• Weekly free-skate sessions with some coaching for beginners

• In our mobile skate park at Decathlon, Surrey Quays

• Open to all ages and skills

• 1h and 1.5h sessions for £6 and £9, with the option of £2 extra for gear rentals

• 1 - 3 coaches on site depending on session sizes

Skate Haven hosts open weekly sessions at Decathlon (on the 1st floor) at Canada Water Station, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.

These are supervised, beginner-friendly group sessions in our mobile skate park. They are not structured lessons, and they are not complete free-skates. Our space has some rules, called “skate park etiquette”, which apply to any public skatepark. Coaches are on-site to provide some instruction to complete beginners, give tips to people trying to improve their skills, and ensure that everyone is safe and engaged during the session.

See what sessions look like on our instagram! → @skatehavencic

What are you waiting for?! Book yourself a spot below!

We recently received funding to pilot a skate-mentoring programme! This is currently in the making, and we have not yet started the first round, but the plan is currently:

• 12 weekly sessions, 2h each

• 1:1 skate-mentoring

• Mentors will take mentees to their local skate parks, skate spots, skate shops, and anywhere else skate-related!

• We will collect footage from each pair and create a video showcasing the programme at the end of it

Skate-mentoring will look a lot like normal mentoring, where we pair young people with a certified and trained skate-mentor. Skate mentors will be trained appropriately with regard to the specific needs of the mentee. There will be a strong emphasis on safeguarding, and all measures necessary to come up to the standard of any other mentoring organisation will be taken. This will include regular reporting, frequent check-ups, emergency and safeguarding protocols and much more.

More info will be provided as soon as the programme is ready to start!

• Structured skate programme with diverse activities on-and-off the board

• Youth development programme, based on the Self-Determination Theory

• Aimed to improve confidence, resilience, cooperation, creativity and more!

• Public availability during school holidays at Decathlon, Surrey Quays

Skate Haven are also proud members of Concrete Jungle Foundation’s Edu-Skate Worldwide Network. Concrete Jungle Foundation is an international charity that builds skateparks and runs youth programmes in the global south (Jamaica, Peru, Morroco, and Angola). Edu-Skate is a youth development programme that is based on the psychological theory of Self-Determination. As Edu-Skate providers, we tailor these sessions to develop a range of essential life skills (including confidence, resilience, and creativity) through a structured programme that is based on research.

This programme blends on-board activities such as lessons, progression plans, exercises, challenges, free-skates, or creative activities with off-board activities in the form of discussion & stretching circles, reflective exercises, arts & crafts workshops, video-taking, making, and screening, and more! All in all, it makes for an unforgettable learning and bonding experience for young people.

Edu-Skate is a structured programme that we have offered in the form of summer camps or longer programmes for young people who are looking for a larger commitment. We are open to requests to deliver this programme for youth charities.

We report our sessions to the wider network and we gain inspiration for session activities from similar programmes across the world. One exciting activity that we have not tried out ourselves yet is an international pen-pal programme where young people from our sessions can be partnered up with young skateboarders from other Edu-Skate programmes worldwide.

In the summer of 2024, we did some research into the benefits of the Edu-Skate programme! Some key points were:

• Delivered & overseen by academics at UCL & Goldsmiths

• Compared the well-being of 15 Edu-Skate children vs. 12 non-Edu-Skate children during the summer holidays through a range of surveys and interviews

• Strong results showing significant positive impact in the psychological and the physical well-being of the participants in the Edu-Skate programme

If you are particularly interested in this study, find our Co-Director’s Master’s dissertation on the project here!

You can also read more about Edu-Skate below!

• Programme tailored by Rico Skate School

• On-and-off board exercises to progress technical capabilities, games, and free-skate elements in each session

• Range of skate-related play and educational activities adopted for classroom settings for rainy days

Since 2024, we have put up regular term-time sessions in a couple of schools (Dulwich Junior College & Brampton Academy).

We have thoroughly enjoyed this work and we are actively seeking more opportunities to bring our activities into schools!

• One-off or limited series of introductory, group skate lessons 

• Free-of-charge for youth charities

• Skateboard and equipment donations

• Joint-funding initiatives to ramp-up activities

Currently, our outreach model is to visit surrounding youth charities or other social organisations once or twice and host group sessions (5-20 people) for anyone who is interested. We are able to donate/lend skateboards and protective equipment when there is high demand for the activity. We are also open to developing stronger and more active partnerships, including more sessions, more enriched programmes and other opportunities for young people, as well as entering into joint funding initiatives together with other youth services to “ramp up” our activities.

It is a dream of ours to build a skatepark and help engage the community at a local youth centre.