Curiosity Hub making a difference
Helen Murray
Young people who attend Curiosity Hub made a real difference to their community and beyond today by planning and hosting the Waymakers 1st birthday picnic fundraiser/open day. They raised the grand total of £258.50 which will be split between their researched/voted on charities Cambridge Acorn Project and Guide Dogs. Some members of the hub advocated for these in particular because they or people they know have personal connections with them and successfully secured the support of their peers in choosing them. Together, our Curiosity Hubbers very successfully created a really lovely, welcoming event that also made it fun and easy for newcomers to test the water and find out more about Waymakers.
They treated guests to lots of activities including a dance workshop, adopt-a-teddy, hook a duck, temporary tattoos, dance displays, a summer hunt, crossword challenges, a slime and squishy stall as well as karaoke, delicious refreshments and a raffle. Huge thanks for the prizes for the raffle donated by home educating families and also by associates we have worked with this year to offer Deep Dives - some information about some of our generous prize-donators below:
https://www.minifirstaid.co.uk/
https://www.grafham-water-centre.co.uk/
https://coreambitiontutors.com/home-ed-membership
https://www.facebook.com/p/Tithe-Barn-Ceramics-100090776951409/
We loved that the wider community could participate by buying raffle tickets even if they couldn’t attend and a couple of prizes did indeed go to people who couldn’t be there in person and their prizes are being delivered to them by members of the community who know they’ll see them soon! We also received some kind cash donations in recognition of Curiosity Hub’s efforts above and beyond the sale of entry, raffle tickets and tokens to spend at the event.
I was so proud of them all - seeing how they each played their parts not just today but throughout the term dipping in and out of making their contributions to plans for the day while pursuing their other interests, in what I’m delighted to say, has very much become their space at Springstead Community Living Room. Huge congratulations to them all and also to Barry and Kristy who have worked brilliantly together this term to give young people a real sense of ownership and agency, which was very much in evidence today. Thanks also to those who loaned gazebos to help keep us all cool!
It was also a pleasure to have Sarah and Bronwen with us today - Sarah has done a fantastic job of running Tinker Lab this year and was there today sharing a popular stomp rockets engineering activity Tinker Lab had tried and tested earlier in the year. It was also wonderful to be joined by Bronwen who will be supporting Mihal running a new group from September. Lovely to see some Mums, Dads and Grandparents there today too.
There was also a balloon evaluation activity where people could share their thoughts about Curiosity Hub and Waymakers in general or about their experience of today’s event; it was so lovely to read comments like:
“No pointless rules”
“All of it” (what they like about Waymakers)
“You can be yourself”
“We do fun projects like this together”
“A lovely day - so much work to make it fun and informative”
We will be offering a younger version of Curiosity Hub, called Spark Base from September for ages 6-10. A pilot session will take place on 24 August for those who’d like to help co-create it and we’ll be running Tinker Lab (under 6) monthly next year as well as various Deep Dives! We may also be able to offer a limited number of trials for Curiosity Hub (11-16) from September.
