Agenda item
Make Your Mark Update
The Panel will receive a presentation on this item from Jasmin Miller the Member of Youth Parliament for B&NES.
Minutes:
Jasmin Miller, Member of Youth Parliament for B&NES gave a presentation to the Panel on this item. A copy of it can be found online as an appendix to these minutes and on the Panel’s Minute Book, a summary is set out below.
Senior In Care Council (SICC) Update
· What do we do? - We are a group of young people aged 11-18 who campaign to better the lives of young people in Foster Care.
· Our campaigns:
o The Pledge – We monitor the Pledge and discuss with B&NES what we think they are doing well and what needs to be built on. We feed this back to corporate parents and the Children in Care and Moving Team.
o Mental Health – We attended a London trip with other young people in foster care/care leavers around the UK to discuss Mental Health and how we can improve services for young people in care.
o We engaged within the Ofsted process by delivering a presentation about what SICC and JICC do. We also asked questions to develop our understanding of how services receive feedback from Ofsted and what difference it makes. The Ofsted Inspector was impressed with our commitment to campaigning whilst juggling school and our home lives. There are several positive comments about our group in their report.
o I created a bank of all interview questions we have written - these are going to be used across B&NES services for recruitment. Examples of positions we have recruited for are Virtual Head and LSCB chair.
· What next?
o We will be developing our initial plans to create a resource for schools based on foster care, in the media of film.
o To enable us to do this successfully, we will be holding a ‘have your say’ session to engage with young people who may not want to commit to attending our bi-weekly sessions - including care leavers and the JICC.
o Create a ‘model’ Confidentiality Policy around working with young people in Care that can be used in BANES and beyond…
o SICC are currently working as part of a team of young people analysing over 1,000 responses to a Mental Health Survey written and circulated by BANES Youth Forum.
o Support Social Workers to ensure they are confident in delivering life story work to young people
o Ensure Social Workers are trained in helping young people with their mental health, including anger management.
Youth Forum Update
- Our campaigns:
o Worked within the ‘Your Care, Your Way’ commission, taking part in scoring the bids. We then met with new provider - Virgin Care.
o Designed a Young Parliament Day workshop on the benefits and barriers to volunteering
o Met local MPs about Don’t Hate, Educate campaign, focusing on tackling racism and religious discrimination, gender equality campaign and mental health. I wrote a ‘Don’t Hate, Educate’ workshop that was used by MYPs across the UK
o We created a widget ballot paper of Make Your Mark that was used nationwide.
Make Your Mark Update
· Make Your Mark is the UK’s largest youth lead ballot
· Last year 969,992 young people expressed what matters most to them through Make Your Mark. This year we are striving for one million.
· Every year the MYPs from across the country meet in the House of Commons to discuss the things that are most important to young people. From this, next year’s campaigns are decided.
· We informed each school of the breakdown of the results from their school as well as locally, regionally and nationally to enable teachers to deliver these in PSHE lessons to their pupils
How you can support Make Your Mark this year: Encourage schools to sign up and highlight the importance of young people taking part in this democratic process.
My Goal
By the end of my term, I would like to have created a PSHE pack based on the results of Make Your Mark and in consultation with B&NES young people. So far, flyers for various youth groups, the SICC podcasts, the Youth Forum Gender Equality Film and SICC’s what makes a good LAC teacher are part of the proposed contents.
The Chair thanked Jasmin on behalf of the Panel for her presentation.
Councillor Liz Hardman praised Jasmin for being an inspiration to many young people. She asked if she had considered enhancing the work of the Leaving Care Group.
Jasmin replied that this was an area she was considering looking into.
Lisa Mukherjee, Participation Development Worker, Off the Record added that three sessions a year are offered to care leavers.
The Chair read aloud the following quote from the recent Ofsted inspection report and said that they should feel very proud of all the work they do.
‘Political leaders are aspirational corporate parents and work hard to ensure that children looked after have a voice. They actively seek the views of children through the junior and senior Children in Care Councils. These groups are making a real difference for children looked after in B&NES and actively influence service developments. They campaign effectively on relevant issues to ensure that children looked after are well supported.’