Meet the new Youth Cabinet 2018-19

At last night's Vale Youth Forum meeting, members voted for the new Youth Cabinet.  The new Youth Cabinet will be in post until September 2019. The new Youth Cabinet members are:

• Daley Chapman, aged 17: representing Barry Comp & current Deputy Youth Mayor  
• Sana Malik, aged 15: representing Bryn Hafren
• Jules Trahearn-O'Brien, aged 16: representing Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Morgannwg 
• Ben Lloyd, aged 16: representing Cowbridge Comp
• Nikita Harrhy, aged 15: representing St Cyres
• Ushenka Rajapakse, aged 15: representing Cowbridge Comp
• Isaac Cramb, aged 12: representing St Richard Gwyn 

Au Revoir

On Monday night we had our final meeting of the elected Youth Cabinet 2017-18.  On Monday 30th April, all members of the Vale Youth Forum will have the chance to stand to become a Youth Cabinet member.  The next term of office will run from May 2018 until September 2019.  There are 7 Youth Cabinet positions available. 

At our last meeting we met with the Vale Cabinet for our termly meeting and we were able to update them on the work we have been involved in.  This included telling them about our recent meetings which have included raising young people's concerns about the Welsh Bacc, Pupil Funding and the proposed changes to the Youth Service.  We have also sent several letters to decision-makers explaining our views on these topics.   

We also shared with them our proposal to introduce new work experience placements within the Council for young people in Yr10 - Yr13.  They liked our idea and we will now be working with the officer in charge to try and make this happen.  

Finally we spent some time reviewing and evaluating the running of the Youth Cabinet and our term of office to make sure we can provide any advice and support to future Youth Cabinet members. 

Our final session will be on Friday to celebrate our term of office and say goodbye to several members who will be off to university in September.  

Our penultimate meeting

Two guest speakers attended our meeting. First to speak was Dr Vince Browne, the new Executive Headteacher at the new mixed school in Barry. He discussed the lack of funding for Vale schools. It has become a well known fact that pupils in the Vale receive the lowest amount of money per head from Welsh Government in the whole of Wales, and it has been this way for over five years. 

We questioned Dr Browne on the formula used to calculate funding, and he tells us that the data being used is from the early nineties, and that the formula itself has not been reviewed for almost twenty years. Other than the size of catchment areas, Welsh Government have not released a lot of information on how funding is calculated for different local authorities in Wales. Dr Browne continued by saying that in order to keep schools performances up, the council is having to give funding boosts to education by cutting other services. The low funding has a chain effect on many other services, the one most relevant to us being the Youth Service. 

Our second guest speaker was Rhys Jones, a Senior Youth Manager of the Vale Youth Service. He came to talk to us about the proposed changes to the Youth Service. There are to be many less part time jobs in the service, but the creation of several new full time posts. In addition, Llantwit Youth Centre is to be sold off to save money and because it needs a lot of money spent on it to make it more suitable for young people.  The Youth Service is still going to provide youth provision in the area but it would be run differently.  A group has been set up trying to save the youth provision too. 

Despite the commitment to keep the Youth Cabinet and Youth Action Groups as they are, and to press on with the youth exchange in summer, there is still a cloud of uncertainty above the Youth Service’s future and the way youth provisions will be run. The Youth Mayor & Vice Chair of the Vale Youth Forum will be attending the Learning and Culture Scrutiny Committee next Monday (26th March) where the youth service restructure will be on the agenda, and they will be asking questions on behalf of young people in the Vale. 

Other than these hot topics, we approved the draft plan of the work experience menu. We have ideas on the types of placements that we would like the Council to offer young people in Key Stage 4 & 5.  We now need to communicate this to the Council's relevent department. 

This was our penultimate youth cabinet meeting. The next meeting in April will be the last joint meeting with the Cabinet and the last meeting of our term of office. We agreed to hold the Youth Cabinet elections in late April by holding an extraordinary Vale Youth Forum meeting. This will get the new Youth Cabinet together before exams. We are continuing to press that individuals may make a video, pamphlets, give a speech or canvass in any other creative manner to enable a diversity of people to stand for election.  

What's on the menu?

At our Youth Cabinet meeting tonight we began to work on our idea to create a "Work Experience Menu" for young people across the Vale.  We would like young people to be given the opportunity to pick from a range of work experience placements available at the Vale of Glamorgan Council.  Not only would this give young people the opportunity to experience a potential future career and look amazing on our C.Vs, but it would also raise the profile of the Council as a future place to work.  Something that many young people do not consider! 

We began to draft what information should be given to young people; how young people could get involved; and the process they would have to go through; what the placements should involve; and what skills and opportunities young people should get out of it.  We can't wait to take our idea to the next Vale Youth Forum meeting and run it past the members for their input. 

We also discussed the recent stories in the media about the lack of funding pupils in the Vale receive, and we agreed we would like to find out more information about this and invite Dr Brown to our next meeting.  This follows the recent letter sent out to all parents in the Vale. 

We also completed the National Assembly for Wales' consultation on removing the 'defence of reasonable punishment' and discussed how it would protect children's rights covered in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).  The consultation is open until 2nd April 2018.

Youth Visits

It's really important we visit young people across the Vale and find out what's important to them.  We feel very lucky to visit three different places and meet lots of young people.

First of all we visited Ysgol Y Deri in Penarth.  We were invited by one of the Vale Youth Forum members from the school who is also a prefect.  Thank you Katie for the invitation!  We held a meeting with the prefects and gave a presentation about the role of the Youth Mayor and Vale Youth Forum.  The Diversity & Equality Officer from the Vale Youth Forum also came along and we spoke to the pupils about some important issues such as transport, litter and friendships.

Afterwards, we were given a tour of the school and had the opportunity to see the facilities.  We were all impressed with how technology had been integrated into lessons, and how specialist therapies and equipment had been designed and tailored to the needs of the pupils.  There was a hydrotherapy pool and VR facilities to provide vivid sensory education.  There was also a radio station and a TV studio and one pupil suggested filming an interview with the Youth Mayor - we think this is a great idea!

Our second visit was to the schools youth club at YYD which is run by the Vale Youth Service on a Monday and Wednesday, 3.30-5.30pm.  We spent some time with a group of young people talking to each other, playing pool and air hockey, and taking part in numerous other activities.  Although it was a quiet start the young people told us why they enjoy going to youth club and what matters to them.  We've also been invited back to the youth club next term to discuss our progress!

Our last visit of the night was to the Young Carers youth group at the YMCA, Barry.  This youth club is for young people who may care for a family member.  It was really interesting to meet them and learn about their caring responsibilities and how this impacts their life.  The great news is several young people were very interested in joining the Vale Youth Forum and representing the voices of Young Carers.  We look forward to seeing them at our next meeting in December!

It was such a good day and we're so lucky we got to meet lots of young people and tell them all about us.  We're looking forward to visiting more schools, youth clubs and youth groups soon.

     

9 Councillors, 1 evening!

Last night the we had our first official meeting with the Vale of Glamorgan Cabinet.  As this was our first meeting we had lots to discuss and a few issues to raise that young people have been voicing across the Vale.

The main things discussed included giving Cabinet an update on our work so far and discussing our action plan for 2017-18.  We talked about the difficulties young people face in balancing exam stress and the pressures we face in our education, with positive well-being and mental health.  Also, on the agenda was gender equality in PE.  This issue was raised at the Vale Youth Forum by members who felt there was not equality of opportunity across all secondary schools in the Vale regarding the PE curriculum.       

We also presented the official Make Your Mark results and discussed how departments within the Council can take this information on board in the work they do.  We also asked Cabinet to consider taking a Votes at 16 motion to Council - to debate and vote whether the Vale of Glamorgan Council would support lowering the voting age to 16 and 17 in local elections.  We are looking forward to hearing back on this soon!

Following the joint meeting, we met with the Youth Champion, Cllr Leighton Rowlands, and Cllr Owen Griffiths.  As two of the youngest councillors in the Vale we shared our views on a variety of issues, whilst also updating them on our work.  If was really helpful to hear their perspectives and how supportive they are of encouraging young people to get involved in decision-making! 

Make Your Mark 2017

The results from the Make Your Mark ballot 2017 are in ...

A total of 4577 young people across the Vale of Glamorgan voted in this year's campaign either within their schools, youth clubs or youth organisations.  First of all a big thank you to those who voted, but also members of the Vale Youth Forum and Youth Action Groups in Penarth, Barry and Llantwit, who encouraged young people to get involved and vote for their top issue.

As Members of the UK Youth Parliament (MYP) we will do our best to ensure decision-makers take the results on board.  We are currently writing a report on the campaign and the results and we will then decide how we will be working on the most important topics voted for by young people across the Vale.

So what was the most important issue to young people in the Vale of Glamorgan? 

Topic	Number of Votes
A curriculum to prepare us for life	850
Votes at 16	459
Protect LGBT+ People	560
Support for Young Carers	145
Transport	746
First aid Education for all young people	396
Mental Health	479
Make the invisible visible	226
Protect schools budgets from damaging cuts	159
Work experience hubs  for 11-18 year olds	557
Total	4577

The UK wide results are yet to be announced, but they will be debated at the UK Youth Parliament Annual Sitting at Westminster in November, where a national priority will be voted on.

We will also be working on some of the issues on a more local level through the Vale Youth Forum.  We are currently discussing this at our meeting tonight and it looks like we are likely to focus on transport.

We promise to keep you updated.

Thanks,
Ushenka (MYP) & Ben (DMYP)

Who will be the next Youth Mayor?

It's nearly that time of year again, where young people in the Vale have the opportunity to vote for their Youth Mayor.  Local Democracy Week (LDW) takes place between 9th and 13th October 2017 and the Youth Mayor elections is one way we can make young people aware of their local council and encourage them to have their say about their local communities.

This year, three members of the Youth Cabinet are standing for election and want to become the Youth Mayor for 2017-18.  Niclas Want, Ushenka Rajapakse and Daley Chapman need your votes if they are to be successful.

At the Vale Youth Forum (VYF) meeting on Monday 2nd October, the three candidates took part in a hustings.  A hustings, is similar to a question time event, and VYF members had the opportunity to find out more about the candidates manifestos and ask them challenging questions.

Your candidates said:

"The hustings were a good opportunity for us to voice our plans, and to make us think hard about what we want to work on.  We covered many topics and we all debated convincingly.  I hope this opens doors to look at larger hustings for future elections."

"Although I opposed the hustings to begin with, it was a good opportunity to put an actual manifesto out there, and to see what VYF members thought of our ideas.  Answering questions from members was fantastic because it makes you think about your own ideas. We should definitely do it again on a bigger scale!"       

Welcome to the team!

Hello, we are Ben and Ushenka, we are the two new members of the Youth Cabinet who have been successfully elected by members of the Vale Youth Forum at tonight's meeting.  We are both 15 years old and from Cowbridge Comprehensive School.  We have both been on the Vale Youth Forum for over a year and are really passionate about ensuring the views of young people are heard by decision-makers.  We're both looking forward to our first meeting and getting involved straight away!  

Young Wales Annual Conference #YWCI2017

On 21.02.17 the Youth Mayor and members of the Vale Youth Forum went to the annual Young Wales conference at the Future Inn Hotel in Cardiff.  Around 120 young people from across Wales trekked to attend the conference but luckily for us we only had a half hour drive.

To kick off the day there was a presentation on all the work Young Wales had done throughout the year,this included the work on UK Youth Parliament and much more.  The event was hosted and organised by young people with help from support workers, young people even ran some of the exciting workshops we attended throughout the day.

There were four workshops on; the curriculum review; Well-being of Future Generations Act; anti-bullying; and resilience and well-being.  All the workshops were every interesting and sparked debates on a wide range of issues and it was good to listen to other young people's views on these issues.  After a delicious lunch we had a talk from the Children's Commissioner for Wales, Sally Holland, who updated us on her work and we created a hug paper chain full of pledges to promote the UNCRC locally which was great fun.  Also she mentioned the Vale Rights Ambassadors during her talk, as an example of a way young people and youth services are promoting the UNCRC!!

The event ended with a Q&A session with four decision-makers in Wales which included two Assembly Members, the Chief Executive of Children in Wales and Sally Holland.  There were lots of questions posted to the panel from young people in the audience on a range of topics.  Overall it was a great day for everyone who attended!

UKYP Day of Action

Today is the UK Youth Parliament Day of Action ...

Members of Youth Parliament (MYP's) for the Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff and the chair of the Vale Youth Forum went to Cardiff Bay to have a meeting with Stephen Doughty MP to discuss the national priority - Votes at 16! Over 112,000 young people who took part in the recent Make Your Mark consultation voted to give 16 and 17 year olds a vote and it was voted as the national priority by over 300 MYPs at the annual sitting in November.

Our first job as MYPs is to get as much support for the campaign as possible including local politicians and decision-makers.

After discussing the topic is was very clear that Stephen Doughty, MP for Cardiff South & Penarth supports Votes at 16 and has been a champion for many years now.  So we didn't have much of a job to do in trying to get him to support our campaign! He was very happy to listen and see what we had to say on the topic.

We updated him on what the Vale Youth Forum and Cardiff Youth Council had been up to lately and the main priorities for young people locally.  All of his responses to our questions were really interesting and it caught our attention that he used to be a member of a Youth Parliament himself and also attended a comprehensive school in the Vale.

As MYPs we are now looking towards working on the next step, which will further promote the importance of votes@16 for young people and raise awareness of the current UKYP campaign.

November's meeting

This week we held our November monthly meeting and we have a few things to report. Following discussions at the Vale Youth Forum, members concerns about long lunchtime queues have been raised with professionals who are looking into carrying out some research into the issue and the impact it has on students.

Also, we've had a great idea to have some training in British Parliamentary style debating and can't wait to suggest it to the Vale Youth Forum.  Hopefully we will then be able to hold a debate on a chosen topic and invite some decision-makers to listen to our ideas.

The Trans*Form Cymru Charter was also discussed again and we are grateful to have a case study of a young person from the Vale which supports the need for a local LGBTQ guidance document for schools and organisations working with young people.

Also, please see below the new Youth Mayor poster for 2016-17, copies will be coming to schools, youth clubs and youth organisations soon!

      

The results are in!

So 2016 was the second year young people involved in participation projects in the Vale took part in the Make Your Mark campaign.  The Make Your Mark campaign is run by the British Youth Council across the UK and the results are used to find out the top issues for young people which are later debated and voted on at UK Youth Parliament.

This year in the Vale we collected 4136 Make Your Mark ballots and the Vale was the top performing Local Authority in Wales - woop woop! This could not have been achieved without the hard work of members of Penarth Youth Action, Barry Youth Action, Llantwit Youth Council and the Vale Youth Forum whilst encouraging young people to take part in the ballot not to mention the support from Barry Comp, Bryn Hafren and Cowbridge Comp!   

So what did young people vote for and what are the top issues for young people in the Vale?   

• A curriculum to prepare us for life - 804
• Votes at 16 - 560
• Transport - 508 
• First aid education for all - 469 
• Stop cuts that affect the NHS - 448
• Mental Health - 440
• Tackling racism and religious discrimination - 429
• Body Image - 171
• Raising Awareness of Sexual Harassment in schools - 164
• Fund our youth services, don't cut them - 143    

Youth Mayor Fundraiser

Every year the Youth Mayor raises money for a local charity and this year I decided to support the Vale Youth Forum.  The Vale Youth Forum is a registered charity who helps young people have a voice on issues that affect them and their communities.  

On Saturday 23rd July, we held a bag packing event in Asda, Barry.  I'd like to thank Lynette, the Community Champion for helping to arrange the fundraiser.  Members of the Youth Cabinet and Vale Youth Forum took part and I'd like to thank them for supporting the fundraiser and also thank the generous Asda customers who donated.    

The day was a great success and we raised £308 for the Vale Youth Forum and I presented the Chair of the Vale Youth Forum, Erin Jennings with a cheque for the money raised.  The money will go towards helping with the promotion of the Vale Youth Forum in the local community which will hopefully encourage more young people to join the Forum to represent the voice of their peers in their local communities. 

Bro Radio Interview

We have just had a really exciting interview with Jacob on Bro Radio who hosts the Youth Show! We talked about the Youth Cabinet, the Vale Youth Forum and all the important work we do.  We talked about the work we have done in the past, what we're working on at the moment and what we are doing in the future, for example our upcoming trip to Belgium in August.

So if you want to hear all about it, remember to tune into Bro Radio Youth Show 98.1 fm on Thursday 7pm - 9pm.  We're on at 8:42pm!

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:   

 

The Royal Opening of the 5th NAfW

On Tuesday 7th June, members of the Vale Youth Cabinet, Vale Youth Forum, Llantwit Youth Council, Barry Youth Action and Penarth Youth Action attended the Royal Opening of the fifth National Assembly for Wales where we represented young people from the Vale of Glamorgan. 

The day started off with the rigorous security process that we all had to go through and then we were greeted by Assembly staff who gave us visitor passes and Welsh flags.  Walking single file to the Senedd, we took our places outside the Senedd and we were right at the front! We watched the soldiers march into position with the band playing them in.  The loudest part was definitely the 21 gun salute to mark the arrival of the Queen.  The most important part of the day was seeing the Queen walk right past us, along with the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. 

The experience of watching the Royal Family walking past us was unreal and I none of us will forget it.  Daley even got to give his Welsh flag to the Prince of Wales!  The crowd roared and cheered and we even made it on the TV screens.  You can watch highlights of the ceremony here, don't forget to look out for us waving our flags!

Election time!

Last night was the third Youth Cabinet election.  The election was held at the monthly Vale Youth Forum meeting and 11 VYF members presented their manifestos.  Candidates gave passionate speeches in a chance to be voted as one of six Youth Cabinet members.  Everyone wanted the vote!  The new Youth Cabinet will be in office until September 2017.  Check out this short video for a snippet of the candidates manifestos:

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)

#CIYW 2016

Cymru Ifanc - Young Wales is a platform to ensure Welsh Government ministers listen to the views and ideas of young people. 

We attended their annual conference in Cardiff on 05.03.16 which was really interesting.  The conference was chaired by the Deputy Youth Mayor from Merthyr Tydfil and was an opportunity for young people, professionals and Welsh Government to find out what Cymru Ifanc, Young Wales have achieved in the last year.  There were guest speakers including the Children's Commissioner for Wales and we learnt more about the plans for a new curriculum in Wales.  We also took part in workshops around the use of social media and participation and young people's views on mental health services.