Young People - Peckham's Future “We ran a sports day for local youth through Peckham Programme. Sixty turned up. They learned to work as a team and learned about healthy eating. They’re asking when the next one is. It’s not just about keeping that age group safe and motivated and enhancing their education. It’s about turning them into role models for the younger ones and keeping that group out of harm.”
Sandra Russell, Peckham resident
Supporting our young people
At the heart of our regeneration work is supporting and championing our young people from pre-school to adulthood. This includes keeping them safe and healthy and nourishing their aspirations.
Peckham's pre-school children
We realise the importance of good quality childcare to children’s development and to parents’ employment opportunities. We support local community registered childcare for Peckham pre-school aged children.
We have worked with East Peckham Sure Start to provide play equipment for the very young in Brimmington Park and in the newly opened Central Venture Park, which caters for toddlers from 11 months up. Other play areas have been built using Cleaner, Greener, Safer (CGS) money.
Central Venture Park
Central Venture Park is a big new facility for young people. Peckham Programme is now working with local residents to give them a say in the future running of the park to enable the local community gets the best use out of its varied facilities. The first meeting was in February. If you live near the park or you or your family uses the park we welcome your views. In 2006 Peckham Programme also opened Spark at Brimmington with sports areas and coaching for young people.
Youth activities
For the third year running a couple of hundred local hopefuls auditioned to be one of the 22 acts to take the stage at Star Academy – a talent show for 14-17 year olds combined with a media careers fair. Everyone from the BBC to Sky was there to offer information on working in the creative industries to more than 2,000 young people who attended.
 Radio Peckham is continuing its radio training, producing shows and working with young people.
Keeping young people away from crime – as victims and perpetrators – is an important factor in Peckham Programme’s work. Opening new supervised facilities such as Central Venture Park and supporting voluntary youth work are part of the mix.
The Community Education Football Initiative schemes, such as the inter-estate league and the work of Westminster House youth club in Nunhead, which has included a major anti-gang project, are just two of the local youth providers whose projects we support.
 Peckham-based Southwark Tigers cheerleaders won second place in a major competition in Newport, Wales at the end of February. The Tigers beat more than 40 other clubs from across the UK. The group had been struggling to raise funds for two years and approached Peckham Programme.
The £495 of neighbourhood renewal fund money paid for the coach and enabled these young people to put Peckham on the map for all the right reasons. Peckham Programme has also paid for some special costumes for competitions.
Through the community council awarded grants we support one-off youth projects such as summer playschemes and sexual health workshops.
We get local young people involved in anything from planning new sports facilities to running Star Academy through the Peckham Youth Forum.
For more information
Peckham Programme
Tel: 020 7525 1021
getinvolvedinpeckham@southwark.gov.uk
Sumner House
Sumner Road
Peckham
London SE15 5QS |