Report and presentation of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services)

The presentation provides an overview of the activities and work against the 6 themes and outlines next steps.

The Committee received a report and presentation of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) which provided an overview of the activities and work against the six themes of Our Year and outlined the next steps.

The main points and themes within the presentation included:

• Highlights since the launch of Our Year, outlining activities in relation to the six main themes, which had been based on feedback from children and young people, specifically:
  • Equal and included
  • Play and activity
  • Climate
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Connected
  • Safe and secure
• Pledges from the Council, businesses and partner organisations;
• Activity planned for the rest of the year; and
• The journey towards becoming a UNICEF UK Child Friendly City.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To welcome the work taking place, in particular that this was being done with young people, listening to their voices;
• What would be put in place to ensure that, once UNICEF UK Child Friendly City was achieved, the work would continue to progress and children and young people’s voices would continue to be heard; and
• What was being done to reach the young people, and the areas of the city, that had not yet been reached by this work.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People advised that the programme of work to become a UNICEF UK Child Friendly City was likely to take three or four years and he agreed that this work needed to be embedded permanently and referenced the way that structures had been put in place to embed an Age Friendly approach.   He suggested that more information on this be included next time the Committee received an update on Our Year.  The Year of the Child Coordinator explained that part of the application process was consideration of the governance arrangements and how this work would be progressed.

In response to a Member’s question, the Executive Member informed the Committee about the climate change summit which had taken place in June, recognised the importance that young people placed on tackling climate change and emphasised the Council’s commitment to acting on this.  He advised that more information on this would be included in the next report on Our Year.  The Director of Education described some of the positive feedback from the summit and advised that there was a lot to build on and that this would be an ongoing piece of work beyond 2022. 

In response to a question from the Chair, the Director of Education advised that the music activities provided by One Education which were included in the presentation were not funded by the Council.  She reported that One Education had been running these activities for some time with a small charge to the children who attended but, as part of Our Year, had decided to remove the charge.

The Director of Education outlined the work to reach as many children and young people as possible, engaging with different groups and contacts, including those for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), Young Carers, Looked After Children and Care Leavers.  The Year of the Child Coordinator explained how more young people were being reached through commissioned youth and play providers.  The Chair emphasised the importance of commissioning outreach work through the new area panels.

In response to a question from the Chair about Our Year funding, the Executive Member advised that there was a limited amount of funding available to help support events but that the Council could assist in other ways, for example, with venues.  The Chair commented on the importance of utilising social value.  She also welcomed the inclusion of Baby Week in the programme of events and suggested that this was something which could be continued.

Decision

That the Committee will monitor the progress and legacy of Our Year.