This month, we’re turning the spotlight towards a relatively new CRM charity client – Rose Hill Junior Youth Club. It’s a special month for the charity as it celebrates its 10th Anniversary, so this is a great time to look back at all their amazing achievements and look ahead to exciting plans for the future.
Rose Hill in Oxford is one of the most deprived neighbourhoods nationally for child poverty. These disadvantages mean that children are often excluded from many activities that their peers enjoy, as evidenced in the large gap in Oxfordshire’s educational attainment. Junior Youth Club (JYC) provides open access youth clubs for all children in the community and have also focused on providing additional support to children whose lives are marred by poverty and marginalisation. These children may be carers, refugees, be experiencing poor mental health, effected by grief, be struggling with mainstream education and often stressful home lives.
We asked Aimee Winkfield and Fran Gardner from the charity to tell us how the JYC really makes a difference to the children and young people of Rose Hill.
Aimee told use how they have adapted services recently: “Our work includes after school clubs, in-school work, mentoring young people and arranging trips and visits that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to enjoy. Although the after school clubs had to stop during the pandemic, we arranged for our youth workers and mentors to take a walk or meet outside with individual children and young people to help them cope with the difficult, extra challenges that 2020 brought.
“During the pandemic, we had to adapt our support for the children and young people as we couldn’t gather together as a large group. We managed to access additional Covid-related funding to be able to tackle mental and physical health issues, safeguarding and access/attainment in education for the children.
“We supported around 70 families with a weekly food bank and provided take-away lunches for children during the school holidays. We also delivered weekly activity packs to help children to play, learn and manage anxiety.”
Fran told us about the future for the JYC: “An exciting development for 2021 is that we now have an allotment that small groups of children can enjoy, planting and growing vegetables and meeting their friends and mentors. This spring, we are building a secure outdoor covered space to extend the activities we can offer at the allotment.
“We are really looking forward to being able to return to our regular services, but we are developing our safe online space for 1-2-1 guidance and support for the children and young people. We will also continue with our vital face-to-face mentoring outdoors.
“The children from Rose Hill often start out with very little self-esteem and confidence so we will continue to engage them in creative, informal learning through play, art, music, gardening, cooking, DIY and sport to build their self-confidence, increase their social interaction and encourage their engagement in education.
“In 2021, we are very keen to develop relationships with new donors, both individuals and companies as part of a corporate social responsibility programme. We want to build strong partnerships and show that we offer so much more to the community than ‘just a youth club’. If anyone would like to receive a quarterly newsletter and find out more about our essential work, please email Fran.Gardner@greensquaregroup.com.”
CRM was recommended to Rose Hill Junior Youth Club when the charity was in need of some digital accountancy training and corporation tax advice. With its long-held track record of supporting local charities with their accounts and grant applications, CRM was the perfect fit for the JYC. Roger Allum, CRM’s charity specialist is working with the JYC as it embarks on a new chapter and all at CRM wish the charity a very Happy 10th Anniversary!
For more details on the support CRM offers charity clients, call the team on 01865 379272 or visit www.crmoxford.co.uk
