Sutton’s Young Commissioners were delighted to welcome over 50 people (of which 35 were young people) to their Youth Voice Summit on Thursday 22nd September at Sutton Library. It was fantastic to see such a wide range of organisations and young people from across Sutton who took part in the conversations and activities. The summit kicked off with a fun ice breaker activity called ‘Human Bingo’ and the five people who were first to complete their bingo sheet all received a prize!
The Young Commissioners presented at the summit and facilitated the conversations and feedback from the groups on the tables. The main points taken from the feedback from the young people were as follows:
- A youth board needs to be inclusive, accessible and welcoming and flexible with both in person and virtual attendance being available. The venue needs to be in place that is accessible for all and has good transport links.
- They need to feel empowered and listened too and they would like Sutton to be a place where young people aren’t afraid to voice their opinions, are seen as equal to adults and are listened to no matter their age.
- They would like more events like the youth summit and opportunities to come together and mix with pupils from other schools to discuss important topics and share experiences and ideas.
- Mental health, school absence, safety and inequalities are all topics that are important and relevant to young people and there were lots of issues, thoughts and ideas that were raised around these topics.
Food and refreshments were provided and all young people attending were given a goody bag.
After the event, Young Commissioner Erin Wells said, "I really enjoyed everyone sharing their ideas, in the relaxed environment, on impactful topics that need to be discussed, they were all incredibly insightful and thought-provoking. We will definitely take all of them into account and apply these ideas to areas in Sutton."
We would like to thank all the organisations, individuals and young people who attended for giving up their time and sharing their views and opinions. The feedback from the event will now be presented to the next Local Safeguarding Children’s Board to agree the next steps in creating and developing a youth engagement and participation strategy for the borough.
If you would like to read the full report on feedback from the youth summit please contact Jenny Batt on jennybatt@vcsutton.org.uk.
