Youth Engagement

Recently we attended the Youth Voice Matters conference.

You can watch the video we made about it here:>

Kirstie, one of the young people who came with us has kindly written about our day:

I went to the Youth Voice Matters conference in Birmingham with Kellie and others, and we had so much fun on the train. We did workshops about making change and supporting people who need help. At lunch I spoke to minister Georgia Gould about SEND, EHCPs and transport problems during transitions. My favourite part was the teamwork workshop on youth citizenship. The whole day was fabulous and I really enjoyed it.

On Wednesday 18th of February, I went to a conference in Birmingham called Youth Voice Matters for children and young people. I went with Kellie and 2 other people and we met at the train station in the morning. On the train me, Kellie and Suzie played gaming, and we had so much fun.

When we got there, we had a 10‑minute walk to the conference. We signed in and got a bag with a few things. We started off with an introduction, an icebreaker and a few speeches. Then we went to our first workshop about if you could change one thing and how you would do it. After that we had lunch. I had chicken and chips and then a shortbread.

During lunch I spoke to the minister Georgia Gould. She wanted feedback about people with SEND needs or who have an EHCP. I talked about how transport can be a problem during transition, like when I went from high school to college. I really enjoyed sharing my experience with her.

After dinner we went to another workshop about citizenship and how we can help someone who needs support. We had scenarios and had to say how we would help. I spoke for my group and shared our ideas.

After our last workshop we went back to the main room and did a big workshop as a team. Then we had the closing statement.

My favourite part of the day was the second workshop that was using teamwork to make youth citizenship work. I also liked sharing my experience with Georgia Gould about SEND and EHCP.

When it was time to go, we walked back to the train station and got on the train home. When we got back to Stoke, Kellie asked me how the day went and I said fabulous and I really enjoyed it.