YOUTH PROGRAMS

FRIDAY NIGHT OUTING

On Friday 13^th December 2019, we held our last Friday Night Term outing to Penrith Ice Place where our Youth Team took 32 young people from our 5 different Youth Spaces on a huge, fun joint outing. There was lots of first timers on the ice, trips and falls but above all heaps of laughs and playing tips on the ice.  It has been so awesome to see the friendships young people have built throughout 2019 continue to grow through our joint outings and we can’t wait to have more fun on Friday nights throughout 2020!

WERRINGTON YOUTH SPACE

This year at Werrington Youth Space the centre has seen many new faces. There have been friendships created and many laughs shared. The group have had a good time sharing jokes, competing in games and just hanging out. Handball has been a centre favourite for many months and has encouraged healthy competition with our young people. Prizes were won, rules were disputed, moves were created and laughs were never lacking. Werrington Youth Centre has loved bringing in more kids and is looking forward to continuing this in 2020. What a great year 2019 has been. Thank you to all our young people for making this a reality.

FRIDAY NIGHT YOUTH OUTINGS

Our combined Youth Outings have been incredibly popular amongst our young people throughout 2019. Once a term on a Friday we have been bringing all of our Youth Spaces together for a joint night out. Our Term 2 outing was a trip into the city to see the annual Vivid Light Festival. All 21 young people  had a wonderful time in the city and it was great to see them mixing and mingling with young people from our other Youth Spaces.  We had a lots of fun and are super excited to commence planning for our remaining outings for the year.  

For more information on our youth services  please contact Monique on 9834 2708.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY EVENT

Together with various community organisations, Community Junction assisted in planning this years International Woman’s Day event, which was held at St Marys Memorial Hall on 6^th March.  Corina Norman, an Inspirational speaker spoke about the importance of family and community togetherness creating a balanced society for the better of us all.  This year there was a focus on showcasing our local female youth.  St Marys Senior High graduate Mae Limbaco was invited to speak about her experience as a female from Australian / Filipino heritage and how important the message #Balance for better is for all young women, regardless of age, nationality, background or heritage. Slam poet Nieshanka Nanthakrishnakumar delivered some dynamic self-written poetry articulating the struggle for balance and the judgement often experienced by women. NCNS produced artworks depicting inspirational Aboriginal Women in History and our very own Erskine Park Girls Space performed a strong and hard hitting self-defence demonstration.  It was great to see the energy and passion of all these young women at this years event.

GIRLS SPACE INVOLVEMENT

This years International Women’s Day was an incredible opportunity for our Erskine Park Girls Space Self-Defence group to perform on stage and showcase the skills they had learnt during 2018 with the support from Ann Stirton from Akyu Martial Arts. We had 10 young women perform from both Erskine Park and St Clair High Schools.  All the girls had an awesome day together, have built strong friendships with each other and their confidence shined through the day.

Girls Space - Self Defense Class

Our Term 3 self-defence program ran from Erskine Park Youth Space on a Friday afternoon .😊 Thank you so much to our awesome facilitator Ann Stirton from Akyu Martial Arts facilitating yet another AWESOME self-defense program for young women.

The girls were also graded on our final afternoon by Ann, and received a grading belt and certificate as well. Safe to say all the young women really enjoyed the program, made new friends and finished the term learning something new and feeling more confident within themselves. 

We will be continuing to work with Ann running another FREE “self-defense/ boot camp program come Term 4. 

CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS FOOD AND TOY DRIVE  

During  November and December  we held our annual Christmas Food and  Toy Drive in partnership with St Clair Public School, St Clair Shopping Centre, Erskine Park Children’s Centre and St Vincent  De Paul Society to assist local families in need over Christmas. We received a great response from our local  communities and would like to thank everyone who supported us.

ROCKING AROUND THE PEPPERTREE

Our Rockin' Around the Peppertree Christmas Event at Erskine Park was an overall

success, apart from the hot weather hindering some activities - everyone had a fantastic time. Santa surprised event goers by busting some moves in a dance competition against some of the young people attending, with some walking away with prizes! The night was filled with laughter, good music, fantastic food and Christmas cheer with a real sense of family. Friendships were strengthened and new friendships were made by all who attended.

NORTH ST MARYS Christmas Event

The #NorthStMarysMatters local residents held a free Community Christmas Party that over 150 local residents attended.  The community enjoyed a free BBQ, cooked by the residents, and children enjoyed many free activities.  The jumping castle was a big hit along with the face painting, popcorn and free frozen slushies.  The craft room kept children entertained making Christmas cards .The weather was hot, so at the end of the evening water games were the answer!  Santa arrived,  making children smile as he handed out lolly bags.  Thank you to all those that assisted with the event that made it such a great evening.

ABORIGINAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

The Links to Learning ‘Aboriginal Leadership Program’ has had a successful term with year 7 girls from Chifley College Dunheved Campus. We focused on building their capacity to lead and

mentor within their school and community while learning about Aboriginal culture.

On the 31^St August they had the opportunity to develop skills and learn about their Aboriginal culture by having an outing to Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural Centre. They spent the day learning how to throw a boomerang and exploring the garden learning about different remedies and food that each plant provides. The group also had a culture talk discussing the customs of their Aboriginal culture. They girls enjoyed the day with one saying that ‘they had a really good day’ and another saying ‘they

enjoyed the plant session and learning more about their culture’.