Just 5 more days until the end of the financial year. If you or your business were meaning to make a donation to charity in this financial year, would you consider donating to YAT?! Any donation before March 31st, allows you to claim 1/3rd back from the government. Give $100 and you’ll get $33 back. Give $500 and you’ll get $166 back. Give $1,000 and you’ll get $333 back! We have a budget shortfall this year, and rely on donations and grants to continue serving young people on the east of Christchurch. Your donation supports young people to attend clubs, training for volunteers, music opportunities, community events, youth workers in schools, parenting seminars and more. Find out more, including our regular donors scheme, Friends of YAT, and our bank details at: www.yat.org.nz/support-us

Check out this amazing NZ resource to help adults in responding and communicating with rangatahi who may have engaged in concerning sexualised behaviour. Their 6 modules give facts, tools and resources, to have safe, supportive conversation with rangatahi.

Visit: https://presspause.co.nz if you or someone you know is working with a young person showing concerning behaviour in one of these areas:

1) Boundaries
2) Online Behaviour
3) Pornography
4) Sexualised Images
5) Sexualised Language
6) Unwanted Sexual Touch

Each module has 3 areas:

1. Understanding – know the facts, drivers and impacts, and external website info
2. Prepare – assessing and escalating
3. Respond – excellent conversation starters, themes, reflection, change, moving forward and involving others.

It’s easy to use, understand and really well done!

Here’s a short promo video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=811333287748457

Kia ora,

Just 24 days until Easter Sunday, so apologies our plan has come out later than normal – it’s because we have a NEW Booking system called “AimyOne”. It’s an upgrade of Aimplus, with more features, it’s more user friendly and you can book holiday programmes, after-school Oscar and clubs all on the same site. You can log-in now using your existing email and password, as all your information has already been moved over.

Bookings are now LIVE on AimyOne on the website:  https://aimyone.com/yat  (save this into your favourites)

Our Easter programmes are split as normal into the 3 age groups, with appropriate activities. It’s just a 4 day programme because of Easter Monday, but we have some sweet plans. It won’t let you book outside your age group, but contact us if you have exceptional circumstances:

• April Kea (School Years 1-3) – including Messymates, Willowbank and a Circus Show.
• April Pukeko (School Years 4-6) – including Laser Strike, Baking and a Children’s Film Festival.
• April Piwakawaka (School Years 6-9) – including Sweet as Waffles, Ice Skating and a cinema trip.

Website link:

www.yat.org.nz/holiday-programmes/holiday-programme-years-1-9/

Note: Activities are subject to change, due to weather, staffing or other circumstances.

Priority Bookings

Youth Alive Trust are only accepting bookings from previous families who have registered for our programmes in the past 12 months up until 12noon Wednesday 18^th March. This is to provide time for our regulars to make a booking, so they don’t miss out. After 12noon Wednesday, we will accept bookings from anyone else.

Oscar Subsidy

Check out if you’re eligible for government subsidies – it keeps going up!  If you have 3 or more children, you now need to be earning more than $3,004 per week to not be eligible for any support. If you have 2 children, you need to be earning more than $2,670 per week and if just 1 child, $2,336 per week (gross).  Many probably don’t realise they will qualify, if they just jump through a few bits of paperwork. The subsidy is only for those in work or study who need childcare. Click on the link below for full information about applying for the subsidy:

Out of School Care and Recreation (OSCAR) Subsidy – Work and Income

Booking Confirmation Policy

If you click that you’re applying for a government subsidy, then YAT’s policy is to only ‘confirm’ your booking once we’ve received your completed WINZ forms. We need to sign your form, so this can be dropped off at reception anytime in office hours, and we can send the paperwork to WINZ for you. OR, once we’ve signed it, we can take a copy, in case WINZ loose it (which does happen) and you can take it all into WINZ yourself.

Your booking will sit in the ‘Pending’ category for a week, until we’ve seen the paperwork. If we’ve not seen the paperwork, there is a chance your booking will be cancelled unless you get in touch to explain circumstances: rego@yat.org.nz

A reminder that you and we often don’t find out about how much WINZ will contribute to your holiday programme fees until after the programme, so you are responsible for any shortfall to be paid as soon as possible.

**NEW Booking Process**

1. Log-in: https://aimyone.com/yat using your normal Aimyplus email and password. If you’ve forgotten your password, please re-set it. Do not create a new account. Contact us if you can’t log in.
2. You will need to confirm your childs details if it’s your first time logging in.
3. Click on Blue ‘Book Now’ button.
4. Choose the programme you want to book.
5. Choose the days and times you want to book.
6. Select the child you want to book, then add to cart.
7. Add any further bookings or go to Checkout.
8. Payment:
   1. Pay with EzyPay  – Visa or Mastercard (fees apply) – for immediate confirmation.
   2. Pay via Bank Transfer (no fees) – please reference ‘HP’ and ‘Your Name’ – we won’t confirm booking until payment is made
   3. Choose WINZ subsidy – it will sit in pending until we’ve seen your paperwork.
9. The new system allows you to edit your own bookings, to change days or add extension days. You cannot cancel bookings yourself, to cancel a day, please give 24 hours notice and we will reimburse payment minus 15% admin fee as per our terms and conditions (attached as a reminder).
10. Any issues or cancellations, email: rego@yat.org.nz

Reminder about our 2026 Changes

Everything from January 2026, there are a number of changes we’re making:

1. With no price increase for 2 years, we’ve needed to increase the price of our programmes to help cover increasing costs of activities, overheads and staffing. A standard day is increasing by $2 from $40 to $42 and an outing day will increase by $3 from $45 to $48. Extension days will increase by just $1 from $12 to $13.
2. We are changing the official finish time of holiday programmes to align with the finish time of most schools, finishing at 3:00pm. Previously we’ve had a rolling finish from 3:00pm – 3:30pm, but now our rolling finish will be from 2:40pm – 3:00pm (unless notified otherwise). Extension programme will start from 3:00pm and pick ups can be anytime before 5:45pm.
3. We have continued to be stung by some parents not paying for holiday programmes they’ve attended, and we have not been able to collect their debt. Therefore we are changing the process of booking holiday programmes, asking everyone to pay in advance of their bookings. If paying with EzyPay, we will see your payment right away. If paying via bank transfer, please be patient, until our accounts staff member can reconcile the payment, and then let us know to confirm payment. Kirsti doesn’t work everyday, so this will only be done periodically. Oscar applicants will continue to be confirmed only once we have signed the paperwork. If you’re child is ill or a booking needs to change, and we are given 24 hours notice were possible, we are happy to reimburse or credit your account, minus a 15% administration fee (according to our Terms and Conditions). Please email: accounts@yat.org.nz for any accounting enquiries, or rego@yat.org.nz for any registration changes.

Feedback

We appreciate any feedback on our programmes and have a short general parents feedback survey you can complete anytime. Positive comments made are also really helpful for us when applying for funding:

Parents Survey Link

Any issues or questions about programmes, registrations or cancelations, please email us at: rego@yat.org.nz

Any finance questions, please email us at: accounts@yat.org.nz

Nga Mihi

The YAT Team

Our April Holiday Programmes are running from Tuesday 7th – Friday 10th April (we only run in Week 1, to give our team a break before clubs and programmes start again in term time). Bookings should be LIVE in the next couple of days. We’ll be sending out an email to all our regular attendees with information about how to book in our upgraded booking system – we’re just working on some teething issues. Thanks for your patience!

3 Clubs for Teenagers starting this week – all FREE!

1) Youth Drop-In. Every Monday from 4:30-6:30pm. no sign up. no cost. shoot some hoops, play games, get homework support, or just chill with your friends & our youth workers. Plus Youth Voice sessions once a month.
2) Surge Youth Club. Every Monday from 6:30-8:30pm. Catch up with mates, and have some fun with activities such as Taskmaster, Sardines and trips out. This Monday we’re launching with Kai & Kawa from 6:30pm. Free (apart from trips out). More info and termly brochure at: www.yat.org.nz/safer-streets/surge
3) DanceFit. Every Tuesday from 4:30pm-5:30pm at the Roy Stokes Hall just for teenage girls. Have fun dancing to your favourite songs! Sessions are follow-along style, easy-to-learn routines mixing dance and fitness. no sign-up. no cost. give it a try!

The best way to sweat out your worries is with a boogie! Launching on Tuesday – DanceFit New Brighton! Two classes! Free class every week at 4:30pm for teenage girls from 4:30pm at the Roy Stokes Hall Creative Community Hub thanks to funding from Sport Canterbury‘s Tu Manawa Active Aotearoa fund. Then a 6:00pm class for adults for just $10pp. First class is FREE, so everyone is free this Tuesday! This class is perfect for all levels of fitness and dance abilities – whether you want to learn how to dance, are looking for a fun way to get your steps in, or just want a laugh, this class is for you! Have fun dancing to your favourite songs! Sessions are follow-along style, easy-to-learn routines mixing dance and fitness. Come support our instructor Caoimhe and give it a try!

Starting today! Come check it out today for free!!!https://www.facebook.com/reel/1780817279254203

Kia ora whānau

We hope you all had a refreshing summer break. We’re fully back into the swing of things having completed two full weeks with holiday programmes, and a 3 day staff retreat, where we’ve been vision casting for the year.

Bookings for Term 1 programmes are LIVE and Term 1 brochures with term plans can be viewed under each club name on our website. Most clubs are starting the week of 16th February, except Surge & DanceFit which begins week of 23rd Feb.

Bookings to be made as normal at: https://yatclubs.aimyplus.com

2026 Changes

A few new clubs are starting this term and we’re also dropping a few. Kitchen Klub and Craft Club is merging into ‘Make, Bake, Create’ – a mixture of arts, crafts, baking and connecting, every Thursday afternoon. We’ve dropped Tamatane, and we’re starting 2 new Multisports clubs for different age groups, where we play and teach a new sport in the gym every week. We’re also starting two new programmes for teenagers – a Youth Drop-In on Mondays from 4:30pm – 6:30pm and a DanceFit class just for teenage girls, at the Roy Stokes Hall on Tuesday afternoons. RISE, our performing arts group is also expanding to a new Junior version, on a Monday afternoon for School Years 4-6 as well as the normal 7-13s.  More information on all these programmes is on our website, or use the hyperlinks below:

> Seniors After-School Oscar (School Years 4-9) EVERYDAY with Van Pick Ups 2:45pm – 5:45pm

> Youth Drop-In (School Years 9 – 13) Mondays 4:30-6:30pm. FREE for teenagers (no sign up necessary)

> RISE Jnr & RISE  (School Years 4-6 & 7-13) Mondays 4:30-5:30 & 6:00pm – 7:00pm.

> Surge (School Years 9 – 13) Mondays 6:30-8:30pm. FREE for teenagers

> Basketball Clubs (School Years 1 – 7) Tuesdays

• 3:15pm – 4:05pm (School Years 1-3)
• 4:15pm – 5:05pm (School Years 3-5)
• 5:15pm – 6:05pm (School Years 5-7)

> DanceFit (Teenage Girls only) Tuesdays 4:30pm-5:30pm at Roy Stokes Hall. Free

> Kōtirotiro Girls Club (School Years 1 – 6) Wednesdays 4:00pm – 5:30pm

> Multisports Club (School Years 1–3 & 4-6) Thursdays 3:20pm–4:20pm & 4:30pm-5:30pm

> Make, Bake, Create (School Years 5 – 9) Thursdays 3:45pm – 5:30pm

> Rock Solid (School Years 7 & 8) Fridays 4:00-6:00pm

> Amplify Music Lessons (School Years 1-13) Everyday 2:30pm – 6pm

> Amplify Band Programme (School Years 7-13) various times by audition

Any questions, email: office@yat.org.nz

If you’re needing after-school care for your children in 2026, Youth Alive Trust offers something a bit different, as a Seniors Only option, for School Years 4-9. Our vans do pick ups from South New Brighton School, Rawhiti Primary, New Brighton Catholic, Nova Montessori, and Chisnallwood Intermediate.  Join our ‘have-a-go’ sessions, park day and weekly YAT CLUBS such as Basketball, Creative Club and other social clubs.  At YAT Oscar, kids can rest, play and grow through creative zones, stem, active fun and supportive staff who understand young peoples needs. Most working or studying parents are eligible for government subsidies: www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/oscar-subsidy.html

Read our 2026 brochure HERE

Contact our Oscar Coordinator via email: oscar@yat.org.nz

We have Lost Property from recent holiday programmes and last years clubs in our offices. CLICK HERE for photos. Come grab it in the next 2 weeks before it goes!