Launching…. Salusbury Primary After-school Club
In the summer of 2021, DFY ran its first summer camp with 50 children at Salusbury Primary School in Brent. It was so successful that Salusbury Primary School rolled out DFY services for most of the sports-related after-school clubs.
Across the school more than 100 children from reception to year group 6 can take part in 5 unique sport clubs: Dance, Taekwondo, Gymnastics, Basketball, and Ballet. Over 20% of these children come from financially disadvantaged backgrounds and will attend free of charge. Statistics like these also aid us in identifying those children who need extra mentorship support, ensuring equality of access and understanding across all lessons.
We are delighted to expand our partnership with Salusbury Primary – being valued and trusted by this community is a huge honour and an exciting chance to put our words into action. This collaboration also brings new developments for DFY, as we introduce new sports to our roster and bring on 4 new coaches, who work with us across all schools.
Our newest sport is Taekwondo, which our coaches have carefully tailored to be accessible for reception through to year 6. Treating strength of the mind as equal to that of the body, this Korean Martial Art allows children to channel tough emotions through safe and thoughtful action.
Children from lower income households take on an emotional burden as well as an economic one, thus, Taekwondo is a perfect fit for DFY’s mission; we not only provide free sport services but utilise them to give children the emotional tools to make a positive impact in their own lives.
We are also widening our impact through our dance club; these classes explore a vast array of dance styles and techniques including both choreographed and formless. Dance is often stigmatised by its association with femininity, resulting in boys excluding themselves from involvement. Our dance classes work towards overcoming these gender stereotypes by giving students creative freedom, developing musicality, and promoting the pure joy of movement.
Our Ballet classes similarly offer a space for absolutely everyone to explore and learn. A unique dance style with its own vocabulary and traditions, ballet is built upon creative storytelling, and offers every child a chance to shine.
The opportunity to work and perform independently is additionally present in Gymnastics which, along with Dance, is already experiencing high demand. Students are taught the full scope of floor techniques through engaging lessons that encourage strength, respect, and coordination.
Contrastingly, Basketball club offers direct teamwork, allowing children to develop their own skills as part of a unit and work positively towards something bigger than themselves.
The launch of after-school clubs at Salusbury Primary represents another huge milestone for DFY - we are so thankful to be given the opportunity to make a positive impact in the lives of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Of course, this is only the beginning. We are always looking to extend and diversify our work – by working with more schools, including reception aged children, and bringing in one to one mentorship for extra support.
As we look towards the end of the year, it is truly incredible to see our mission statement come to life in the lives of the children we work with – helping them become ambitious, confident and completely unstoppable. Bring on next year!