After School Clubs &
Parents Groups

We know that the school day can seem long, especially if children are not enjoying it very much. This is why our Afterschool Clubs are designed to be a fun, interactive and nurturing option to support those children who may benefit from its approach – educationally, socially, or emotionally.

At The Participation Works, our Afterschool Clubs have been running since 2014, following fantastic support from our friends at Pendle Housing, who funded the project having shared our concern regarding the need for more intensive support for the borough’s children. The area sadly faces multiple issues that impact negatively on our children, and one of them is food poverty. The impact this has on children’s ability to function and progress at school cannot be underestimated. This problem is also addressed via other projects that we offer here at The Participation Works, where we hope to overcome issues within food poverty as a preventative solution.

Improving Young Lives

Our main aim for the Afterschool Clubs project is to provide wraparound educational and nurturing care for the most vulnerable and in-need children. Our desired outcome for this project is that the children we work with can have improved life chances and view their schooling as a positive time in their lives as they grow up within our community.

After such a strong start to the project, we felt there was a definite need to continue to support to our local children, and as a result, our impact reports have enabled further funding to be secured from Pendle Housing, Awards 4 All, Newground Together and the Big Lottery Fund, to allow us to continue this much-needed project on a long-term basis. For this to happen effectively, we are eternally grateful to the support from local organisations including Holy Trinity Church, Park High School and Colne Primet Academy, who all send their staff and students to volunteer with us.

Primet Primary School

We’re proud to be working in close partnership with Primet Primary School in Colne, who currently refer their children to our Afterschool Clubs project. Such children are those identified by the school as those who need extra support due to poverty, vulnerability and social circumstances.

“The Afterschool Club staff are viewed by our children as trusted adults with whom they can form positive relationships. The team provide a range of activities to develop our children's skills in a nurturing and caring environment; a place that ensures our children feel safe, valued and able to have their voice heard. The staff come to know the children extremely well and are able to identify further support, for example, our newly formed Year 6 Transition Club, which was established from a real need identified by the qualified staff in The Participation Works team.”