Southend Children

There are pockets of good practice taking place across Southend. Our 2008 strategy provided managers and practitioners with a framework for assessing how well they addressed participation and now we need to build on and strengthen this. 

The Council's Specialist Services division have a co-ordinated approach to participation. In Southend's last inspection of fostering in 2008, children's involvement was judged outstanding. Children in care express their views through a number of means: - to their social worker, to their foster carer, to their reviews, in their PEPs, Pathway Plans, NYAS (National Youth Advocacy Service) and through Voice4All (Children in Care Council).  Examples of change as a result of these have been that secondary school age children now receive extra money each month for their mobile phones, membership of local sports facilities and bus passes have been supplied without charge. 

The main aim of a school council is to provide a practical means to involve young people in the life of their school and their communities.  For a school council to be a success it needs to include everyone in the school, however, in schools of several hundred pupils this is of course easier said than done. All schools in Southend have, in recent years, developed a commitment to giving pupil a voice within their schools and supporting young people in effecting change through active participation varying from school to school with some basic forums to specific working groups. (Eco Councils, Learning councils). Southend Education Trust has worked closely with schools to improve pupil participation and support schools to work in cluster groups on cross Borough projects.

Southend Youth Council continues to grow in strength and membership. 2010 was an extremely successful year with the campaign to raise the age for adult bus fares, a Councillor's Question time where young people could question local decision makers and a safer driving campaign.  The Youth Council has developed good links with local schools and colleges and 24% of young people aged 13 to 19 voted in the January 2011 elections for the new Youth Mayor & Deputy from 11 schools and colleges.

Children and young people have been involved to varying degrees in recruitment processes for a range of different posts (such as Youth Workers and Leaving Care Social Workers). In autumn 2010 over 3000 children and young people gave their views in our Your Say survey and 10% of the responses to the Council's budget consultation were from young people under 18.

The Voice of the Child Network Steering Group, made up of practitioners from a diverse range of early years provision, is now enabling all settings in Southend, by acting as a 'buddy support', to listen to all young children from 0-5 years together with their families.

Southend has also been successful in being chosen as one of only five national Local Authorities out of twenty to be part of the National Children's Bureau Research Project which is undertaking an evaluation of the Young Children's Voices Network (YCVN) led by the Early Childhood Unit and its support to the Voice of the Child project.