NOTES OF
EVIDENCE
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Meeting |
Children and School Results Commission |
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Ref |
CPC |
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Date |
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Place |
Committee Room 1, County Hall, |
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Purpose of meeting |
Formal public meeting |
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Attendance |
Commission members – Cllrs Apologies – Cllr Deborah Gardiner, Muriel Miller, Lady Pigot Cabinet Secretaries – Cllrs David Pugh, Alan Wells Officers – Ms April West, Mrs Julie Martin, George Weech – Principal Youth and Community Officer and Dr Marguerite Howick – Extended Schools Consultant Other members present – Cllr Andy Sutton |
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Agenda Items |
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1.
Notes
of previous meeting |
The notes of the meeting held on 7 February 2007 were agreed. |
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2.
Declarations
of interest |
Cllr Gill Kennett declared a personal interest as she was Chairman of the West Wight Youth Centre Management Committee. Cllr Wendy Arnold declared a personal interest as she was a member of the Niton Youth Centre Management Committee. Cllr Melanie Swan declared a personal interest as her son had taken part in the Prince’s Trust course. |
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3.
Youth
Engagement Strategy |
Papers considered :- Briefing Paper from the Principal Youth and Community Officer and the Youth Engagement Strategy. Evidence :- (i)
Mr George Weech – Principal Youth and Community
Officer A user survey was undertaken annually but did not take account of people not using the services. Opportunities to involve young people were identified. Youth Centres were extensively used in the summer months. As part of the consultation young people were asked what they would most like to see and the most recurring theme had been skateparks. Training was offered to young people to enable them to act as advisors. The first part of the review had been reported on and it was important to highlight the fact that young people valued the support received from the Youth Workers. The Policy Review for children and young people identified particular challenges that need to be addresses in order to create a step change in support for young people. One of which was to improve active participation and ensure quality of provision was high. The new Community Liaison Officers had more time to work with and get to know youngsters. There should be provision for the youth in rural areas to visit the nearest town youth centres. There were minibuses available so the possibility could be explored. Town Youth Centres did invite their rural counterparts to visit them and in some areas annual competitions were held. The 50p fare
had given young people a lot of freedom to travel around the (ii)
Dr Marguerite Howick – Extended Schools
Consultant Reported on Active 8s and gave a brief overview of why youngsters wanted to be on the summer programme. Parents were supportive of the programme although there were only 30 places available. The Healthy and Extended Schools Team, Children’s Centres, the Children and Young People’s Trust Development Advisor and other interested parties including youth workers, the Connexions Manager and the Voluntary and Community Sector were all trying to work together to provide an integrated service. Looking at how people could be brought together in order to understand each others roles. The Extended Schools Consultant believed the Policy Commission should looking at other authorities who were further along in the process. She knew the direction they wanted to travel and indicated that people were doing good jobs, but in small pockets. There was a need to bring them all together and build into a team. Should investigate how they could be brought together. Communications with schools had been a problem but Lou Farnsworth was commissioned to work with schools. She had made appointments with all middle schools and went through the programme with them. Part payment had been introduced whereby both middle and high schools contributed to the funding. A report had been written on the process. Members of the Policy Commission gave a brief outline of their recent visits to Youth Centres. |