Ceredigion Youth Service

What is the youth service?

The Youth Service in Wales refers to the framework by which youth work is delivered and is mainly done through the local authority, national and local voluntary youth organisations, with both sectors often working closely together. Youth work forms part of wider Youth Support Services, which local authorities must provide for young people in their area under Sections 123 to 129 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 on the Legislation website.

Youth work involves the education and development, both social and personal, of young people aged between 11 and 25 years and is delivered in a variety of settings including youth clubs, residential settings, in information, advice and counselling centres, on the streets and in various public locations where young people meet and through special issue-based projects etc. (Youth Service - WLGA).

Our vision:

“The youth service is a robust service committed to supporting young people’s personal, social and educational development through specialised support and open access provision, to encourage all young people to reach their fullest potential to make informed choices to lead meaningful lives.”

Who do we work with?

As a service, we work with a range of partner services and organisation in Ceredigion, across the region and nationally to provide universal activities for young people aged 11-25. We have a team of youth workers, youth support workers, coordinators and other positions that deliver provision to young people and their families. We also provide more targeted support where it is needed.

The Support Pathways team is the gateway for all referrals and enquiries into the service whether they are received from Clic, triaged by Porth Gofal or directly to. The Pathways team sits within the youth service and provides direct support to each service within Porth Cymorth Cynnar to identify, allocate, monitor and evaluate interventions or support.

For more information on the Through-age model and Porth Cymorth Cynnar please visit our Wellbeing and Care section.

Where and when do we work?

The youth service works in a lot of different ways. We have full-time school-based and community-based youth workers. Below is a breakdown of our youth work offer in Ceredigion:

Early individual and group-based support	Universal provision	Targeted and needs-led interventions	Participation, rights and information
Emotional, social, mental and physical wellbeing courses Personal and social development projects Accredited learning Goal setting Thematic campaigns, initiatives and enterprises Online provision Life skills	Youth clubs and after-school programmes Evening, weekend and school holiday programmes Sport and outdoor adventure Health and wellbeing projects Drop-in and pop-up activities Day trips and residential experiences	Outreach, detached and mobile activities Structured thematic projects Preventative and diversionary provisions Harm reduction/awareness raising Nurture and enrichment programmes Arts and crafts programmes	PSHE/thematic workshops and campaigns UNCRC awareness Youth Council and youth forums Volunteering Citizenship Celebration events Digital engagement Youth exchanges Events and fun days

Educative

Universal and targeted support and provision that is formed through engagement with young people and aims to improve their individual and group emotional, mental, physical and social wellbeing through informal, non-formal, and more structured learning experiences.

Inclusive

Safe, place-based spaces and activities including digital spaces, where all young people no matter their background or personal context can have fun, feel welcome and valued, have meaningful relationships with trusted adults that can bridge them where they are in their communities to services that should be easily accessible and help them and peers to feel connected to their community.

Participative

Structures that promote young people’s rights and enables them to access a range of information and activities based on what they need or want, and to share in decision making on matters affecting them including the reviewing of services and assessing standards.

Empowering

Pathways to experience citizenship, inter-cultural learning, mobility/ exchanges, and linguistic opportunities that supports all young people to learn and celebrate achievements, diversity, in all its forms and develop a strong sense of identity with their community, their country and the world.

Expressive

Opportunities to gain experience and develop through broad informal educational settings and access to a youth work curriculum, based on the Principles and Purposes of Youth Work.

Why is our work needed?

Youth Work in Wales is enshrined on a sector-led five pillars approach that offers opportunities for learning that are: empowering, educative, expressive, participative and inclusive. The Youth Work in Wales Principles and Purposes is a document that has been written for young people, those already involved in youth work organisations as well as those wishing to find out more about the kinds of experience youth work organisations can provide.

Legislating for a new framework for youth services in Wales is a Programme for Government commitment. This addresses a recommendation made by the Interim Youth Work Board in its final report, which called for action from the Welsh Government to address what it perceived as a weak legislative basis for youth work.

Every young person in Ceredigion aged 11-25 should have easy access through the medium of Welsh and English, to fundamental youth work provision, based on their needs and wants. In Ceredigion, we are committed to support young people’s development through a range of opportunities and activities, that are develop and delivered in collaboration with partners.

A Five-Year Snapshot

Since 2019, we have:

Supported over 1000 young people in schools and community settings
Welcomed more than 1500 young people to our youth clubs
Organised more than 150 trips and activity days
Supported 450 young people into education, employment and training
Helped more than 5000 young people to take part in annual ‘Rhoi Dy Farn’ campaigns
Embedded restorative approaches, trauma recovery and positive behaviour training throughout the service and partner services
Supported more than 50 members of staff and partners to achieve level 2 and 3 youth support worker and youth worker qualifications
Supported 125 young people to join the Youth Council with representation from each secondary school, PRU, Coleg Ceredigion, Aberystwyth Community Ambassadors, URDD, GOATS Youth Hub, Elected Home Education, Talybont Youth Club and Ceredigion Youth Service
Supported elected United Kingdom Member of Youth Parliament for the past 10 years
Delivered more than 150 different targeted projects to support specific themes
Supported six voluntary youth organisations with annual partnership agreements and wider access to resources, equipment, training and joint initiatives