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A two-year grant to a North Tyneside charity has enabled them to run an affordable after-school ‘Mini Kids Club’ for 5–7-year-olds from the deprived Chirton and Riverside wards. Meadow Well Connected received a £20,000 grant from the Prime Fund and a further £5,278 from the Linden Fund – both at the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland – that covered the salary costs of two Play Workers plus a contribution to food and resources for the children.
The Mini Kids Club was developed in response to requests by parents and carers. Meadow Well Connected offered a club for 8 to 13-year-olds but until a pilot programme was introduced in summer 2021, there was no provision for younger children. The funding allowed them to run Mini Kids for two years (from April 2022 until March 2024), operating four nights a week during term time.
Su Legg, Senior Philanthropy Advisor at the Community Foundation said:
“Meadow Well Connected had been successfully running a valued, affordable after-school club for children for many years and by expanding their reach, they have addressed the lack of provision in the area for younger children. The Mini Kids Club has offered a welcome service for local families, giving young children the opportunity to make friends, try interesting activities and receive a nutritious meal, all whilst helping to alleviate childcare pressure on local families.”
The children attending the Mini Kids Club can partake in a range of activities with Meadow Well Connected having a craft room, play park, computer gaming room, indoor hall and outside play area. Activities are based around developing social skills or literacy and numeracy in a fun and accessible way, providing additional benefits to the young people.
Graham Bone, Delivery & Development Manager, The Meadows said:
“We are really grateful to the Prime Fund and the Linden Fund for enabling us to provide kids club spaces for our mini kids. In the past, we ran a kids club for 8–13-year-olds but could never provide similar opportunities for those of 5–7-year-old, despite demand from the local community. The mini kids have enjoyed a wide range of fun and educational activities here at the Centre, as well enjoying trips out. It’s great we can engage with the younger children from the estate.”
The service benefits the whole family, not just the children attending. It enables parents and carers to take up employment, training or volunteering opportunities that the prohibitive costs of childcare might otherwise have excluded. Not only that, it gives them the opportunity to spend time with other children they might have. In what are often very full households it provides older children with time and space to be on their own and to do homework undisturbed.
There were a total of 70 children that accessed the Mini Kids Club between April 2022 and March 2023. Between April 2023 and March 2024 that had increased to 75.