Gary Seath 10 months ago
Forces Children Scotland worked in partnership with Queen Victoria School to deliver a session that has enabled pupils from armed forces and veteran families to have their say in the co-development of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner‘s latest strategic plan.
The Children and Young People’s Commissioner in Scotland must make a Strategic Plan every four years, and the session delivered at Queen Victoria School forms part of the latest consultation with children and young people to collect views and opinions across Scotland.
The consultation has focused on asking groups of children and young people from diverse communities to think about, discuss, and answer six questions about what issues are most important and how the Children and Young People’s Commissioner can help.
The consultation has put six questions to young people based on five main issues; education, mental health, poverty, discrimination, and climate change to ascertain if these were the issues they were most concerned about, and whether there were other issues the plan should consider.
The questions that were asked as part of the consultation:
Are these the issues children and young people are most concerned about at the moment?
Tell us about any other important issues for children and young people in Scotland right now.
What issues do you think will become more of a concern for children and young people in Scotland in the future?
Choose three adjectives (describing words) or skills you think a good Commissioner needs.
Which powers should the Commissioner spend more time on over the next four years?
If you were Commissioner for the day, what would you choose to work on and why?
The Children and Young People’s Commissioner has partnered with Forces Children Scotland, a charity that has forged a strong reputation for embedding co-production a the heart of developing projects, services and campaigns across Scotland.
Many of the pupils who attended the session have engaged with the charity’s youth participation and mental health projects delivered at the school, who thoroughly enjoyed the session which involved lots of opportunities for discussion, sharing personal experiences, and participation in creative ways of having their say.
Alisha, an S6 pupil at Queen Victoria School, reflects on the session:
“Today it has been about talking about rights as a military child. We’ve had a mixed group of S2-S6 pupils and it has felt like our voices have been heard through the session.
“We all have different experiences that matter; from education to mental and physical health and much more, so I thought it went really well.”
Having completed the consultation across Scotland, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner’s Office will now form its plan and submit it to the Scottish Government in April 2024.
Want to know more about work concerning upholding the rights of children and young people from armed forces and veteran communities?
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