Press release from City of Wolverhampton Council dated Tuesday 3 October 2023
This year’s Yo! Wolves summer programme was the biggest so far – with thousands of children and young people taking part in a wide range of fun days, sporting activities and holiday clubs across Wolverhampton.
Organised by the City of Wolverhampton Council and funded by the Department for Education (DfE), children, young people and families enjoyed more than 34,000 opportunities, up from 32,000 from the previous year.
Highlights included more than 2,000 hours of free Yo! Summer activities at WV Active, including swimming, swimming lessons, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) swimming sessions, racket sports, Bikeability, athletics and youth gyms.
Other events included drone workshops with School of Coding, the Stages summer school at the Grand Theatre, martial arts with Wolverhampton Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and a summer camp at The Way. One of the providers, Beatsabar Music, was recognised by Department of Education and featured in an online celebration event: https://youtu.be/U6D5_F1KUAs.
More than 500 children and young people with SEND also enjoyed events organised by charities such as Let Us Play which provided a huge range of activities over the holidays for five to 19-year-olds with SEND.
Meanwhile, Voice4Parents, the parent carer support group, received funding from the council for its Summer Short Break Leisure Programme, offering a wide variety of SEND inclusive activities for children and young people with SEND as well as their siblings.
But the fun doesn’t stop there – the Yo! Wolves October half-term programme, funded by council, has been launched this week and offers another huge array of activities at venues across the city from Monday 30 October until Friday 3 November, 2023. To find out more, and to book places, please visit www.yowolves.co.uk.
Councillor Christopher Burden, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said:
“This year’s Yo! Summer Programme brought children and young people of Wolverhampton together through an exciting programme of events throughout the holidays.
“With the support of 40 partners and funding from the council and Department of Education, we certainly delivered a fantastic summer for our young people and it was great to see first-hand so many more people get involved this year and make the most of the opportunities we created.
“We’re really excited to announce our Yo! Wolves October half-term programme – places are limited so please book your activities as soon as you can – and we are busy planning for the Christmas holidays too!”
For full details of events for October half-term go to www.yowolves.co.uk or follow the council on social media at www.twitter.com/wolvescouncil and www.facebook.com/wolverhamptontoday.