Tameside Children's Trust - Participation
Participation
Tameside’s vision is that all children, young people and their families feel they are fully engaged and valued members of the community, with a voice to influence and shape key decisions and policies which are important to and affect their lives. That all children, young people and their families are aware of how their opinions are used and changes to policies and services are fed back in an appropriate manner.
Tameside Youth Forum | Support for Schools and Organisations | Get Involved and Have Your Say | Participation Strategy | Contact Information
Tameside Youth Forum
Fifty seven young people have started to shape how young people can get involved in decision making in Tameside at a special, weekend residential course that took place in Chester in May this 2010. This involved representatives from the youth service, voluntary groups and secondary schools.
A Youth Forum has now been set up and young people across the borough are being encouraged to get involved in giving views on decisions that will affect their future. Over the course of the weekend young people received training to understand Participation, decision making in action and understanding different models of working Youth Forums.
At the residential event in May, there was a ‘Question Time’ session where young people will debated issues that affect their lives and how they would like the Forum to look. Amongst the panel addressing these important questions were senior staff from Services for Children and Young People including Executive Director, Jim Taylor and Head of the Youth Service Sue Nathan, as well as Police Chief Superintendent Zoe Sheard. Seven models were debated on how young people would like to operate a youth forum across Tameside. These models were presented to the Question Time panel and followed with the young people democratically voting for the Youth Forum they felt would best meet the needs of young people in Tameside.
This is an exciting time for the project as young people are now beginning to develop ways for more young people to get involved with the Forum and to promote the influence young people can have in Tameside. It is hoped that in the near future Tameside will see its own local election for young people to sit on the Youth Forum. The model that was selected is as follows
Tameside Youth Forum Model
Support for Schools and Organisations
Tameside Participation Project is a service contracted by the local authority and delivered by the national children’s charity 4Children.
The aim of the project is to strengthen participation for children and young people across the Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (TMBC) area.
They provide, and support children and young people to actively contribute to the development of, services and partnerships within Tameside and beyond. They also support services to embed participation through training and consultancy.
School local democracy training
They have developed training alongside children and young people to develop School Councils in their schools. This has supported children to tackle issues such as bullying, transition and healthy living.
Consultation
They have consulted with children and young people to support improving services such as play, health and extended services. Children and young people have contributed to the development of the principles for the participation strategy, have contributed to the play strategy and have been an integral element in many consultations and service delivery plans. Children and young people with our support have contributed their views to the Tameside Children and Young People’s Plan and have produced their own child friendly version of the Plan.
Consultancy Package
This package is ideal for those services which are starting to think about how to develop children and young people’s participation in helping shape their services.
The consultancy package will provide you with both theoretical and practical support for embedding participation in your service/organisation and will provide you with a range of tools for engaging children & young people, embedding participation in your thinking and business planning processes and measuring your success.
Get Involved and Have Your Say
Tameside Council is committed to listening to local people. Services can only get better if the people that use them are able to have a say about how they are delivered.
This page brings together the key ways in which you can get involved and have your say in Tameside.
Remember, whenever you see the 'Have Your Say!' logo it is your chance to get involved in local decision-making.
Participation Strategy
Contact Information
For more information about getting involved in shaping the future for young people aged between 11 and 18, or for information on any of the above work then contact:
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 Send us a Message |
 Participation Strategy Manager Tameside MBC Council Offices Wellington Road Ashton under Lyne OL6 6DL |
 0161 342 2573
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