The British Youth Council hosted the Youth Voice Leadership Development Programme at the Kingswood Centre in Ashford, Kent. The three-day flagship leadership residential, which took place from Friday 7th April 2017 to Sunday 9th April 2017, brought together over 100 youth representatives from across the country. Youth representatives who attended the event were given the skills and support to become successful youth voice leaders in their community.
The weekend residential allowed youth representatives to share best practice; meet other young people in similarly elected posts, and equipped them with the skills to work on behalf of young people locally and nationally.
Existing youth representatives were challenged to build upon on their current knowledge and experience, whilst newly elected representatives were inducted into their roles. The events activities and discussions fused together in a rally to support the UK Youth Parliament’s national campaign ‘a Curriculum for life’. The campaign aims to see the place of citizenship education and PSHE in the curriculum radically overhauled. Last month, the Government announced it was preparing to introduce legislation that will see every child taught sex education in school.
The residential marks the beginning of a year-long term of office for many youth representatives. During the event, youth representatives were encouraged to create pledges for the year ahead. Over the weekend our film crew also began capturing a documentary which will follow the journey of youth representatives throughout the year.