Positive stories april 2014

Youth Voice: Positive Stories April 2014

Young people campaigning for Votes at 16 at the Youth Voice Leadership Development Programme

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Youth Voice: Positive Stories A report by youth representatives and the workers that support them April 2014 Welcome to the April 2014 edition of Positive Stories. Our format reflects part of our commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child Article 13 - Freedom of expression ‘Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law,’ UNICEF UK).

The content is split into two parts: 1. Positive activities stories from youth representatives, including Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs), Deputy Members of Youth Parliament (DMYPs), Youth Councillors, Young Mayors and Deputy Young Mayors 2. Update from support workers on the activities of the youth groups they work with and support.

The British Youth Council will share this report regionally and nationally, with local councillors and MPs, and certain media outlets, in order to raise the profile of the fantastic local work that we know is happening every day.

The case studies and stories of the work of young people in their local communities are reproduced here in their own words. If you would like to find out more about one of the projects you read about in this report, please email: mail@byc.org.uk The online survey remains open and we produce reports once a month, providing young people the opportunity to shout about the great work they have been doing in their local areas during the previous month. Previous reports are available online: www.byc.org.uk/uk-work/youthvoice The British Youth Council would like to thank all the workers and young people who took the time to promote and complete April’s survey and we look forward to hearing more from everyone over the coming months.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Contents Young People’s Stories East Midlands East of England London North East North West South East South West West Midlands Yorkshire and Humber Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

4 10 16 26 28 32 37 61 66 85 91 92

Support Worker’s Stories East Midlands East of England London North East Yorkshire and Humber

93 94 96 98 101

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Young People’s Stories

East Midlands Derbyshire Adam Hoyes, Member of Youth Parliament Derbyshire Big Vote Throughout March, campaigning was hotting up in Derbyshire as anticipation grew for the biannual Derbyshire Big Vote, to elect the 50 members of the 2014-16 Derbyshire Youth Council.

145 nominations were made, and after voting on the 10th-14th March was complete a results night was held on the 20th March at County Hall in Matlock. The Big Vote once again saw success in schools, with large turnouts in the third county-wide Youth Council election. Excellent campaigns were fought in schools across the county, and 50 passionate candidates were elected to the council for the forthcoming 2 years.

The new council met for the first time on the 5th April, allowing for goals to be set, and messages of congratulations and good luck to be passed on from old to new members. Having outlined a number of priorities, and looked at the workings of the council and its committees, the new council enjoyed presentations on ‘The Art of Being Brilliant’ and the UK Youth Parliament, with plenty of enthusiasm surrounding both. The next step is another full council meeting back at County Hall to elect Derbyshire’s next MYPs and other representatives. It may only be early, but it already looks as though the Derbyshire Youth Council of 2014-16 could be a productive and successful one.

Leicestershire Ashleigh O’Mahony, 18, Youth Representative Dhianna Hindocha - Leicestershire A massive congratulations is in order for Dhianna. Dhianna, who has always been hard working and dedicated in all she does, spent the past few months campaigning by any means possible to become a member of the UK Youth Parliament. She became a DMYP after missing by one mark but that didn't stop her! Dhianna went through a difficult elimination process to become a

Youth Voice: Positive Stories candidate for her colleges Student Govenor elections. Dhianna created what teachers and students have said were one of the most effective student govenor campaigns they had seen by creating a video of herself holding her manifesto up on cards for everyone to read. Dhianna made sure this was played in tutor times and soared above all other candidates. There are 5 spaces for Student Governors and a few more steps to go (including a vote) for Dhianna to undergo but with her brilliant determined attitude we know that she will achieve all she puts her mind and heart too. You go Dhianna!!!

Kelsey Mackie - Young Mayor for Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire Being a Young Mayor is never easy, you're always in the public eye and there's so much expected of just that one little person. Kelsey deals with this on a regular basis and always delivers to the best of her ability on a local level. Due to personal issues Kelsey has never seemed to open up or get involved with Youth Voice on the level that she did this weekend. Despite everything, Kelsey came along to the Youth Voice Development Program in Kent and came out of her shell amongst other Young Mayors almost immediately. She demonstrated a great understanding of the information she was given and a really positive, enthusiastic attitude. Everyone who came across her said she was "a pleasure to work with" and I for one can definitely agree. Kelsey has now agreed to join in more things like the weekend, which is an amazing growth for her. I'm very proud Kelsey, as should you be and can't wait to see what's in store for you.

Rina Roy – Leicestershire After gaining over 1,000 votes in the UK Youth Parliament MYP candidate election for Leicestershire, Rina was on cloud 9 but she didn't stop there. Over the entire weekend at the induction residential in Kent, RIna spent the weekend portraying how dedicated, knowledgeable and kind hearted she is. She engaged in every workshop not only with the work provided but with the people too. In particular, Rina struggled on the first day/night being away from people she knew and fitting into a new group, despite this Rina put in every effort and make all her workers, region and new made friends proud. She also has a plan to go into schools and colleges and gathering their ideas and views, and the changes they want see in their local area. Well done Rina, I'm so excited to work with you this next year!

Calum Loades, 19, Youth Councillor I have recently been re-selected for the Leicestershire Youth Commission for Policing and Crime and been given more of a leadership/mentoring role. We are hoping to improve on last year’s pilot group to reach over 3000 young people on 6 main priorities over the next 12 months.

Leeanne Benn, Youth Representative After a year of being in care, it was difficult, I didn't get along with my carers at the start but now with my 3rd carer, it’s like a dream, I've finally settled down and began coping with things more. I

Youth Voice: Positive Stories love writing poetry it is my passion, I write poetry about how I am feeling and about life and just this week passed my poetry writing course, I'm looking forward to building up my portfolio.

Recently I have been having meeting on my independent living, I'm scared to move on in life and grow up but I'll make it, I'm so proud of how well I'm doing!

Priya, 18, Youth Representative When I first come into care I was placed in a children's home that really wasn't a safe environment for any young person. I got involved in a lot of things I shouldn't have even known about. In 2013 I help and produced a pack around sex exploitation. In the hope of it being an eye opener to young people about how older people could entice and use them for their own needs!

This pack was launched in 2014 on international women's day! I hope this pack and work sheets will help young people be more wise to the techniques these People will use to groom and abuse them!

Si창n Vincent, 14, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament On April 11th I went on the BYC Leadership development programme. During all of the coursework I gained teamwork, communication, and organisational skills. I also received information about how to campaign; this has had a major impact in my decision and I now am certain with my campaign choice. I am currently designing a presentation and resource packs to put forth for teachers and students in places of education to use. I have people who I need to contact and places I need to go which I didn't even think of until the Leadership development programme. Overall it was a great experience and has helped me kick start my campaign for discrimination awareness and education.

Portia Berry, Member of Youth Parliament Recently I became a newly elected MYP in Leicester and took part in the residential weekend in Kent which I found incredibly beneficial being new to my role. After being inspired, I threw myself head first into work, making myself known to everyone in my local area and supporting the BYC's campaign for Votes at 16 - Adopt A Lord. Firstly, I've been invited to my village parish council to give a talk to local councillors on what I've been doing recently as an MYP/individual and to keep them informed about the work I have and hope to do. Hopefully they will support me in this work and help me to achieve it. Secondly, I've emailed my Lord and my Uncle has got me introductions with 3 other lords whom I hope to question and debate the topic of Votes at 16 with. And, finally, yesterday I met with my local MP just to get to know each other so that he knows who a young representative is of his constituency, I hope all my newly built relationships will grow and that when my role is over they will be standing for the next keen young person to take over and develop.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Lincolnshire Georgina Hands, Member of Youth Parliament A couple of months ago the Lincolnshire Youth Cabinet held a question time event in their County Council’s Council chambers. The Youth Cabinet invited many young people and some of the local schools to attend and discuss the topics that had been set and ask questions to a panel of local Councillors and to me (scary stuff)! The topics discussed ranged from transport to tuition fees and provided the Youth Cabinet and Councillors with a good insight to the problems of young people and overall was really really fun! Lincolnshire Youth Cabinet will be meeting next month and starting other awesome topics like this.

Georgina Hands, Lilly Gurbutt and Lewis Shearwood, Members of Youth Parliament Youth Voice Leadership Development Programme Residential Key points & learning (impact) The programme enabled new members to gain a better understanding of their role and what to expect and existing members to build on theirs. Workshops included different leadership skills important to the role like time keeping, taking charge of the whole group and asking plenty of questions. Workshops also developed other key skills, knowledge and planning. Some sessions focused on the UK Youth Parliament national campaigns* (decided last November before the Lincolnshire election) with advice on lobbying local representatives or 'adopting a Lord' and practical tips like making plaques, banners, slogans and chants for rallies. Successful campaigns require A.I.M (Aspiration, Inspiration and Motivation). There were also discussions on what should be a policy objective for the commons debate this year.

A simulation called Forgeford helped practise tasks representatives usually undertake like a mock meeting with the Head of Forgeford Council, trying to encourage young people to come to a votes at 16 rally, and writing to school councils and teachers encouraging them to participate in the Make Your Mark ballot. Support of British Youth Council staff and an opportunity to meet youth representatives from different counties, hear of their inspirational work and learn and share experiences was highly valuable. With contact lists quadrupled, there was a clear determination to stay in contact with the idea of supporting one other. The importance of team work through outdoor activities and workshops was evident throughout.

Next Steps (action) The Cabinet must agree an issue or issues to focus on that affects young people in Lincolnshire (this may be the national campaign). Talking to other youth councillors showed the significance of

Youth Voice: Positive Stories good communication with local MP’s and councillors; some mentioned how their local MP helps their positive work reach not only other decision makers but also the local press. Holding another Cabinet Question Time or debate event with votes at 16 on the agenda seems to have been affective for youth councils in getting young people engaged, and make the youth councils more prominent in the community. Cabinet should explore these possibilities.

Most youth councils also seem to have formal positions, such as Chair and treasurer, which has worked well in enthusing members, as well as making the youth council more organised. This may be something the Youth Cabinet should consider. Attending regional events, council meetings at school and liaising with other schools to take on board wider issues and views will be important to the role.

"I was surprised at how enjoyable the course was, one of my best weekends to date" - Lewis, MYP

Nottinghamshire Alex Cargill, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament, and other Members of Youth Parliament Over February half term Nottinghamshire's MYPs were lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit the European Parliament in Brussels. Seven of us travelled to the ‘capital of Europe’ to visit the Parliament and explore it’s structure and working. When we first arrived, we were hit by the size of building, the modern glass structure made the Palace of Westminster seem relatively insignificant in size, yet perhaps not in elegance. Once inside, we explored the history and structure of the EU which proved both interesting and engaging. In total, the European Parliament is comprised of 736 MEP (Members of European Parliament) of which Britain is allocated 73 proportionally to our population. Despite the EU first being formed in 1951, Britain was not actually a member until 1973, ten years after the French president Charles de Gaulle vetoed our application for membership. In all, the trip was a brilliant insight into multi-national politics and we feel privileged that we were able to represent UKYP and Nottinghamshire County Council at the centre Europe.

Eddie Fenwich, Member of Youth Parliament Recently, I have been working with my local village parish council- Edwinstowe Parish Council- on various projects which involve young people in the local area. Firstly, I have helped the council to consult with young people in the village about the possibility of the village having a skatepark. We have worked very hard, and we now finally have our skate park! I worked with the young people to consult on design ideas for the skate park, consulted the design ideas with members of the village, and represented the young people of my area at the local parish council meeting. So

Youth Voice: Positive Stories much so, I was asked if I could open the skate park on the official opening day (even getting to cut the ribbon)! Now that the skate park has been built, young people in my village are occupied and are really enjoying having something to do. Our next move is to form a skate park management committee- which I have been asked to run- which will aim to oversee the running of the skate park and any views that young people/ residents have on the skate park. Overall, this has been a really successful project and I am hoping to try and work with local authorises in my area to try and push for a skate park in local areas such as Ollerton, in my constituency, to be built! Skate parks are a great way of providing opportunities and fun to young people, and we are all really proud of our hard work with our skate park- it has definitely paid off!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

East of England Bedford Youth Representatives VIBE VICE VERSA - Kyle, Grace, Natalie, Haleema, Aklima, Rosa, Alice, Rahima, Lizzie, Radiya, Claudia, Joe, Laura, aged 12 – 20.

Group includes disabilities, young people in care, young carers as well as being open to all young people!

We are LINK Vice Versa and we are a group of 16 young people from all over Bedford Borough from 12 – 20 who do things together to make a difference. We have done inspections of services, grants for activities, equipment, disabilities, interviewed for new staff including the Director, given advice to companies and organisations on how to work with young people.

We decided we wanted to celebrate what young people do in Bedford Borough, the young people who do projects like us, the young people who were performing at the event, give something to do and somewhere to go for under 17s (up to 25s with disabilities) and do

Youth Voice: Positive Stories something organised by young people for young people. We also wanted to do something nice for children and young people in care so decided all the money from ticket sales would be given to the Looked After Achievement Awards to help buy prizes.

The night was amazing, awesome, cool, wicked – WE LOVED IT!! people came, we had a really good band perform called Catching Butterflyz, everyone danced it was sooo good. And we got some money for the Awards night for children in care. We are thinking about what to do next year…we have got more ideas!

SuperKids Young Carers - Haleema, Amelia, Malachi, Sophie, Chelsea, Lorna, Shelly, Alex, aged 9 – 13.

SuperKids is for everyone young children kids and me. Being a carer can be hard at times but most time i think it is fun because it makes me feel responsible, important as well as different. I am not afraid or ashamed of being different, i think it is quite fun because not all children can look after family members, so i am very proud.

In SuperKids we have ten members including three members of staff who are very kind, friendly, as well as easy to talk to. They also make the sessions that we have very fun and enjoyable.

We got asked to go and tell councillors what it was like to be a young carer at their meeting called Overview and Scrutiny on April 14th. We talked to them about the things that young carers have to do such as giving parents medicines, making tea or coffee, and taking parents outside to have some freedom and fresh air.

We will also asked them questions to get their responses and also to get their ideas about caring. We made presentation abotu the things we do like the photo of doing things in the kitchen at home.

It was really good to see them – you could tell they were interested and cared and wanted to know what we thoguht they could do to help. We are going to write to them and invite them to our SuperKids meeting to tell us what they have done to change things.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories CiCC Youth Club - 16 young people came – they didn’t want to share their names, aged 7 – 19.

The Children in Care Council is for children and young people in care with Bedford Borough Council aged 8 – 21. It is about supporting us, listening to other people, improving services, helping people in care, giving us time to relax, helping us to put our videos across, having fun and changing things.

We have a youth club and in April decided what projects we wanted to do. Our ideas were to do more activities, to do a community project, to do training and workshops for teachers, to do a swop day where teachers are in care and we are the teachers for the day, to make a buddy project, to go to Parliament for the day and to have trips.

At the April youth club we had a chef who we did cooking with (mmmm cakes) and we had a football coach and used the music studio. We also did ideas for the awards in September, ideas for a video to find new carers and then our ideas.

Essex Jakub Makowski, 16, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Presentation to National Association of Pastoral Care in Education On Saturday 29th March 2014 I attended the Annual General Meeting of National Association of Pastoral Care in Education. Their aim is to establish links between education professionals and allied agencies that have an interest in pastoral care and personal-social education and the welfare of students of all ages in schools. I delivered a 15 minute presentation about one of our main campaigns: Curriculum for life. After that I was answering questions about what we have achieved so far etc. As a result of my presentation, they said they might attempt to put in an article about Curriculum for Life into their world-wide ‘’Pastoral Care in Education’’ Journal.

Additionally, they proposed that I join the National Executive Board of NAPCE, as a result of which the association will have someone who is in the system as a Board Member. I hope this will be a good opportunity, for them, to realise that it is always good to ask a young person about issues that affect young people.

Consultation Event with Nick Alston Essex PCC Earlier in the year I attended Police and Crime Commissioner’s conference. It gave me an opportunity to meet Nick again and meet the Chief Constable and all of his deputies. It was a

Youth Voice: Positive Stories great opportunity to go and raise some of the very important issues regarding crime and feeling safe (which we are working on with Young Essex Assembly). As a result of this Conference I got interested in the idea of Youth Police and Crime Commissioner and had a chance to mention this to the fantastic Essex Police team.

Hertfordshire Alex Hirsh, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Update on the 2012/13 Manifesto As I’m sure you are aware from your own work, making progress can be frustrating, slow, and there are moments when you might feel like giving up. But then you have those times when you begin to see change, and Herts UKYPs Youth Summit with Hertfordshire County Council on the 1 st April was one of those occasions.

As last year, we met with the Director of Education & Early Intervention, Justin Donovan, and Andrew Simmons, Deputy Director of Services for Children and Young People. Following an informal introduction, we were given a progress report on implementation of the 2012/13 Manifesto following last year’s meeting. The progress is highly commendable.

For example, on the priority of ‘Child Fares for all under 18’s’, HCC will now include our date of births on saver cards from September 2014, and are supporting us to work more closely with bus companies.

From the priority of ‘Wider Leaning Opportunities in schools’, the current Work experience and Work Related Learning is now integrated into Youth Connexions working to make the system far more accessible and effective for all young people in the county.

In terms of ‘Supporting Young Runaways and Homeless’, we are proud to announce new initiatives such as the ‘Numbers-you-need’ booklet being put online, and new projects to find out what help would be best for young runaways and homeless.

As I am sure you too understand, the austerity of the last few years has seriously threatened Youth Services, and we are pleased that thanks to the efforts of the 2012/13 group, the importance of youth services in now included in the HCC Corporate Plan for 2013 – 17.

We then turned our attention to the 2013/14 Manifesto to begin discussing action plans. For an initial discussion, the outcomes were remarkable positive - everything from ‘Building positive relationships between young people and the police’ to ‘increasing apprenticeship opportunities’ to ‘Olympic/Paralympics legacy’ to ‘supporting young people with personal issues’. We were fortunate to speak to senior officers of these respective issues who work in the County. I, like my colleagues, are eagerly anticipating the prospect of real implementation on the scale that last year’s manifesto has seen.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

On a personal note, it was great to meet my colleagues from the 2013/14 group as well as having the chance to meet the 2014 cohort - the ‘new lot’! I trust they will do their utmost to continue our work, and we hope we have laid strong foundations for them. I also hope the success of yesterday’s meeting is a message to all groups from around the Country that the hard work will pay off, and people of seniority are willing to engage and work with young people. We live in a world where people are often very cynical about the prospect for improvement, and it fills me with great pride to feel I can defy the cynics. My thanks to Mr Donovan and Mr. Simmons, as well as all those we met yesterday. Of course, special thanks to our very own Alex Ferguson (Youth Connexions) who helped make yesterday another memorable occasion for us all.

Suffolk Irna Bridle, 15, Member of Youth Parliament In my 1st month of being a Member of Youth Parliament for West Suffolk, I have met the other Member of Youth Parliaments and had team building skills to help us get to know one another.

We also attended the Suffolk Assembly of Youth event, “Youth got talent", which showed the achievements of young people in our area, it also showed us what was happening in our communities and watched young people perform. We had a lot of fun at the event and I made new friends.

I volunteer for Girlsguiding UK (for brownies and rainbows) and have helped them earn new badges and skills. This month, I also played lead in a school production of We Will Rock You, playing Scaramouche.

Peterborough Philip Robinson, 18, Youth Representative This month I attended the first ever BYC event at which my presence had been requested. I was selected to join the Youth Select committee as a direct result of my work in Scouting and this month we all went on our first residential. We worked on team building activities and elected a chair to lead our team. The following day, having all become acquainted we all attended Portcullis house (part of the parliamentary estate). Here our chair was announced and we received a personal message encouraging our work from the speaker of the House of Commons and we had the opportunity to ask him questions, including mine on keeping order in the chamber and the selection process for which MP's get to speak. There was also a photo opp with the speaker and the pictures are now up on the website along with our exciting press release. It

Youth Voice: Positive Stories also details the committee's points of reference which we worked on with the assistance of Lydia our House of Commons clerk following our tour of parliament. We have all been working hard since our residential to gather evidence in preparation for our oral evidence sessions when we'll be back at parliament and live on TV. I feel this month I have helped the cause of youth democracy through my work and am immensely proud to be working with the BYC on such a major issue as votes at 16 and am delighted to serve at their pleasure and hope to do so into the future.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

London Barking and Dagenham Faraz Hanif, 17, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament The weekend residential was a fantastic experience! As a returning member I have been to other BYC residential events before, but I can say that this one has topped them all. I have learnt so much about campaigning and I now feel that I can start working on a campaign locally. The BYC staff managed to cover so much content within a short period of time, from brainstorming problems in our local areas to writing letters to our local councils. The ForgeFord council activity was brilliant as it was so well run. It gave us a chance to see the process of how it all works when it comes to lobbying councillors/MP’s/Lords.

Overall the weekend was very productive and lots of fun. I have made so many new friends which has improved my networking with young people in the BYC.

Stephen Abordo, 16, Member of Youth Parliament Throughout my childhood, I have had the desire to want to make a change around me (not just in matters affecting only me, but for all children and youth). Therefore upon hearing about the Barking and Dagenham Youth Forum in my local area last year, (and with the flaming desire for change in mind) , I was immediately intrigued by the opportunity of a possible platform to birth my dreams of making some change after all – no matter how small .

After joining the Barking & Dagenham Youth Forum early this year, I saw another opportunity to enlarge my platform of wanting to make a change; which I embraced wholeheartedly and perceived – to become the MYP for Barking and Dagenham in February 2014.

The Journey so far: The DMYP of Barking and Dagenham and myself, accompanied by our Youth Worker, embarked on a trip to Ashford-Kent over the weekend dated (11th - 13th April 2013) for a residential Induction. And of course being new with the whole MYP position, I was rather

Youth Voice: Positive Stories nervous and absolutely unsure of what to expect. My expectations were neither high nor low but just an open mind and open arms to match, ready to embrace whatever challenges the journey may bring forth. To my pleasure, it turned out to be one of the BEST weekends ever, surrounded by various young people who shared the same dreams and passion; eager to make a change for other young people . I learnt about various leadership skills and what my representative role required of me as well as how I can use the course to improve my personal effectiveness and that of the local Youth Vehicle. This followed on with various outdoor activity including climbing the Jacobs ladder where I succeeded into facing my fear of heights and climbed all the way to the top with the help and support from my team (other MYP's and workers in my group) as well as a desire and a mindset not to quit or give up. With my heart racing so fast and unsure whether to give up or not, I thought of how much I would hate to look back to that day and realize what would've been if only I'd put in that little effort. The cheer and support from my team below was more than enough to carry me up to the top. This goes as far to show that with the right mindset first of all, and support from your surroundings, you can reach the top - the very top of the Jacobs ladder for me - which once seemed impossible to reach.

On the Saturday, we were introduced to Forgeford (a fictional world) where we had to pitch a campaign using persuasive speaking skills etc. This required us to be organised as well as conscious of time. The idea was to build up skills which we will require during our term of office and MYPs as we will be leading and managing campaigns etc. to ensure we are as effective as possible in our field. The sad part was having to say goodbye to everyone and departing to our various homes. However the entire experience was worthwhile and only left me motivated, inspired and energised to carry on the mantle and work to my optimum potential to bring about the positive change that I have always wanted to see.

Following on from the recent Induction residential; where i got the chance to boost my leadership skills, gain a lot more insight into my role and responsibilities as an MYP, I am hoping to first of all get into schools to start something however, I am visiting various sub groups of the youth forum in my local area finding out what they've been up to and how i may be of assistance.

Exams might however be a slight hindrance however, I will device my time table to work around the clock so I fit everything in perfectly.

Barnet Nikhil Malkan, 15, Member of Youth Parliament At the start of the month, I had the pleasure of attending the UKYP residential, held in Kent this year. It was an intensive two day training program where I networked with a range of young people from all over England, and developed new skills and knowledge with regard to my role as MYP. It was a great experience and I actually got something out of it.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Secondly, I have commenced my first project of creating a vocational opportunities newsletter for my local area. I have had meetings with the children's services department for the my local authority and have applied for funding via 02 Think Big. I hope to release the newsletter at the end of July this year, which will inform young people of a range of opportunities, such as, work experience, summer schools, training programs and apprenticeships, in addition to advice on how to write applications.

Louise Hawkins, 14, Youth Representative The UK youth select committee add a training session in February. Also since then the press release has gone out and we have all been emailing loads of people and trying to get as many people as we can to submit written evidence.

I also attended young people in Barnet by attending Barnet youth board and we have been a few consultations recently.

Croydon Bethany Monk, 13, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament I went on a youth residential trip in Ashford giving me a large amount of advice as to how to plan and run your campaign. This included getting funding, speaking to local MPs and even teaching about our roles so we can take our job to the next level.

I have set up a campaign to help youth offenders put their lives back together by using the arts and sports. I also plan to break the stereotypes of young people.

Ealing Yasmin Rufo, 16, Young Mayor Last year at this time I was reading the application pack to be a Young Mayor for my borough, questioning whether I should run or not. Fast forward a year and I have had the best time possible as a Young Mayor.

Over the past year I have been working on my manifesto which includes points around improving the local mental health services, making sure that minority groups are represented and that a better relationship is formed between the police and young people. As well as that I have been

Youth Voice: Positive Stories doing a lot of campaigning on Votes at 16 and raising awareness of FGM (Female genital mutilation). I have also been able to meet so many inspirational young people over the past year and feel privileged to have been at awards such as the Descendants award, opening the new MENCAP play centre and making a speech at the Ealing Music Ceremony.

I have managed to achieve my first manifesto point by working with Ealing Council to improve the PSHE curriculum around mental health. I am currently still working on my second manifesto point and am looking to meet with Children in Care council, young offenders and Young Carers to find out the issues affecting them.

Lastly I have had a really positive response to my final manifesto point; after meeting with the borough commander we are now running a campaign where young people will train the police on how to interact with youths when it comes to issues such as stop and search. Overall this year has been an absolutely phenomenal experience, and I have enjoyed it immensely. I would recommend any young person to run for Young Mayor. Not only does it help you improve your personal skills but you are also giving something back to the local community.

Hammersmith and Fulham Fred Gill, 17, Procedures Group Representative This month we had the Youth Voice Leadership Residential which was an amazing time where young people from across the country came to lean skills to help them in their elected roles.

During the weekend I took part in a role play activity where I played an MP called Alex Winsome who opposes Votes@16 during this I had to challenge new MYP's on the campaign and I have to say all 3 groups I visited held their own and where a great challenge to go up against. As well as that I had to pleasure to meet the London region on the Sunday where I was able to talk about the plans for the year ahead and to break down any questions for problems that the D/MYP's have for year ahead. I look forward to seeing what the year has to hold going forward for London and see all the great work that it has to offer.

Deputy Member of Youth Parliament On the 11th of April we went to the UKYP residential to learn more about our roles and how we can influence decision making . We were taught valuable skills that will benefit us as we will be taking them back to our borough. We worked through many activities ranging from creating our

Youth Voice: Positive Stories own campaign to protesting outside for VOTES FOR 16! In addition to that we created our action plans for the year ahead which will hopefully prove to be successful. It was a very productive weekend.

Deputy Member of Youth Parliament We recently started reaching out to young people in school so that we could promote BYF and get their opinions about work experience and C4L. Our first meeting is at Phoenix high school on the 3rd of April. It’s working progress for our first school meeting.

Harrow Jayh Karia, 17, Youth Councillor History was made in Harrow Youth Parliament this month. Firstly, I believe I should say Harrow Youth Parliament is a youth organisation unique in Britain. Starting with only 8 members in 2008, the Parliament has evolved to over 97 elected members in just 7 years, representing many different schools, communities and faith groups around our historic borough. Over 11,300 young people (a turnout of 49%) took part in electing the representatives meaning that HYP is an organisation that represents and fights for the views of her electorate, showing that we can create a voice for hundreds of young people across our borough.

2 years ago, Harrow launched an event called ‘Youth Summit’ in which we taught people about the importance of politics and campaigning. This year, we are going one better. HYP, in coordination with many other Youth Parliaments across London, is planning to host a conference which I’ve called ‘Seize the Day’. Seize the Day will teach hundreds, possibly even thousands of young people about the power of youth democracy and how politics influences the lives of every single young person in society through speeches from key politicians, interactive activities and teaching them how to get involved with politics. This event will be the greatest, and most challenging, project that we have ever hoped to accomplish and the rewards will be reaped in the future. By educating young people about politics and actively engaging them in an event that means something to their lives, we will encourage the youth to develop an interest in politics, to possibly such an extent that in a few years the youth will be able to contribute to a much greater extent in policy making.

Harrow Youth Parliament is mapping out the future of youth politics in our borough and London by actively involving young people in the system so that we, as an organisation, have the possibility of turning 11,300 tiny whispers into 1 shout that echoes through the corridors of powers, calling for representation. This is what is so significant about this month. We held our AGM in which over 42 people stood for election. By such a show of strength, the youth people in

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Harrow have opened the door for their own future and Harrow Youth Parliament will walk the young people through it. Young people are not the future, we are the present and we call to be represented.

Mubeena Shaqueel, 15, Member of Youth Parliament I have been attending meeting and I voted in the AGM.

Zak Wagman, 15, Member of Youth Parliament

Youth Voice: Positive Stories On Friday 11th April, Harrow sent three delegates along to the BYC’s inaugural Youth Voice Leadership Development Programme, in Ashford, Kent. The delegates were Zak Wagman, Harrow’s New Member of Youth Parliament, Ravhi Karia, Harrow’s New Deputy Member of Youth Parliament, and James Stevenson, Harrow Youth Parliament’s Support Worker. After boarding the underground early in the morning, and getting slightly lost searching for the coaches at Embankment, we all arrived on the coach in good time and took our seats. For all three of us this was a new experience, having never attended any of BYC’s or UKYP’s events before. Therefore we all knew nobody else there, and were setting out to make new friends as well as learn about our new positions, and have lots of fun too.

Over the course of the weekend, we all learnt huge amounts about our new positions, from campaigning to social media to meeting influencers and decision makers. The course has also inspired us to make a change to Harrow’s Youth Parliament, including these Positive Stories, something that we are sure we will see a huge growth from, from Harrow. The undoubted highlight of the weekend was Saturday afternoon’s experience of Forgeford, simulated town, where we had to work as MYPs and DMYPs for, and undertaking numerous challenges, including letter-writing, meetings with ‘MPs’ and the showpiece, a full-scale rally of 400 young people, on the BYC’s Votes at 16 Campaign, with chanting, posters and placards. The weakened ended with the Harrow delegates finding some considerable success within the Forgeford competition. Zak’s group of New MYPs had won their category; however the praise was to be reserved for James, who had masterminded his group to success in the New DMYPs category. Overall we all had an incredibly enjoyable and rewarding weekend, where we learnt a lot of new, essential skills for us to put into practice over the next year, and also made lots of new friends who we are looking forward to seeing at future conventions, residential and events.

On Wednesday 16th April, 25 of the Harrow Youth Parliament’s members met at the Harrow Civic Centre for our Easter social activity, which was a cryptic scavenger hunt around Harrow. The members were a good mix of newly elected, younger members, and more experienced, older Executive members, and so gave the group a good opportunity to mix and socialise with lots of members. After being split into two teams, we were told the rules that we had been given a sheet with cryptic clues of locations in Harrow, and we had to work out where they were and travel there to find out and answer some questions about the place. After one member decided that he had found the best way to attempt this, we were reminded that we could not use the internet, which disappointed that member. Both teams got onto their minibuses assigned to them with enthusiasm, before realising that we all had no idea where to go, and were slightly stuck on ideas. We managed to find our footing soon after, and embarked upon an exciting afternoon, full of fun, chatting, cryptic clues, music, relaxing and running between Harrow’s many wonderful sights. In the three hours we had, we went to numerous locations, including the Wealdstone Youth Centre, Harrow Arts Centre, Barnet Football Club and Park High School. We also stopped as a group in the park outside the Harrow Museum (yes, that really does exist!) to relax and have some light refreshments. By the end of the afternoon, we had all made new

Youth Voice: Positive Stories friends, had a great time, and familiarised ourselves with what Harrow has to offer for its young people. Not to mention, we had all considerably improved our crossword and puzzle solving skills!

Photos from Harrow:

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Havering Destiny Fakayode, 15, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament I was elected as DMYP in February this year and have been meeting every Wednesday with the youth councillors, D/MYPs and our youth workers working on lots of different projects. One of our recent projects was that we planed and organised an Easter egg hunt. The Easter egg hunt took place on Monday the 14th of April and it turned out to very successful. The Easter egg hunt was aimed at 8-11 year olds and it encouraged them to socialise and get involved with the Youth Council. It was great fun!

This month I have started to work on one of my pledges which was to plan more events for the young people of Havering. On Tuesday the 15th of April me and the other D/MYPs of Havering took over the twitter page of the Havering Council and it was amazing. We answered lots of questions that were coming in and tweeted to many celebrities to encourage them to encourage young people to vote in the Havering Elections. It has been a great experience!

Freya Pearson, 14, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament I have been a Deputy Member of Youth Parliament for one month now, I have really enjoyed the meetings & company. Recently I attended a child poverty strategy meeting. We discussed our ideas on how to tackle the problem of child poverty in Havering. We first identified the main child poverty areas in Havering. Afterwards we broke into focus groups and discussed three main topics. The current problems, the action that could be taken to solve those problems & what strategies have been implemented to make the situation better. It was a very productive meeting and I enjoyed it immensely, I am positive that in the coming future child poverty in Havering will be reduced. I am confident in my role as Deputy Member of Youth Parliament & I can't wait to continue.

Tolu Akingbade, 14, Member of Youth Parliament Recently, some of the Members and Deputy Members of Youth Parliament were invited to control Havering's twitter to encourage more young people to vote. It was a great experience, we got to answer the questions of some people in Havering. Also we got to tweet some famous people who originated from Havering to encourage them to tell others to vote. As a small part of those who voted in the local election were the youth, it was very important that we tried to make others vote especially the youth! I think the best part of the day was coming up with inventive hashtags and, of course, the selfies!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Being a newly elected Member of Youth Parliament has been a great experience especially when you see what you are bringing to the role and how your changing different aspects. For instance, some youth representatives (including me) were invited to attend a Child Poverty Strategy meeting which addressed the issues of child poverty in Havering. Although Havering may not be thriving with child poverty, there are a few unfortunate children who live in poverty and don't know who to turn to, this meeting addressed that and helped everyone understand the support services out there. The meeting was slightly daunting, as there were only approximately 5 youths with (approximately) 30 adults and the meeting was set up formerly. However everyone was very welcoming and let us speak form the heart, although I was a bit sceptical about talking in front of the whole meeting group when we were split into smaller groups, I spoke a lot more. It was very interesting to see many different people from different walks of life such as housing estate agents, NHS workers, head teachers and the jobs just get more extravagant! This experience was great and hopefully changed the way child poverty is dealt with in Havering.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

North East Northumberland Matt Butcher, 16, Youth Councillor This month I have met with Bus Users UK on behalf of the Northumberland Youth Cabinet to put forward our views, as young people and as a youth work group, on public transport for young people to get a better view of young people and an easier bus system for them. Also I have presented at the Northumberland County Council's Youth Work conference, again on the behalf of the Youth Cabinet to promote our work, but also to promote young people as a whole and to encourage adults to change their views, if necessary, on young people. As well as this, the Cabinet as a whole have been working with the NCC on a post-16 transport consultation, and a home-school transport consultation to represent the views of young people on these grounds as it will really affect many young people like us.

The Northumberland Youth Cabinet is partaking in various projects in our county to better the lives of young people on the grounds of: recognition for their work; transport; environmental sustainability; more valued opinions from young people in higher places of authority and combating bullying.

Stockton Jessica Belch, Member of Youth Parliament I seriously don’t know where to begin!

I know that Stockton Youth Assembly is very looking forward to the residential in April. As Member of the Youth Parliament for Stockton we had a very productive 2 sessions talking to influential roles in the council about the work experience, sports and leisure and health. We discussed the implications of having no compulsory Careers Advice and the effects this can have on young people. I discovered this when reading the Inspirational Vision Statement by

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Minister Matthew Hancock when away with the National Scrutiny Group.

It is believed that it’s better for employers to connect with students as it makes a greater impact.

The question is what if a young person doesn’t know how to contact the employer?

We also talked about the importance of having PE lessons in schools. One youth assembly member in particular pointed out that in could PE lessons could be made more universal if schools offered a wide range of sport. This may increase out of school clubs and activities.

We underlined many of these issues and made the council aware of these issues and many more (but I have much more to talk about!) The SYA was also ambitiously planning the ‘Votes at 16’ campaign this month- can’t wait to get started! A positive and active month for the SYA! The launch of the NHS Forum is something I am very proud to say I’m part of! WOW! I had an amazing opportunity to go to Ashford, Kent. This forum is something new in the structure in the NHS. After some ‘minor’ travelling delays, we all arrived safe and sound and I can assure you it didn’t dampen the weekend!! The NHSYF comprises of 20 young people across the country to make an impact on health care policy, represent the view of young people and make sure the NHS in accountable. I met some fantastic and inspirational young people and we all pulled our ideas together to make a rather awesome map of the NHS. Check out our video filmed by the Reporters Academy on YouTube!

We discussed the implications of the Fraser Guidelines, Sexual Advice, GP surgeries, the transition from child to adult services, mental health services and much more. Our 3 priorities are reducing the stigma around teenage Mental Health. De- stigmatising the use of Sexual Advice services by working with charities as brooks and to improve the communication between young people and health care professionals. We also took part in many team-building activities and I made many friends. I feel we made our mark on the NHS, especially when we had the chance to talk to many influential members in the NHS and DoH who very gratefully gave up their weekend to come talk to us. We also had the opportunity to judge the Children and Young People’s Award for Excellence in Participation. I feel we chose the right candidate, as they were truly inspirational and fantastic! This is skimming the whole entire weekend. Thanks to David Clark, Hugo Brooks, Kat and Alice from the NHS who all made this possible!

This month I have been very proud to represent the voice of young people in Stockton and the North East

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

North West Cheshire West Ciarรกn O'Shea, 18, Youth Representative

I attended a meeting with various Council Members on the Children and Education Scrutiny Committee, and presented the report on Curriculum for Life that myself and Jess Colston (also from Cheshire West) have been working on for the last 8 months following the beginning of the UKYP Campaign of the same name.

Our report was very well received by members, with our Director of Children's Services suggesting ways to implement our recommendations there and then! In addition, we have been invited to present our findings to the Executive Board towards the end of the month, which will hopefully result in the successful implementation of our recommendations in schools across the county as soon as possible!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Lancashire Youth Councillor Following the MYP elections in February where I stood down, I have helped the newly elected MYP 'find his feet' in the role by giving him tips and helping him with ways in which to contact people in our area.

At North West Youthforia, I am the Lancashire Representative so I am part of the Leadership committee. As all the MYP's in Lancashire were new to Youthforia, I helped them get to know each other by running a workshop for them where they talked to each other and brought them out of their comfort zone. I then did an activity around choosing a new campaign for Youthforia which helped them when it came to the official first meeting. At this meeting, I ran a workshop for old members about any tips they could give to the new members of Youthforia. This was really successful and I am currently writing notes up to give out to the new MYP's. Following my work previously as MYP, my college tutor entered me for High Sheriff of Lancashire Awards where I was commended the work I do in the community and at college. At our local youth council, we are not starting to do work around the campaign of mental health and how we can promote awareness on the rising issue- especially amongst young people. Finally, Lancashire Youth Council have a campaign group for Votes at 16 where we are writing up a proposal to the Cabinet members. We will present this to them the next time we meet which will be in June where we will have an answer as to whether or not they will support the motion. In addition to this, alongside another member of the group, I am writing up a letter to send out to the councillors in the area to ask them for their support on the campaign.

Liverpool Ciara Brodie, 15, Member of Youth Parliament Myself along with several other young people, met in London for the first time as the Interim Student Voice National Executive. It was an exciting day as we’re hoping to form a body that represents the secondary school students of England. We are holding a conference in London on 7th July with workshops for young people and elections for the National Executive. Get onto www.studentvoice.co.uk if you're interested!

I also represented Student Voice in the 'Political Studies Association's' Conference held in the Midland Hotel, Manchester. I attended two panels: women in politics & feminism and also the Scottish referendum where we discussed how to engage young people as well. It was a really interesting day to meet with academics from across the UK and the world. And equally, it was fantastic to have the opportunity to engage in discussions with such a prestigious body of people.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Oldham Mariam Waseem, 19, Youth Councillor The Oldham Youth Council has recently had re elections. We have welcomed our new members and got straight down to work by choosing our campaigns for the next term of office. These are I Love Me and Volunteering. For more info check out our blog! www.oycevents.wordpress.com The youth councillors also recently attended the Mayors Ball which was a fantastic. It's great to feel part of the local community and have our ongoing hard work recognised by the Mayor and Councillors.

In addition to this, myself and colleague Chris Marland (Rochdale Youth Cabinet) have been planning and coordinating our League of Young Voters campaign that will run through Oldham and Rochdale before our exciting trip to Strasbourg for the EYE next month.

Regionally, the Youthforia NW team has been working extra hard organising our annual residential. We have loads to look forward to locally, regionally and nationally!

We will be broadcasting our campaign progress with our league of young voters campaigning so keep your eyes peeled!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Salford Elisha Stephens, 16, Member of Youth Parliament I started my term as MYP on the 1st of April and following this have been asked to become a regular member of the Children and Young People's Trustboard as their youth representative! I also met with the Salford Youth Service Partnership Strategy Group, along with my fellow DMYP Laura Edwards, to discuss how to improve the leisure facilities for the young people of Salford.

Additionally, the Salford Youth Council, myself included, have been working to rebrand our youth council and promote ourselves on social media- with which we have managed to recruit a reasonable following of Salford councillors and MPs.

Trafford Hannah Sharp, 14, Youth Councillor We met with CAMHS to discuss what improvements we as young people believed need to be made to the service, how we could involve self referral and how we could do all of these things.

Marike Ruther, 15, Youth Councillor 

Youth Cabinet working with health watch as part as our Mental Health and Wellbeing for Young People campaign (also links in with Youthforia).

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Been part of a direct press release (video), liking with healthwatch, which is being distributed to decision makers.

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Attended meetings with Children's Trust Board, with councillors, police, and head teachers, representing youth of Trafford.

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Worked with anti hate crime campaigns such as S.O.P.H.I.E (a charity inspired by Sophie Lancaster). Youth Cabinet 2014 February residential dedicated to anti hate workshops.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

South East Brighton and Hove Thomas Soud, 16, Member of Youth Parliament Over the last couple of months I have been heavily involved in working in setting up a new school council in my secondary school. There were multiple faults with the previous one such as few meetings, very little coming from them, little power to put things through, little publicity and others. Myself, the Deputy Head, Head Boy and Girl have worked for the last few months in addressing these issues. We first changed the name to the Junior Leadership Team and reestablished it as a small team of about 20 pupils.

There are representatives from each year and other important groups e.g. the local Youth Council and Senior Pupils. Each representative brings issues forward from there year meetings who they are elected by (they are elected into the year meetings by their forms). During the full meetings we debate numerous issues and give them to different pupil run committees to deal with, presently there are 8 which range from dealing with issues around bullying, uniform, the canteen, charities and many others. Around 5 members sit on each committee.

In my experience this is one of the most effective ways of organising a School Council. I have spoken to peers in other schools and they often do not have a school council with any momentum behind it at all. However, each school is different. I am very pleased of the work put in and do hope it continues after I leave in the school in May. And as this is the final month of me being in it and all the pieces are finally falling together nicely I thought it would be a good positive story.

East Sussex Harry Elphick, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month I began an online petition for votes for 16 and curriculum for life on a social media website. I also have been working with a member of the East Sussex Youth Cabinet to provide a youth council to the town of Uckfield. I have supported her in this as she approached me with the idea and we have had support from the council in doing this.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Hampshire Sam Longmore, 17, Member of Youth Parliament I have written to my Lord, The Lord Astor of Hever, concerning the Votes @ 16 campaign.

Unfortunately, I have not heard back yet, but I'm excited to see what he has to say about it. I have also spoken to one of the MPs in my constituency about both the CFL and votes @16. He believed that the CFL was a good initiative and should be part of many schools. Also, to my surprise, he had asked college students and yr 11s about their opinions on Votes at 16 and they were not in favour of this. As all my MPs have reminded me, the government has no current plans to do anything about this matter!

As well as this, I appeared on BBC 3s Free Speech filmed in Winchester on the 10th! It was a great opportunity to hear other peoples' opinions on a variety of issues including: education, a cap on porn and quotas to include women in jobs and society. (I also got to meet the presenter, Rick Edwards and panelist and comedian, Russell Kane!!)

Milton Keynes Adam Rolfe, 17, Member of Youth Parliament At the beginning of this month the Milton Keynes Youth Cabinet went on a residential to King’s Conference centre to mark half way through their 2 year term. It gave them all an opportunity to reflect on what they had achieved over the last year and what they hope to achieve over the coming year, as well as workshops to improve their skills to make their campaigns run more effectively and successfully. In addition the calendar for the upcoming year was produced, signalling when we would have our meetings and who we would meet in each meeting and we also set ourselves goals to try and meet. Overall the whole weekend was a very beneficial and entertaining weekend had by all who attended. A huge shout out to say thank you to Emma Hoskin and the Youth Workers who made the whole weekend possible.

Elizabeth Beale, 17, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Wow, what a month! After a very successful Big MK Youth Debate last November pledges are now being chased up from the local decision makers. It is great to see the event having a real impact in Milton Keynes. As a result of its success I went to the vInspired headquarters (the amazing organisation who funded the project) and the House of Commons to champion the

Youth Voice: Positive Stories opportunities and impact vCashpoint projects can have on local communities. This month has also seen the development of the plans to knock down a local iconic building. But more importantly than that The Point is home to the most relied upon youth centre in MK. Over the last 2 months 3000 young people walked through its doors. The local Youth MPs are currently working with other young people to ensure that this essential youth service is protected. One of The UK Youth Parliaments campaigns at the moment is 'A Curriculum for Life'.

Here in Milton Keynes for the past few years young people have been campaigning for aspects of the curriculum for life including careers education, political education and sex and relationships education. We have realised that we need to help schools implement changes by showing simple and engaging option for them to implement. In order to do this, we are currently creating a local handbook for schools to show which organisations are available to support them and what services the can provide. We hope this will encourage schools to implement a Curriculum for Life.

During the last weekend in March the whole of the Milton Keynes youth Cabinet and the local youth parliament representatives attended their training residential for 2014. With a year done and a year of our terms left it was a great opportunity to review what had been achieved so far, outline our next steps and to learn new skills. At the youth cabinet meeting which marked the start of March we met with the leader of the council, Andrew Geary, the chief executive David Hill and the director of Children’s Services, Gail Tolley. We discussed local topical issues that have been brought to our concern including a lack of street lighting resulting in young people feeling unsafe. As well as our input to changes to a local young person’s card, The All In 1 card to fit within changes to the national PASS accreditation guidelines. We are currently waiting for feedback from our discussions. We also had the chance to say goodbye to Gail Tolley. We are very sad to see her leave, her knowledge of the youth service and respect for young people is phenomenal. We would like to wish her every luck for the future. I am certain that next month will be just as busy but also just as exciting!

Portsmouth Peter Marcus, 16, Youth Councillor Portsmouth Youth Parliament are working with Portsmouth City Council and East Sussex based Project Participate to launch the Portsmouth 3i-D Card, a discount and ID card similar to the Freedom Cards and All in One Cards adopted by other you councils. Transport has been the top response in the Portsmouth Youth Parliament consultation for the last three years. The partnership is an exciting first for the youth parliament, with them taking the lead on a council funded project.

Meetings with the council and Project Participate are ongoing and a launch date has been set for September. To keep up to date with the project, follow @Portsmouth3iD on Twitter.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Reading Bryony May, Youth Representative We had a very successful start on our campaign groups of which come under the branch of PSHE; careers and experience, child abuse and mental health. (The cabinet thought these 3 are something that needs to be developed in our borough for all schools) We have devised several break down plans which now we are starting to gain research in order to develop and educational and worthy lessons on these topics.

We are reaching out to the community which is allowing us to help other people develop their messages they would like to get across to young people effectively, for example our last meeting was in the Royal Berkshire Hospital with several guests with ideas from why should we come A&E to how can the disability groups support the families better.

Daniel Carey, 16, Youth Representative For the past two years I have been a Youth Councillor in Reading and have attended Reading Youth Cabinet meetings. As well as this I was the Member of Youth Parliament for Reading last year. As this role is a two year term my term has now ended. But I still continue to attend Youth Cabinet meetings as a mentor to the group.

Through my experience I have gained many different skills and I have decided to pass these onto the new members. The cabinet expanded this year and in the elections nearly 20 new young people (11-16) were elected to the cabinet! This means that the group have had to work very hard to decide their three campaigns for this year: mental health, your future your way and child abuse.

I am very supportive of the mental health campaign after spending two years on the campaign myself. This month I have worked with those in the mental health campaign group and we have planned a way in which we can get to schools and ensure that the level of education surrounding mental health is standerdised. At present we are in contact with 3 schools and have signatures to say that the schools shall be working towards providing 5 hours of education surrounding mental health annually.

I look forward to a great year! And hope the campaign is put on a national level also.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Ellie Emberson, 15, Member of Youth Parliament In early April the Reading Youth Cabinet decided which campaigns they shall be focusing on this year: mental health, child abuse and Your Future, Your Way. We found that these heavily linked with the national curriculum for life campaign so this is our over branching campaign.

As well as this myself, my Deputy Member of Youth Parliament and the Chair of Reading Youth Cabinet met with the Reading East MP Rob Wilson. We discussed the three local campaigns and found MP Wilson took a particular interest in the child abuse campaign as he said it has been highlighted as an issue to him. When discussing votes at 16, he said he was against but was not completely decided on this (we hope to meet with him again to persuade him fully). He said he agreed with curriculum for life but feels that it is something that he cannot personally help with.

The highlight of the month was most definitely the Youth Voice Leadership Program that was for a whole weekend! I met so many people from up and down the country. We shared ideas and realised we are able to help one another in some form. I met my PG which was great and we planned the year ahead. The weekend was so helpful and I am now able to focus on the year ahead and get it going.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

South West Bath and North East Somerset Edward Joseph, 16, Member of Youth Parliament

This month I have compiled the 270 results from the survey I conducted amongst youths using survey monkey. I met with the Director of First for the West of England, First’s Director of PR and Director of developments, as well as the manager of First in Bath, Bristol and wells, John Bernard, and gave each a hard copy of the survey results. They then supplied their email addresses so a digital copy could be send to them as well. They passed on the results of the survey to the relevant members of management teams. Bath Lib-Dems were conducting a survey for public transport and I passed on the results to Bath’s MP, Don Foster, who passed them on to the leader of the council, the Cabinet member for Transport and all appropriate Lib-Dems.

I wrote a press release seeking views on public transport, which was published a few weeks ago in local papers and will write another about the results of the survey and responses from the first press release. The next stage is to email all councillors the results of the survey, and prepare for the next policy development and scrutiny meeting which I have organised to present the results of the survey. Results can be seen at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/sr.aspx?sm=HrvEGlySwIJr1GZlAoWI_2bJaEzuAVo06edd38GDa3 61w_3d

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Bristol Christy Nunns, 18, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament In early April, I engaged in personal meetings with Bristol’s young mayors (Rondene Vassell and James Gibson) and the Bristol City Youth Council (BCYC), and in telephone and email correspondence with Solomon Curtis from Project Participate, to discuss the possibility of implementing “3i-D”, a young person’s identification and discount card, in Bristol.

The card, developed in East Sussex by Project Participate, would provide young people valid – PASS accredited – identification throughout the ages 11-19, and a number of high-street discounts. However, after the young mayors presented our findings to the Mayor and his cabinet, we concluded that, although the scheme had been a success East Sussex, it would not be appropriate in Bristol. Alongside this project, I have also been an active member of the BCYC’s health and nutrition campaign group, coordinating correspondence with Rachel Cooke from Bristol’s “Healthy Schools” and meeting with the group, in order to plan our campaign promoting healthy eating in Bristol schools.

We have arranged to meet with Rachel in the near future to discuss how Healthy Schools and the BCYC can work together on this campaign.

Via Skype, I have also held a number of meetings with Sanya Rajpal, an ex-member of the BCYC, and “Fixers”, the young people’s charity, to plan the production of a film about the stop and search rights of young people. The film is currently in pre-production, and so we have arranged a review of the film’s script on the 1st of May. The film is due to be shot on the 2nd of July, with the help of young people who expressed an interest in the project during our initial consultation of students at City of Bristol College.

As part of UK Youth Parliament’s Votes at 16 campaign, I have also emailed my “adopted” lord, Lord Carey of Clifton, to inform him of the campaign and ask for his support. I am currently awaiting a response.

Finally, on the 28th of April, I will be travelling to Maastricht, Netherlands, to attend the first European presidential debate ever held. The debate is occurring because, for the first time, the president of the European Commission will be determined by public election. The debate offers candidates for the presidency an opportunity to voice their hopes for the future of Europe, and challenge the ideas of their rivals. Perhaps more importantly, though, the debate will provide a medium through which Europe’s young people can directly engage in the process, by posing questions directly, or on social media.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Not only have I been invited to attend the debate (through winning a competition run by the League of Young Voters, whereby the winner was determined by the issue that gathered the most interest among young people on their website), but I will also have the opportunity to personally question the candidates on the involvement of young people in European Elections.

The debate will be held to an audience of 700 young people, in Maastricht, and will be broadcast live on Euronews, in 13 languages, across their global TV network, spanning 415 million homes in 156 countries, so I am honoured to have the opportunity to speak.

Isobel Trout, 17, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament I heard back from Baroness Fookes, whom I adopted as part of the Adopt a Lord campaign.

Unfortunately she is not yet convinced of Votes at 16 but I have written to her again, in the hope of persuading her! As part of the Bristol City Youth Council, we have written and are waiting to sign off a letter to schools regarding Make Your Mark. We have written two distinct letters, one aimed at schools who were supportive last year, and one with which we aim to engage new schools. We have further developed our Fixers project, for which we now have a pencilled date for filming. The project aims to increase young people's knowledge of their rights if they are stopped and searched. We had a Skype conversation across three countries to discuss the script, and we await the redraft in May.

Rajni Mamgai, 18, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Recently, I was given the opportunity to take up the role of the chair within Bristol Children and Young Peoples' Shadow Safeguarding Board. I am excited to take up this role and work alongside

Youth Voice: Positive Stories many decision makers and young people from Bristol City Youth Council and Children in Care Council. I will also be attending the main Bristol Safeguarding Board meeting in order to gain the skills and knowledge about how I can use the power of being the chair in favour of young people.

Safeguarding has been one of the issues that is raised by young people and I hope to work on their concerns by being part of Bristol Shadow Safeguarding Board. Our next meeting in April will be focused around FGM. There are other meetings like Children, Young people and families scrutiny board that I will be attending to ensure Bristol young peoples' opinions are being heard.

Cornwall Tabitha Wethers, 16, Member of Youth Parliament At the residential in March, I was appointed a Lord (Lord Kestenbaum) who I would email about the UKYP's national campaign, Votes at 16. I wrote to my lord and I was grateful enough to get a reply, I sent another email a few days ago and I was proud to see my Lord has once again written back positively about the campaign! I hope to develop further into conversation about the national campaign with my Lord and find out his views and what he may hope to do in the future around this.

I also recently got invited to attend a meeting once every 2 weeks with St Austell's Youth Council, it's a new council which has been set up and hopes to make positive change in the local area for young people and set up a plan for the future to enable young people to have safe and fun environments to be in. Although it is local, it is great to see some action being done and some money put into improving services and activities for the young people in the area! The Young Carers Voice Forum is still going strong, although I was unable to attend the last meeting, I heard that the younger, Young Carers spoke about approaching staff in schools with the situations they are in, and how to create more aware which is young people friendly on what Young Carers are, and the services available.

That was all I was able to get out of the month, but my god, I am so proud to see some real work done to help young people!

Tia Joslyn, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month has been a relatively busy one after the residential in March. Straight away after it I wrote an email to the Lord King of Bridgwater regarding votes at sixteen. In it I discussed many of the reasons as to why I think it is a necessity that votes at sixteen is passed, and tried my best to encourage him to support it fully if and when the time comes. Unfortunately as of yet I have not

Youth Voice: Positive Stories had a reply, and so I will send another if I have no reply in another two weeks or so. I have also been trying to arrange a meeting with my local MP, however the date we set had to be rearranged, and now we are trying to find a date that is suitable for us both, a relatively difficult feat when I have school and my MP has obviously, a very busy diary. When we do meet, we will discuss both local and national campaigns. I will ask her view on votes at sixteen and talk about curriculum for life. I have also done a talk in school to a small group about votes at sixteen, which received mixed responses. Some agreed with it wholeheartedly, yet some did not.

This month has been an exciting one as an MYP, as we recently held our south west residential in which we were able to meet all the newly elected D/MYPs and learn more about how to really excel in our posts. On the Friday when we arrived we were able to introduce ourselves to everyone and then started some interesting icebreakers - we certainly got to know each other better! We also learnt more about what an MYP is expected to do, how UKYP works and the keys dates in the upcoming year. We went to bed extremely tired yet also excited! On Saturday the first thing we did was create our south-west manifesto, so the three issues we felt were most important for the young people in our region. Our manifesto consists of improving opportunities for young people, creating a positive image of young people and improving/ raising awareness of the mental health and well- being services. In the upcoming year we will try to actively better these matters. We then participated in an extremely engaging workshop regarding the 'Fixers projects'. We thought about our issues local to Cornwall, and deciding that reducing the amount of 16-19 year olds who were homeless was something we could really focus on and try to change.

We plan to make a short emotive film about this subject, hopefully in the next five months. On the Saturday evening we also learnt how to dance the social fox trot! Finally, on the Sunday we rounded everything up by planning our year ahead, talking about how to do as well as possible in the Make Your Mark campaign, and we also 'adopted a lord', who we will keep in regular contact with and lobby for votes at sixteen. Lastly, we took a group photo in the yes, slightly bitter, winds, and then said our goodbyes. In all, it was a great weekend, as it really helped us plan for our year ahead, so we can reach our maximum potential as MYP's, and allowed us to get to know about other D/MYPs from around the region. I have also planned to meet with my local MP on the 22nd of April where we will discuss both the current national and local campaigns!

Devon George Downs, 16, Member of Youth Parliament On Saturday 26th April 2014, young people, parents, teachers, trade unionists, opposition politicians and members of the public marched through Exeter City Centre in plain view of the masses of high street shoppers. Our destination: Devon County Hall. On arriving we officially handed over more than 7000 signatures for our petition to stop the youth service cuts, the whole time filmed by BBC Spotlight (South West News) and occupying their primary headline for the

Youth Voice: Positive Stories evening's news. This happening just 34 hours before the end of Devon County Council's three month long consultation period on the "Youth Service Remodelling".

The threshold for targeted youth work will become appallingly high. I wouldn't be surprised that in the future youth workers will only see young people after they have attempted to commit suicide. Devon Youth Service at present intervenes early in the lives of young people, long before suicide attempts are an option for them. Many make the case that early intervention saves money, and yes that is true, but a shallow argument. The real reason for intervening early should not be because of money but because of humanitarianism or even common sense. In the current system, hundreds of youth workers enable young people to solve their own "small" problems, however if this proposal goes through, sixteen youth workers will be solving "big" problems for young people. The fact is that giving attention to the "small" problems of young people will drastically reduce those problems which can develop and become "big", hence saving money but much more importantly avoiding human misery and distress. 84% of Devon Youth Service users are regarded as "targeted", and this "targeted" work largely happens in the open-access sessions or other sessions which are informally organised in local youth centres. It is a crime that Devon County Council regards "universal" provision and "targeted" provision as mutually exclusive. In fact the majority of "targeted" youth work happens in the "universal" provision in local youth centres...and that's the very thing they will be cutting - local "targeted" youth work.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Kieran Curtis, 17, Member of Youth Parliament Throughout this month I have been working very closely with Devon youth panel and a young activists group. All of us have been working together to help save Devon youth service. We have ran many events to show that we are passionate about the fundamental service and we have also organised a protest march through Exeter. Everything that we have done within our campaign has been organised by young people with some adult support. Our march will be hosted on the 26th April starting in Exeter city centre and ending at Devon County Hall.

Dorset Cerys Pumphrey, 16, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Hello, my name is Cerys Pumphrey and I am the newly elected deputy member of the youth parliament for Dorset. I was successful enough to be elected with my two manifesto points, which are to lower tuition fees and to campaign for the government to review the changes to GCSEs. Recently I was lucky enough to take part in a South West Residential, where I was able to get closer to the elected members of the south west. During the weekend we also completed some workshops, such as Fixers, which is a charity that helps people 'fix' something in their area that they feel needs improving. I have decided to start planning a fixers project in my area, to combat the stigma and ignorance of mental health after my exams in May and June.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

As I have been revising for my upcoming exams, I haven't, unfortunately, been able to accomplish as much I was hoping. However, I have been able to receive replies about my manifesto points from some government ministers and I have been able to plan further what I'm going to do for my fixers project. I have decided to focus on the stigma and ignorance of mental health in Dorset, and I will carry out this project when my exams finish with the help of fixers.

Grace van Zyl, 13, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Hi there this Grace van Zyl DMYP for Dorset. Since the 1st of April I have contacted Rt Hon Lord Knight to ask his views about the votes at 16. He replied saying that he fully supports it and thinks it is a great idea! I have also contacted Richard Drax (MP for Weymouth and Portland) and Oliver Letwin (MP for Dorchester) but am still awaiting response from both. I have already got in touch with my local football and rugby club asking for possible dates in September for a vote in the Make Your Mark, closer towards the month I will contact the schools in my area and hopefully more clubs (with 11-18 year olds of course!) I have also been researching a lot of charities in association of green planet and preserving our future for my own manifesto- to campaign towards a greener planet. I am shortly to have a meeting with a fellow youth for more information on gyms and sports centres for my other manifesto- cheaper sporting facilities.

James Jones, 13, Member of Youth Parliament Hello my name is James Jones. And I am a Member of Youth Parliament for Dorset. And latley I have been campaigning for the national manifesto Votes at 16. With the Adopt a Lord campaign which will help fuel our pledge and petition to lower the national vote to 16. And I have been in contact with my 'Adopted' Lord; Lord Lucas of Crudwell & Dingwall. I am also in contact with my local MP Christopher Chope. Who has invited me to attend one of his local advice centres. Which is yet to be confirmed.

Owen, 11, Member of Youth Parliament Hello my name is Owen and I’ve recently been elected as an MYP for Dorset Youth Parliament. I have drafted out some letters for my lord (Lord Joffe) to see if he's in favour of votes at 16 and to introduce myself. My two manifestos are a zero tolerance to bullying and try to make youth transport cheaper and more accessible. To try to achieve these I’ve teamed up with someone at DYCE who was not elected but also wanted to try and stop bullying in Dorset so we can help each other.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Rohan Bald, Youth Councillor We have met two groups of people; the first representing a building society and a different one in the next meeting. We helped to provide young people's views and they were coming exactly for this purpose. I would say that the resource we provide really is invaluable. There are many young adults there and in no other place would you be able to obtain an overview of the ideas from young adults in the local area.

Not only this, but it is also really fun. I have only been going for a couple of sessions but I am already really enjoying it. It feels like I am really doing something and taking an active part in the community. It also allows me to easily access opportunities to volunteer.

My main suggestion is that the opportunities should be better shared to those outside the Youth Parliament. It is almost as though these opportunities are for members only and this is not the case. It should be better advertised so that most young adults at least have knowledge of the activities and opportunities.

Thomas Chadbourne, 17, Youth Councillor I have been spreading awareness of the youth parliament around schools, as well as telling friends from different county's that the youth parliament exists. I have also attended all the meeting held by the youth parliament and brought my own ideas to the attention of the group.

As well as these meetings, I attended the mayor’s debate and listened to the ideas others had for activities and key issues in Poole.

Gloucestershire Callum Coles, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month I have been making preparations for the fixers project that we will be doing as a constituency. This has involved contacting a few organisations and also making general notes about the facilities available to young people. This work will be helpful for our next meeting on the 12th May.

Cat King, 17, Member of Youth Parliament Over the last month I have been chairing the meetings of the South Gloucestershire Youth Board.

During this brief tenure the board have undertaken a consultation on behalf of the local Police & Crimes Commissioners' office on views on victims of crime and general views on the police of

Youth Voice: Positive Stories young people. In the past fortnight we presented our findings at an event attended by the Police and Crimes Commissioner for Avon and Somerset. My feelings towards this experience are very good. The consultation got many responses.

James Bennion, 16, Member of Youth Parliament I am now fully in the mode of revising for upcoming exams which means, unfortunately my Youth Parliament has to take a backseat for a few weeks. Nonetheless, I will still work including to keep emailing my Lord until I get a response from him. I am sure he will reply one day! I will also continue to work on my fixers project with my fellow MYPs in my local area to get the website up and running so young people are able find activities around them and realise there is plenty of opportunities they can take up outside of school, college etc.

Nathan Howarth, Member of Youth Parliament This month I have been involved with GRFU, as a young referee, with a review of the current league structure. In addition I am continuing to work with my school about the students issues.

Also I have been in discussions with decision markers for the issues in Gloucestershire.

Isles of Scilly Inca Reynolds, 12, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament I have done an assembly with the MYP of what we did on the residential. I have also helped in create a petition for one of our campaigns.

Plymouth Jon Cummings, 16, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament This month has been a busy one for me with exams edging closer however I have continued to consult with members of my youth cabinet about ironing out the specifics of my school employer partnerships.

I've also organised a meeting to discuss my campaign to help young people in care and am awaiting a reply from my Lord regarding votes at 16.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Katherine Newnham, 14, Member of Youth Parliament After the privilege of meeting up with other MYPs and DMYPs across the south west and learning about all of their campaigns and goals, it made me feel a lot stronger about achieving my campaign to my fullest potential because of how similar many of their campaigns were compared to mine, which is based around mental health facilities. At the residential I also learnt a lot of skills on how to fulfil my goal. I was also able to meet some representatives from the charity 'fixers' who i will be in contact with soon about them helping me with my campaign. A few weeks ago I had a meeting with Councillor Williams from Plymouth council who kindly guided me in the right direction with my campaign. So far I am very happy with my progress and I am very much looking forward to the future of my campaign.

Sarah Staples, 17, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Recently I have written to the two members of the House of Lords that I adopted at the regional residential, Lord Eatwell and Baroness Maddock. I have also had a discussion with the Plymouth Youth Cabinet on ideas on how to promote both the nation and regional manifestos alongside our local campaigns, this has helped me to see the recurring issues that young people are bringing up across the country, it has also helped me to work out ways to bring the campaigns back to the young people that voted for them, as well as in preparation for the Make Your mark ballot.

Poole Alex Pardon, 17, Youth Councillor I have recently joined Poole Youth Forum this year. I think it is a good way for people of all backgrounds in my area to be a part of decision making in the local area, and I think it is really valuable that young people get a say in decisions.

Recently, I attended the mayor’s debate, a chance for youth councillors get their points across to the council and hopefully get it passed to Children and Young people's overview and scrutiny board with elected members. I had the chance to speak about Mental Health and the effects on young people. I enjoyed being part of the debate, and I hope I have made a difference to the lives of the young people of Poole. It was also nice to see so many councillors and the mayor in attendance- it showed that young people’s views and opinions are important to the decision makers of Poole.

I also went on a trip to the Houses of Parliament to learn more about how parliament operates and it was interesting to hear how the buildings of parliament came about. I learnt a lot about the

Youth Voice: Positive Stories importance of democracy and having a say on issues that affect us. I also had a lot of fun getting to know other youth councillors and I am excited to continue working with them.

Francesca Reed, 17, Member of Youth Parliament Myself and Poole's Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Thomas Rowledge's main aim for this month has been to find out what the most important issue is for the young people of Poole, with the help of Poole’s Children and Young People’s Board. We have done so through a simple survey which has been completed by over 700 young people so far. At the end of this month, once the remaining surveys have been completed we will begin working on the issue which the young people of our area feel most strongly about. Currently, the top 3 issues are youth unemployment, mental health and discrimination.

In addition, we have also recently had a meeting with Robert Syms the MP for Poole and he has subsequently agreed to hold surgeries with us in Poole’s secondary schools over the next couple of months in order to give young people an opportunity to voice their opinions and ask questions to their Member of Parliament. This month we have also been developing ideas regarding our other two local priorities, namely mental health and the promotion of opportunities for young people in Poole. We hope to continue to progress with our ideas and put them into action over the next few months!

Thomas Rowledge, 17, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament This month has been mostly background work, finalising ideas for the hard year if work ahead. As we are heading into the exam season, the work has been more focused on ensuring the current batch of questionnaires are being worked out - to further out Your Choice survey aims. We hope from this to find a conclusive priority which will allow us to form the last of our three priorities won work on locally this upcoming term. In addition, we have been busy contacting out Lord's, regarding the Adopt a Lord program, and doing work in local consultations - recently working in a kids in the middle workshop, formatted to help support children in the middle of a difficult divorce, through content to put on the support website and fundraising activities for the story's.

Furthermore, the children's and young people's board meets soon which will be a session to determine the work for the year. A very successful and enjoyable month!

Youth Councillor At the beginning of this month, we met with CAMHS as they are developing a set of workshops to help combat stress. It was great to be able to give our ideas about what would be useful in the workshops and what they should steer clear of. We hope that they will make the workshops available in all secondary schools in Poole, which means we will have contributed to developing

Youth Voice: Positive Stories something that has the potential to benefit a lot of people. We also had a trip to London where we went on a tour around the houses of Parliament and had the opportunity to watch the House of Commons in session. I learnt a lot about the importance of youth representation and the work of the UKYP and how people who aren't MYPs or deputies can help.

At the end of last month Poole had its annual Mayor's Debate, where issues that are important to young people are debated. This year, issues surrounding mental health support, cyber-bullying, smoking and availability of activities for young people. The motions that passed will be discussed and worked on over the next year, so issues that actually matter to young people should be improved by this time next year.

Somerset Cat King, 17, Member of Youth Parliament First of all I attended our monthly meeting of UKYPAG, where we discussed a range of issues, it was a smaller group than normal due to exams creeping up closer and closer! But it allowed us to get to know each other a bit better as there wasn’t so many people there. Throughout the month I’ve been in contact with my Lord, in our votes for 16 campaign. I am proud to say Lord Paddy Ashdown replied and pledged his support. I've also been contacting parish and county councillors about my work as well as my campaign, as I’m trying to improve my connection with key decision makers. I have decided after four years of being a member and after 3 years being chair, to stand down from my Youth Parish Council, I have loved being a part of the group and it has helped me develop my own skills as well. I have taken part in some awesome events that I have really enjoyed planning and delivering with the rest of the group. I have done some more action planning in regards to my campaign; I am pushing the ideas of creating a video to help with the workshops I want to deliver to young people.

Deputy Member of Youth Parliament This month we had a meeting with all of the other D/MYPs from my local authority, Somerset.

We discussed the national campaigns as recently we've been focusing on our local priorities. Each constituency planned how we’re going to distribute Make Your Mark ballot papers efficiently to hopefully increase how many returned ballot papers we collect from last year’s 2,500 (between me and Ellen Colard - the member of youth parliament of Taunton.) We've decided to focus on four schools in our town so that we can maximise our result. We will also contact schools and distribute posters - before the summer holidays - to show young people how important and influential MYM is, furthermore this will mean that schools will already know about MYM by September and therefore be more motivated to complete as many ballot papers as possible. We also discussed the 'Adopt a Lord' campaign (which will help increase the chance of the 'Votes at

Youth Voice: Positive Stories 16' bill being passed by the House of Lords.) I have contacted my lord, but had no response so I will continue to lobby them in the hope to hear his opinion on the campaign. Next month I will continue to lobby him in hope for a response.

Ellen Collard, 17 Member of Youth Parliament This month, I received a reply from Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, stating that she believed that "For the 16-17 years who are political minded and engaged, I feel they should have opportunity to vote." This is excellent progress for our National Campaign Votes at 16!

This year we want to do bigger and better. The ballots will be held in September time again, however I would like to be much more organised this year and allow more time to get the votes in. I have emailed most of the local schools within my constituency to create an action timeline to get into as many schools as possible.

We also had a meeting this month, which was brilliant as it allowed us all to catch up and touch base with our fellow D/MYP'S and we focused on how as a county we were going to focus on getting more ballots completed this year!

Eve Anderson, 14, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Last weekend I went to a residential trip with other D/MYPs from all over the South west so that we can discuss all about being a D/MYP. We spent the weekend learning about the code of conduct and we ran consultation toolkit sessions. As well as many UKYP sessions we also talked to ITV fixers and learnt about how we can put our campaign into action. I also was involved in creating a south west regional manifesto and deciding on our top campaign issues. A great weekend all round!

Thrinayani Ramakrishnan, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month has been amazing, as I have really enjoyed all the youth voice projects I have been involved with.

I have written an article for the Office of the children's commissioner (which will be featured in their upcoming newsletter) about my experience of the amplify residential and being a member of amplify, who are a group of young people who advise the children's commissioner for England (Dr Maggie Atkinson) and her team.

As a member of the youth select committee 2014 on Votes at 16, I feel as if we are making progress. I have got in contact with the all Members of UK Youth parliament in the South West of

Youth Voice: Positive Stories England, to get their views on votes at 16 and submit written evidence for the youth select committee to review and enquire into. We as a youth select committee have for in touch with MP's, ministers and young people alike to get a wide range of views, for and against Votes at 16.

I have been regularly updating the twitter account that I made with my DMYP which is called @youthofsomerset and is an account where we tweet about the type of skills that young people need to excel in the world of work. This is also part of our manifesto, which is to get young people ready for the world of work, which raises youth employment.

I attended a monthly D/MYP meeting where the Deputy and the Members of UK Youth Parliament in Somerset meet up and discuss where our campaigns are heading. This month, we discussed the ITV fixers project that we were planning on doing and our individual campaigns.

William Duncan, 13, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Well, this one is a short one this month because I have been busy! But I attended Somerset’s D/MYP and UKYPAG meeting this month, I have also written a news article about young people which is in the Western Gazette on the 1st May 2014 and I have also adopted a Lord. Also I have joined the votes at 16 website and apart from that I have not done anything else.

Swindon Ellie James, 16, Member of Youth Parliament I had my first official meeting with Fixers regarding my raising aspirations campaign. We discussed the direction of my campaign and fine tuned what message I am trying to spread before taking it to a creative team in months to come. I went away and made a survey which will be sent out shortly asking 'What life choices or obstacles stop you following your dreams?' This is so the films made are as representative of all young people as possible. It was also confirmed as a broadcast piece with ITV and a date for filming was set in June.

I met with a Young Carers forum in Swindon who I was helping create a list of priorities for young carers that they want to see change. We took part in a workshop learning about the key priorities already set in place, whether they are being implemented and the effect this has on young carers themselves. This new set of priorities from the young people will be presented at a board of important decision makers in Swindon. Hopefully, this will help see what is going wrong in Swindon put right. I was in a feature called the 'hotseat' in the Swindon advertiser where members of the public ask important members of the community their questions. It went really well and I was able to promote both my personal campaign and the national campaign for 'Votes at 16'.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories My campaign, raising educational aspirations, is finally starting to take off. At the South West regional residential last weekend Fixers South West did a workshop with us that really got my brain working in how I could approach getting young people to believe in their talents and embrace education, regardless of their background. The idea is we create a series of short films, inspired by the internet phenomenon Vine videos that are punchy, catchy and inspire a generation. We want these to be shared on social media and to spread like wild fire. We have arranged a meeting with Fixers for the Easter half term, and hope to develop ideas on the content more. However, this project feels really promising.

Also, I have been in contact with the D/MYPs from Wiltshire and we have decided to team up and work together on a new crime survey for young people across Wiltshire. The plan is to use Swindon and Wiltshire's team together to get a better response and representative results, which we hope to then present to the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wiltshire. Many hands make light work.

Torbay Sophie Hunt, 16, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Recently, I have been working hard on our campaign for transport. In my local area, I have been putting up posters to try and promote the discounts we have been able to make for the 'term rider ticket' and a few other discounts. These posters will allow young people to access cheaper transport, allowing bus transport to be cheaper and fairer for all. Also it will benefit young people because not only you can use it for school but during school terms you can use it at weekends for leisure time etc.

Also our UKYP group met with the local councillors and party reps to talk about manifesto points and see what tips they could give us and how they could help which was positive with great feedback. This will help young people because it means we can do our manifesto point to the best of our abilities to ensure it benefits them.

The Lords letters for Torbay have been sent out and are still waiting in the replies. Hopefully the letters have persuaded the lords to back up the campaign of votes @16 and means we can keep in contact with them to update them on how we are doing. This will help reassure young people that the bill for votes @16 is getting looked at and fingers crossed being sent through the House of Lords. Two new members (Sam M & Sophie H) attended the regional residential and learnt more about the role of being a DMYP, this made us more confident and able to make contacts and friends to keep in contact and swap Ideas with. Overall this month has been very rewarding and I am looking forward to what is too come in the future.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Wiltshire Charles McGrath, 18, Youth Councillor This month, as a member of the Wiltshire Assembly of Youth, I have attended the annual residential visit, which was this year held at Oxenwood Outdoor Education Centre near Marlborough. A variety of subjects were discussed at the residential, including our manifesto for the next three years known as the Agenda for Action. WAY consulted on a selection of four topics - bullying, careers education, financial education and the way in which young people are presented in the media - and devised ways in which we could work towards making an active difference to these concerns. Our solutions included setting up an anti-bullying hub where victims of bullying could share their experiences and how they dealt with bullying, using workshops and assemblies to communicate the need for better financial education in schools as well as organising local careers fete to enable young people to have better access to employment opportunities in their area. We hope to make these ideas a reality during the next three years.

Alongside this, we discussed a variety of other issues such as ensuring that we are aware of the subjects of equality and diversity and respond to these phenomena accordingly. The residential was certainly a good experience and it was great to see a number of the newer members really engaging with the work. It is certainly a promising sign for the future.

Later this month, as a member of the Salisbury Student Union, we hope to host an assembly at a local school in order to promote our work further. This includes a music festival we are organising for the summer to allow the young people of Salisbury to display their talent in the local community. We hope that, through this promotion of our work, we will be able to get the support required for the event to be a great success.

Chloe Lintern, 15, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Hello! I'm now in the 2nd month of being a DMYP for North Wiltshire and I'm loving it! at the beginning of this month I attended Wiltshire Assembly of Youth's residential where I attended as well as ran a series of workshops for three days. To begin with we did an team game on Equality and Diversity where you had to name the word linking to equality and diversity based on the letter that you chose on the game board. Again in teams we then had different scenarios in which we had to choose whether it was direct or indirect discrimination. Other workshops included work around media and social media and three different groups are working on different aspects, blogging, press releases and writing article and the final group working on a film. The aim is to promote the work that we do as Youth Representatives and keep them up to date with work and campaigns that we do! We participate in other activities such as archery in which we got to get to know each other a bit better and working in teams to complete the games. Easter egg hunts and

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Easter bonnet making were other activities we took part in again to work in teams to build our friendship.

It was a busy three days with workshops including positive stories and how to submit them as well as Make Your Mark and coming up with different ideas on how we can reach Wiltshire's target of 7000! However the main focus was on our Agenda for Action for the next 3 years and how we go about achieve the key action points we planned out. The wording is currently being made and this will then be the basis of our work for the next 3 years. The issues in which young people felt strongly about were:    

Bullying/discrimination Educational support The media Money

Much more happened within the residential including debates around Single sex schools and assisted suicide which helped us to improve our debating skills.

However, I have contacted my lord which I adopted at the UYKP residential and was very happy with the response in which she supports votes at 16!! My local MP's have been contacted asking them on their opinion on votes at 16 and whether they support votes at 16 or not. Submitting evidence for the votes at 16 youth select committee in which I chose a question from a list and wrote my opinion based on the question.

Finally, I contacted my local newspaper asking whether me and Kieran (MYP for North Wiltshire) could have a monthly column to keep people up to date with what we are doing! We're still waiting for a reply (It's only been 5 hours so far ;)) It's been a busy couple of months but I am so happy I am representing young people!! Feel free to tweet me ideas or concerns you may have!! @DMYPChloeL and I look forward to keeping you updated next month!

Courtney Pickering, 15, Member of Youth Parliament This month I have achieved several goals. First of all I successfully wrote to my local newspaper company and they have given me a column in their monthly newspaper so I can keep everyone updated about my work as MYP for East Wiltshire. I have also been researching contact details for places which may help me with my personal manifesto and I will make it one of my targets to contact these companies and speak to them about my manifesto ideas and how it can be achieved. I will be contacting people such as Wilts and Dorset and NSPCC.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories I also attended our yearly Wiltshire Assembly of Youth Residential. At this residential I lead 2 sessions to the group. These were about UK Youth Parliament and Positive Stories. Other UK Youth Parliament representatives and I presented and encouraged the group to partake in these events. Also at this residential we all took part in a media workshop where we worked on designing a Blog, YouTube Account and a Website so we can keep young people updated on our work. In the next month I hope to achieve many things. I hope to finish writing to companies about my manifesto and to complete me second newspaper article.

Jordan Green, 14, Member of Youth Parliament This month has been a quiet one as i am yet to wait for my given lord to reply. Carrying on from last month attended a WAY residential and had a over an hour to explain what positive stories were, promoting them and i managed to get everyone committed to do one every month as a target for not only Wiltshire but southwest. I will still encouraging other member of youth forums to complete as it is a key part of representing our local town and the young people!

Kiaran Jarvis Down, 12, Youth Councillor Hello my name is Kiaran Jarvis Down and I am a member of WAY, SSU and my school council.

This month the bishop Wordsworth school council has been working on our “take it back” campaign. the aim of this campaign is to reduce the amount of rubbish going into landfill. The plan is that people will take things they can recycle e.g.: drinks bottles/cans etc home with them and put them in the recycling bins that they have at home.

We also had another idea which was to hire a company to give us recycling bins and then they would do the rest for us. There was only one problem; our school is short of money so that option was impractical. I have also been doing work on the Salisbury student union (SSU). The Salisbury student union is a inter school council entirely set up and led by young people in the participating schools. We have already launched our “change in our hands” campaign the SSU are trying to get cheaper bus and train fares for young people who use the services to get to and from education and also better services on the whole. We are doing this by getting people in schools around Salisbury and the surrounding area to sign the “change in our hands” petition. We are hoping to get our message across to the travel companies that our problems should be addressed. Another thing the SSU are starting to organize is a music festival. The music festival would include local acts / bands set up by young people which will be held at the Salisbury arts centre on 11/7/14 if everything goes to plan.

As a member of the Wiltshire assembly of youth (WAY) I have been on the WAY residential. On the WAY residential we had various workshops to help improve our skills needed to do well in our various roles. We also came up with our agenda for action for the next two years. Are chosen topics were: media, education, support, financial education and anti bullying we came up with

Youth Voice: Positive Stories lots of ideas and then picked two ideas for each topic. Another thing we did at the residential was to come up with ideas of how to promote our work. There were three main ideas as follows: videos e.g. you tube channel, news paper or magazine articles and blogging. I am on the blogging team and we are currently designing and putting together our WAY web site /blog. The web site will also promote other organizations and their campaigns and have profiles on members of WAY and UKYP and other features. My target for the next few weeks is to push even harder with the change in our hands campaign and to help with the running of the blogging website.

Kieran Mulvaney, 16, Member of Youth Parliament Hello, this month I have don lots of work in my local area. Firstly, I attended the Wilshire Assembly of Youth (WAY) residential. Here we worked on several different things. The MYP for West Wiltshire ran a workshop on positive stories. This was to get members to start writing stories each month. Myself, the deputy member for North Wiltshire and the Member for East Wiltshire ran a session on UKYP, Votes at 16 and Make Your Mark. This went very well and we had some great feedback. I lead the votes at 16 sections, I ran activities to show young people are able to make just decisions based on problems and influencing factors that I gave them. This shows that young people don’t just choose a party because they have a silly name and odd policies. I also played several videos about votes at 16 and we had a small debate about where people stood on the matter. I took a poll and no one was totally against the idea they just thought that the education should be in place before the voting age is lowered. I then showed a video from America that was designed to get young people to vote; when I asked them if they thought it would work in the UK they said yes it was a good idea. At the residential we also did archery, had a camp fire, we also had an Easter egg hunt. Although we had a lot of fun there was a serious side to the residential as we came up with ideas and put together our Agenda 4 Action (Wiltshire’s manifesto).

Also this month I have worked on trying to organise a mental health event in my local town of Chippenham. I plan to invite local companies and schools to look around and have mental health charity’s holding stalls and presenting what they do and are currently working on. On top of this, myself, Chloe Lintern (DMYP for North Wilts) and Courtney Pickering (MYP for East Wilts) have been starting to work on our fixers project. We will try to do a booklet on financial skills. We will put a booklet together with advice, places to go for help and things such as budgeting and hoe to calculate different things. Over the next few months i will be doing my GCSE examinations so i will not be doing as much work, however i will be doing little bits such as attending Wiltshire Assembly of Youth meetings that happen once monthly. To stay up to date with what I’m doing in WAY, UKYP and other things that I’m doing with young people you can follow me on twitter, like my Facebook page or visit my website or for more information email me.

Website: http://kieranjmulvaney1.wix.com/ukyp Twitter: @kieran_mulvaney Facebook: facebook.com/KieranMulvaneyMemberOfYouthParliament

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Lauren Goldson, 15, Youth Councillor Hi I'm Lauren Goldson, and I am part of The Wiltshire Assembly of Youth. This month I have taken part in the preparation for The Agenda for Action. This is very important as it outlines what we are going to be doing in the next 3 years as youth councillors and gives us a guide as to what young people want us to focus on. This took place on our annual residential. While here we also learnt about using media to promote 'WAY' so as to become more known among young people.

This includes things such as websites, videos and newsletters. During our stay we had workshops on a number of different issues such as sexuality, which really made us think and consider our own lives.

In the coming months I wish to make myself more involved in campaigns within my school such as the ZT campaign and start to promote this again as it has died down since it was first introduced and hopefully make a start on working towards the agenda for action along with the other members of The Wiltshire Assembly of Youth.

Lee Gunton, 16, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament I met with Michelle Donnelan, the Conservative prospective MP for the Chippenham constituency. Here, we spoke about how important volunteering is becoming in local communities and Michelle’s ideas on how it would be good to get Young People involved in volunteering. Furthermore, we agreed that Young People are an important part in today’s society and that it was important to get us involved.

Volunteering is a good thing to put on your CV, opening job prospects and it shows that you are a part of the community. This was good in representing Young People as it showed our views on getting involved with the community, which can then be put into action by encouraging more Young People to do volunteering community work which they can then use to help them in getting a job.

I also took part in a Wiltshire Assembly of Youth residential where we agreed on our 'Agenda for action'. This includes the points in which we will campaign on for the next three years to try and make Young People's lives better in Wiltshire. Our campaign points include; 'Improving Young People's Image in the media', 'a curriculum for life' which will try to get more PSHE education in schools which can teach Young People valuable life sills. We are also taking an interest in getting more activities for Young People to do in their local area, amongst other things.

Finally, I have been elected, following elections on the Wiltshire Assembly of Youth residential, as 'Deputy member' for the 'Children and Young People's trust Stakeholder Partnership', which looks at county wide situations and tries to improve them for Young People. I am now also a 'member' of the 'Wiltshire Assembly', which meets a few times a year to present all of the good

Youth Voice: Positive Stories things that is going on in the county, meaning I am able to give Young People a voice in the county.

Liam Harding, 19, Youth Councillor Hello my name is Liam Harding and this would be my 5th and I’m 19 and represent the young people in the surrounding area of Salisbury. I volunteer at my local youth club and I keep an eye on my local school council meetings as well as keep hold of copies of the minutes from this meeting. I help the school council to get the names and contact details of people that they need.

Recently I attended the annual WAY residential in which we looked at the agenda for action and how we could reach the points that were raised. I enjoyed the week and learnt a lot of new things like what Make Your Mark was and more about how to use media to get the work that we do to other young people.

Philippa Poole, 16, Youth Councillor Hello, my name is Philippa Poole and I am currently a member of WAY. I was elected in 2014 and am now a representative for Salisbury. I am 16 years old. Recently I have attended a WAY residential, from the 8th to the 10th of April. During this residential a lot of work was achieved.

One example of this is, we partook in an activity where we discussed discrimination, prejudice and stereotyping, within groups. This was beneficial as it made us think about everyday events that may occur and how it does affect young people. Secondly, we discussed the three C's.

These are challenge, choice and consequence. While at first I was slightly confused I understood the relevance of the task at the end. This task showed that when making a decision, though it may be difficult, you have to consider the people and place it will be affecting but also, the place that may be neglected due to that decision being made. I found this extremely useful as I am now finding it easier to make decisions. Thirdly, we also discussed whether things meet people’s prior expectations. We did an activity where we had to pick a bag, in the bag there was an unknown item. When opening the bag, most people’s expectations were not met. This activity taught me that you shouldn't have unrealistic expectations.

As well as this, we had a presentation from one of the UKYP members on the votes at 16 and whether they should be able to vote. The outcome of this was that, most WAY representatives were for votes at 16. However some were not due to there being a lack of education on politics.

Another thing we achieved was 'Make your mark’; this is where we discussed how we can let people what is happening within WAY. I was part of a group that focused on doing YouTube videos. We delegated roles and made plans for our first video. We realised that the videos had to be informative but fun. There were also groups that were discussing doing blogs and articles.

Finally, the most important thing we achieved on this residential was the agenda for action. We will be focusing on bullying, education and support, money and media. Within the four categories, we came up with ideas on how to improve on these. Then as a collective group, we

Youth Voice: Positive Stories vote on the two ideas that we believed would be more realistic and achievable. Prioritie for the month are making a start on 'Make your mark' and the agenda for action.

I have set three targets for myself, these are:   

Make a YouTube channel that focuses on WAY and its achievements and young people's questions.

Make connections with local news papers Work on the agenda for action and get the ball rolling with our ideas.

Sam Gallacher, 13, Youth Councillor Hello, I'm Sam and I'm 13 years old. I represent East Wiltshire (mainly Amesbury and Salisbury) on Wiltshire Assembly of Youth. This month was the WAY Residential at Oxenwood. It was a good trip and I learnt a lot from it.

UKYP Representatives spoke about the 'votes at 16' campaign, which I signed up to last week. BYC have introduced the Adopt a lord scheme in which you can get your local lord on or off board with votes at 16, as the law was not passed last time due to a close vote. I am still yet to write to my lord, but I will and I will get them on board with votes at 16.

The UKYP representatives also spoke about the 'Make your Mark' campaign run by UKYP each year. Last year, 4,000 ballots were handed in with young people's main priorities. This year, the representatives are hoping to receive 7,000 ballot papers. They are going to do this by going into more youth groups, like scouts, LGBT, etc. They are going to present to head teachers the Make Your Mark scheme so that they know about it before the ballots are handed out, and promote it with more posters and via Social Media.

We also worked on the Agenda 4 Action. Where we took young people's main concerns (found via a survey given out last meeting to other young people) and found ways of dealing with them.

For instance, Only 4% of young people say that they receive regular lessons on money. Chloe said that she had already received Permission to create a workbook style booklet on money and we brainstormed things to put in it, and for what year it should be directed at. ie 11-12 year olds how banks work, savings etc.

We also looked at Bullying as a surprising 28% of young people say that their schools/colleges deal with bullying poorly or very poorly. We thought about the possibility of creating a charter, similar to the Mental Health Charter for schools to sign up to, or possibly tying it in with ZT. The Zero Tolerance scheme against the use of Homophobic Language.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

These are only a few examples, but the full agenda is still being put together. This week, I set up my own website about what I do as a WAY representative, how people can contact me, links to other organisations and I also set up a resources page, with all the agendas and minutes from other meetings I have been to or the boards that I sit on. You can visit it at www.samgallacherWAY.co.nr.

Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter @samgallacherWAY or 'like' me on Facebook, facebook.com/samgallacherWAY

Alice, Youth Councillor My name is Alice and I am on my first year of a three year term in WAY (Wiltshire Assembly of Youth). This month, I took part in the WAY residential. On the first of my two days there (Tuesday 8th April), we started off the trip by doing a Diversity and Equality Workshop. In this we talked about making choices, peer pressure and the three C's that should be thought about before making a decision. Then, each person anonymously wrote down a choice that they or one of their friends had to make and put them on a board. As a group, we looked over some of the choices and discussed what we could think about to come to a conclusion. As our next activity, we talked about raising awareness for youth groups around Wiltshire. We were all encouraged to write Positive Stories (as I'm doing here) to inform people about the work we are doing. In the evening, we took part in another workshop about ideas to raise awareness of WAY. We decided on three ways: Making videos, reporting about what we have done and starting a blog. We got into three groups (I was in the blog group) and started coming up with ideas on what we content we can have in it, how we were going to present it and to who were we presenting it to. Two of our team members are currently setting up the blog while others are writing posts to put on it and soon it will be up and running.

The next day (Wednesday 9th April) we tested our debating skills and split ourselves into two teams. We chose a topic to debate about and had twenty minutes to come up with points to support our side. Then we started sharing our points to the other team and listened to what they had come up with. We did this twice choosing a different topic and deciding whether we wanted to switch teams depending on our opinion of the subject. Finally, after the debate, we started talking about a very important part of the trip: The Agenda for Action. In the Agenda for Action, we plan what we are going to work towards in the next 3 years. Four categories were chosen to come up with ideas about which were bullying and discrimination, educational support, money and the media. We all came up with some great ideas and discussed them as a group. Then we all picked two ideas from each category and formed our Agenda for Action. Overall, the WAY residential was quite a busy trip for all of us and we now know what we will be working towards in the next three years. I'm really looking forward to all of the things we will do in my three year term.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

West Midlands Birmingham Rebecca Caffery, 17, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament On the 11th of April 2014, the five elected members and the five deputy members of Youth Parliament, Birmingham, headed off on a journey that was soon to become one of the most memorable experiences of their life. The journey I am talking about is the Youth Voice Leadership Development programme, a scheduled event to teach the members of Youth Parliament, Young Mayors and Youth Councillors the skills needed for their role. Not only was the course they provided informative about how to be successful in our roles, it provided us with an opportunity to socialise and make friends with MYPS, DMYPS, Young Mayors and Youth Councillors up and down the country, allowing us to share experiences and our hopes and fears for the future. “The friendships that were developed over the weekend are bonds that will last a lifetime.” (Jovan Rhahim Owusu-Nepaul, Aged 17, DMYP for Birmingham.)

On the first day we arrived around 2pm to a welcoming assembly where we were told about how the weekend was going to be run and the rules for making the weekend safe. We were given a welcome pack that contained all the frequently asked questions, the schedule of each day and a sheet for the evening entertainment. At 3 o’clock we went to our first course group session where we met 10-15 people who shared our role and did several activities that motivated us to introduce ourselves to each other, this involved an alliteration memory game that everyone in my group, group 19, enjoyed as it was challenging and entertaining at the same time.

Later that evening, after the evening meal we had the opportunity to go to our dorm rooms to unpack, being able to share a room with someone you are going to be working with for two years is an excellent opportunity as it allows you to bond and learn things about each other, it bought us together as a team and prepared us for what our two year term is going to be like.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

On the Saturday we had two main courses to complete the first being a two and a half hour session of Outdoor Team Building activities that varied between zip wires, Jacob’s ladder and the 3G swing. Through these activities we learnt many skills including team work, communication and also how to concur our fears.

The second main course of the day was the Forgeford Activity, that became the highlight of many people’s weekend. “The Forgeford activity was well organised and there was a shared interest amongst MYPS, DMYPS, Young Mayors and Youth Councillors to rally for our campaigns.” (Alia Khan, aged 16, DMYP for Birmingham.) It consisted of a set of workshops that developed our lobbying, letter writing and campaigning skills. “The best part was putting together the actual campaign for votes for sixteen as it allowed us to really put all the things we’d learnt into action.”

(Rebecca Caffery, Aged 17, DMYP for Birmingham.) The whole event was very realistic and it was so much fun to see what everyone had prepared. Overall the weekend was incredible from the courses provided, the friendships formed, and the relaxed atmosphere in the evenings to the variety of food at every meal, it gave everyone something to enjoy. “The training throughout the weekend was stimulating; it stretched our skills and tested us to the limit as it gave us an intense real life scenario which we have all learnt from.” (Vikram Patel, aged 17, MYP for Birmingham.) I have no doubt that in the future BYC will provide the young people of the weekend with other amazing events such as the conventions coming up or the Annual Sitting in, in July.

Dudley Kyle, 16, Member of Youth Parliament When I was first elected as an MYP one of my main targets to work on locally was the funding of minority groups in the community and more specifically the LGBT projects which had been completely cut so this is something I really wanted to work on and help to establish a new project.

After communicating with local councillors to get their views on the cuts to these projects I started researching why the project was cut and the affects this had on young people.

Fortunately there was another group working to set up a new project in Dudley also and recently posters were sent out promoting the new LGBT group in Dudley- Unique. I think this a great opportunity for Dudley to redesign itself as more accommodating of the minorities groups as I have witnessed develop greatly through this process. The project will be launched fully shortly which is absolutely amazing news!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Shropshire Rhys Hart, 17, Member of Youth Parliament We have great success getting a lord to support the votes for 16 campaign. We are also getting success at convincing an MP who was once strong against votes at 16 to 17 to begin supporting at least votes for 17. We have been able to get a meeting with our MP and soon our leader of the council and the accountable officer to the NHS CCG, from this we are choosing one issue for them to help us champion with a strong driving force in all directions. We have completed a survey among the young people in our area on how they want the youth budget to be spent. Also we are running an LGBT parade in a carnival to show support for the LGBT community.

Staffordshire Luke McCormack, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month I have taken part in the first UKYP introduction residential again for the second year running as a returning member of youth parliament and I have to say I really enjoyed it as I've met many newly elected MYPs and DMYPs and made friends with a lot of them. I'd also like to say a big thank you to the two youth workers carol smith and Katie from Buckinghamshire who made my weekend stay even more special.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Megan Collins, 15, Member of Youth Parliament From the 11-13th April, Staffordshire youth councillors joined other representatives around the UK at the BYC Youth Voice residential in Kent.

With around 50 young people, Stafford contributed about an eighth of the visitors. Young people took part in a variety of workshops in their groups which depended on whether they were a youth councillor, returning or new D/MYP or young mayor.

Sophie, a youth councillor commented: 'This was a really informative and insightful weekend. My favourite part was definitely Forgeford where we got to complete tasks for a campaign as the youth council in the fictional town of Forgeford'.

Clarke, MYP for the Staffordshire Moorlands said: 'I thoroughly enjoyed this weekend, I felt so proud to be with my group doing a rally in the dinner hall and I will definitely be taking some ideas back to Stafford!' Congratulations to all that went on the weekend and a huge thank you from everyone in Staffordshire to the BYC staff, volunteers and youth workers!

Young people from Burntwood, Staffordshire have been raising phenomenal amounts of money for Teenage Cancer Trust through the inspiration of Stephen Sutton, a cancer sufferer living in the local area. Diagnosed with cancer aged 15, doctors have unfortunately pronounced his condition as incurable. Despite this, Stephen has devoted whatever time he has to inspiring others with his message that we can all make positive change. He has kept his friends and supporters up-to-date with his journey over Facebook, including his bucket list of 46 things he wants to achieve. One of these was to raise £10,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity helping him hugely during treatment. Since then he had raised over ten times this.

However, on the 21st April Stephen posted on Facebook what he believes is his 'final thumbs up', causing the people who know him, along with the support of comedian Jason Manford, to raise his target to a million pounds. In one night, funds went from around £500,000 to well over £1,000,000. Through Twitter, the young people contacted celebrities and their followers in a plea for donations. Over 30,000 people from around the country contributed to the donations and celebrities such as Piers Morgan, Jack Whitehall and Sir Chris Hoy have made the campaign reach international fans. Stephen truly is an inspiration to us all and his support has been overwhelming. The donations have made Stephens Story trend worldwide on twitter and Facebook page reach over 200,000 likes, making national news headlines. Please text 'STEPHEN' to 70500 to donate £5 to Teenage Cancer Trust where all of the money is donated. Well done everyone, keep donating and tweeting with the hashtag '#stephensstory' and supporting 'Thumbs up for Stephen'!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Warwickshire Lukas Colledge, 17, Procedures Group Representative Youth Voice Leadership Development Programme 2014- Ashford, Kent The induction of the MYP's, DMYP's, Youth Councillors and Young Mayors was an absolutely fantastic weekend for everybody involved! There were many workshops and a jam packed programme for the young people who, by the end of the weekend, were worn out after all of their hard work. The mock town of Forgeford could be argued to be the highlight of the weekend with everybody playing a part in the process of the democratic process. There were characters from Paige Turner MP to George Driver, the CEO of the Forgeford bus company, even the House of Commons switchboard played a part! Although, it could be argued that the best part of the fantastic weekend was the 'Votes at 16' rally which included banners, whistles, chants and even people trying themselves to posts to simulate the suffragettes. Overall it was a fantastic weekend!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Yorkshire and Humber Barnsley Anton Dobson, 13, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament On the 4 to 6 April we from Barnsley went to a annual training residential, which was an amazing I found that this helped me understand my role more and also how to plan future projects we talked about our main projects whilst we were there such as; curriculum for life votes at 16 mi cards e the residentail helped me gain confidence leadership team work trust etc...

Leah Harston, 15, Member of Youth Parliament This weekend I have begun my second year of being a member of youth parliament with an amazing residential trip meeting all the newly elected people and seeing my old friends again, I have had an incredible time in which I'm very proud of myself for forcing myself to be more confident and come out of my shell more which has successfully worked with the support of all my new friends! Can't wait for the year ahead!

Pegah Moulana, 17, Member of Youth Parliament It was a successful start to meet the new elected members in the Yorkshire and Humber region and get to know each other more throughout the weekend!

The workshops through the weekend helped me and the new members to build our prime skills to represent young people in our local area and nationally more effectively.

Barnsley Youth Council was invited to present a presentation of their finding towards the decision of young people towards the new Mi-Cards scheme due to the budget cuts. This gave the youth councilors an opportunity to seek advice from the young people and this followed up to be displayed to the key decision makers to ensure young people keep their old scheme but with an increased price. A great opportunity overall.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Thomas Yems, 18, Youth Councillor To begin April, we started off by gathering Youth Councillors, Members of Youth Parliament and other youth voice vehicle representatives from across Yorkshire and Humberside for our annual induction event.

We had a cracking weekend in Hope, where we discussed the plans for our local authorities over the coming year, networked with new faces, and improved each other’s skills through exciting and informative workshops.

At Barnsley Youth Council’s meeting this month, we discussed the local ward plans and priorities in each of the areas of Barnsley, and gave our feedback on them. We also made some suggestions on how to improve youth engagement in the ward alliance meetings.

We have managed to get a flower bed, soil and seeds, to start our first edible youth-led gardening project in Penistone. This is our start at the Incredible Edible campaign, and we hope to expand the number of beds and the number of people involved in it.

Barnsley Council has agreed to hold a debate and vote on whether they support Votes at 16. I have also written to my adopted Lords about the issue.

I have attended a Barnsley Cabinet meeting to discuss the results of a youth consultation held in Barnsley about the future of concessionary travel for young people in Barnsley.

I have completed the ‘Review Your School’ pack for the College that I attend, to great success, and it is really great that Barnsley has peer reviewed PSHE/Citizenship in 50% of its secondary schools.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Calderdale Ella Beevers, Member of Youth Parliament, and Olivia Holmes, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Our visit to Hollowford Residential Centre was one to remember, it was an exciting and thrilling experience. We had the opportunity to meet other Members and Deputy Members of Youth Parliament, alongside other representatives of other authorities within Yorkshire and Humber! It was a brilliant experience; we were able to meet all the Young People who support their area.

The workshops we did were extremely helpful and useful; the two main workshops were effective campaigning, communication and social media. The workshops helped to improve our skills and knowledge within the relevant areas, and taught us how to run effective campaign in our authority. We were also given tips on how to really make a difference, and make our time as Members of Youth Parliament as effective as it can be.

During our time on the induction weekend, we were also given the time to socialise with other Young People, we met some extremely inspiring and incredible people, those of whom befriended. These people were able to tell us their stories, experiences and goals they were able to achieve during their time as Members of Youth Parliament, and since the residential we have been able link with other authorities and work with them on improving the campaigns we are running in our area, and have ideas on how to do so.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Overall, the residential to Hollowford was outstanding, and we cannot wait to be able to have this experience again. Every part of it was incredible, and we met some very amazing people, which we hope so be able to stay in touch with in the future.

Olivia Holmes, 17, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament We have had successful meetings with our youth council and we're able to gain support and ideas for the campaigns we are going to run as members of youth parliament.

We were also able to meet with a school health nurse who was also able to help with our mental health campaign, and this helped us to gain extra knowledge and ideas to run our campaign

Doncaster Jasmine Womack, Youth Representative As part of our residential we had to agree and set our priorities for the next 18 months, it was really interesting that a big issue for most of us was work experience and life skills, this is also something that we identified last year from our Make your Mark campaign as a top priority for young people in Doncaster. This ties up with so many things that we have been doing, when i was putting together my information for our debate activity in the evening it was one of those moments when i could not remember a key importatnt word then it came to me like a light bulb moment that i remembered what the mayor had said to us in a meeting, (Aspirations) The Mayor said " Raising Aspiration is so important" and she hoped that we would work on this.

This train of thought and this key word helped out team to win the debate and i'm really really pleased that's it's our top priority for the next 18 months and I'm so eager to get started on this priority.

Lauren Millen, Youth Representative Recruitment and Selection Training - I was given a fantastic opportunity to take part in some Recruitment and Selection training with the Active Involvement Team in Doncaster. The training covered small workshops on communication and listening skills, body language and questioning and answering techniques. I gained lots of tips from the training that hopefully will help me when i start attending interviews for jobs myself. The local authority also provides young people the opportunity to take part in interviews of staff that work in the Childrens Service particulaly senior level staff such as Assistant Directors and Heads of Service. The next interviews taking place are for the Chief Executive of the new Childrens Trust, i have been asked if i would like to attend a meeting with other young people and become part of a young people's interview panel

Youth Voice: Positive Stories where we will start to look at the job description and the role of the chief executive and agree some questions for their interview. I am really looking forward to the interviews and I want learn from the experience and hopefully choose the right person for the job.

Leeds Charlotte Williams, Youth Representative Leeds Children’s Mayor During the last few weeks I have attended a couple of events in my role as Leeds Children’s Mayor.

On the 28th March I had the privilege of deputising for the Lord Mayor when I was invited to watch ‘Leeds Rocks’, a performance of songs from the Musicals by 60 talented girls aged 7 and upwards. The girls had auditioned and been chosen from hundreds of Brownies, Guides and Young Leaders from across Leeds. The show was amazing, especially considering that they had only had 6 rehearsals. My favourite part was the young girl who sang Cosette’s solo from Les Miserables.

On April 2nd I attended the Golden Owls Young Filmmakers Awards at Leeds Town Hall where I presented an award with Councillor Blake. The award was for the best Key Stage 2 Animation, which went to Tranmere Park School in Guiseley. I was really pleased that they won, not just because their animation was fantastic but also because one of their characters was called Charlotte! All of the films during the evening were outstanding and I was honoured to have been invited.

Once again, I am looking forward to future events, the next one being the launch of the Yorkshire Children of Courage Awards.

Ciaran Morrison, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament UK Youth Parliament Recently, I attended a residential in the dramatic scenery of the Peak District, aside from the great fun and socialising I did meeting new people from Sheffield, Wakefield, Hull, Barnsley, North Lincolnshire and various others, I also learnt a great deal about this year’s campaigns.

Firstly, it was absolutely great being able to meet many new people that are so similar in the sense we share the desire to represent the youth of the UK yet so different due to our different backgrounds and ideas. I thoroughly enjoyed it because it enabled me to develop my communication skills and also it helped boost my confidence in an unfamiliar environment whilst

Youth Voice: Positive Stories of course learning to work with the many great people I will be campaigning with over the next two years.

Secondly, it was a really informative and detailed weekend that taught me about this year’s campaigns, the curriculum for life C4L and votes at 16 which are great campaigns I intend to really work and campaign for! As a result the weekend was of course motivational. Finally, I learnt how to successfully use twitter to aid my campaigns which will be of great use in the future, look out for them tweets!

Isaac Grinnel, Youth Councillor Young People’s Interview Panel A few weeks ago I was involved with some other young people on a panel to interview people for jobs for the NCS programme. We have all worked together as a Young Peoples interview panel to advise the adult Interview panel as to which person we felt should get the job. Our job counted as 30% of the final decision.

Each panel member was given a set of questions to ask the candidate and there was a different member of the panel who was the chair for each section. Below the question were a number of answers. If the candidate said one of these, or went into the boundary of one of these answers,

Youth Voice: Positive Stories then we would tick it. If there was anything else the candidate said then we would write it down in the comments section.

After the candidates had been interviewed we discussed our results and scored each person. We went through each question and scored them on how well they answered them, so, if they answered them really well we would score them 3 or 4, if it was okay 2, if it was below the standard we gave 1. If they didn’t answer the question or didn’t say the right thing 0. If we thought that it was in-between we would give them a half score so 0.5, 1.5, 2.5 for example.

Over the two days there was three different jobs available, NCS Team Leader, NCS Coordinator and NCS Assistant Team Leader. I really enjoyed this experience as it has taught me some new skills about interview techniques that I will take into the future. At the end of each day we were given £20 in Love2shop vouchers which was an added bonus!

John Wadsworth, Youth Councillor Leeds Youth Council As always the Leeds Youth Council has sought to ensure young people get their voices heard by decision makers. Our road safety working group has begun its work alongside itv fixers to create a hard-hitting production in order to give road safety the place it deserves in the public consciousness. We feel that this is an issue which is often set aside in favour of other, more 'mature' topics when in fact road safety becomes ever more important as young people get older.

In conjunction with this, our accessibility working group has progressed with its campaign to raise awareness of the issues faced by disabled young people and to try and ensure they can participate fully in youth activities.

At our last main meeting, the Council decided to target school staff in order to make it easier for our members to reach out to their fellow students. This is a key part of our ongoing plan to make the Youth Council even more representative and reach out to all young people in Leeds.

Finally, the LYC recognises the importance of apprenticeships in preparing young people for the world of work. As a part of this we were eager to consult with the Leeds apprenticeships hub to ensure they are delivering information in a manner accessible to all as well as get to the heart of what makes apprenticeships attractive to young people. We hope to see the number of apprenticeships rise as part of our mission to reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Liam, Youth Representative Have a Voice Council In November 2013 The Have a Voice Council (children in care council) re-launched The Promise at the Celebrating Social Work Conference. The Leeds Promise was revised by the Have a Voice Council. We worked together with senior Council staff including the Assistant Head of Looked After Children and Head of Children’s Social Work to agree the final wording, format and discussed how the promise could be built into everyday practice.

The Promise is now a simple statement about the support that all looked after children can expect to receive from the Local Authority. It will be given to young people over 10 on a magnetic card, and different formats are being developed for children under 10 and those with additional needs.

We hope the Promise will help improve the lives of children and young people in care by making sure they are treated with respect and get the support they deserve.

Nicole Sabau, Member of Youth Parliament UK Youth Parliament During the last week of term, while others were preparing for the holidays, I prepared for the regional residential, at Hollowford.

The days leading up the weekend. I was full of anticipation and excitement. The journey provided an opportunity to interact with my fellow MYPs constituency, as well as meeting other likeminded young people.

The weekend itself, was full of great activities and welcomed the chance of making important regional connections. The first day was just the welcome day where we got to know each other. The Saturday offered the more important things, such as, what we plan to do over the next year as MYPs, as well as our campaign for the city. There were workshops to fit everyone's individual needs, which included, how to make plan and do an effective campaign. Lastly Sunday was the best day. We enjoyed outdoor actives, as well as preparing us of the two year term we have as MYPs.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Overall this month has given me a taster of the great things I have to expect for the future.

North Lincolnshire Bethany Sisi, 14, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Endless amounts of unique experiences are presented within my role of DYMP for North Lincolnshire; the Hollowford residential weekend being one of them. I can honestly say, and I think I speak for the whole of the North Lincs team, that it was an amazing two days filled with great opportunities and ideas that we are currently planning to put in place in our local area.

Everything mentioned over the weekend has been carefully considered and this will hopefully lead to new and exciting projects for our youth council to make a success. Along with this, we can’t forget the inspirational people we met and we are truly grateful to have been given such an opportunity. Thank you to all involved for bringing such fun and engaging workshops for us to take part in and for making our Hollowford experience such a memorable time!

Connor Greenberg, 16, Youth Councillor During April 2014, I, along with a fellow Youth Councillor, have made significant progress in developing a campaign within North Lincolnshire that raises awareness of LGBT issues and combats things such as homophobic bullying in schools and colleges. Other areas that will be targeted are the emotional and mental sides of sexuality. This campaign originated from something we brought up at our local Youth Council in January and we believe strongly that this is something our local area needs. Over the course of this month, we have carried out an initial survey and have just rolled out the survey across North Lincolnshire and we hope that all secondary schools and colleges will assist us by asking their students to complete this. This, we hope, will help to highlight the key areas we need to tackle first.

We have made a potential link with the Scunthorpe branch of Samaritans, as we hope that they will be able to help us with regards to the emotional/mental aspects of this campaign. On 7th April, we attended a meeting in which we discussed where we planned to take this campaign and we also highlighted some ideas that we could use to interactively promote our ideals to primary school children. These were things such as interactive workshops. We have also been in talks with a member of staff at North Lincolnshire Council, who has offered to help us to set up a separate 'social' group within North Lincolnshire; and as we ourselves are LGBT, this is something that we feel is missing for people of our age group; although a separate group has recently set up something similar to this, it is for 14+ and many adults have said they "would not feel

Youth Voice: Positive Stories comfortable hanging around with children" and vice versa. We intend to create something similar to this that is solely for our age range.

Moving forward, our plans are to establish a steering group within our Youth Council and we will raise this issue at our next meeting at the end of this month. We will also carry on with what we are currently doing.

Jordan Hammerton, 15, Youth Councillor I have gone on the residential trip, taking part in a local youth event organised by the youth council and attended meetings on LGBT matters.

The Hollowford residential trip was for all the eleven local authorities in Yorkshire and Humber, so it also gave us a chance to interact with the other youth councils. We used the time to learn about other projects that other youth councils are doing, such as young reporters, which we are hoping to set up in our area. We presented our wonderful "Be Unique" campaign to the rest of the youth councils and it was very professional. We also discussed other things we are doing such as LGBT, anti-bullying and the carnival event, so we are doing a lot and all of it is important.

Hollowford was a really good experience and we learnt a lot, we tested ourselves, it gave us new ideas and a lot of information. I would go again and at least now we're known to other youth councils.

North East Lincolnshire Kieran Yeoman, 18, Youth Councillor I’d never have dreamt that by entering a competition I’d be working alongside top journalists including Nina Hossain.

Out of three hundred applications I was one of nine who were chosen as a finalist in the Breaking Into News initiative launched by the Media Trust and co-hosted by ITV. Being a youth councillor has its advantages, especially when looking for material to write about. Having known about the BYC’s 2014 campaign, I decided to write and produce a news report on the VOTES AT SIXTEEN campaign. I not only had Yorkshire and Humber’s PG – Katy Ward featured in the news report, I also had local MPs, a political expert and the general public.

After working in the ITV CALENDAR offices I produced a news report worthy enough, not only to be put out on their 6 O’clock show but my report was also played on Yorkshire and Humber’s regional politics show; LAST ORDERS.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories It has been a real experience and I would encourage anyone to apply for next year’s competition, you won’t regret it! At the time of writing this, I have no idea on whether I have won or not.

However, there is no winner – it’s the taking part that counts.

North Yorkshire Hannah Berzins, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month has been one of my most exciting and challenging as a youth representative. Since I have joined the Yorkshire and Humberside Steering Group I have encountered a number of fantastic opportunities to represent the voice of Young People in North Yorkshire; such as the meeting with the Directors of Children’s Services and the annual Youth Voice Yorkshire and Humber Residential.

As a Steering Group representative, I volunteered to run a workshop at the Youth Voice residential based on Effective Campaigning. This, at first, was quite daunting, as I only had limited ideas of what I could present; so I asked the young people of Yorkshire and Humberside “What is Effective Campaigning?” After gaining their views, Elliot and I began to plan our workshop; looking at topics such as “How to run a campaign”, “Examples of successful past campaigns” and “How to get others involved in your campaign”.

When it came to the Saturday morning the workshop was going well, and after the first session I received positive feedback about how the young people were getting involved with the variance of activities, whether it be discussions, presentations or quizzes.

“I thought it was a well delivered workshop, with the Powerpoint being the very best I've ever seen on this subject.” –Bill Eve – Youth Voice Co-ordinator Yorkshire and Humberside “Absolutely loved it, it was entirely different to what I was expecting and I also found that by working with different people than I normally would, I gained experience from them in effective campaigning.” –Kieran Yeoman Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and the opportunity I had been given to share the skills I had been taught in the previous year by the older members of Youth Voice. Through teaching the young people of Yorkshire and Humberside new skills, I have also learnt from their experiences; helping me build on what I had already learnt. A truly fantastic experience!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Tim, Youth Representative The day I met the Children’s Minister Edward Timpson, the Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, visited North Yorkshire County Council on Thursday 3rd April to learn more about the work they do with looked after children, care leavers and foster carers in North Yorkshire.

I am a member of North Yorkshire’s Young People’s Council (Children in Care Council and I think it's great that I get the chance to do things like this. I represented members of the Young People’s Council and spoke with the Minister How did you feel about meeting with the Minister?

I feel lucky to have been chosen to meet a senior member of parliament – it was all quite exiting.

He came across as an important man but also a nice man!!

What did you speak to him about?

He introduced himself and told us a bit about his background, which I found really interesting, as his parents had fostered over 80 children! He asked other people about their experiences and what they think should change e.g.: If you go round to a friend’s house for a sleep-over your friends parents have to be CRB checked : the minister asked me if that happens to me!

Was there anything that you felt he was really interested in?

How the nuts and bolts of fostering worked, for example, he asked who I would most trust if I had a problem.

To find out more about the Young People’s Council visit www.nyyss.org/ypc or follow us on Facebook and Twitter search ‘young people’s council’

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Deputy Member of Youth Parliament I had my first North Yorkshire Youth Council meeting. It was a great sucess; we discussed cheaper transport fees for young people and I was introduced to the rest of the team.

Member of Youth Parliament This month Yorkshire and Humber, had their induction weekend. It was amazing.

Meeting new people that I never would have had the opportunity to meet if I had not been elected into post as MYP, was great and I hope I have made some really good friends.

The workshops were ran creatively and inclusively making people really feel part of something bigger but also helping them do more in their term, I think all of the workshops helped people gain confidence and knowledge of how to make the most of every opportunity they get and how to make new opportunities happen.

I can never say thank you enough to BYC and the steering group who organised this fabulous event.

Rotherham Ashley Gregory, 15, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament After a successful election (in February) in which over 5000 young people in Rotherham voted for their MYPs and DMYPs, April has been the settling in month for the new representatives: Hannah Kong and Dale Riahi elected MYP and myself and Toni Paxford being elected as DMYP. The highlight of this month was defiantly the Youth Voice Yorkshire and Humberside residential to Hollowford. I'm sure I can speak for my fellow representatives when I say it was a great experience! The residential was a good opportunity to meet all those who are part of voicing the opinions of their constituents; it was lovely to meet you all! The workshops and activities were both fun and engaging to take part in- well done to everyone involved in the planning and carrying out of the residential! Since the residential, we have all gained a better knowledge of UKYP's national campaigns: 'Votes @ 16' and 'Curriculum For Life'. We look forward to beginning work on the national campaigns and our own local ones.

Furthermore, I would like to add a personal achievement of mine, which was being appointed to be the representative for Rotherham on the Yorkshire and Humber steering group. I look forward to working with the other reps!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Oliver Blake, 16, Youth Councillor The month of April was kicked off to a high with members of Rotherham Youth Cabinet attending a suicide prevention conference which had been set up by Rotherham Council and the Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Board. The conference involved professionals from different areas including police, schools, health services et cetera. Rotherham Youth Cabinet members have been working hard with service providers to see how the issue can be tackled and what young people need to be able to get help with the issue (e.g. School nurse accessibility). I could not attend unfortunately attend due to a mock exam but I have heard great things came out of the event!

More recently, we had a meeting with people from RMBC Commissioning to go through a report that had been complied on the CAMHS Strategy. The report was made based upon recommendations given from Rotherham Youth Cabinet from our annual manifesto and the suicide prevention conference, as mentioned above. The report is a number of suggestions or aims for services to work towards to be able to improve how they operate and make sure that it is in the interests of young people. It is fantastic to know that the work that Rotherham Youth Cabinet is doing is really influencing the decisions of the local authority and will hopefully make a difference to young people throughout the borough!

Just today, the Rotherham Youth Cabinet training day was held, it allowed members to be able to get to know one another better and have fun in the process. The agenda items included an update on the publicity and promotion work that is conducted by a sub group within the cabinet (We can be found on Twitter: @Rotherham_YC and on Facebook: /rotherhamyouthcabinet), taking a look through a draft specification for school nursing which we have been told is technically not to go public yet so I can’t really go into detail with it and the planning of the agenda for our next formal meeting which will take place on May 15th at the Town Hall. April has been pretty productive, bring on May!

Rebecca Parkin, Youth Councillor On Monday Nomia Iqbal, a reporter from BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat came all the way from London to interview me on my experiences of bullying, how I was able to overcome the bullies and how I was able to turn something negative into something positive and something to benefit society. I spent the day talking about what I went through from the tough times to the great times, including how my idol – Demi Lovato helped me to speak out and not be ashamed of what happened. She helped me to realise that the bullying occurred for one reason and one reason only, that was to build me up as a stronger person, and as I said to Nomia (Off camera) I wouldn’t have even done this interview if I hadn’t of been through it, so evidently there has been positives come from the negative experiences. I did the interview in hopes that It will help or inspire just one person, if it does that, that’s all that matters. I want someone to gain something through

Youth Voice: Positive Stories listening to my story and hopefully getting inspired to speak out too! The more people that speak out, the more people will acknowledge that this is NOT okay, and that NOBODY should ever feel as vunerable as I did. I remember hiding in the bathrooms at school EVERY lunchtime as I was afraid to face the other young people in school! Luckily I’m through the other side and so can SO many other people, it just takes time.

The interview was be aired on Wednesday the 16th of April and I really enjoyed the whole experience.

I was also given Youth Representative of the Month for Y&H

Toni Paxford, 15, Member of Youth Parliament I am chair and head of student voice in our year (year 10), so as I often do I was thinking at about 10:30pm and had an idea... Why not have a summer fair? Our school hadn't had one for two years and I thought it was a shame, considering we live in a cosmopolitan society and had such a diverse range of interests, hobbies and languages locally. So planning commenced- we organised for charities such as Bluebell Woods children's hospice, Sheffield children's hospital, special care baby unit, St. John's ambulance service and many more. We had stalls such as glitter henna, cultural clothing and face painting sorted and the purple polo shirts designed by myself including name of the volunteer and logo of the school. Everything was set, so we took all our efforts to the head teacher and senior leadership team who passed the idea! We are now waiting for the posters and then my small tiny idea which was brought to life by numerous of members of our school council will come to life. I am so proud of my group and give all accreditation to themwith the date rapidly approaching the adrenalin is rushing and we can't wait to see how it all pans out.

Sheffield Alex Vesuvio, 16, Member of Youth Parliament Hollowford was truly an experience I will not forget.

Apart from losing constantly at pool and table tennis, I was able to do a great variety of activities.

On the Friday night, not too much happened compared to the days to follow it. We were given an icebreaker to start with and also given an agenda for the weekend, it was a sign of good things to come for the weekend.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories On Saturday I attended a workshop on how to be an effective campaigner, which was both informative and fun. I also took part in a social media workshop and whilst it was fun to engage in the presentation, it did not offer much new information to me as I already knew how to use face book and twitter. However I could see some people didn't know how to use these sites so I helped a couple of people. In the afternoon groups of us had to present a campaign idea to a Dragons Den, while Sheffield may have lost, we had a lot of fun doing it, but we did win the quiz later!. To end Saturday, we had two more workshops, one was debating skills and the subjects ranged from 'Should voluntary euthanasia be allowed?' to 'Which is the best chocolate bar?'. The last workshop I took part in was 'Celebrating Success' which showed us the success some of the other young people had over the previous two years, which was really motivating.

On Sunday, after packing my belongings, I went outside to go on the high ropes only to chicken out over my fear of heights! After this I went to the closing presentation where there was a quiz and farewell. It was sad to see everyone go but I hope to meet up with everyone again soon.

Eleri Kirkpatrick, 16, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament One of the best thing so far about being in UKYP is the free food! During my one month office I have received: 6 free meals(our residential) 2 donuts,numerous sandwiches, heaps of Doritos,houmus and cupcakes!

Never has an organisation understood the needs of young people so well, that's for sure! My weekend at Hollowford followed this trend of understanding our needs.

We were treated to several informative workshops which really helped hone the skills needed to be a successful D/MYP. The debating workshop was particulary useful and gave me an insight into 'proper# debating.

Overall the weekend was fun and exciting and I hope that this continues over the coming year.

Hamza Ismael, 15, Member of Youth Parliament I really enjoyed Hollowford as it was a great experience. I learnt new skills such as 'Effective Campaigning' and debating plus I met lots of different people who had a real passion for what they did, also I have changed some of my views after hearing what other people had to say.

It was a good time where my skills got better, a really

Youth Voice: Positive Stories positive experience, which if I had the chance I would go again.

Laura Nutton, 17, Member of Youth Parliament I'm a newly elected Member of Youth Parliament, with my most prominent ideas on my manifesto being: Votes @ 16 and having a Curriculum to Prepare us for life, I think I'll fit in here well. I felt my time as an MYP really started with our Yorkshire and Humber residential at the Hollowford Centre in Castleton, starting with the obvious icebreakers, which was a nice touch to be able to meet everyone. After the introductions had finished, next were the many workshops, starting with the Young Reporters Group, this workshop showed us an example of young people being involved in the media positively! Different young people had a weekly spot in the local newspaper writing a column. Telling us about this and how it worked really inspired us to hopefully start something similar in Sheffield.

Next was 'Effective Campaigning' which is obviously integral to my role, it took us through step by step how to campaign, then in our area we discussed the Votes @ 16 and C4L campaigns and where we will take them over the next year. We then did a Dragon's Den exercise on C4L, where our group chose to present.a campaign outline on financial education, which we believe is so important for the rest of your life but there is a complete lack of education around this.

On the Sunday after a quiz (which Sheffield won!), and the tidying up we went on the high ropes, which was brilliant. We have had a couple of meeting since, however the most productive was our Team building Day where we really got to know everyone else in the Sheffield Youth Cabinet.

In the morning we learnt about the ladder of participation, showing us how there are different levels of participation and how it is best for young people. We then looked at all the different issues we are all interested and to try and choose the ones that we want to strive to achieve this year, including: Community Cohesion, Bullying and Work experience and University

Wakefield Alex Pennington, 12, Member of Youth Parliament My name is Alex Pennington and I am MYP for Wakefield West. My positive story is about an Area Debate which I attended several weeks ago. The debate was held at Pontefract Town Hall

Youth Voice: Positive Stories and was to discuss the future of public services (police, NHS, schooling, etc) in Wakefield. During the event, we were given information on the services, as well as being able to share our views and concerns with representatives of each one in a final debate. There was also an activity in which each table was given eight Wakefield Pounds (the annual budget) and several areas in which it could be spent. Here we learned how tight the budget is, and how difficult it becomes to maintain efficient, well maintained public services. Overall, the event was educational and enjoyable, and a steep learning curve as to how the city is really run.

Chloe Allen, 16, Member of Youth Parliament As a newly elected member, my positive story is the Induction weekend at Hollowfield. I really enjoyed getting extra information, meeting people of similar roles and hearing of their work previously done, meeting the people who help run the organisation (e.g BYC's UKYP and the PG's) it was intreging hearing all the positive outcomes and results of previous campaigns.

Simran Jandu, 16, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament On Thursday the 10th of April, Wakefield held the launch of the young carers card. I was asked to make the opening speech describing how the Wakefield MYPs DMYPs and youth councilors came up with the idea of a young carers card and how it's developed nationally. At the launch, there were representatives from almost every school in Wakefiled and there was a PowerPoint and a pack (as seen in the photo) which have been distributed amongst schools. All in all it was very positive and satisfying to know that an idea has become a national project and it started with us. This card has helped the lives of many young carers, parents and schools. We are all very very proud!

York Ethan Redmond, 14, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Recently, York have been invited to speak at our Headteachers' Conference - a great way that we use to communicate with all the schools. We plan to talk about our up-and-coming mental health campaign: Minding Minds. We want to ensure all schools have a consistent, supportive and proactive ethos concerning emotional well-being and mental health. Hopefully, schools will recognise this, through use of highly-polished presenting techniques (!), and uptake our practical award scheme.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

York also recently applied for European Youth Capital 2017 but we, unfortunately, were not shortlisted. Still, we hope to work on the suggestion made in our application and I only see our attempt of this as positive. In other words, things can only (and will) get better!

Katie Ward, 18, Youth Representative Yorkshire and Humber have been very busy in April. Firstly they had their regional Weekend, which was run by myself and the Regional Steering Group. It was one amazing weekend and I am super proud of how well everyone worked that weekend. Young people did a variety of workshops such as Social Media and Effecting Campaigning. It was great to see such an array of young people, not all just part of the Youth Parliament, but Young Advisors and Youth Councillors.

Also this month, I did a spot of media work on Votes at 16 for ITV, speaking on my views on the matter.

Finally I have been in talks with some colleges and schools in York about Make Your Mark and Curriculum for Life. I was lucky enough to head to the Police Headquarters in Northallerton to talk about a new E Safety campaign in partnership with ChildLine. My role on the day was to deliver a speech and presentation on Current E-Safety to DCS's, LSCB Chairs and many other people! It was a great day for myself and ChildLine.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Northern Ireland Belfast South Perrie Mackeever, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month I attended an event in the Belfast City Hall called "Digi Dragons" Where you had to pitch an app that you had developed for either improving the mental health and wellbeing of young people or improving the awareness of the environment. Obviously I choose to focus on the mental health aspect as i was elected on a platform of increasing and improving the awareness as well as help and support network offered to those suffering from mental health illness. i had to pitch my idea of "Rise & Rate" to the 5 "dragons" consisting of; a mental health expert, software developer and engineer, 2 members of the NI youth forum and an environmentalist.

The good news is I won! And "Rise & Rate" will be developed in the near future with the hopes of improving young people's mental health and well-being by providing them with a positive start and reflective end to each day. I was awarded by The Lord Mayor of Belfast Máirtín Ó Muilleoir.

As well as this on the 12th of April I attended an event at the "oh yeah centre" in Belfast taking part in a YouthActionNI Represent event supporting young women in leadership and politics. Met some great women including Anna Lo - MLA for south Belfast elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast South in the 2007 assembly election. Anna is a member of the Alliance Party and has been selected as the Alliance Party's candidate for the Northern Ireland constituency in the European Parliament election, 2014.

As well as meeting Jane Morrice - former politician in Northern Ireland. She was a prominent member of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition until the NIWC

Youth Voice: Positive Stories ceased to exist in 2006 due to an ongoing electoral decline. She was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in June 1998 and was appointed as Deputy Speaker in February 2000. Jane is currently Vice-president of the European Economic & Social Committee. Along with many other influential women including; Colette Fitzgerald the new head of the European Commission in Northern Ireland, Dr. Joanne Stuart - director of Attruss limited, a business providing consultancy services for the social enterprises, private and public sectors. Along with many more great women! Following this, I met with Anna Lo at the Alliance headquarters the next Monday (14th of April) to discuss my campaign, and chat to her about the impact mental health illnesses are having on the young in today's society - she was extremely helpful and gave me some great advice as well as pointing me in the direction of the "all party group" for mental health, which consists of members from different party's joining together to discuss mental health, Anna also gave me some great contacts to get in touch with!

Belfast West Jennifer Devine, Member of Youth Parliament This month, I had a successful first meeting with the other members of UKYPNI to discuss our campaign ideas and how we are going to achieve the goals of our campaign. I established a Facebook page to communicate with other young people and give them a direct line to voice any concerns or queries they may want to ask me. I also reestablished my UKYP twitter account as an alternative means of communication. I have also established my campaign to be based around mental health in my constituency. This will be developed in the coming months.

East Londonderry Tiarnach Kelly, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month I contacted all the MLAs and MP for East L/Derry, receiving three replies. I then organised a meeting with Cathal Ó hOisín MLA Sinn Féin to discuss my manifesto point, "Youth Provision in East L/Derry" he agreed that this was definitely something that needed addressed and needed to be brought to the attention of the local council and NEELB. Following this I discussed with young people who were leaders at a local youth club to discuss with them what they wanted in the local area and what they thought was important.

On Thursday 3rd April I received my Millennium Volunteers Award in Titanic Belfast, it was great to see so many volunteers in Northern Ireland receiving their 200 hour award. This made me realise how much young people care about their communities and surroundings and they need the opportunity to be heard instead of their opinions and ideas being over looked.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Fermanagh and South Tyrone Hollie Morrison, 16, Member of Youth Parliament Although I was unable to make the UKYP meeting this month I was able to make some headway regarding my issue, which I narrowed down to make it easier to achieve. I asked the young people in my school about ideas that they had on how to give the youth a better media view.

Most of the replies were great and gave me something to think about. I also wrote to the local MPs and MLAs in my area and asked about arranging a meeting with them to discuss my issue, and those meetings are happening shortly. I am currently trying to organise an event to be covered by the media to aim towards showing the youth in a positive light.

I have been helping some other MYP's in N.I with their campaign issues and am happy to do so, as their issues interest me.

At this moment in time in my community there is the threat of amalgamation of two good schools. I have been writing to papers and our education board (Not using my MYP status) in opposition of this amalgamation as a representative of my school. I have been working with another MYP who has been through the same thing in relation to this.

Foyle Niamh Haughey, 17, Member of Youth Parliament This month I have been in contact with all 6 MLAs in the Foyle constituency, of which I hope to hear back from soon to set up meetings to discuss the issue of improved work experience and careers advice. I am also in the process of drafting a business charter which local businesses will agree to, which will formally recognise that they are committed to providing meaningful and valuable work experience for secondary school students.

Lagan Valley Ryan Simpson, 14, Member of Youth Parliament Well this month I was in Berlin whilst the meeting was on. But while I was there I studied how the Germans cater to cyclists' needs. I met with one of my MLAs to discuss Acedemic Selection. I have updated my followers on Facebook of current affairs which may effect them.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Newry and Armagh Conor Fegan, Member of Youth Parliament This month I have contacted a number of MLAs and MPs in order to make progress on my campaign issue. I hope to make further progress over the next month.

North Antrim Christopher Harkin, Member of Youth Parliament This month I have continued in my campaign to improve integrated education in this country. To do this I have met with MLA's Robin Swann (UUP), Daithi McKay (Sinn Fein) and Paul Frew (DUP). Through them I have been able to ask assembly questions and gain support in order to strengthen my campaign for when I go to the education minister to discuss this. I have also fought for UKYP campaigns such as Votes at 16 and Same sex marriage. I am still looking into setting up a youth forum in Ballymena to enable further opinions from my constituents to be fed to me.

North Down Joe Higginson, 14, Youth Representative This month I have started to organize meetings with various MLAs and MPs. I have spoken informally to several elected representatives and other relevant people about their views on "Votes@16". I intend on contacting the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young people, and I will investigate the feasibility of contacting the equality commission.

South Antrim Rebecca Connolly, Member of Youth Parliament The past month has been very much a success in regards to my work as an MYP. Earlier this month I attended a conference on 'Women In Politics' were the aim was to raise awareness on

Youth Voice: Positive Stories more women becoming involved and letting their voices be heard within politics. The event itself was a major success with Politicians and inspirational leaders sharing their stories in order to inspire young women to take a stand and let their voices be heard. The event itself gave me many ideas for my own campaign and has since then helped shape an event that I hope to be running later this year with a fellow MYP in Belfast. Similarly to the Women in Politics event it aims to not only encourage young people to use their vote but to become more actively involved in politics.

I have also been making progress with my campaign to improve Transport within South Antrim and have exchanged emails with 3 local MLAs in order to arrange to meet later next month.

South Down Lauren Sloan, Member of Youth Parliament We had another meeting this month where we all gave our updates on our campaigns. So far I have met the majority of my MLA's and my MP. All of whom are a delight to talk to and have offered me any help I may need with my campaign on mental health. I have had 2 of my MLA's offer to come and speak to a group of student within my school about the topic of mental health.

It's great being able to openly speak with my MLA's about issues! I have also attended a work shop for Women in Politics even though I was unable to attend the conference due to a clash of dates with our meeting.i

Strangford Jamie Smith, 17, Member of Youth Parliament This month I met with some young people from my school to discuss issues surrounding young people in my constituency. The issues mentioned were: same sex marriage (with the vote in the NI assembly on the 29th of April), environmental concerns, such as, whether or not the government should promote fracking in the UK and we also discussed how ethnic minorities are treated in Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK.

Upper Bann Neil Reilly, 17, Member of Youth Parliament We began Youth Parliament in NI with an induction event where we got to meet all the other MYPs and talk about what our campaigns will be for the year. My issue is education reform, and I got some interesting feed back from other MYPs!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

I've also taken part in Youth Congress, which is the elected Youth Wing of the Northern Irish Assembly, as well as the Translink Youth Forum where we discussed how to make transport better for young people. Outside of the official events, I have been busy planning a consultation I want to put out on young people's views on Education and how it could better suit their needs.

As well as this, I have been in contact with all my local MLAs and my Education and Library Board about poor provision of sports facilities in the Portadown Area, and I hope to here back soon about whether or not they've given a new hockey pitch the green light!

I've also been working with another MYP on organising an event to engage young people in the political process in NI, and encouraging them to vote. While we're at the early stages of this, starting to put together a plan was incredibly exciting!

West Tyrone Michelle Hamilton, 16, Member of Youth Parliament I have been up to various activities this month in my role as MYP for West Tyrone. I have been speaking to several MLAs and my MP on my manifesto issue and they have successfully agreed to raise my issue in Stormont and within their conferences. I have also teamed up with my local Youth Council and distributed questionnaires to my year group at school on the issues of importance to young people in my area that are in the process of being negotiated within my youth council. I have also been in contact with my local newspaper about the importance of awareness of cyber-bullying and have also been updating my campaign page on Facebook with background research. I have also got an author involved with my campaign. He has agreed to help me as he has a huge passion for my issue and is currently working on when we can meet to discuss the issue further.

I have been making links with cyber-bullying charities to reach out to some victims of cyberbullying to use some of their advice and experiences to in turn, help the young people in my constituency who are facing the same.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Scotland East Dunbartonshire Michael Hope, 17, Youth Representative   

Educating young people on the holocaust by doing presentations and one to one talks. I will additionally be attending the Scottish Parliament to continue this.

Have been researching and contacting various people regarding my role as Chair of the BYC's Youth Select Committee for written and oral evidence for Votes at 16.

Have continued to represent young people by listening to any issues they have and helping them within my school.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Wales Powys Jack Gillum, 17, Member of Youth Parliament By being a member of the Youth Select Committee on Votes at 16, I ran a workshop at the most recent Powys Youth Forum residential in April. During this session I explained to them what the Youth Select Committee is and the role and makeup of the Youth Select Committee.

Also during this session I helped Powys Youth Forum members create and write a written response to be sent as evidence to the Youth Select Committee inquiry on lowering the voting age.

I am also the Youth Representative on Knighton Town Council.

This role includes giving the views and ideas of the young people of Knighton to the council. The first meeting was held in April.

Vale of Glamorgan Jessica, 18, Youth Councillor I was elected as a youth councillor, along with 7 other young people to form a youth cabinet, on 24th March and inaugurated on 31st. Since then we have met with the cabinet for our county and discussed some of the main concerns for young people in our areas and have met with Huw Lewis, the education minister for Wales to discuss educational matters that are concerning the young people we represent. We are planning to chose a member of the cabinet to shadow and then we plan to work alongside them in our roles and represent young people's voices further .

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Support Worker’s Stories

East Midlands Rutland Karren Hadden, Support Worker The Rutland Youth Council is hosting its 7th Rutland Young People Awards on March 26 th. The event has grown over the last few years and looks to celebrate young people in Rutland achievements. They celebrate the projects that have been funded by the Youth Councils small grant fund who all attend and give a presentation as to how the money has helped and then run an award across 3 categories: benefitting the community, overcoming adversity and participation.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

East of England Essex Lee McDermid, Support Worker The Young Essex Assembly took part in its 8th Sitting that looked at issues facing NEET young people and why it has a high profile in the media.

Also from informal research with their friends and from personal experience, the YEA learnt that a problem not given much attention is how young people secure part time work whilst still at school/ college.

The YEA were asked to suggest ways that European Social Fund money earmarked to help young people into employment could be best used in Essex. These ideas will be taken back to the ECC Employability and Skills Unit for consideration. A focus group will be formed (including some YEA members) to make recommendations for which projects should be launched.

The outcomes from the day were that members of the YEA wanted to focus in on the problem of teenagers finding part time work and want to create a leaflet that will give tips and advice. The Employability and Skills Unit have offered to help with this project

Hertfordshire Alex Ferguson, Support Worker HertsUKYP & Herts1125 Well after the grand announcement last month, April has been a nightmare what with bank holidays and the long Easter weekend. With alternate days on alternate weeks, one of which being a Monday, and a lorry fire that blocked all roads North, MYP meetings has been limited but I am pleased to report almost all seem able to read emails and respond.

Busy month in respect of the BYC Youth Voice residential which, by all accounts, was a weekend to remember. Certainly, Herts MYPs got a lot from it and I look forward to hearing more about it and hoping that by the time Positive Stories goes live, they have written an article or two!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories The previous weekend to that they had led on their first Herts1125 meeting so presentation skills, slide design and ability to communicate all came into play. Now begins the survey design ready to go out across county next month on the top five priorities as voted for by 9300 young people and the mandate for the newly elected MYPs and the 2014 Manifesto. 

Preparing young people for work Young people’s skills gained through volunteering to lead to recognised outcomes or qualifications that can be used to develop a strong CV and to support job applications (3807 votes)



Cheaper bus fares for young people during the school holidays Young people to have access to cheaper bus travel around the county during school holidays. (3258)

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Improving mental health services and education for young people Young people to be consulted on how this is done, to have information on the causes and symptoms of mental health issues and to have access to services for support. (3249)

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Engaging young people to get their voices heard Young people to have opportunities that ensure their voices are heard in a wider political context, including improved communication with adult politicians. (3135)

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Tackling youth unemployment Young people to have better access to, and increase in, job opportunities during and post study, including apprenticeships and internships. (3050)

Norfolk Ben Dunne, Support Worker Norfolk Youth Parliament - Elections Over 37,000 young people voted in the Norfolk Youth Parliament elections in March. With 48% of Norfolk’s young people eligible to take part casting their votes, this has been the biggest youth election held in Norfolk and is a better turnout than the 32% who voted in last year’s county council elections. Well done to everyone that took part.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

London Wandsworth Ania Cunnington, Support Worker

Young Inspectors Sometimes decisions are made that affect children and young people, yet they have no contributing voice. So this month we started off with a bang by visiting the Wandsworth Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service to get some idea of what their service provides and what suggestions we could come up with to make it more accessible to young people.

We are:      

Increasing our understanding Interviewing key staff Interviewing service users Inspecting the building and centres where projects are delivered Consulting with young people who use the service and those who do not Compiling a report of our key findings and once completed will present our suggestions to key decision makers.

YOF Funding Factory With the deadline fast approaching for applications to the Youth Opportunity Fund Round II, we have been hosting training days to support local young people and walk them through the process.

The members of the Youth Council have been putting their newly acquired skills into practice and not only do they operate in tandem with specialists in choosing the successful applicants, they

Youth Voice: Positive Stories are now also involved in directly engaging with other young people to encourage them to take the initiative to increase the variety, scope and excitement with their applications.

ROUND III Deadline will be on the 3rd of June. SO START THINKING!!!!

Police Youth Think Tank Charter Last month we ran our seventh Police Youth Think Tank and concentrated on young people’s fear of crime. We hope to present a breakdown of the issues raised to Wandsworth Council and will present to their committee meeting in June. Having debated many issues, the core concern for young people in Wandsworth centred on their fear of addiction and consequent unpredictable behaviour. Wish us luck as we begin to write our Police Youth Think Tank Charter.

Follow us @WBCYouthCouncil (Twitter) or @Wandsworth Youth Council (Facebook)

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

North East Northumberland Andrew Elliott, Support Worker Youth Work Awards A number of staff were recognised for their efforts and contributions to youth and participation work at the recent regional Youth Work awards evening held by Youth Focus NE. Amongst those shortlisted were:     

Youth Participation Team (Youth Participation Initiative) John-Paul Dickie (Youth Work Volunteer of the Year) West Northumberland Area Team (Youth Work Team of the Year) – Winner Mike Kelcey (Youth Work Manager of the Year) Youth Work Northumberland (Partnership Award)

Student Voice Work The Participation Team have been piloting a Student Voice training package which is set to be rolled out and offered to schools as part of the development for the Youth Cabinet and Youth Parliament elections each year. The current pilot has involved training on debating skills, budget activities, research skills, influencing decision makers and a question time event.

Over 70 young people have so far been involved in the sessions with smaller working groups developed. One group submitted a film to ‘Lights, Camera, Parliament’ whilst the other worked on researching debate topics for their planned Question Time event with MPs. Youth Cabinet and Parliament The Youth Cabinet and Parliament members have met with the transport operations manager from the County Council to talk about, and give feedback on, the current school transport consultations that the Council are seeking views on. The three ongoing consultations will impact on young people across the County and Cabinet and Parliament members have been promoting the consultations in schools and to young people.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories The groups have also had a visit from the HealthWatch Northumberland service, who are looking to set up small youth forums to gather the views of young people specifically on the issue of health.

Cabinet and Parliament members are currently beginning their Youth Voice Awards and are also logging volunteering hour with V Inspired, to get recognition for their work.

The Youth Cabinet have further developed their award project for schools, where young people are recognised for their contributions to the community. A bid was successful to gain funding for the awards themselves that will be displayed in schools. Cabinet members are currently working with schools to get their support for the project, so that it can begin over the summer.

North Northumberland Young Inspectors The team of North Young Inspectors have recently took part in a stage 3 KeyFund panel to gain funding for their young inspectors youth exchange project to find out how youth services operate in Ireland. The group were already awarded with funding from the Y Fund and they were successful with their KeyFund bid for ÂŁ1000.

Hartlepool Helen White, Support Worker The Hartlepool Youth Parliament ran their hugely successful Election through the secondary schools in April 2014. A huge number of 2855 young people voted and the new MYP elected was Shay Miah (18), he takes over from Hannah Bew the last MYP. The deputy MYP elected is Farah Razzaq (16). Shay Miah said: "Regardless of who is the MYP, what matters is that we are all in this together and we can change things for the better".

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

North Tyneside Julia Bradwell, Support Worker The Young Mayor attended Longbenton Community College student’s conference along with some of the youth councillors where they gave a power point presentation and talked to the students about what the council are working on and how they too can be involved.

Some youth councillors attended the last Adult Council Meeting and were very interested to learn how they all carry out your meetings; it’s very different to the way we hold our meetings.

The Young Mayor had a meeting with Chief Executive officer Patrick Melia, he explained what he has been doing so far and his plans for the rest of the year. Patrick is very supportive, giving the Young Mayor some ideas of how he can be involved and encouraging him to focus on what he will achieve.

UK Member of Youth Parliament elections were held and there was a great turnout of voters with 6,646 Rebecca Moore is the elected MYP for NT, she will be a part of the young cabinet meetings so that there is a joined up approach when working on campaigns.

Auditions for The Young Mayor's music Event have begun, this is where bands and solo artists perform in front of a panel of youth councillors. The panel will select the best 12 to perform on 5th July.

A group of Youth Councillor took part in My Mind Matters training, this training is delivered by young people who have trained by professionals to deliver training to their peers about mental health.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Yorkshire and Humber Doncaster Linda Hardy, Support Worker Youth Voice Residential

Doncaster’s newly elected Youth Councillors took part in the Youth Voice Residential at the Kingswood Activity Centre, Dearne Valley. The Youth Council is made up of Young people inclusive, including Area Youth Council, Children in Care Council, Barnados Young Carers Council and Disability Forum Representatives and members of Doncaster’s Youth Parliament. The aims and objectives of this residential were to train young people to enable them to have the necessary skills and knowledge to be effective youth voice representatives. To support young people to discuss individual issues/areas of concern and set their priorities for 2014/15.

The residential training involved workshop sessions on effective communication skills, in particular listening, verbal, and non-verbal communication techniques.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Other workshop sessions involved meeting etiquette, public speaking and debate skills focussing on persuasion, negotiation and influencing. Young people developed clear lines of reasoned argument, they emphasised positive aspects of their argument getting their points across in a calm and assertive manner. The young people tactfully challenged one another and negotiated by listening to others and ultimately compromising to reach agreements in terms of setting their priorities.

Priority 1: Work Experience – to work with strategic partnership boards and to involve businesses, employers and providers.

Priority 2: Disability Awareness – to host an event which raises awareness of issues young people face with disabilities.

Priority 3: Life Skills – to consult with young people as to what they would like from a life skills programme and share information with key services.

The residential also included fun activities and team building exercises, archery, low ropes, crate stack, zip wire and problem solving.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Future plans Our Role is to listen and represent young people in Doncaster and our first priority, ‘work experience’ is what young people are asking for. This priority was also identified as a top issue through the National Make Your Mark Ballot. This is the most important issue for young people in Doncaster and not all our Schools provide opportunities in work experience for young people.

The Youth Council have arranged their Mansion House meeting where they will present their priorities to DMBC Senior Leaders within Children’s Services. They also have plans to deliver their priorities to the Mayor and Cabinet members.

North Lincolnshire Julie Poole, Support Worker Youth council members, including Young Mayor, MYP and deputy MYP, have lead and contributed to the development of a Young People's Carnival Event to promote young voice activities, celebrate and showcase young people's talents and provide information on topical issues. As part of this, young people have spent time developing marketing materials and attending promotional events (i.e. spending a day in the local market place engaging with young people and their families). Feedback from the event to follow next time.

Young Mayor, MYP and Deputy MYP were invited to speak at a local college summit, involving more than 120 students, to promote young voice activities and encourage local young people to 'have their say'. Feedback from our three elected young people was really positive and they were

Youth Voice: Positive Stories well received by the college students. A further invitation was extended to link into upcoming young voice activities.

Taking account young people's views, the Youth Council has developed a 'mature matters' group which takes place at the end of each youth council and focuses on more mature topics e.g. in relation to nec-nomination and suicide prevention. Young people present have valued the opportunity for a more considered, sophisticated debate and there has been very open conversations leading to proposed local action.

Leeds Kath Runciman, Support Worker Pinfold is a specialist shared care setting, in Leeds, for young people with special educational needs and disabilities. During the past year, I have worked closely with a group of staff voice and influence leads, developing and celebrating their communication and engagement skills in relation to some of the most complex and seldom heard young people. The staff leads have then worked with young people living at Pinfolds to support their work as voice, influence and change champions within the setting.

Their work has included developing and designing one to one booklets which are completed with staff where the views and opinions of each child or young person is noted in relation to key areas of their life and their care such as food, personal care, equality and diversity, preparing for transition to adulthood and one about the people who care for them. Visual mapping of the entire building using board maker symbols and traffic light indicators on doors, to support anxiety reduction and independence.

They have designed and developed information booklets to give to young people who come and visit with a view to living at Pinfolds and have taken part in recruitment and selection for officers and management, designing questions and post appointment tasks for new members of staff to evidence their commitment to the voice of the child.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Sheffield Sue Mia, Support Worker On April 4th I took 6 newly elected UKYP members to Hollowford for our Yorkshire and Humber Induction Residential. It was really well organised by our PG Katie, the Y & H Steering Group members and supported by Bill Eve our Regional Coordinator. All the young people had to work very hard as workshops started at 9 pm on the Friday until we went home on the Sunday. The workshops were facilitated very professionally by the more experienced members of Youth Voice and covered: Effective Campaigning, Communication & Social Media, how to be a Young Reporter plus action workshops on the two national campaigns - Votes @ 16 and C4L. This was a good introduction for the new members as it has set the context and groundwork for their role and how they can start working on issues and campaigns over this next year. All in all a very positive experience for the young people and workers attending.

Our next event was the Youth Cabinet Team Building day so our new and current members could get to know each other, be clear about what representing others means in reality and then identifying the priority areas they want to focus on over the next few months - lots of hard work ahead!

S.P.I.N which stands for Sheffield Peer Improvement Network and is made up of Members of the Youth Cabinet also delivered their first training session with their peers around what they think of PSHE in their school. They were all understandably very nervous but did a fantastic job and got lots of useful information. While they were delivering their training, Chris Anderson- School Improvement Advisor - ran a session with various teachers on their perception of PSHE. This

Youth Voice: Positive Stories project supports UKYPs national campaign and is a partnership between the City Wide Learning Board and Sheffield Youth Cabinet. More schools are coming on board and the group will be delivering this training to those that sign up.

We also now have more young people involved in the Votes @ 16 group who are busily adopting a Lord, writing to them plus our motion will be with the City Council next week asking them to support the campaign.

Chiwo Mukome, Support Worker Sheffield Future's North Youth Forum On the 7th of March the North Youth Forum were elated to host their annual North Youth Conference at St Mary’s Conference Centre. The conference is a youth-led event that brings young people from different schools in the North area of the city together and engages them in a series of fun, educational and informative workshops. The workshops are selected by young people based on what they perceive as issues in their community and would like to raise awareness on. The day consisted of the following workshops: Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation, Street Doctors and cementing Community Cohesion. From these workshops young people learnt practical skills on how to save lives when needed the most; such as tending to a stab/gunshot wound, identifying features of exploitative friendships/relationships in contrast with the development of a healthy relationship and the essence of community cohesion-young people learnt that successful communities are built on strong social solidarity. An interesting observation of the day was how young people put into practice what they had learnt in their workshops; for example students from Fir vale and Yewlands School designed a community cohesion poster and named it Yewvale.

The afternoon was filled with warm giggles as the motivational speaker immersed us in funny yet thought provoking poetry. The motivational speaker encouraged the young people to have high aspirations and reinforced this message by stating that everyone is destined for greatness but to achieve greatness one needs courage, determination and hard work.

The highlight of the day was having our very own X-Factor. I must say this activity was not included in the agenda. During our lunch break a few girls from Yewlands Technology College and Fir Vale School decided to entertain us with a singing contest. It was an entertainment well worth having as the girls’ sang immaculately. As an Involvement Worker, it fills me with great joy to see young people taking charge and organising their own activities. Overall this was a successful day.

It was fulfilling to see young people from different schools and cultural backgrounds working and coming together. From this event we have started brewing a joint potential piece of work with Yewlands Technology College and Fir Vale School.