Children & young people have the right to be involved in decisions that affect their lives. This is enshrined in much legislation placing a positive obligation on all services & communities, to identify ways to involve children & young people in decision making.
Young people are experts on their own experiences, they have their own needs, views and aspirations. Young people represent an important part of every community, yet quite often their voice can go unheard.
Champions are needed to help engage & support the young people in getting their voice heard and to ensure that their views and ideas influence change in the local area. The participation of children & young people is key to a successful and thriving community.
Children & young people’s participation in decision making is not just about taking part. It is the process in which children & young people are asked what works, what doesn't and what could work better so that their voice can influence decision making and bring about change.
Children & young people will need to be provided with information that is appropriate to their level of understanding and have support, when needed, to help develop their views and ideas. Participation requires a real commitment from adults to share power and be honest about the limitations of children & young people’s involvement.
BACYP offers an extensive range of support and advice on the participation of children & young people. We hope this webpage will help to increase the active involvement of young people in decision making by highlighting the benefits and excellent practice that is already taking place.
Watch Participation in action!
Participation Resources
BACYP has worked with many organisations and communities to help support and develop the participation of children & young people in decision making.
Our participation resources include a selection of good practice examples taken both locally and from across the country. We are also producing our own guides in response to local need and will continue to update this page with new resources throughout the year.
Whilst participation continues to develop and grow , we hope that the following resources will help you to increase and embed a culture of participation into everyday working practices.
Should you need any additional support or advice please contact our Participation Worker, Tanya Honor on 01635 500848 or 07787 419196 or at Tanya.honor@bacyp.co.uk
On behalf of the West Berkshire Children and Young people's Trust BACYP was asked to create a Participation Toolkit that will help organisations across the partnership to develop good working practices on the active involvement of children & young people in decision making.
Empowering Young People Booklet
BACYP helped CCB to write a success booklet aimed at communities that highlights and shares good practice examples of young people being involved in local decision making.
Hear By Right Mapping and Planning Tool
Hear By Right is a nationally recognised framework used for increasing the voice and influence of children & young people within organisations. This self assessment tool enables any organisation to map their current level of participation and will help to create a plan for improvement.
Hear By Right website can be found by clicking here
BACYP can help support communities and organisations to consult with young people by running a Speak Out. Speak Outs are specially designed with specific training materials to help young people be involved in effective and meaningful consultation.
Further information and good practice on a range of topics:
BACYP want to raise the positive profile of children & young people in our local communities by highlighting the importance of involving children & young people in decision making and by providing opportunities to celebrate their amazing achievements.
We have successfully been involved in a number of high profile events, some of which BACYP were commissioned to provide.
BACYP launched the Paper Chain project on behalf of West Bekshire Children & Young Peoples Trust as a way of giving children & young people the opportunity of getting their voice heard.
Thousands of young people were given paper chains with the question' What could be done to make life better for children & young people living in West Berkshire'. The completed paper chains were collected and linked together to create a giant paper chain which was then stretched around Newbury on Friday 12th November 2010, Takeover Day.
Over 50 adult volunteers from various organisations across West Berkshire were united in linking the paper chain through Newbury to highlight the importance of listening to the views of children & young people.
The Deputy Mayor, Jeff Beck started the paper chain event from Newbury Town Hall with the help of the adult volunteers.The giant paper chain stretched its way through the Kennet Shopping Centre, past the Vue Cinema and over to Graham Pask, The Chairmen of West Berkshire Council at the Market Street Council Offices.
The event was a fun and successful day with many organisations looking to see how they can act on what the young people have said.
You can see the paper chain in action by visiting here
A brief summary of the paper chain report can be viewed Paper Chain Report
If you would like to know more or have any queries regarding the Paper Chain Project please contact:
Tanya Honor
Children, Young People & Family Participation Worker
01635 500848/07787419196 (mobile)
tanya.honor@bacyp.co.uk
'promoting positive images of young people'
BACYP worked with West Berkshire’s Safer Communities Partnership to launch a new art competition, Let's Get It Right, that aimed to highlight the fantastic things that young people do and the positive impact they have on their communities.
Headlines can be depressing when they focus on the negative minority of young people. West Berkshire’s biggest perceived anti-social behaviour problem is teenagers hanging around on the streets, with over a third of residents thinking this is a problem in their area, yet only 1.32% of young people in West Berkshire offended during 2009/10.
We wanted to change people’s perceptions by promoting all the good things that young people do. We asked young people aged 9 - 19yrs to create a piece of art (Drama, dance, photographs, fine art) to demonstrate the positive things they do in their community.
We want to celebrate the 98% of positive young people in our community!
We had over 200 fantastic piecesof artwork submitted which was displayed at Arlington Arts Centre onWednesday 23rd March 2011. A Youth Awards Ceremony was held in the evening to reward & recognise the young people and their achievements, with winners from both the Junior and Senior category winning cash prizes for their schools. Young people performed live on the night really stealing the show with their amazing talents.
If you have any other questions please contact me on tanya.honor@bacyp.co.uk or 01635 500848 / 07787419196
‘Empowering young people to speak out and make a positive contribution to their community’
BACYP can support communities and organisations across West Berkshire to consult with young people by using a successful model, 'Speak Out' that empowers young people to make a positive contribution to their community.
Speak Out allows young people to highlight issues that are important to them by using a variety of creative methods such as film, photography, drama and arts & crafts to express their views in a way that they feel comfortable with. This also provides evidence for service providers and communities to act on. 
Young people are then supported to work with key adults to help address some of the issues raised. Enabling young people to work together with adults, who are responsible for the issues highlighted, will empower them them to understand; how decisions are made, the different roles adults play within their community and the limitations of resolving any of the issues raised.
The Speak Out process provides many benefits for children & young people, organisations and the wider community. Children & young people get the chance to gain new skills, experiences and knowledge, and can impact on their self esteem and confidence. Services and organisations become more efficient and effective, whilst communities build stronger links and foster positive relationships with its young.
Speak Out is a fantastic opportunity for the community, service providers and young people to work together as equal partners to improve services and achieve change in the local area.
If you would like BACYP to help support you in consulting with young people please contact:
Sarah Emery
Locality Manager Berkshire West
Sarah.emery@bacyp.co.uk
0118 923 1259
07884310426
BACYP produces a local participation newsletter that is distributed via email to organisations across West Berkshire.
Participation In Practice is a quarterly newsletter that highlights and shares good practice on the active involvement of children & young people in decision making.
Organisations, services and communities across West Berkshire are very welcome to submit their articles along with any logos/pictures to Tanya.honor@bacyp.co.uk
Please let us know if you would like to join our mailing list.All of our Participation In Practice newsletters can be found on the links below:
National Takeover Day 11/11/11
This year The Children’s Commissioner of England will be celebrating their 5th Takeover Day. This annual, national event offers children and young people across the country the opportunity to work alongside adults and get involved in decision-making.
Not only is the day a brilliant opportunity for the children and young people to broaden their horizons and show adults what they could do, but it also enables schools and organisations to benefit from fresh ideas and new solutions.
The range of organisations involved in Takeover Day include businesses, schools, police and fire services, newspapers, banks, TV and radio stations, local councils, MPs, hospitals, charities and government departments.
Takeover Day will take place on Friday 11th November, however West Berkshire will be making this a week long event to allow schools more flexibility.
Last year over 40,000 children & young people took part in Takeover Day, we hope this year will be our biggest year yet. Come and join us and help celebrate the fantastic contribution children & young people will make in Takeover Day.
All you will need to do is complete a registration form and tell us your plans so that we can keep up to date with all the activities.
If you have any queries or you would like some help with planning your Takeover Day please contact Tanya Honor on 01635 500848 / 07787 419196 or at Tanya.honor@bacyp.co.uk
BE PART OF THE ACTION – TAKEOVER DAY INFO PACKS
- Adult Guide – Introduction to Takeover Day and guidance on how to take part
- Children & Young People’s Guide -
- Registration Form - please complete
- Evaluation Form
- Takeover Day logo
- Children’s Commissioner of England logo
Advice/Support
BACYP offers an extensive range of help and support to local authorities, organisations and communities looking to develop the participation of children & young people.
We offer:
- Youth Consultation
- Participation Training
- Advice/ support on using and implementing Hear By Right
- Membership to join our Champions network & mailing list
- Commissioning
- Participation Resources
Please contact our Participation Worker, Tanya Honor who will be happy to help with any queries you may have.
01635 500848 or 07787 419196
Tanya.honor@bacyp.co.uk
Below are some useful links about participation which you may find useful
BACYP work in partnership with
