Summertime...and the living isn't easy

I joined our first junior session of the new school year this week. Some young people came in with their new uniforms, some were excited, others seemed troubled. In our team briefing before the doors opened, John - our session lead - made sure we were all aware of the implications of the first week back at school: how some young people will be glad to be back, while for others it will have been a challenge, or a big change from their summer routine. However they feel, we’re here to listen and support them. 

This was my first summer at The Hive. And if I thought it was busy at other times of year, I hadn’t seen anything yet! We had our holiday club running alongside our normal programme, often with just a 30 minute break in between.  90% of the young people who attended our holiday club – which had more than 600 visits - were young people being supported by the Holiday Activity and Food programme, funded by the Department for Education and supported by Wirral Council and Edsential for vulnerable young people or those on free school meals.  As well as this, half of young people coming to holiday club had an additional need, and one in five were care-experienced. 

We changed the times of our Wednesday junior sessions for four weeks to help families over the summer – making them an hour longer and running them from 1-6pm, offering young people lots of fantastic activities to try for just 50p, in a safe place, with trusted youth workers to talk to when needed. These ‘super sessions’ sometimes welcomed more than 180 young people at a time. 

With help from HAF, we also piloted a bespoke holiday club for young people with SEND – as we know there is a huge gap in this provision in our area. We could have filled the small number of places we could offer many times over, and the response from families was hugely positive.  

Even with our packed programme and extended hours, some young people didn’t want to go home at the end of the day. We took calls from families asking if we could help them out with food. We created afternoon nap spaces for young people whose sleep was disrupted being out of their usual routine, or from being in a challenging home environment more than usual. We had many conversations with social workers looking for trusted spaces where young people could spend time and get support. Our youth work acted as the ‘eyes on’ for young people for whom the six week holiday is less a time of fun and new experiences, and more a time of boredom, hunger and uncertainty. 

Schools and teachers will be feeling the impact of this as they go back: seeing young people who will have struggled, some of whom may have gone ‘holiday hungry’ with the lack of school meals as families suddenly have to stretch a limited food budget a whole lot further. We know that schools will have a surge of safeguarding concerns to deal with, for young people who will have had a particularly challenging time. 

It’s why that ongoing debate about the length of the summer break might be front of mind again this month – particularly as a new report from the ‘Children at the Table’ coalition (of which we’re proud members) shines a spotlight on how many families now have to reach crisis point before they’re able to access any wider support.    

The youth work we do here at The Hive is so much more than a sticking plaster for the challenges of underfunding, more complex social and health problems and rising demand for help for young people and families. Our work is focused on enabling young people to build the lives they want to reach for: to tap into their passion and purpose, and to develop the skills they need to navigate whatever life throws at them, both now and in the future.  

But while we await the new government’s budget and for the various strands of its mission to ‘break down barriers to opportunity’ to take root, our youth work must also continue to play a vital part in the support for Wirral’s young people when they’re not in school – right across the year.  

For some young people, the summer will have flown by. For others, it’s six weeks which are far too long.  Thank goodness we were able to support so many here at The Hive. 

Jayne Wilson is our CEO.