Work We Have Done

We are currently working with a unit in Sheffield called Aldine house which is a secure unit for young people aged 10-17. We are looking at youth proofing their behavioural management policy as well as their welcome booklet for young people to make them more relevant and easier to understand. Watch this space for updates!

Young Advisors were asked by the council to input the Voice of Young People into the new plans for Education in Sheffield. To ensure that we gave a city wide view of young people’s priorities in Sheffield we conducted a consultation event in each of the seven Community Assemblies, and asked them to give their top priorities from what they wanted form going to school (e.g. a permanent careers service, or sexual health drop in.) We the collated these priorities and made a presentation which we presented at the Parents Assembly. Furthering the work we put out a survey monkey to reach all the Young people in the city who hadn’t attended the consultations asking them for their views. This was them compiled to a larger report and presented to the City Wide Learning Body Board Meeting. We have also been written into the constitution of the Board, meaning our views have to be listened to by the board; they can’t get rid of us that easily!

Last week 9 of the Sheffield Young Advisors attended the National AGM (Anual General Meeting) residential at hope. They participated in several training workshops related to Business and Consultation.They also got involved in a number of team bonding activitys like Cannoing and High Ropes. They also atttended the AGM meeting with all the Young Advisors that attended from around the country. There they discussed the futures of Young Advisors and looked back on the last year.

Young Advisors have delivered sessions to the Youth Work Courses, Levels 1, 2 and 3 on participation and how to involve Young People.

Last year we attended the Young Advisor Annual General Meeting. The venue was the Hollowford Centre in Hope. Young Advisors from all across the country attended.
As members of the Young Advisors charity we had to go and have a meeting about the future of the charity. But, we are young people and we don’t just do meetings so whilst we were there we participated in workshops and activities.
Some Young Advisors completed the ASDAN Train the Trainer program and are now qualified to deliver ASDAN courses to other young People.
We did several workshops, to sharpen our skills in Communication and Conflict Resolution.
Another very important workshop we participated in was around the “Big Society”
In this National Young Advisors had different levels of knowledge around what the “Big Society” was so first of we looked at what it was. After that we looked more deeply into what direction to go in the future as Young Advisors and individually, and how Big Society would affect the Young Advisors’ Nationally.
We then took part in some outdoor team building exercises, completing high ropes obstacle courses, rock climbing routes, kayaking and orienteering exercises.

Two young Advisors went to Rotherham to train their Young Embedded Advisors on how to successfully youth proof the services they would be working with in Rotherham We also taught good communication skills to use when working with both professionals and Young People. We gave them the skills to be able to successfully asses the services they were youth proofing and make them more accessible for Young People.

This was the first piece of commissioned work that Sheffield young advisors completed.
Collectively we completed 25 hours of work for Lifelong Learning, Skills and Communities
We Phoned Sheffield Young People (aged 16-19) who are NEET (Not in education, employment or training) to find out:
-What they were doing post-16
-Find out if they had heard of the new government initiative, the January guarantee
-And, what would help them to engage in employment, education or training

Two Sheffield Young Advisors were invited down to London to meet with the CLG
The aim of the meeting was to discuss ways in which National Youth Policy should be shaped under the Coalition Government
They were consulted on issues that are affecting Young People all over the country, and how they can work with Young People together to solve them.
In response the information shall be included in an ‘Options’ paper for ministers

In the summer of 2010 the council in Sheffield made cuts of £6.5million. Out of these cuts, £3.15 million was directly to children and Young People services. No Young People had been consulted, and most of the people who these cuts were to affect couldn’t vote. In doing this they had actually broken the law as they hadn’t consulted with any Young People regarding a decision that was going to affect them. We were outraged but no one more so than one of our Young Advisors, Laura.
So as a response Laura arranged a meeting with the Director of Children and Young Peoples Services in Sheffield and several councillors.
The word spread and Laura single-handedly organised a march from a city centre landmark to the Sheffield Town Hall, prior to the meeting. Unfortunately however the police weren’t given enough notice and the march wasn’t allowed but still prompted Young People, representing many groups from all across the city, to attend the meeting. We had 30 Young People attend and many show support outside the Town Hall.
The meeting was a success and as a result meetings are held regularly to ensure that Young People are consulted when decisions that are affecting them are being made.

In July 2010 4 young advisors were asked by the Sheffield Contraception and Sexual Health Service to youth proof the sexual health service in Sheffield and present there findings at an annual celebration conference. This involved mystery shopping where there Young Advisors visited Sheffield clinics and used there phone services to evaluate the services they provide for young people. We then created a presentation to share our findings with other health professionals.

We have done alot more than just this, more to be uploded soon