Good youth work works…Westminster House Youth Club!
03 November 2015
Tuesday 3 November 2015
This National Youth Work week we want to showcase examples of how great youth work can support and challenge young people to become the best they can be.
Westminster House Youth Club is one of London Youth's Gold member clubs and provides great support and development opportunities for young people in Nunhead, South East London. The club serves young people from challenging neighborhoods, with high unemployment and crime. Youth workers at Westminster House Youth Club work hard to provide young people with positive role models, and opportunities to become positive forces in their communities.
Last summer with funding from CVC Capital Partners limited (negotiated by London Youth) the club developed a great programme of summer activities to keep young people away from crime and other negative behaviors. The summer programme had a combination of informal learning, accreditation and fun on and off- site activities! The young people got involved in sports such as swimming, ice-skating and table tennis! It wasn’t all fun and games however as many of the young people gained qualifications. Fifteen young people qualified as junior table-tennis umpires, while 11 were able to achieve a AQA accreditation in either snowboarding or skiing.
Youth workers also held formal sessions on sexual consent, LGBT issues, social media and other issues which affect young people.
The summer programme was extremely popular and youth workers were able to exceed their expectations in terms of both reach and numbers! Most importantly the summer programme had a great impact on the young people involved. None of the 63 young people involved in the summer programme came to the attention of the criminal justice system and just over half of the young people gained qualifications.
Commenting on the extra funding which helped the club stay open during the summer, youth worker Katie Worthington said, “It has allowed us opportunities to develop purposeful relationships with young people, whilst also helping them to make appropriate lifestyle choices and gain qualifications which will assist when seeking employment or applying to colleges, etc”.
By developing supportive relationships with young people, and opening their eyes to new experiences, youth workers at Westminster House Youth Club were able to divert the young people away from negative behaviors and support them to make positive contributions to their lives. Thank you Westminster House Youth club for proving yet again that good youth work works!
