2019 Youth Engagement Conference
If I had to use 3 words to describe the conference they would be young person led.
I say this because the whole day was all about giving the young people a chance to lead from the front whether that was being the compare for the day, being a key note speaker or from a resilience committee showcasing the great work they have been doing. All of them proved that young people do have a voice and if they are given the opportunity they can make a real difference to this town, and be at the forefront of the resilience revolution that we are creating at HeadStart in Blackpool.
To say the day was inspiring for me as a professional would be an understatement. To see 120 young people from all different types of schools across Blackpool all under one roof for the same common goal (to create a resilience revolution in each school) was incredible to say the least. As well as that, we had members from the young people’s executive group (YPEG) working alongside staff to support the running of the day either filming, attaining feedback from schools, working with resilience coaches on their activities or supporting with the digital aspects of the day. A special mention has to go to Ellie who compared the event fantastically and proved that young people are more than capable to play vital roles in such a big event. Also, to Kaden and Hannah who blew me away with their key note speeches and were truly inspiring for anyone their on the day. I’m not sure many of the adults in the room would have been able to have an audience that size in the palm of their hands at age 16, I know I wouldn’t!
The day had everything in it, starting the day off with a motivating speech from councillor cross who is a real advocate for pupil voice, and really set the tone for the day.
There were 3 workshops delivered to the resilience committees by the youth engagement and wider HeadStart team, there was one around campaigning, another about the perfect resilience committee recipe and the other was a digital workshop looking at the toontastic app! On the breaks the young people had a chance to check out some of the stalls that were there on the day, there was CAHMS, young carers, Lancashire mind and Aspired futures showcasing some of the great work they do with young people across the town.
At lunch special guest and all round Blackpool superstar Hayley Kay got the chance to chat and discuss pupil voice and all things resilience revolution with the young people from all the different schools. It was great to see such a well know Blackpool resident taking an interest into what our young people have to say. She finished the lunch break off with an inspiring speech for all the young people there and a push for them to continue the great work they have been doing in their schools.
As well as all of that, for me the highlights of the day were the 2 key note speeches from Kaden and Hannah and also the 3 Resilience committees sharing the amazing work they had been doing in their schools.
First up on the key note speeches was Kaden, who blew everybody away with his personal story about his struggles with anxiety, a real emotional account of the adversity he’s faced growing up. Then we had Hannah, who quite frankly had every pair of eyes and ears fixated on her throughout her motivating, call to action, speech around the troubles she had faced and how she has battled to have her voice heard but never gave up and is now head girl of her school and recently won pupil of the year award for Blackpool, she is truly inspiring.
Highfurlong, Roseacre and St Johns were the 3 schools that showcased the work of their resilience committees and all of them proved that co-production works and works well. Highfurlong explained how they have implemented an enterprise centre in their school, Roseacre showed off their new Resilience Hub and St Johns told us of their joint work with Warburton’s to get a food bank in their school and receive cooking lessons from them to develop their life skills. All with totally different projects but all of them equally as important to their schools and great examples of how co-production can make massive impacts in our schools and wider community.
So as you can see the 2019 Youth Engagement Conference was a real success and a testament to our young people and their ability to thrive when giving the opportunity and also to the schools and their staff for listening and giving the young people a voice in their schools. My favourite quote from the day came from Nathan Parker asking the young people: “who’s more of an expert at being young people us adults, or you?” As you can imagine a roar of “we are!” came from the crowd of 120 young people.
See you next year at the 2020 Youth Engagement Conference.
Jordan Wood – Resilience Coach