Youth group / club ideas ? Please

[Threelionsandalioness]

Afternoon
Please can I pick you're brains for any ideas that you would like to see in a newly opened youth club/group
Basically a hall will be hired at certain days and times,it's in a "deprived"area but will be aimed at ages 6 and up to 16.
Some ideas so far ...
Basic cooking lessons
Basket ball net with a young person volunteering to "coach"
Football nets and football skills classes inside the hall
Dance group/class with a young person volunteering to teach the willing participants
Ping pong table
A weights / gym corner with a young person volunteering to teach/train

Basic idea is to get young people off the street and to teach basic skills or just somewhere for them to "hang" out and just be ?
Get young people involved in volunteering to be "youth" leaders etc
All the checks etc will be done on "volunteers"
Hopefully will be able to print off or out hase trophies / certificates for participation etc
Do a small "tuck" shop with snacks drinks etc
So what else would you like to see
There are 4 trained and highly educated SEN TA's and also they have had minimum 7 years working and volunteering in the local schools within all different types of sen children and adults

What about craft type activities?it’s a brilliant idea. Good luck.
Have you looked at sponsorship locally? Asda often support local groups.

I'd be wary of young people (do you mean the older children or young adults?) doing sports, dance and fitness training.
I know they often assist at specialist clubs/schools, but that is under the supervision if trained teachers/trainers. Have you looked into insurance, risk assessments etc?

The overall idea sounds great, but relying on untrained kids is not going to work.

Oh my goodness ...No I can't believe I hadn't thought of that ! Thank you so much xxxx..awww thank you I do appreciate it it's literally just an idea at the moment but I'm hoping to get the ball rolling and get it up and running xxx

Thank you ...I hadn't thought of that at all ...it's just a basic idea on an A4 pad at the moment ...I'm trying to get all the information etc that I will need I have zero experience in anything like this so your information is so helpful thank you xxx
I did mean young adults ...as in can supervise and be a part of and make up hopefully little fitness type runs and bleep tests and competitive teams / dancing etc ...I'm really not good at explaining xxxx

No need to make sure you have the correct and legal adult to child ratio. That differs depends on the age of the kids. Id split age groups the kids are socialising with people their own ager rage. You also need to make sure you have the correct insurance. It's admirable that you want to set something up but you need to make sure you and the kids are adequately staffed and protected. I have a degree in youth work and community development. I'm happy to throw ideas at you.

Thank you so much ....I am just looking my local council website and further links at the safety policies the insurance the ratios the ages it's a minefield at the moment and I most certainly will appreciate your ideas how very thoughtful and lovely you ! I appreciate that so much xxxx

I would get organisations like the fire brigade in. They’re used to going into schools. Could offer safety training.

or basic first aid

Anything that widens their perspective,

Gardeners club. Great for all age ranges. Grow food ?

oh scrap that as you’re hiring a space

Yoga classes. First Aid course. Manicures/pedicures. Seasonal craft activities eg making Christmas hama bead tree decorations, Mother’s Day cards etc. Board games. Maybe offering some advice to the older ones with job/college applications.

Fab I deal thank you xxx I was thinking of getting talks from the anti knife crime initiatives in the local area ....we're in a military/naval/air force area so will look into that too also navy cadets etc to definitely broaden their horizons and educate too xxx

What a good idea ! Id have to find a place locally that would be willing to offer a space to this or just do it in pots etc to get them interested? Thank you xxx

Thank you ! Absolutely fab ideas xxx

I think the age range is far too wide. No 15 year old will want to hang out with 6 year olds.

I work with young people and often ask what they’d like.

They love the bee keeping (obv health and safety) and creative writing.

I don’t know what you have in your area but geocaching could work. Get them out and looking at their environment differently.

Adopt a grandparent from within the local community - all good for community relations, and invite them to tea and cake - all planned and prepared by the kids themselves. Communal litter pick. Cooking, plan a mural and work with local art students to paint it

That is a tremendously wide age group I’d be tempted to segregate that by age if possible something like 6-9 10-12 13+. My kids go to youth group and they play hockey, pizza making, stargazing, campfire and marshmallows, songwriting, basketball. Popcorn and movie. Nature stuff is popular, gather up art materials outdoors sandwich between sheets of acetate. Often people from community will come in and do a chat tied to activity. An artist might do a learn to draw session but anime rather than still life.

My best advice would be work with your larger community so find out who is nice and helpful. Then ask for a little bit of time, people are happier to do a one off.

Age range is too wide.

we have something like that near me. You need to split it into at a minimum primary and secondary.

primary - how much of a hangout vs doing stuff do you want? Social time, games, organised football, the odd speaker, yoga/mindfulness etc.

secondary much trickier.

We are quite lucky but we have a local community organic growing cooperative and a community orchard. I’d think of it as a long term project. They could let you plant something or help set up beds come back later to weed, then picking. Then you make food.

We do something similar for apple day at the orchard . Kids gather up jam jars from home then help pick / juice the apples. It’s given away for donations.

If you do grow in pots peas are often good.

Have a look at the Bradfield Center in Peckham, which does exactly what you’re aiming to. They have their own venue so it’s a bit different, but the aims that you set out made me think of it immediately and I’m sure you could crib from them.

Oh that's so brilliant how nice is that I will look into these kind of projects I've spent the afternoon researching and trying to organise this idea thank you so much for your input xxx

Ok brilliant thank you so much I've spent this afternoon researching and so I will be putting this on my list much appreciated xxx

I just want to say I'm gob smacked at the amount of lovely and very helpful and encouraging responses from you guys ! I appreciate you taking your time to comment and help me ....I will be back to update how it's going after the bank holiday ....I wish all of you a very happy and joy filled Easter thank you so much for all your help and guidance xxxxxx

congratulations on making the decision to support young people :)

There is loads of support available and relevant frameworks. The National Youth Agency has a full curriculum - they also have good practice standards.

Your Local Authority has a statutory duty to ensure youth work in the area - every area is different on how this is run. Some have youth teams, others make grants to the voluntary sector. Others ignore their duty :(

this may mean there’s a lead who would be able to point you in the direction of others in the area with whom you could partner, access training or funding.

Really ? I've been researching all day and looking at the local youth work etc basically all I've found on the council website Is links to local grants for young people to apply for them and disabled young people to apply for grants for higher education...so nothing at all like you have just informed me so thank you so much ....this idea has grown so many legs and very important information has been shared with me which I appreciate very much ....thank you and I will be back with updates xxxx

There is HUGE variety between councils but there is a clear stat duty to not only ensure a youth offer but also to promote it. Since 2010 much of it has disappeared from around 1/3 of councils.

To identify the lead may require some digging - sometimes it sits in children’s services, sometimes in neighbourhoods, sometimes in sport and leisure.

good luck with it all