Bucks Youth Summit 2023: The Detail

About this page

This page gives more detail about the Bucks Youth Summit 2023. It covers:

  • Schools that attended
  • Organisations involved
  • Council teams involved
  • Feedback

The main information about the Bucks Youth Summit 2023 is on this page: Bucks Youth Summit 2023

Schools that attended:

  • Aylesbury High School
  • Aylesbury Grammar School
  • Aylesbury Vale Academy
  • The Beaconsfield School
  • The Buckingham School
  • The Chalfonts Community College
  • Chiltern Way Academy
  • Chesham Grammar School
  • Cressex Community School
  • Highcrest Academy
  • John Colet School
  • The Misbourne School
  • Royal Latin School
  • Sir William Ramsay School
  • St Michael’s Catholic School
  • Wycombe High School

Organisations involved:

  • CAMHS Article 12
  • Aylesbury Youth Action
  • Lindengate
  • Barnardo’s Innovation Hub
  • Leaders Unlocked
  • Prisma Group CIC
  • Young Creative Bucks
  • Thames Valley Police
  • The Violence Reduction Unit

Council teams involved:

  • The Family Support Service – Community Youth including Participation Team, Family Hubs
  • Libraries
  • Community Boards
  • Public Health – Children & Young People & Mental Health public health remit, plus PSHE lead
  • Community Safety

Feedback received:

All of the feedback recorded at and following the Bucks Youth Summit 2023 is included below.

If you took part in the event and would like to add some feedback, please email your comments to youthvoicebucks@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

Feedback from young attendees

  • “A very welcoming and warm environment that made me feel safe and listened to. Every opinion was respected and valued. A very lovely experience, thank you for having us.”
  • “I really enjoyed today as I have learnt to express my feelings and thoughts. It was also fun.”
  • “The was an amazing experience. Everyone was lovely and I felt safe. It was a great and fun day 😊”
  • “In my opinion I think the conversations are running smoothly and I’m really enjoying them.”
  • “In my opinion the atmosphere of the queer area for example, you feel like you can’t say what you’re thinking what what you want to say.”
  • “Today has been really great. I have been able to meet new people and learn new things.”
  • “This day has been so fun and rewarding and it has given me the opportunity to do things I’ve never got to do before.”
  • “I enjoyed being able to learn and engage with others.”
  • “Fun, good day out, lots of fun workshops + yummy sweets. 5 stars – lovely.”
  • “Allow more time at each event. More [? illegible] or activities.”
  • “It was really good and informative.”
  • “Fun, good day out, Interesting, Good talks. 5⭐ would recommend.”
  • “Amazing. Amazing. Interesting. Crazy. Time wasting. Interesting conversations. Helpful. Learnt a love about the Police.” (collective feedback from one school)
  • “Well organised very informative and knowledge providing.”
  • “I enjoyed my day. There were lots of interesting workshops and insightful discussions and of course I loved the sweets.”
  • “I wanted to go to more activities / ran out of time”
  • “It was really accessible and everyone was open and supportive. I think this should happen more often.”
  • “Overall, the experience was nice, but I feel it would be better if there was more time for it.”
  • “I would have liked to see more and interact with other schools. I would also have liked to spend more time delving deeper into certain subjects.”
  • “I would like if there was more information about the day beforehand so we know what to expect because it was a lot more fun, informal and interactive than I thought! Maybe ask young people what topics they wanted! ! Today was extremely fun!! Thank you”
  • “Today was super informative and a great way to get youth involved with issues. Well organised and great fun! I liked that we could pick conversations that concern us.”
  • “It’s been a very good day. I’ve had a very fun time and I got to speak my mind and give my opinions!”
  • “Exciting. Good. Yeah. Lovely. Inclusive. Brilliant. Differences. Informative. Opinions. Inspiring. Interesting. Productive.” (collective feedback from one school)

 

Feedback from school staff

  • “Great day, very valuable for staff and students.”
  • “Fabulous day! Our students have found it really engaging. They loved the interactive discussions. They thought it was going to be lectures but interactive groups were really engaging.”
  • “The mental health workshop stations were a lovely idea but they all focused on the issue of climate change. Although climate change is a deeply important issue I don’t think it is the most pressing matter for school children’s mental health. Keeping one station dedicated to climate change would be fine but there ought to have been discussions led about mental health and considerations for other factors. Overall a great day but I think if studen5ts voted for prepared sessions ahead of time they could have been allotted groups to make the changeover and itinerary [? illegible] and more straight forward.”
  • “Great day, very valuable for staff and students. Appreciate it was the first year so few teething problems, however delayed start was a shame as pupils missed out on attending an extra discussion forum. Mental health session feedback from pupils that they only discussed environmental issues which was a shame as our students had issues other than that they’d like to discuss. More time at market place at the end would have been great!”
  • “A lovely opportunity for our students to have their voice validated, heard and appreciated. Thank you.”
  • “Thank you very much for organising the Bucks Youth Summit – our students found all the sessions very interactive and loved that they were so engaging.”

 

Feedback from adult facilitators

  • “I found the day very beneficial to my organisation. It gave the opportunity to reach a younger audience and provided a platform where we could actively listen and engage. The set-up of the day with workshops reduced the size of the groups which allowed facilitators to get the best engagement and allowed for clarifying of feedback by way of two way engagement. The workshops felt very engaging and the ‘voice’ was very much with the youths rather than the speakers. The theatre setting positively impacted the day. It was a less formal setting and provided a great space for engagement. I cannot believe something like this hasn’t been done before and I would certainly hope TVP can be part of it again. On a personal level I found it very rewarding to see so many of our youth (particularly those on stage at the start) that feel able to speak up verbally about issues that are impacting them.” – Police Inspector 5290 Simon Lincoln, Thames Valley Police (Facilitator for Feeling Safe and Protected)
  • “Such a special event! Ran super smoothly and all the young people were up for getting stuck in. So many thoughtful and creative contributions to the silent debate wall in the mental health space.” – Natasha, Banardo’s Innovation Hub (Facilitator for Mental Health space)
  • “All in all it was a brilliant event. It is a rarity where young people are brought together to have their opinions heard. The freedom to facilitate the session as we wanted but in consultation with [Youth Voice Bucks] worked. It was mutually beneficial – We have additional youth experiences to push our project further, and the Council gets some really insightful thoughts. We want more! Wherever possible, longer, bigger conversations.” – Meg, Leaders Unlocked (Facilitator for a Youth-Led Conversation on Sexual Violence)
  • “The Summit has provided the time for young people to share what ideas they have. The main thing now is what we do with it and how do we ensure the ideas they have shared gets used in planning for the future.”
  • “I loved it! Let’s do one of those every year! Generally had a fantastic time. You organised it really well, lots of information. A bit of chaos at the beginning on the day but we had enough information prior to the day to adapt. Because we weren’t sure of timings, it did work well to have sessions short. If we did something different in the future – e.g. drama-based, we would need more time.” – Claire, Young Creative Bucks
  • “Good fun, lovely day, I’m grateful to have been involved.” – Jacqui, Lindengate
  • “I loved it, I thought it was great. Great to be there. I spoke to so many young people, and made connections with secondary schools.”

 

Feedback from young facilitators

  • “Really enjoyed helping to run this!! Such an amazing opportunity to be involved in – thank you to all the team.”
  • One Youth Voice member acted as Attendee Experience Lead on the day. She took part in the day with her school, testing out different conversation spaces, to review the day and provide detailed feedback to the organisers.

Read the Attendee Experience Lead’s review of the Bucks Youth Summit 2023

 

Feedback from a parent of a young facilitator

  • “It has been a great learning experience for him and most importantly, he has tremendously enjoyed being a part of these discussions. You have made him feel so welcomed and created an environment where he feels comfortable to contribute. Am glad he is adding value.”

Return to Bucks Youth Summit 2023 summary

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