Projects & Services
Our programmes of support are designed to build insight, confidence and resilience for girls and young women living in or attending school in Lambeth, Lewisham, Croydon and Merton.
If you are interested in referring a girl or young women for any of our projects listed below, please contact the Ashdon Jazz Academy by email ajacademyinfo@gmail.com or telephone 07949 875605
Mentoring
Girls and young women (mentee) can be referred for mentoring with a trusted and supportive adult female (mentor) for up to 12 months. The mentee will spend time with their mentor to identify their needs, desired outcomes and how best to achieve better resilience and self-confidence. The mentee and mentor will meet regularly and have communication outside these sessions (e.g. messaging, video phone calls), Mentors are trained and supervised using the XLP-Mentoring Programme (a nationally accredited scheme).
Mentors are appointed through rigorous recruitment, completion of an Advanced DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service), reference and vetting procedures and completing specialist training. Mentors are required to undergo further training each year, regular supervision (every 3 months), attend monthly mentor network meetings and regular safeguarding training. Mentees meet with their mentor usually twice a month.
Our OG Girls programme supports young women aged 18–25, providing opportunities to stay connected, build friendships, and enjoy new experiences together. The group meets every few months for a range of social and cultural activities. Recently, participants took part in a Trinidadian cooking class delivered by Migrateful, where they learned new culinary skills and explored Caribbean culture. They also enjoyed attending a local theatre performance, creating opportunities for shared experiences, discussion, and community building.
High 5 is a six-session programme delivered in primary schools, designed to support young people’s personal development and wellbeing. Sessions focus on key topics including healthy relationships, self-esteem and confidence, motivation, emotional regulation, and positive decision making. Alongside the learning sessions, participants take part in creative and enjoyable activities such as bracelet making and group challenges, which encourage reflection on the themes explored and help reinforce new skills in a fun and engaging way.
Girls’ Nights (Lambeth and Croydon)
Drop-in sessions of 2 hours weekly on Wednesday evenings at our community hub in Lambeth and a Tuesday evenings in Croydon attended by 8-15 girls/young women. The evenings offers girls a safe and supportive environment where they can meet new people, build positive relationships, and feel encouraged to be themselves. Food and snacks are provided at every session.
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Let’s Go! (Sports and Physical Activities)
This project will continue the delivery of 'Let's Go' for 60 girls and young women aged 11-18 in Lambeth and Croydon, a sports and physical activities project. Taster sports and fitness sessions, a residential trip, fitness and healthy lifestyles guidance are provided.
Holiday Projects (Easter, Summer and Half Term)
The holiday projects are attended by up to 15-20 young women per day and facilitated by our two part-time Outreach Project Workers and CEO. The activities are similar to the weekly drop-in activities, but involve more opportunities for creativity and group visits.
Residential / Connecting With Nature
We are always trying to empower our members to spend more time in nature. We noticed that our young people don't have access and or prolonged amounts of time in rural spaces. This type of limitation affects their ownership and advocacy for these spaces, it also affects their confidence and perception of rural living/ecology. Each year we arrange a residential (sometimes two) to London Youth’s facilities on the edge of London, to take part in a variety of outdoor activities.
Stronger Minds Stronger
Minds is a mental health resilience programme delivered for Year 7-10 students in designated Lambeth schools. The programme built around evidence-based theories and techniques to help young people gain protective factors to manage complex thoughts and feelings, focus on goals and pursue healthy relationships in real life and online. It’s informed by local knowledge of specific issues facing many of the young people in Lambeth.
Starprise (Extra Tuition in Maths and English)
Started in August 2024, we use an education provider who specialises in tutoring. We are able to nominate 15 girls a year in Years 8-10 living in Lambeth to receive extra help with Maths and English. The aim of Starprise is to increase the girls’ academic skills and their confidence, engagement and enjoyment in learning.
podcasts
We had someone come in to help us learn how to make podcasts. It was a very good experience. The girls were able to talk about whatever they wanted to, just to get a feel of the recording process.
VISION BOARDS
We really enjoyed making our vision boards. We printed out lots of photos and resources to make and put them together thinking about our aspirations and goals for the 2023.
garden of treats
The Garden of Treats was done in the summer holidays of 2022. We were able to take a class on how to do acrylic nail extensions. It was ideal for the girls because a lot of us already love getting our nails done, so we found it helpful to gain skills to learn how to do ourselves.
PERFUME MAKING
Perfume making was also done in summer holidays 2022 - We had someone come in with a lot of different essential oils, and the we were able to mix and match which ones we liked to make our own unique formula, writing down how many drops of essential oils we used, to create our own unique receipe.
