Pupil Voice Conference

The annual Pupil Voice conference was held at Barry Memorial Hall and all secondary school councils were invited to attend.  It was great to see so many school council members from Barry Comprehensive, Bryn Hafren, Stanwell, Llantwit School and Cowbridge Comprehensive at the event.

To start off the day, school council members were presented with the results of the bi-annual school council audit where both teachers and young people were able to give their views on the running of the school council.  This also included some results of the recent Viewpoint survey run by the Council.  Below you can see some of main results from school council members. 

Throughout the day school council members all took part in a UNCRC workshop delivered by the Rights Ambassadors and learnt more about children's rights.  There was another workshop on the Children and Young People's National Participation Standards and everyone got to learn more about the different ways young people can have a voice locally and nationally, ranging from Youth Action Groups to becoming a Member of UK Youth Parliament.  Young people involved in these projects helped deliver these workshops too.  

There was also a Q&A session with the Youth Mayor and Deputy Youth Mayor which was great because we got to meet lots of young people that we represent. Everyone asked challenging questions but hopefully Daley an I are more informed on what matters to young people and how we can keep school council up to date and be more representative in the future.    

In the afternoon, officers from the Council attended to raise awareness of the Well-being of Future Generations Act and carried out some activities to find out what pupils want from the Vale in the future.  

I hope that all who attended had a great time and found the day both fun and informative.  I thoroughly enjoyed delivering a workshop and raising awareness of the Vale Youth Forum and Youth Cabinet.  Hopefully the event will inspire future members of the participation groups.    

What's your Youth Work story?

It's Youth Work Week in Wales and it's time to celebrate the postive impact youth work has on our lives.  We've been asked "What's your youth work story?", so some of us just wanted to let you know about our personal experiences of youth work and how it has helped us ....

Emily: I've been involved in youth work for 6 years and it has given me the opportunity to represent my local area to local, national and international decision-makers.  I've had the chance to travel across Europe and meet lots of new people and friends.  I am now able to facilitate workshops and training to young people and professionals on a variety of issues and it has given me the passion to fight for young people's voices to be heard!

Erin: Youth work has made me happy.  I'm proud of myself and my friends because we work together to make a change in young people's lives locally.  I can now create session plans and deliver workshops and I know how important children's rights are.     

Daniel: Over the past couple of years I have been involved with many projects that have been championed by Youth Workers; these include the Rights Ambassador project, D of E, Vale Youth Forum and Cabinet, not forgetting VOG Youth Mayor as well! All of these projects have been outstanding examples of good practices by the dedicated and simply wonderful Youth Workers, who on a daily basis have enriched not only my life, but the lives of many young people right across the county.  Youth Work has enabled me to do things that before I would have never done; Youth Work has provided me with many opportunities that I would have thought as impossible, Youth Work has equipped me with the skills to succeed in life, and to top it all of Youth Work has given me many new friends and memories. I could go on further about the positive impact Youth Work has had on my life yet the list would be endless! 

Ellis: Youth work has increased my confidence so much that I can speak infront of people now without vomiting! I have developed my public speaking skills and now have the skills to be Vice Chair of the Vale Youth Forum, deliver assemblies and as a Young Inspector inspect young people's services to award them with the Children and young People's Participation Kitemark for Wales.   

Daley: I've been involved with the youth service since September 2014 when I joined Barry Youth Action and I've had so many opportunities.  I've joined the Vale Youth Forum and I'm now part of the Vale of Glamorgan Youth Cabinet and going to Belgium in July to meet Youth Councils from across Europe.  I've been trained as a Young Commissioner to help deliver a new Emotional Health & Wellbeing service for young people locally and I've meet the Queen and Prince Charles.  I love being a Youth Councillor and attending meetings because I am improving things for young people, we even have a joke and the youth workers like Bethan ,Geraint, Conway and Ve are fantastic in helping me!  It's not too much either, just one meeting a month.  It's fun and I like a debate so positive all round. I now have the opportunity to be Youth Mayor in October and I'm sure everyone would like to take up that opportunity.  I've developed loads of new skills and it's very interesting because you find out information that nobody else would know about yet.  Youth work is a fantastic service!

Kyle: Youth work has given me the confidence to meet new people, gain qualifications and teach children, young people and professionals about the UNCRC.  I've started to help people whereas before I was doing nothing.

Emme: I've attended youth clubs, I've been a Young Inspector, a member of the Vale Youth Forum and the first Youth Cabinet and I did my 6th form work experience with the Youth Service.  I've had so many opportunities to meet new people, try new things and my experience has been so rewarding.  I'm now about to go onto University and youth work has inspired me to study politics.  

Tom:   

 

Youth Excellence Awards 2016

The Youth Excellence Awards took place on Friday 24th June in Llandudno, North Wales and was a fantastic experience.  We won the Youth Excellence Award for most outstanding young person led project in Wales!  To think our school transport project has proved to be a significant piece of work where we have represented the voices of young people in the Vale to a variety of decision-makers is a great achievement of which we are extremly proud of.  To have this recognised on a national level, at the Welsh Government Youth Excellence Awards 2016 is an honour!   

It was wonderful to see so many inspirational young people and youth work projects being recognised for their achievements across Wales and to celebrate Youth Work Week in Wales.  The venue was amazing, the food was delicious and the young people who performed at the event were sooooo good!!  Also a massive congratulations to the Right's Ambassadors and Cadoxton Regeneration Project for representing the Vale and being shortlisted for another two fantastic awards; outstanding rights youth work project and outstanding arts and media project.  What a lovely evening!  

   

Young Carers Speak Out!

Last Thursday I attended the Young Carers Speak Out event. It was amazing to see so many young carers at the event, and what was even more pleasing was that young carers from the Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff planned and organised the whole day! 

Some of the results of the Young Carers survey were launched, and it was great to see so many young carers actively getting their voices heard, and hopefully the results from the survey will be acted upon by decision makers in Wales.      

The day was superb, (the young people involved deserve huge congratulations).  There was a magician, photo booth and workshops run by professionals where young carers learnt essential skills such as first aid. Not forgetting the market place, where one stall was even cooking food as a demonstration for the young people.  It goes without saying that it was a big hit with everyone at the event. The market place also had live music, and I can’t forget to mention the Vale Rights Ambassador stall that spread the word of the UNCRC.  The day was a load of fun, and was a well-deserved chance for all the young carers to have a break, from their selfless lives and daily hard work. Dan (Youth Mayor)

Q&A with the Youth Mayor

On Thursday the 17th of March, we attended the annual school council event in the Vale of Glamorgan, where 5 school councils attended from across the Vale. It was also great to see so many young people from youth organisations such as youth action groups and the VYF at the event.

I would like to give the Vale Rights Ambassadors a huge congratulation on delivering their rights workshop to all the young people at the event. (And it was their first time!) They delivered a really thought provoking  set of activities, engaging all pupils, whilst learning all about the UNCRC and the rights of children.

The jam-packed day also included sessions hosted by the Vale Youth Service staff on participation and the school councils were able to share ideas of good practice with other school councils.  They were also lucky enough to engage with the co-ordinator of Healthy Schools in the Vale.

Finally, we had the amazing opportunity to talk to all the young people about what we, as Youth Mayor and Deputy Youth Mayor are currently working on, and who we are. Not forgetting the productive Q&A session in which young people asked some really good questions! I can't wait to look at the points raised in the Q&A in more depth, as the young people who asked questions were clearly very passionate about the issues raised. Dan & Bronwen (Youth Mayor & Deputy)