York St John Communities Centre
Children and Young People
Explore the different services we provide to children and young people in our community.
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Community Language School
The Community Language School caters to the language learning needs of children aged 6 to 13 years from migrant, multilingual families as well as those for whom English is currently the only language in use.
In offering these classes, our hope is to enhance children's oral fluency in the languages they are learning, develop their confidence in using languages other than English, and instil a love for languages and heritage cultures where relevant. Classes are run by multilingual volunteers who prepare their classes under the guidance of the School Leads, Dr Indu Vibha Meddegama (Director and Co-Founder of the Community Language School) and Dr Maja Skender-Lizatovic (Co-Founder of the Community Language School and Director of Curriculum Development).
Classes are run on Saturday afternoons for 1 to 2 hours, depending on the number of students. The school year typically runs from September to May with breaks from December to January, and March to April.
To find out more, enrol your child, or volunteer, please visit our Community Language School page below.
For more information, download our Community Language School - Students (PDF, 0.9 MB)
About the Community Language School
Creative Literacies Hub
The Creative Literacies Hub is a completely free service which welcomes parents, carers, and their children, who would like to learn effective ways of approaching reading and creative writing. We provide a comfortable and welcoming environment in which we have 2 programmes you can attend: Supporting Reading at Home, and Creative Writing Together. Our programmes are delivered on Tuesdays from 3.30pm to 5.00pm and last for 6 weeks.
Find out more by downloading our leaflet: Creative Literacies Hub leaflet (PDF, 1.5 MB)
Supportive Reading at Home
This free to access programme welcomes parents, caregivers, and children aged 5 to 11. During these workshops, you'll learn techniques to assist your child in reading a diverse selection of texts. Your child will be involved in the remaining 4 sessions, joining you as you read together.
Dates of 2024 workshops: 22 October, 5 November, 12 November, 19 November, 26 November, 3 December.
Creative Writing Together
These free sessions are available to parents, caregivers, and children between the ages of 7 and 14. Throughout all 6 workshops, you and your child will participate in collaborative creative writing sessions. Across these sessions, you'll explore various settings, characters, and plots, experimenting with different perspectives within your story universe.
Dates of 2025 workshops: 7 January, 14 January, 21 January, 28 January, 4 February, 11 February.
How to enrol
If you are interested in the Creative Literacies Hub, you can self-refer by completing our online self-referral form.
When completing the form please make sure you state the age of your child, and which programme(s) you would like to enrol in. You may sign up to both if you wish.