HBYC Conference
On Thursday 16th October, a team from The Jitty live blogged Hinckley & Bosworth Youth Council's 5th Annual Voice of Young People conference.
So here we are at HBYC's annual event, "Voice of Young People Conference", 16th October 2008. It's an early start, and the organisers are busy at work. While Malcolm tests the sound system
And the Josh's are out in force with their massed ranks of cameras! The room is filling up with roughly 100 students, along with their teachers. The equipmment is set up and MJ says "Hi".
Millie is the chair of HYBC and we stop her in her busy tracks as she gets ready to sit down for the start of todays events.
Rachel: What is the aim of todays event?
Millie: Well basically we want to renew our priorities, recruit new member for HYBC, gain new priorities for the forthcoming year, and to make sure that everyone knows how to get their voice heard and become members.
Rachel: So what can we expect to see today?
Millie: We have lots of workshops running which will include the informtion and discussions on the negative media image, employment, what age should you be classed as a adult and the school charter.
We thank Millie as she heads off to start the event, which is opened by a speach from the Mayor of Hinckley.
Introductions to the conference were carried out by Millie, in true professional style, with Richard Dobson co-hosting. Once the domestics were out of the way, conference attendees were shown the excellent Pyramid of Participation Video (Produced by the "Three Josh's", aka J3Media), followed up by an Ice-Breaker once everybody had found their right table.
10:40am we head for a short break which gives us the opportunity to speak to the attendees to find out what they think of the day so far.
I approach a group of 6 young people who I overhear chatting about the event, so I head over to find out some more. They are attending here today from Heathfield and they tell me that they enjoyed the ice breaker as it was a good opportunity to interact and meet new people. I asked them what they have gained so far, to which they reply that they feel it has good opportunities to get involved to make a difference and get their voice heard.
As I carry on there are a lively bunch from South Charnwood who I head over to speak too, and as I introduce myself and mention 'The Jitty' all I get from them is how excited they are about the website. I immediately ask them if they would like to be involved, and enthusiastically jump for the chance. I spend a few minutes answering questions on what they can do and how they can get involved, and feel quite happy with myself for winning them over and am quite excited to see the enthusiasm that may have been recruited!
As I head back I stop a group of girls from St Martins who tell me that they are enjoying the event, particularly the ice breaker as they enjoyed being able to get involved in a group and meet new people.
After the break the attendees "break out" (not my phrase!!) into smaller rooms to discuss issues, namely: Anti-bullying being run by MJ, young people and employment law being run by Martin, the consistent problem with the press and their portrayal of young people in a negative light, run by Millie, and finally the question of at what age you should be considered to be an adult, being run by James (a topic for debate already on the Jitty's chat forum).
And just so the teachers weren't feeling left out, they were safely led away to work in their own small group for the remainder of the day. Team Leader, Richard.
According to MJ (smiling above) her anti bullying workshop had been a great success. Outcomes include information on the most common form of cyber bullying (mobile phones, Social Networking and E-Mail), all of which will be used at the MAD conference being run in November.
So after a fantastic lunch (which Jamie Oliver would frown at, hotdogs nom nom), the conference reconvened with a view to seeing how the bottom of the pyramid was doing. First question, "Are you listened to by the School" followed by, "Do you have a good School Council", with about a third agreeing. Third question, "Are students who can't be bothered represented on the school council", with about 20 people agreeing (a fifth). Simon also wanted to know who ran the school councils, and thankfully the majority voted "by young people", with a handful run by teachers (met with a "hmmm" from Martin).
The next stage was to ask what actually made a good youth council with Simon acting as "Roaming Mic". According to attendees, councils that weren't overly influenced by teachers was good, as well as having good links with Borough Councils, other Youth Councils, and Young People at their school.
