Our Path with a Purpose Programmes and opportunities for children & young people to realise their potential as they grow to HOPE, BELONG, CONTRIBUTE, and THRIVE

These opportunities are geared towards developing each young person’s character while also providing wider real-life context to learnings at home and in the classroom during key life stages.

Two such programmes that launched this year included:

Our Whizz, Bing, Whoosh! YMCA Science Club launched in June 2023 as the first of our new Path with a Purpose programming. Using Science as a catalyst for connection, children get hands-on experiences of learning more about the magic that is all around us. Over the year, as well as a number of children who have never been to YMCA that attended, one boy was part of our nursery, now age 7, and was glad to be back at YMCA again. One mum noted that her daughter really disliked science at school, but was so engaged in the club and very keen to come back.

The Science Club usually reaches capacity monthly with 25 children aged 6 – 11 year olds has some impactful feedback including:

Group of young people in the YMCA Leaders for Life programme
Meal out for Leaders for life participants

“My daughter loved learning about what looked like slime but wasn’t slime and enjoyed making her own to take home. She loves Science since attending here, all she wanted for Christmas was Science experiment kits.”

“My son’s absolutely loves this club; it’s his favourite Saturday of the month. All the staff are wonderful in how they interact with the children.”

YMCA Youth Theatre Club

In February our Youth Theatre Club debuted led by two staff with years of experience in performing arts.  The sessions include games, exercises, activities, and more to help our young actresses and actors flourish both individually and as a group.  The Club is a place where young people (approximately aged 7-14) can grow in confidence, develop teamwork skills, and nurture their creative thinking while in a safe and fun environment and we look forward to seeing it grow over the next year.

YMCA youth theatre club group photo

Learn more about our Path with a Purpose programmes for children or young people in your life, or how you can support this work for the future leaders of our community.

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