Offer some children an opportunity - an outlet for their voices - and they'll seize it with both hands...
| I’ve gained a confidence being a member of the IPP and feel good that I now have a voice. |
5-2-13 magazine, Leeds
Georgina Faye Roberts, 12, and Farrah Courtney Coope, 10.
"5-2-13 magazine is run by The Project in Leeds and reports on Children’s Fund initiatives in the city. It is for and by five- to 13-year-olds, who conduct interviews, write articles and lay out pages. The young people working on the magazine are recruited from The Crew – children and teenagers working on the Leeds Young People as Victims of Crime campaign.
"We got involved with the 5-2-13 Magazine, when we met The Crew in the summer and did workshops and roadshows about the Children as Victims of Crime Campaign.
"5-2-13 is for children and young people to do exciting things, and have the opportunity to have their say. From doing 5-2-13, we feel we have the confidence to speak out in the magazine. We will be interviewing Michelle from CASAC, Jodie from Leeds Children's Fund and writing about the anti-bullying campaign at Chapel Allerton Primary School.
"We have a say in how the magazine is run by taking part in making the decisions for the magazine crew, and we hope the adults who run 5-2-13 take notice of what we say."
Children’s Fund: Islington Pupil Parliament
Jaime McGinley-Sutton, 11
"The Pupil Parliament is run in Islington to give children a voice. It deals with lots of school and environmental issues like road safety, school dinners and anything that bothers us.
"Not so long ago, we had our first official meeting at the Islington Town Hall. We had Question Time with our MP Chris Smith and we asked him lots of challenging questions about things like education and safety for children in Islington.
"I’ve gained a lot of confidence being a member of the IPP and feel good that I now have a voice. If I had one piece of advice to anyone else who wanted to become involved in a school parliament, it’s get stuck in!"
Chance UK / Loud and Clear
Nestor Sayo, 12, Hackney
Nestor has been involved in two Children’s Fund projects: Chance UK, a mentoring scheme with whom he made a video about mentoring for the Children’s Voices exhibition at Bruce Castle Museum in Tottenham, and 'Loud and Clear', a magazine for young people in north London.
"For the video, I was helping out with equipment and we interviewed some young people with their mentors. We had to go this place called Bruce Castle Museum for the exhibition. That was all right.
"I was also an editor for the Loud and Clear project. It was about young people writing about what they did in the summer and what they’ve done lately.
"They helped me with skills – now I know how to use a video camera. And they helped me to get my voice across to people that didn’t know anything about that. I think it was right, it was good for me, it was a good experience.
"I feel more confident now in speaking my mind. We were writing stories down and getting other people to know about it, going different places, interviewing real people. I think people have listened to what I had to say."
About the team
This story was produced by Children's Express, and published in The Independent as part of their Youth Matters supplement, produced in association with the Children and Young People's Unit.
