Yipworld was set up two years ago in a former nursery school building in Cumnock with money from the East Ayrshire Social Inclusion Partnership. The initial scheme was to set up an internet cafe for young people. Project manager Janice Hendry also bid successfully for 50,000 New Opportunities Fund cash to set up before-and after-school care. The centre now caters for between 1,000 and 1,500 young people every week, offering services to meet the needs and interests of older primary school children and across the senior school age range.
Ms Hendry says, 'We have 12 computers, all with free access to the internet, a large television with Sky TV, and Dreamcast and Playstation games consoles. We have a pool room with a jukebox, which has a 1960s or 1970s retro feel. We run a sexual health clinic every fortnight and a nurse comes along once a week during the drop-in times for senior school children, which start at 6.15pm, after the after-school club has finished.
'We're also developing a cafe and we've secured backing from Children in Need for a creche which will offer support to mothers with post-natal depression. We've also submitted a bid to the Scottish Arts Council for a full recording studio and will hear whether we've been successful in March. We'd also like to develop the outdoor facilities for activities like roller hockey and have a really good playground.'
Ms Hendry believes Yipworld's staff have had a crucial role to play in the centre's success. Their areas of expertise cover health, social care, community work and outdoors activities. More than half the staff are male, with one from an ex-army background who specialises in sport.
Both the Kids' Club Network and the Daycare Trust have recently highlighted the lack of out-of-school facilities for children aged over ten. The Kids' Clubs Network held a conference in December at which one presentation outlined what young people themselves wanted: a bright and colourful centre with an IT room and lots of interesting activities on offer, where they would be left to their own devices but would have access to support and supervision.
There are currently only around 300 to 500 out-of-school clubs for ten-to 14-year-olds in England, and very few in Scotland, according to the Scottish Out-of-School Care Network. SOSCN chief executive Irene Audain said that out-of-school providers needed to acknowledge the maturity of older primary school children, perhaps giving them more freedom about going home or to planned sports or activities by themselves, with their parents' agreement. She added, 'Services for secondary school children should be attractive to them or they will vote with their feet and not attend. If the activities on offer, like those provided by yipworld, are decided by the young people themselves, who are additionally given some say in everything that happens, they will choose to stay.'
