Saturday 22 November 2008

Young People's Council Meeting - 7 February 2005

North Wiltshire’s Young People’s Council co-ordinated in partnership with Wiltshire County Council

Who are the representatives?

The newly formed Young People’s Council (YPC) was held in February. We had a mix of representatives attend from:
  • Wiltshire College
  • Wootton Bassett Youth Centre
  • John Bentley School
  • Corsham School
  • Abbeyfield School
  • Wootton Bassett School
  • Bradon Forest School
  • Malmesbury School
This represented a diverse age range of 13- 18 years old.

Some of their interests include:
  • Music
  • Shopping
  • Films
  • Writing
  • Eating
  • Sport

Why do these young people want to sit on the Young People’s Council?

The representatives cited a number of reasons they wanted to represent other young people on the council including:
  • Creating new opportunities for others
  • Providing a voice for young people
  • Making my voice heard
  • To help out in the community and meet new people

The first meeting

The first meeting brought the group together for the first time and examined what it meant to represent on such a forum.  We also started a discussion around a personal development programme for each of the young people that sit on the Young People’s Council. The meeting also aimed to impart some of the findings from the Youth Conference held in October.

What skills do I need to represent young people on a forum such as the YPC?

The representatives broke down into sub groups to discuss this question. Generally the most important skills identified were:
  • Communication
  • Understanding of democracy and social awareness
  • Confidence and assertiveness
  • Sensitivity and understanding of others
  • Objectivity
These will be used to develop some training for the young people that sit on the forum.

Personal development for the young people

Wiltshire County Council is working with District Council to develop the skills for young people to represent on the YPC. We are doing this through a residential event taking place in May. We hope the residential will impart some of the key skills necessary to represent others and begin to look at how the YPC might work with the community on some project led activity in the future. It will also be essential for the development of the terms of reference for the group.


What next?

The group is meeting again in March for a team building evening. They will meet again in April to discuss the residential further. They were all given the action at the close of the meeting to feedback to the groups they represent about the first meeting and devise a strategy for doing this in the future.


For any information about the YPC please contact:
Katz Luce
Youth Involvement Development Officer
Tel:  01249 706496