Youth SERVICE Written by Gisela · 13th Oct · Youth mental health is getting worse in the UK. One in four young people aged 16 to 24 now struggle with a common mental health disorder, and young women are affected most. Here's what the latest research says, and what helps....
EmpowerHER Summer Programme 2026: how girls spent their summer
Youth Service Written by Gisela· 7th Sept · This summer, the girls at Baytree had three weeks packed with adventure, creativity and new experiences. It was made possible by our EmpowerHER Champions for Children campaign, which raised over £29,000 to fund the whole programme. A week away, and a wall...
Youth unemployment: why it’s a confidence gap, not a skills gap
Youth SERVICE Written by Gisela · 7th Sept · Youth unemployment in the UK has passed one million. Two thirds of NEET young people say school didn't prepare them for work. Here's what they said actually matters, and how Baytree is responding. Nearly one million young people in the UK,...
Arrive and Thrive: supporting newly arrived girls without a school place
Youth service Written by Gisela · 01 September 2026 · Some newly arrived girls wait months for a school place. This is what happens in the meantime. New shoes, blazers bought a size too big, first day photographs on the doorstep. Today, most children in the country went back to...
Youth Leadership at Baytree
Youth Service Written by Heritage, edited by Gisela· 12 August 2026 · It is International Youth Day, and this year's theme is Different Contexts, Common Aspirations. Our Youth Council spent the summer showing what real youth leadership looks like. The girls who come through our doors arrive from very different...
EmpowerHER Summer Programme: Sahara’s Experience
Hi, my name is Sahara and I’ve been coming to Baytree for about six years now. My favourite part about being in the EmpowerHER Summer Programme last year was when we went to roller disco. Roller-skating was a new thing that I learnt to do during the programme and now...
Exam and Revision Stress
As exam season approaches, it’s completely normal to feel the pressure building. For many young people, exams can feel overwhelming, and stress can affect sleep, confidence and overall wellbeing. But it’s important to remember that you are not alone — exam stress is something many students experience. Exams can feel...
Empowering Women and Girls to Dream and to Achieve
For many women and girls, dreaming feels like a luxury they cannot afford. The size of our aspirations is often shaped by the world around us; and when that world is full of barriers, dreams can shrink to fit. The girl who longs to become a doctor but cannot access...
Parental Engagement Matters: Navigating Motherhood
Parenting doesn't come with a manual - but Baytree is here to help! The hit Netflix series Adolescence has spotlighted the real-world challenges young people face today—identity, belonging, and the pressures of growing up. Central to navigating these challenges is the role parents play. Families today juggle busy lives, yet...
New Year, New Vision: Empowering Young Women through Mentorship and Personal Growth at Baytree
New Year, New Vision! 🌟 As we welcome the New Year, it's the perfect time to set intentions and visualise the future we want to create. At Baytree, we embrace this season of renewal and reflection as an opportunity to inspire personal growth and empower young women to reach their...
From Theatre to Nature: Summer Adventures for 140 Girls at The Baytree Centre
When we kicked off our Big Give Campaign this year, we aimed to raise enough funds to provide a memorable summer for 100 girls. Thanks to your incredible generosity and the £15,000 raised, we exceeded our goal, reaching 140 girls with a diverse and exciting range of summer activities! From...
The Power of Mentorship: How Coaching Transforms Lives from the Olympics to Baytree
Did you know that Olympic medallist Jordan Chiles almost never made it to the Paris Olympics at all? In 2018, the American artistic gymnast almost decided to walk away from gymnastics after she was excluded from the national team selections and faced a sport with a historic lack of diversity...
EmpowerHer Summer
DONATE HERE! We are thrilled to report that we are participating in the Summer Give “Champions For Children Campaign” supported by The Childhood Trust. We aim to raise £15,000 in just two weeks from June 4th to June 18th! These funds will be used to support our EmpowerHer Summer programme,...
Celebrating Women Around the Globe
Celebrating Women Around the Globe As we approach International Women's Day next month, it's the perfect time to celebrate the achievements and contributions of women from all walks of life. In honour of this occasion, let's take a moment to recognise some of our favourite female authors and podcasts that...
Join us in Celebration on the 27th of October [Black History Month]
![DSC 8405 scaled e1698156687549 Join us in Celebration on the 27th of October [Black History Month]](https://baytreecentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DSC_8405-scaled-e1698156687549-1170x650.jpg)
In celebration of Black History Month, we have an extra special event lined up! Join us on the 27th of October from 4-6PM for an evening of empowering discussions, led by our incredible Spark girls. A panel of 5 inspirational women from diverse backgrounds and careers will share their journeys...
Migrant girls in the UK are missing out on education
Sarah, a teenage girl from Eastern Europe, has been in the UK for nine months. Although she has the same right to education as any child born in the UK, she has not been able to go to school. “I hope I can get it in September,”...
Into School Programme Launch
The Baytree Centre opened its doors in 1992, providing skill-based courses to women in Brixton, London. Today, we work with over 800 women and girls every year, addressing issues such as poor housing conditions, homelessness, trauma, and lack of language and other essential skills that hinder their ability to thrive....
Big Christmas Give campaign 2022
Baytree is once again taking part in the Big Christmas Give, the UK's largest match funding campaign. The campaign starts next Tuesday 29th November at 12 midday running through to midday on Tuesday 6th December 2022. This year we aim to raise £25,000! Every donation we receive will be doubled so we are garnering all the support we can...
International Youth Day 2022
International Youth Day was established by the United Nations on 12 August 2000 to draw attention to issues facing the youth such as poverty, mental health and education. It was also created to recognise and encourage the contributions that young people make in our communities, education, non-profit organisations and politics....
Hello Spring!
The change in season has brought along brighter days and new Baytree updates. We're excited to announce that the Centre is now open Monday to Thursday 10am to 6pm and activities will resume in person from 26th April!Women's Service The Women's Service ESOL classes have started again and will remain remote until half term....
Building Young Brixton – working together to inspire and empower
What is BYB? Baytree is a proud member of Building Young Brixton - a partnership of Lambeth-based youth organisations, working together to inspire and empower young people in Brixton to build the lives that they want. Since being founded in 2017, our aim has always been to grow together with...
An update from the Baytree Centre
In light of lockdown 3.0, we are making some changes to our services. All Women's Service activities are moving online again. This includes all ESOL sessions, coaching sessions and workshops. Our Youth Service is still in the process of reviewing our provision in line with the guidance from the National...
Red:GLOW – building young women’s leadership skills
What is Red:GLOW Baytree, together with local partners in the UK, Spain, Slovenia, Poland, Latvia and Italy has been working on the development of Red:GLOW; a project that, for the last two years, has promoted active citizenship and supported around 1,000 young women from disadvantaged backgrounds to build the skills...
Young girl writes book and raises £3,417 for Baytree
A mother and daughter raised £3,417 for the Baytree Centre after writing and selling their own book. During lockdown, 7-year-old Anouska started to write a story as part of her English home school work. Her mum, Sarah, thought it was so good that together they continued to write the story...
Interested in data analytics? TrueCue are hosting a hackathon to encourage more women into tech
We've partnered with TrueCue who are running a Women in Data Hackathon as part of their campaign to provide information, advice and up-skilling opportunities for women and to encourage them to seek a career in tech. Although the tech industry is a hub of innovation, it lags behind in terms...
Summer 2020 at Baytree
This summer might've been a little bit different than what we were used to, but we still enjoyed a jam-packed schedule that made summer 2020 a memorable one, whether we were at the centre or taking part virtually. Our family and women's sessions took place mostly over Zoom. From crafts...
Volunteer Spotlight: Meet Maddie
Baytree's work cannot be done with out the support of our amazing volunteers. Meet Maddie, who for the past 13 months...
Find out more about how we have been remotely supporting our women and girls since lockdown.
With a global pandemic in full swing and national lockdown restrictions in place, life as it is has become challenging for everyone. However, for many of the women and girls Baytree supports, the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak has amplified existing challenges and support needs. Lockdown has caused a soar...
International Women’s Day 2020
International Women’s Day is always a special event for everyone at Baytree. Each year, we like to do something a little different to celebrate the achievements and solidarity of women and girls everywhere. This year was no exception, with plenty of fun, varied, inspirational activities to take part in. On...
Spring Half Term at Baytree
With sports, community work and leadership training all getting a look in, half term was packed full of fun activities for the girls at the Baytree Centre. The week kicked off on the 17th February at Pop Brixton, where for two days, our Spark girls took part in a work...
Into School Coordinator & Tutor (Maternity Cover)
Coordinator and tutor needed for ESOL and integration programme for young migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
Baytree’s Spark girls are taking up space
Spark, Baytree's leadership focused youth club, has teamed up with Taking Up Space, a female led not-for-profit design agency on a mission to design a better world for all women. Taking up Space is running a two month project called Information Exchange with the girls looking at how we can...
Sparking Change Conference
In the UK today there are more women in employment than ever before. There are more women pursuing higher education than their male counterparts and female youth employment is on the rise. And yet, women are still underpaid and underrepresented. As of April 2019 it was reported that 78% of...
Social Action Week
At Baytree we don't stop organising meaningful activities for our volunteers and beneficiaries, our Social Action Week wasn't the exception. Both the Women and Youth Services contributed to generate social awareness and organised different activities to raise money for two local charities. In the Youth Service mentors and mentees were...
Refugee Week at Baytree
June saw Refugee Week being celebrated across the UK as well as Baytree. Refugee Week is a UK-wide programme of arts, cultural and educational events and activities that celebrates the contribution of refugees to the UK and promotes better understanding of why people seek sanctuary. In celebration of Refugee Week,...
Baytree secures grant from Berkeley Foundation to improve access to employment for young women in our community.
Young people aged 16-24 face the highest levels of unemployment in Britain – and more young women are affected than young men. Baytree together with High Trees CDT and @spiralskills have secured funding from the @berkeleyfoundation 's latest grant programme, Empowering Young Women into Work, to improve access to...
Cleaning up the Spring Term!
Happy Easter from all of the staff and team at Baytree! What a gorgeous weekend we just had with lovely sunshine and promising weather for the next few months to come. This week, whilst preparing for the Summer term, we have been reflecting on all the wonderful things that the...
Baytree Zine Pilot: Courage
We are pleased to announce the release of our pilot and first Baytree Zine! This is an online self publication made by the girls of Baytree aged 11+ and explores the theme of courage, one of the five virtues that we celebrate across the centre. Each of the girls who...
Building Young Brixton secures £850,000 from the Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund
Building Young Brixton, a consortium of six Lambeth based charities and social enterprises, has successfully secured over £850,000 from the Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund. This money, paid over three years, will see 10,500 hours of support and programmes delivered to over 1,000 young people. Competing across London with Councils, national...
Christmas Challenge 2018
Your donation doubled this Christmas!
From Brixton to Barcelona!
What a beautiful autumn we have had so far! Although the days are drawing shorter, we have had glorious sunshine and blue skies much like our trip to Barcelona with the Baytree girls in July of this year. As the year closes to an end, it feels like a perfect time to...
Our very own Baytree cupcake!
We have very exciting news! We have recently been chosen as the charity of the month at Ms Cupcake, a local vegan bakery in Brixton. During our charity partnership with Ms Cupcake this September, they will be selling our very own Baytree Cupcakes! Not only this, but the cupcakes are...
Summer 2018
Summer has come and gone at Baytree and what a summer it has been
End of year award ceremony at Baytree!
The summer holidays are officially here and with them came our annual end of year award ceremony last Tuesday 17th July! The awards recognised the girls who have worked extremely hard over the past year and who have made outstanding contributions to the Baytree community. While every girl has shown...
Refugee Week Party 2018
In celebration of refugee week, Baytree organised a centre wide day of festivities on Thursday 21stof June. The celebration included a wide range of activities for all the girls and women at Baytree, all focusing on migration, a theme close to the heart of all that attend the centre. The...
Baytree Passes Matrix Assessment with Flying Colours!
Matrix praises Baytree for it's “expertise, integrity and confidence”
Reframing the Muse – Baytree Centre x Dulwich Picture Gallery
‘Reframing the Muse’ a collaboration between Baytree’s Into School and isolated elderly women to
Baytree’s interview with London Community Foundation in light of the #1DayWithoutUs campaign
At Baytree we value the contribution each and every migrant makes to our community. Check out our interview with London Community Foundation as part of the #1DayWithoutUs campaign to read more about why we think immigration is something that needs to be celebrated.
Mother and Daughter Saturday Cookery Class
You often think of the kitchen as an unremarkable stop along the journey towards a delicious meal. However, it in fact functions as a space for family engagement and growth. Lessons are passed on between generations of cooks everywhere. Top tips and techniques are the unspoken ingredients between the lines...
Christmas Fun and Games at Baytree
On the last day of term, Baytree held a Christmas party for the girls at the centre. There was a mountain of food including specialities from around the world, kindly provided by regulars at the centre, as well as traditional Christmas party food. A coffee pop up set up by...
We Need You!
We need you. Vote for Baytree to receive £10,000 from the Aviva Community Fund.
Wellbeing Week
Emotional health is just as important as your physical health and volunteers and girls came together to learn new skills on coping with negative emotions
Baytree Summer 2017
Summer's finally here and we can't wait! We've got some awesome things planned at Baytree.
Baytree Celebrates Refugee Week
On 20th June the Baytree girls celebrated Refugee Week with a family focused afternoon of food and fun. We learnt some capoeira with one of our PEACH mums Macarena, took a trip to the highlands with some Scottish dancing lead by Eileen and hunted for gold coins with our themed...
Spark’s pitch to help the homeless
The next stage in our City Leaders project (read more here) is the Community Stage – in which the Spark girls will deliver an ambitious plan to help a section of their wider community, going beyond Baytree to put what they’ve learned so far into action. They intend, over the...
Double the Summer Fun!
It’s that time of year again! Summer is coming, and once again, Baytree is participating in the Summer Give which means when you donate to Baytree between 15 May – 19 May, your contribution will be DOUBLED! Over 60 young women and girls will participate in engaging summer activities and...
Protecting Children and Young People
Together, we can tackle child abuse
The Lido Cafe is supporting us with their Superfood Bowl #foodforchange
We are so exited that our friends at The Lido Cafe are supporting Baytree with their new Superfood Bowl! 50p of each dish sold will go towards our girls and women so get down to Brockwell Park and try this super yummy yet and super healthy dish. It's delicious -...
We’re excited to be part of The xx’s Night + Day Brixton Festival
We are incredibly delighted and humbled to have been chosen as one of seven local charities the band The xx will be supporting as part of their ‘Night + Day Brixton’ series which takes place from March 8th to 15th. We are also very excited that our very own Olive Ahmed will...
Spark’s trip to the Royal Opera House
The Spark girls - those on our development programme for young people aged 13+ - recently took a trip to see the opera 'La Traviata' at the Royal Opera House. We have been looking at different ways of communicating emotion, and this was certainly a very dramatic mode! By contrast...
Into School’s trip to the Institute of Contemporary Arts and National Gallery
On Friday 3rd February the Into School girls went on a trip to the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and the National Gallery. They saw a variety of art work- from the interdisciplinary, emotive work of Sonia Boyce and Helen Johnson's striking, culturally-engaged paintings at the ICA, to the historic pieces in the National Gallery. The girls were each given...
Baytree Christmas Party
On the last day of term, we had a party to celebrate Christmas and the end of a successful year. We had a wonderful time making Christmas decorations, singing carols and enjoying lots of food. A surprise visit from Mrs Claus truly made our day and everyone from the one...
Into School take part in Creative Clay Workshop at Gasworks
On Sunday 11th December four of our Into School girls took part in the first Creative Clay workshop at Gasworks, led by Collective Matter. Their Tate Exchange project involves creating buildings and objects out of clay, with the intention of developing a cityscape. The project is inclusive for many members...
If I could tell you just one thing…
Proceeds from Richard Reed's new advice book will go towards supporting Baytree and four other charities.
Baytree in the Brixton Bugle
Thank you to the Brixton Bugle for their lovely article about Baytree!
Baytree Girls visit Parliament
Baytree had the opportunity to visit the house of Parliament.
Baytree’s 25th Anniversary
Baytree celebrates 25 years with a week of fundraising festivities.
25 Years in Brixton
Baytree's celebrating 25 years of supporting women and girls in Brixton. Join us!
Youth Activities Start
Girls only activities at the Baytree Centre, Brixton. Starts Monday 12th September.
Summer 2016
Baytree Summer 2016
Baytree’s Got Talent Show
On Monday 11th July Baytree hosted the ‘Baytree’s Got Talent’ show. The show was the first event that our newly elected Baytree Student Council planned with for this term. Lots of girls volunteered to perform on the night and show off their varied talents with the acts including dance routines,...
Celebrating Refugee Week with our ‘Home from Home’ party
On Tuesday 21st June we held an event to celebrate national Refugee week 2016. Our ‘Home from Home’ event was a big success with Baytree students and their families having a great time eating food from all over the world and taking part in activities kindly put on by volunteers...
Half term trip to the Horniman Museum
To celebrate the end of another half term at Baytree a group of 31 girls and 6 Baytree staff and volunteers set off on an outing to the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill. The destination of our trip was decided by a vote which was organised by our newly elected...
Baytree in Good Housekeeping Magazine
It was great to see Baytree featured in the March issue of Good Housekeeping. Interested in being a mentor like Rachel then get in touch!
Vote for Baytree
Vote for Baytree to receive £1,000!
We did it!
Over £2,700 was donated to Baytree Centre during the Summer Give! Even better, it will be doubled meaning over £5,000 was raised for our summer programme. Last year over 40 girls took part in our summer activities and we’re excited to be able to welcome more girls to participate in our...
Baytree receives donation from Specsavers Brixton
Should have gone to Specsavers! - We did and it was totally worth it! Today our Volunteer and Youth Development Manager Rosanna and two girls from our Into School programme wondered up the road to Specsavers Brixton Branch right opposite Brixton Station to collect a very generous donation of £450. This...
Into School’s trip to the Tate Modern and South Bank
This week our Into School girls went on a trip to the Tate Modern. The Tate Modern is a large gallery on the South Bank with a collection of British, international, modern and contemporary art. Taking the girls to an art gallery is a great way to explore a topic in depth...
George runs marathon to raise funds for Baytree
George runs marathon for Baytree. Support him, donate here.
Tile painting workshop with Archie Mac London
Last Wednesday our Baytree girls took part in a very special project. Robyn Parker, the artist and designer behind ‘Archie Mac London’, came to Baytree and ran a tile painting workshop for 25 girls, aged 6 to 18, from both the Into School and GEMS programme. Every girl painted a...
SPARK residential
This February half term the Spark girls headed off to Sussex for a few days to spend some time bonding and learning new skills over exciting team-building activities. Despite the sub-zero temperatures, quite a few adventures getting the heating and plumbing of the cottage we stayed in working, and –...
SPARK Fundraiser – Christmas Showcase
The Spark girls have been working hard all term to get this year’s Christmas showcase off the ground. Event planning is pretty tough, especially when you need to coordinate at least 50 young people from 6+ on stage. But with the real goal in mind – to fundraise to help...
SPARK host Lambeth Youth Parliament candidates
Spark this Thursday welcomed some of the candidates for the upcoming Youth Council and Young Lambeth Coop Steering Group elections. They introduced themselves and explained why we should vote for them. We’re proud of one candidate in particular, who is standing for Youth Parliament, and who is an old Baytree...
Youth Forum Win at City Pitch!
The Baytree Youth Forum visited City Hall on Thursday 11 December, where six groups of young people from our member clubs pitched for up to £1,000 towards their social action project. City Pitch’ is a joint initiative with the Santander Foundation and the Mayor’s Fund for London delivered in partnership...
A visit from Mayor of London Boris Johnson
You’re doing great stuff here, you should be proud of yourselves’ Mayor of London Boris Johnson Despite the torrential downpour, Baytree was delighted to host a visit from Mayor of London Boris Johnson yesterday morning. The centre has been working in partnership with fledgling company Future Unlimited, who run apprenticeship...
An exciting new partnership with Future Unlimited is starting next month here at Baytree!
Future Unlimited is offering young women aged 16-18 a unique opportunity to experience the world of business and gain a level 2 NVQ in business administration. In August 2011, 15 apprentices will become professional members of the team working for Future Unlimited’s clients, supporting the administrative requirements of a range...
A Taste of Baytree: Celebrating 20 Years of Baytree
On Thursday 19 May the Baytree Centre opened its doors to friends, family and other special guests to celebrate 20 years of our life-changing work. The evening kicked off with a ‘surprise’ performance from the Baytree choir while guests enjoyed a variety of savoury canapés from around the world. Helping...
Levi Roots Opens Baytree’s New Kitchen
On Saturday 27 November, the Baytree Centre opened our brand new kitchen in style with the help of Levi Roots, Brixton-based chef and creator of Reggae Reggae Sauce. After touring the Baytree Centre with Centre Director Mae Parreno and Baytree Youth Forum member Chika Ekenachi (pictured above with Levi Roots),...
Building Young Brixton – working together to inspire and empower!
What is BYB? Baytree is a proud member of Building Young Brixton - a partnership of 9 Lambeth-based youth organisations, working together to inspire and empower young people in Brixton to build the lives that they want. Since being founded in 2017, our aim has always been to grow together...
Champions For Children: From NOW until midday Tuesday 15th June your donations to Baytree will be DOUBLED!
Today marks the beginning of our summer match-funding campaign with the Childhood Trust and the Big Give, where for just one week your donations to Baytree will be DOUBLED! We are hoping to raise £5,000 to give our girls the wonderful summer they deserve! After the challenges of the past year in lockdown, we...
