Serena, a smiling young Black woman with a shaved head.

Hi! I’m Serena and I’m the Amazing Futures intern in East Sussex. 

That means I get to help at lots of exciting groups across Eastbourne, Peacehaven, and sometimes Brighton. It also includes some emails, some writing, and a lot of working on my own development as someone interested in youth work. 

My favourite things that I’ve done as an intern have been:  

💚 The discos we get to do! In Eastbourne we do lots of dancing, eat lots of food, and everyone is always happy by the end of it.  

💚 A DJing workshop with some of the people in Eastbourne, which allowed me to share some of my skills and see the young people in Eastbourne enjoy themselves. We have quite a few musicians in our groups, and it was lovely to see so many of them having a new experience.  

A young person dancing at the Amazing Futures Christmas disco in Eastbourne

💚 I helped at the Easter holiday scheme at the Portslade Village Centre this April. It was nerve-wracking at first, because I knew I was going to meet a lot of young people at once. I didn’t know what to expect either, as I hadn’t been to the venue before. I felt a lot more settled by the middle of the day though, and was glad to have taken the opportunity. I’m excited to see some familiar faces this summer for another round of the holiday club!

Serena DJing. She is a young Black woman with a shaved head, wearing a shirt with a monochrome psychedelic pattern, and has headphones on. She is looking at someone off camera and laughing.

My favourite things I do outside of Amaze:  

💜 Being a radio presenter on Platform B, which means I get to put together music and broadcast my own radio show.  

💜 I love going to gigs and concerts because it’s a great way for me to regulate my own emotions. Sometimes they can be quite loud or stressful, but generally I find it exciting. The best concert I ever went to was Gorillaz at All Points East, a day festival in London. 

The internship is a year long and I’m over halfway through now!

I’ve had a great experience working with all the incredible young people who access Amaze services, and I’m excited to see what the next few months hold.  

You can learn more about Amazing Futures paid internships here:

Volunteering and paid internships

Are you passionate about creating opportunities for young people to thrive and have a voice? 

We’re looking for a coordinator to lead our small but wonderful Brighton youth team, running activities with young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to have fun, try new things, make friends, express their views and prepare for adulthood. 

Youth Project Coordinator

  • 2 year fixed-term contract with the possibility of extension 
  • 24 hours per week
  • £18.65-19.14 per hour, equates to £33,945-34,834 FTE 
  • Working out of Amaze’s Brighton office and at different venues across the city and into East Sussex 
  • + 5% pension, pro-rata 26 days annual leave a year, + extra 3 days at Christmas + Public Holidays 
  • Other staff benefits include flexible, family and carer-friendly working, support for staff health and wellbeing, learning and development, and access to discounts schemes 

About the role:

You will manage and develop a youth-led project, empowering young people to have a place where their voices are heard and valued, where they can be themselves. The role will lead a team delivering a programme of youth groups and activities for young people with SEND aged 14 to 25, that enables young people to be more involved in their community, to build their confidence and wellbeing, and to develop their life skills.  

Staff member playing retro console games with a young man.

About you:

You will have experience of managing people and activities, but still enjoy hands-on work with young people. You will know how to strike a balance between safety and adventure for disabled young people. You must be a natural at connecting with young people and supporting youth-led participation. You will be driven by a true passion for making a difference in young people’s lives through youth work. 

Equality, diversity and inclusion:

We are committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe having a diverse workforce at all levels allows us to represent the communities we serve.

  • We want to employ staff who have lived experience of disability themselves or as a parent/carer of a child, young person or adult with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), and have an excellent understanding of the issues faced by SEND families
  • We particularly welcome applicants from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities

Interested?

To support your application, please read:

How to apply

You are warmly encouraged to contact us for an information discussion about the role – call 01273 234020 or email Ros at Ros@AmazeSussex.org.uk to arrange.

Check out the bug boxes we made at our Creative Club for young people with disabilities or additional needs in Eastbourne

We were inspired by Victorian bug boxes, but we decided to use paper insects rather than real ones! We used templates and magazines to make our bug boxes:

A shallow box with a large paper bee, and a smaller butterfly and typewriter
Bug box with torn magazine text and a blue paper beetle
Bug box containing a collage of text and flowers from magazines and a blue paper butterfly on top
Bug box with magazines and pictures of plants and flowers, with a red paper beetle on top.
Bug box with a page from a magazine with a large photo of a small building surrounded by greenery, with a photo of a lily cut out of a magazine, and a paper bug with blue and red wings and curly antennae.
Young people sat at a table making their bug boxes. There are magazines and printed out pictures on the table, cut into pieces.

Want to make your own bug box? Download instructions and templates here:

Are you passionate about supporting young people to thrive?

We are looking for an experienced youth worker to join our small but growing and brilliant team, to help young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to have fun, try new things, make friends and prepare for adulthood.

Amazing Futures Youth Worker

  • 1 year fixed-term contract with the possibility of extension
  • 22 hours per week
  • £14.77 to £15.81 per hour equivalent to £26,873 to £28,770
  • Working out of Amaze’s Eastbourne office and at different venues across the county, including Heathfield/Peacehaven/Bexhill.
  • + 5% pension, pro-rata 26 days annual leave a year, + extra 3 days at Christmas + Public Holidays
  • Other staff benefits include flexible, family and carer-friendly working, support for staff health and wellbeing, learning and development, and access to discounts schemes

Young woman holds up a stencil on a mural while a young person sprays paint onto itAbout the role:

The role will guide and support young people with SEND aged 14 to 25 in their personal, social and educational development to help them access and develop opportunities and resources and to facilitate positive change. It will enable young people to be more involved in their community, to explore and understand their ideas, values and beliefs, to improve their confidence and to develop their life skills.

About you:

You will be a natural at connecting and building a rapport with young people, at supporting youth-led participation, and you will be driven by a true passion for making a difference in young people’s lives.

Equality and diversity:

We are committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe having a diverse workforce at all levels allows us to represent the communities we serve.

  • We want to employ staff who have lived experience of disability themselves or as a parent/carer of a child, young person or adult with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), and have an excellent understanding of the issues faced by SEND families
  • We particularly welcome applicants from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities

Interested?

To support your application, please read:

How to apply

  • The closing date for applications is Weds 7 May 2025
  • Interviews will be held in Eastbourne, date to be arranged.
  • Please upload your CV and cover letter here

You are warmly encouraged to contact us for an information discussion about the role – call Amaze on 01273 234020 or email Ella at EllaB@AmazeSussex.org.uk to arrange.

Here are some tips if you want to keep a pet guinea pig!

Make sure guinea pigs have the right food and hay

Don’t over feed them with food or treats

Change their water every day

Clean out your guinea pig’s cage or hutch once or twice a week

Always ensure there is hay accessible at all times for the guinea pigs to access when needed

Change food every day

Always ensure you keep their nails clipped to prevent sores and infection

Give plenty of cuddles to the guinea pigs, in order for them to get used to you and your scent

Ensure they have a big enough cage with plenty of space for them to run around

When buying new guinea pigs to add to the family, supervise the introductions at all times, before putting them together

Here are some photos of my guinea pigs:

How did you hear about Amazing Futures?

My Mum spoke to Sue around the time the idea for a young people’s project was mentioned. I joined Amazing Futures when it started in March 2017.

How have you found volunteering for Amazing Futures?

It has been really interesting to work with lots of young people over the years. I like setting up for the board games group. I have been going to the running group for a year now and have been going to the walking one for about a year. I enjoy going to all of them.

I did a travel training course through Grace Eyre and Amaze which helped me to learn how to travel independently. I also did a cooking course and made lots of different things like soups, cakes and stews.

I learnt about the National Citizen Service (NCS) through Amaze which was great. The trip had 4 teams of 15 people each. We went to the Isle of Wight for 5 days and took part in activities like kayaking, rock climbing, abseiling and fencing. Our community project was painting the fence at the Brighton Youth Centre.

What are some of your favourite moments from the Amazing Futures sessions?

I like playing the different board games. Some of my favourite ones are ‘Monopoly’ and ‘P for Pizza’.

What skills did you develop through the project?

I learnt how to be helpful, funny, kind and how to work hard.

What are you looking forward to doing after Amazing Futures?

I am looking forward to working at Speak Out by helping with the drop-ins and workshops. I am also excited to volunteer more for Amaze.

Is there anything you would like to say to the young people from Amaze?

Thank you very much for helping me at Amaze!

Over the past few months we’ve been super busy with our Big Days Out at Amazing Futures East Sussex.

Whenever we consulted with young people about our Amazing Futures offer, you always said you would love to go on trips and visit new places with people who make you feel safe and understand you. So we supported Billie, one of our volunteers and our new sessional worker, to apply for funding for a series of day trips. We were thrilled when we were successful in receiving funding for the project from East Sussex County Council!

Since then we’ve been bowling, fought laser quest battles, explored the gardens at Paradise Park in Newhaven, learned loads at Herstmonceux Science Centre, and headed into Brighton to play indoors mini-golf and spend a day at the aquarium. We even had a big day trip out to London to visit the Natural History Museum and meet the dinosaurs!

The trips have been hugely successful and popular with the young people, who’ve had a blast getting out and about trying new things and seeing the sights:

Many thanks to East Sussex County Council for making this possible!

“I had a great time at Sealife and I’d love for us to meet up again soon.”

“Felt well supported and Chione our group leader let us choose where to go. We loved seeing everything up close.”

“Favourite part of the museum was the baronic skeleton. 10 out of 10 enjoyed the day.”

“I had an amazing day thank you very much”

young person playing ten pin bowling