The DSO Teenage Club is open to all young people with Down's syndrome in Oxfordshire. It meets regularly and provides a great opportunity for our children to make lasting friendships through fun and organised activities.  Meetings are held monthly on Sundays (3-5pm) and siblings are also welcome.

Join us and have a go at some of the activities including: archery, rock climbing, bowling, pottery, cinema trips- basketball, fencing, puppet-show and string-puppet-making-workshop, circus and juggling workshop, music making workshop. Throughout the year a variety of events are programmed to include sports, cultural and recreational activities to suit both boys and girls with varying interests, and the annual highlight of activities is the June sailing and picnic at Farmoor Reservoir.

Many young people with Down's syndrome find it difficult to integrate with mainstream children for leisure and sport activities. The youth club's events aim to enhance self-confidence, self-esteem, social skills, and turn taking to provide a "can-do" experience without peer pressure.     All children approaching their teenage years want more independence and crave the new experiences and activities that their similar aged mainstream group enjoy - our children are increasingly aware of being different from their peers.

The Teenage Club gives them an opportunity to socialise "like with like" and develop a feeling of belonging to a group they can strongly identify with and share memories of club events learning to appreciate the variety of life. With many fun and interesting activities and days the Youth Club members are becoming more like friends and look forward to meeting again, gaining confidence and enjoyment in their new skills.

During the years we have established good contacts with Oxford University Sports Clubs, whose students voluntered to introduce the children to rock-climbing, archery, fencing, hockey, trampolining and basketball. The sport activities are subsidised by the Oxford University Sports Outreach Scheme, and parents also contribute to costs when appropriate. Siblings are always welcome, and we have a growing interest among them in taking part. It offers excellent opportunity for sibling-support as well as a chance for the casual and valuable parent-to-parent talk about different health, development or education related issues. 

The number of children children taking part in the Club’s different activities is often changingas some of them are growing up and moving on. Some do keep in touch and revisit, for example for the sailing. We even have few young adults coming back to appropriate activites as there is not much on offer for them once they have left college.

For more information or if you would like to become a member of the club, please contact the Secretary.