The Kaleidoscope Club
A wonderful creative club for disadvantaged children and young people.
Each week we hear little footsteps running down our street to get to this colourful, welcoming safe place that they love so much. When they arrive, we aim to have two to three different creative activities for them to choose from, of if they would prefer, they can use the time just to play and be children!
The club runs three times per week after school to offer young people aged 5 to 16 a sanctuary where they can feel safe, supported and encouraged to achieve their potential. These children continue to attend our clubs through the difficult transitions in their childhood and teenage years and we support them individually in every way that we can.
Each week around 60 children and young people access the project, which is offered free to make it truly accessible to all members of the local community. Some of the young people will regularly attend the club for many years throughout their schooling and will continue as volunteers after.
Our wonderful staff and volunteers use a vast array of creative art activities to enable children to develop confidence, tackle wider issues including violence in the home, bullying, crime and gang culture, drugs and alcohol and a sometimes crippling lack of aspiration to change lives.
We also often aim to work with firms and charitable businesses to provide basic supplies to the families, such as non-perishable foods, laundry detergents, and items for hygeine such as toothpaste, bodywash and whatever else we can get.
Our aim with these sessions to to enable it's members to reconnect with school, progress to college at 16, and in many cases, find rewarding and sustainable employment. Its impact is far reaching, as many family members become involved in the club and will subsequently engage with wider activities of the charity.
The Kaleidoscope Club is a warm, happy and welcoming place where children of all ages can be creative, make new friends and be children – in a way that is sadly missing in their often chaotic lives at home and in school. We celebrate the diversity of our membership – the club is a colourful and happy place full of laughter and creativity!