offer activities including drawing, painting, printing, crafts, indoor and outdoor play, music making, dance and cookery. We also provide a balanced cooked meal for our younger cohort. We also work closely with other local organisations to create an effective network of services across the neighbourhood, which are inclusive, robust and sustainable after school and during school holidays, when young people are more likely to be at risk outside the routine of term-time education.
Project
We are formally introducing our Moving Up programme for our Transitioning from Primary to Secondary School programme, which prepares young people in Years 5 and 6 for their first year in secondary school. It runs weekly for 12 weeks and enables young people to:
● Share their hopes and fears about going to secondary school.
● Think about the situations they might face at secondary school and positive ways to deal with new experiences.
● Identify their talents and skills to prepare them for joining clubs and after-school activities at secondary school.
● 1:1 sessions with our Schools Support Transition Worker to get valuable information about secondary school life and navigate the challenges they may face.
The programme culminates in an organised trip to either Wey Island (a 6-acre outdoor facility in Surrey) or Oasis Play, where they can try activities including canoeing, cycling and karting.
Activities are delivered by our Schools Support Transition Worker and DBS-checked volunteers, who support young people on a 1:1 basis, and accompany them to the older age group sessions to help them become familiar with and more confident in mixing with secondary-age young people, all under careful supervision.