Life Youth Hub Wirral
Life Youth Hub Wirral offer a drop-in cafe three days a week, where young people from 4 local secondary schools can come to a safe space to play games, have a snack and chat to Youth Workers.
Over five years they have developed great relationships with the schools and the local police. The Youth Hub currently have 190 young people on their books and regularly get 30 attending sessions.
The Youth Hub also visit schools to offer 1:1 mentoring with some of the most vulnerable young people.
2023 Report
After School Drop-in Sessions
Our term time drop-in sessions run Wednesday to Friday 3 till 5 pm. This year we have seen the numbers of young people engaged grow steadily. We currently regularly get 30 to 40 young people at each session. We have on our register, nearly two hundred 11 to 16 year olds from 5 different secondary schools. The team comprises of three staff members and a handful of regular DBS checked volunteer
Cafe
Food continues to be a key part of our sessions, We offer free snacks including; toast, toasted sandwiches, cookies, hot chocolate and fresh fruit. We also make our ever popular Oreo milkshakes and have a reduced price tuck shop. Some of the young people enjoy helping to prepare the snacks.
Games
Our young people value the ‘safe space’ we offer, some opting to meet up with their friends or take advantage of the chance of a quiet chat with one of our team. However many actively participate in a lively game of FIFA, pool or table tennis.
School Mentoring
This year we have continued to strengthen our links with our local secondary schools and feeder primary schools. In addition to our longstanding relationship with Bebington High, we have been able to restart our work with St John Plessington Catholic College. Our key workers offer 1:1 mentoring to both boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 16. This year we have supported approximately 75 students.
Holiday Drop-in Sessions
Whilst our regular Hub sessions run in term time only, we have once again been able to offer our holiday club (Christmas, Easter and summer) providing a hot nutritious lunch for young people from our local area. Our hub building is located adjacent to two neighborhoods recorded as being in the top 10% of deprivation in the UK.
Special Activities
This year we have launched some additional activities. Our cooking skills sessions have proved very popular and some of our young people have enjoyed engaging with craft activities. These activities enable us to encourage and target informal support to their mental health needs.
Transition Sessions
An important part of our work is partnering with our feeder primary schools as they support the transition to secondary school. In the summer term we ran taster sessions for two schools to introduce Year 6 pupils to what we offer at the hub. We also led transition Q and As in the classroom building relationships with young people before September.
www.lifeyouthhub.co.uk
