Minutes:
Dechaun Malcolm, children’s rights and participation officer, along with the young people and representatives of SpeakerBox provided an update to committee:
SPEAKERBOX VERBAL UPDATE
The committee noted:
· Focussed on engagement between April to June which had increased by 34%
· During the last quarter there were 436 episodes where young people
participated in various events
· There was a 34% increase compared to 2023, and over 300 forms of engagement took place
Young people participated in the following ways:
· Delivered training
· Recruitment
· Co-facilitated at the Learning Fest
· Attended consultations
· Attended meetings of the corporate parenting committee.
Engagement
Building the community which included:
· Summer cook-out and Thorpe Park; Events like these provided an opportunity to attract new young people to the service and meet other young people with care experience.
Website
· Young people worked on the SpeakerBox website with a professional web designer
· The purpose of the site was to extend the services that was designed by young people, whilst encouraging more engagement for the young people that lived outside the borough
· To ensure the website would be a great source of information – young people’s rights and what they were entitled to.
The young people’s influence – the big ones
The innovation project
· Purpose of the group
· Current projects (current guidance)
· Future goals
· Empower – on the opportunities the young people wanted to achieve
· Feedback from staff and parents, provided a space that allowed people to come together to create solutions
· Staff said it was with to share ideas with the young people
The director’s forum – which highlighted the following:
· Issues that affected young people in Southwark
· Covered topics such as immigration and issues facing care leavers
· Networking with the directors and present feedback to the young people
· Directors met with young people face to face and discussed creating the best opportunities and benefits for young people
· Build on the three main priorities: “What home means to you”
o Home, lets create a nice space, family, friends or my own space, x-box and soft bed. Created by children 5 – 7 years old
o Home is the place I can go, where my heart feels free, people I see and the neighbours next to me. Created by children 7 – 12 years old
· Representatives of Speakerbox worked with young people particularly those from a younger age group. The children were interested in being role models also, they came up with some amazing ideas.
Consultation with SEND
· Aims of the session
· Topics they talked about
· What they left them with
Feedback from staff – some comments below:
“It was good to be part of the space provided to listen to the young people and hear some of the deep rooted things that they have to process which impacts their thoughts, feelings and decisions and talking about their hopes/aspirations for the future.
It highlighted even more the importance of continuing to have the young person’s voice present and ensuring that schools/professionals are connecting with their voice and seeking to understand it.”
Feedback from Young People - summary
“At the beginning of the consultation, I felt intimidated by all
the adults there because I have social anxiety and I am shy. As
I got to know them I opened up more and I found it inspirational. The lady that spoke to me was very funny and made me feel comfortable sharing my experiences. She never judged me. The department listened and took what we said into consideration. I could see them trying their best to help us in every way they can.”
“I think other departments should do this to help young people in care. I think if young people and departments work together young people will get the help they need and feel more comfortable sharing their view and vision of the care system.”
The meeting were given updates on:
Children’s home project
· Visiting Mary’s mansion
· Children’s guide consultation
· Recruitment
Event Planning
The big celebration
The summer cook-out
The Speaker Box party (20 years)
Moving forward
Opportunities:
· Employment and accessibility
· Entry level experiences
· Equity over equality
Corporate Parenting:
· Wanting to engage more from our community
· Meetings twice a year - in the evenings
· School holidays
Elections:
· Central government change
· Changes for young people
Directors’ Forum:
Six Speaker Box members ran a take-over session on the 24 June 2024, at the Southwark’s Directors Forum. They met with the team of directors who included the chief executive.
The young members highlighted their six top priorities which were:
· Housing
· Finance
· Education
· Care
· Employment Accessibility Opportunities
· Immigration.
Positive outcomes for children and young people
During the past ten months, Speaker Box provided opportunities for young people, which included:
· Developing and acquiring new skills
· Feeling heard through direct advocacy via CROs
· Having a secured base with consistent adults
· Became more confident in public speaking
· A better understanding of rights for young people
· Improved emotional well-being
· Improved aspirations and career paths.
Looking ahead 2024-25
· To re-brand and develop the Speaker Box website and extend their outreach to more children and young people
· To attend their first residential in over seven years, partially funded by the VS and LEAP (listen, empathise, ask, paraphrase and summarise)
· More campaigning
· To work in partnership with human resources so as to develop a programme for young people in recruitment.
· To start a pod-cast that would be led by care leavers.
In conclusion with an extended team, the young people plan to do more, reach and empower more of the children and young people.
The young people responded to questions from members.
The chair thanked the young people for their presentation.