Young people

What is it?

Medway Council provides resources for young people aged between 11 and 25 years through its Youth Service. The principal aim of the service is to provide options to all young people who want to enjoy activities in a safe and friendly environment.

The wide age range requires specialist and targeted work, mostly in the evenings or holiday periods. Weekend and daytime provision is also available.

The core age group is 13-19 years and through youth centre and project programmes, there are many activities that can be catered for. Youth work is supported in many ways, working closely with voluntary organisations and wide range of statutory services that provide support for young people.

Whatever the service does and wherever it does it, the most important criterion is to ensure that all who participate have fun in an informal education environment.

What it does

All young people want to identify a place that they can call their own. Some are happy to remain at home, while others prefer meeting in open spaces and many enjoy the warmth of a youth centre. It is difficult to meet everybody’s needs but every young person matters. The service makes an effort to provide something for everyone. This may be through sport, creative art, information, music or dance. Regardless of cultural background, there is something to suit all tastes.

The most important factor is to help young people take ownership of their environment and to help them take on roles of responsibility. This could include representing members on the management committee, organising trips or activities or simply ensuring their voice is heard. Ultimately, the objective of everything the service does is to recognise the achievements of young people.

How it does it

The Youth Service provides access to general and specialist activities to suit the needs of young people. This can be trips to places of interest, events or activities, all supervised by qualified staff. There are a range of different services that can be accessed at youth centres or by using one of the organisations the service has links with.

^ (back to top)