The North East Youth Advisory Board (YAB) was one of only four youth projects across the country to win a Young Partners Award at the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) annual award ceremony.

The Young Partners Awards celebrates young people’s involvement in decision making and demonstrates what can be achieved through young people and adults working together, sharing ideas and inspiring other organisations.

Project worker Neil Burke and seven of the 30 young YAB members who are helping shape the learning landscape for young people in the region attended the glitzy awards ceremony at the Sadlers Wells Theatre in London earlier this week to pick up their award.

One of the group, David Moulder, from Stockton, said: “Attending the awards was a fantastic experience. To see so many groups committed to youth participation made us proud to be involved in any project, never mind one which would go on to win the award! It was such a surprise but one which made us immensely proud!”

The award is unique because young people organise the entire event, develop the criteria, shortlist and make the final decisions.

Neil said: “The honour of receiving such a prestigious award is amazing and a testament to the hard work of the Youth Advisory Board. To be recognised nationally for the work we have done is truly remarkable. The young people really deserve recognition and again it stresses the importance of youth participation and the need for young people’s voices to be heard! It shows how when given the opportunity, young people can lead their own projects and really develop them to be extremely successful!”

The YAB, which was established by the North East 14 to 19 Commission, gets involved in many projects affecting young people’s education in the North East.

They are currently involved in the ‘Raising and Realising the Aspirations of Young People in the North East’ project. This has so far involved a conference for adults earlier in the year and a series of seminars, one which featured Professor Sugata Mitra, the inspiration behind the film Slumdog Millionaire.

The group was asked to provide a young person’s perspective on the issue of aspirations and young people in the region and have developed a questionnaire which is currently out with young people to gain their views. The responses will be used to develop and deliver a conference for young people in the summer of 2010.

The YAB also set up the 14 -19 Advocates project in response to feedback from young people that one of the biggest issues facing them is getting the appropriate information, advice and guidance about their education and training which is relevant to them.

The project, which  empowers young people to take a lead on finding out about the options available to them, is being piloted in 3 schools, King Edward VI, Morpeth, St Benet Biscop, Bedlington, and Kings Manor, Middlesbrough.

Around 30 young people in Years 9 and 10 have recently finished a six week training course and are now researching the options available to young people. They will present their findings to their peers early next year through workshops, advice sessions and assemblies come the New Year, helping young people make an informed choice about their options.

There is also a virtual portal to enable young people to gain information relevant to them and a parents support toolkit to enable young people to work with their parents to understand the current 14 to 19 educational reforms and inform young people’s choice of career path.

The YAB is committed to ensuring that opportunities for young people are available to all, regardless of their background or circumstances, and is engaging with young people identified as disadvantaged or hard to reach.

The awards saw a total of twelve groups of young people showcasing the fantastic work they’ve achieved to an audience of nearly 150 attendees from across England. They were divided into four categories; the Youth Advisory Board were the North winners.

At the event, there were street dance performances from ITVs Britain’s Got Talent, FLAVA, who have created a ‘b inspired’ programme aiming to engage young people and inspire them to enjoy interests, build confidence and kindle self-identity.

Neil said the YAB is continuing to grow in stature and confidence and the next major task is acquiring funding beyond March 2011. “The success of the YAB has been noted nationally and there is a real need for the YAB to continue,” he added. “It is essential to have young people involved in decisions that affect them, in order to establish what issues influence their lives most!”

Chris Roberts, Regional Director of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) North East, which part funds and supports the Youth Advisory Board, said: “I am delighted that the North East Youth Advisory Board has been rewarded for all its hard work in acting as a voice for the region’s young people.

“It is so important that decision makers are aware of the views of young people so that they can take these into account when developing policies and initiatives to meet the needs of young people. Our young people are our future and their education is crucial to the success of the region and the country.”

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The toolkit will provide young people and parents/guardians with an interactive learning process around the four options available:

• GCSE
• Foundation Learning
• Diploma
• Apprenticeship

The toolkit is under production by young people who have structured and decided the format. It will be launched at the start of 2010.

Ian Yarrow, Connexions Officer from both schools is facilitating the delivery of the training.

The training is now well underway and we are now up to session 4 with its delivery. There are differences between the schools on how the programme is developed. St Benet’s have 15 young people participating with the programme which is delivered after school from 3.30pm-5pm. There are four 6th formers who are acting as peer contact for the Advocates. King Edward’s VI have 10 young people participating, with the programme being delivered on a lunchtime. There is also 4 6th formers providing support from this school.

The training will be completed by December and then the Advocates will look to undertake their research on their chosen 14-19 Education option at the start of January.

Neil Burke and Laura Wright have been employed as youth coordinators to assemble a group of young people to be the Youth Advisory Board to the commission.

The YAB accomplished many achievements over 2008 with 3 main outcomes from their hard work. The first was the establishment of a virtual portal which has been developed in order to present young people from the region with a young person friendly site that they can use to gain access to good information that is relevant to them.

The second outcome was that the YAB undertook a training course in order for them to become leaders of the future. The training course which was delivered was “The Young Advisors Programme” and the group all passed successfully!

The final outcome which brought much success was to deliver a conference to adults based upon their findings from their work with young people. The conference was titled “Information, Advice and Guidance from a young person’s view” which was held at the Gateshead College Baltic site. The conference was staged by the YAB who coordinated the full day’s proceedings. Many plaudits followed on from the conference which was described as a great success.

The hard work of the YAB was rewarded as the project has been extended and the development of the board continues. The board are now currently developing future projects and are looking to involve as many young people as possible that would like to participate in the on going work!