Local school children present important issues at Youth Democracy Scrutiny event

Local schoolchildren took centre stage at a recent scrutiny event which gave them a platform to talk about the issues that are important to them in the presence of Councillors, community champions and others working for a better Redbridge. 

In listening to Redbridge residents, the Council is working with UNICEF UK and their global Child-Friendly Cities and Communities initiative to make the borough a great place for children and families. The Council has identified a key target to become a UNICEF Child-Friendly Borough by 2026. 

As part of a national ‘Your Voice Matters’ youth democracy project and to champion the borough’s Child-Friendly Borough initiative, the Leader of Redbridge Council, Councillor Jas Athwal, invited local high school students to share presentations on issues that matter to them at a scrutiny event. Presenting gave young people an opportunity to enhance their knowledge of local government and to play an active role in local democracy to ensure that the views of children and young people are represented in the decision-making process.

Councillors, community champions and young people, supported by the Council’s Youth Service Team, voted to shortlist the nine presentations received from three high schools. 

After a count of votes submitted on the evening, two presentations were selected from Woodford County High School, themed on sexual harassment in Schools and period poverty, and three presentations were selected from Seven Kings High School, themed on homelessness, sport and knife crime.

All the highly talented students impressively and articulately delivered their findings and responded well to questioning, and they should all be very proud of their achievements. The findings of all the presentations will be used to inform policy development as part of the four-year Redbridge plan and to prioritise the issues that matter most to our younger residents. The selected presentations will be received at Cabinet on 25 January 2023.

Cllr Jas Athwal, Leader of Redbridge Council, said: “It was wonderful to welcome local students to Redbridge Town Hall earlier this month for our Youth Democracy event. A huge thank you to our secondary schools for empowering students from across the borough to take part, get involved in local democracy and make sure that young people’s voices are represented in the decision-making process.”