Pyxis is committed to supporting young people with their life and social skills, to reduce social isolation and loneliness, and to increase their community cohesion. We primarily work alongside young people with SEND or mental health challenges. One way we do this is by delivering a series of youth clubs aimed at 10-25 year olds in the Canterbury area. We have recently developed a new, smaller scale club for those with a particular interest in STEM and Lego. The concept of this group is to provide a safe environment within which vulnerable young people can engage with each other over a subject they (and we) are passionate about. Whilst we have a small amount of STEM and Lego equipment, it's neither high quality nor stimulating in its complexity to really challenge our young people to work together. We therefore need to buy more high quality equipment to keep them motivated and reaping the benefits from attending the group. This long term investment will support later projects too.

What we'll deliver:

• Purchase authentic Lego Technic equipment.
• Purchase simple, small scale, science experiments.

Why it's a great idea:

We know from research that loneliness negatively impacts individuals long term physical and mental health. This project will directly benefit young people who find themselves isolated, lonely and in need of friendships with similar interests. Group members will be supported by staff and volunteers to engage with their peers, to problems solve and to communicate effectively whilst working together towards a mutual goal. This project will also enable young people to build confidence and self esteem not only in their technical skills, but in their social skills too. Bringing with it a longer term and more generalised benefit to the community as a whole, as these young people feel able to engage with those outside the group. And lets not underestimate that these very young people might be the scientists of the future, who go on to solves many of the challenges we face today. If this project even in a small small contributes to their love of STEM, then it will have been worth it.

Steps to get it done:

• Liasing with group members to identify the equipment they would like.
• Purchase all the equipment
• Have great fun using it with our group!