Every child deserves a great start in life!

However, for many of the children who live in the area surrounding us this isn’t the case, the area ranks in the top 11% (https://acorn.caci.co.uk/downloads/Acorn-User-guide.pdf - ACORN classification Q and R) of most disadvantaged areas in the country, and this has a knock-on effect on children - statistics show that children from disadvantaged families have poorer health, education and economic outcomes.

We want to change this.

Our work is focused on providing opportunities for children and their families, strengthening not just the individual child but the support network around them. This holistic approach breaks down the multi-layered barriers to achievement that children in our community face.

1. Inspiring Children

We want the children in our community to have opportunities to develop academic, social, and physical skills as well as providing a space for fun! School holidays can be a difficult time for low-income families, a lack of childcare or funds to provide enrichment activities means that children’s development can decrease or stagnate.

Our multi-sports camps which run over holidays work with up to 200 children a day, developing healthy habits alongside confidence and social skills. We also provide every child with a healthy home-cooked lunch.

We also provide after-school clubs which focus on sports and reading comprehension, supporting the enrichment of children throughout the year.

2. Developing Young People

As part of our vision to give every child a great start in life, we are committed to developing the young people who come through our holiday and afterschool programs. We have 80 teenagers who have come through our ambassador programme. They are given the chance to gain employability skills through us alongside work and volunteering opportunities. They are involved in helping us run after school activities and holiday programs.

3. Supporting Parents

Holistic family support is key to childhood development, we are keen to foster strong family relationships as well as giving parents a network of local support.

Our parenting workshops help parents form good relationships within their family and teach them the skills to best support their children. 

Kids in the Kitchen gets parents and children in the kitchen together. Each week families  pick up a bag of ingredients for a recipe that is low cost and simple enough for children to make. The programme has been so popular that parents are now contributing their own recipes, sharing and celebrating the cultural richness of our community.

We also work with London Community Boxing Gym to provide free boxing workshops for Mums. This gives them a chance to exercise, building healthy patterns alongside creating networks amongst them and supporting their wellbeing.

4. Creating Community

We firmly believe that a community should be engaged in the welfare of its children, when communities can thrive those that grow up in them can too.

Therefore, each of our programmes seeks to connect those taking part to each other, providing time and space for families to get to know each other alongside the tools to offer support.

Equally our Clubhouse Café engages the community in several ways. Firstly, all of the profit goes back into our work and so allows the community around us to practically support our work. It also offers a chance to raise awareness of what we do, and so creates opportunities for our community to engage.

Finally, it creates job opportunities for those in our community, strengthening it through opportunity.