Keith's Blog

Archive for the ‘Participation’ Category

School nickname

Monday, September 6th, 2010

When I was younger my nickname at school was KT. One infamous day we were playing football in the school yard. I remember it well. This lad came pelting down the wing with the ball at his feet. As he was about to shoot I put my foot in for a tackle. I still contend I got the ball first but I might also have given his ankle a glancing blow!  As he flew through the air the chant “Towler fowler” was ringing in my ears!

So, when I was in Ysgol Gyfyn Bro Morgannwg the other day to watch a participation rap DVD made by young people it really made me laugh when the line “we have all heard about Robbie Fowler but how many of you know Keith Towler” was performed.

The DVD was made by a great group of young people in the Vale of Glamorgan who were asked to create a bi-lingual rap to help highlight young people’s rights in Wales.  The aim of the rap is to promote the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to raise awareness of the National Children and Young Peoples Participation Standards for Wales. With a little help from some tutors and youth workers the group wrote, recorded and produced a music video within four days. It is really good so please do take the trouble to watch it.

Raising awareness about the Convention amongst children and young people is so important. The great thing about this DVD is it is fun, informative and really accessible. The fact that it is made by young people for young people gives it a freshness that is great to watch. I hope that it gets played right across Wales.

It was an honour for me to watch the premier showing and to present achievement certificates to the young people who made it. They might have to get used to their new celebrity status but I’m sure they will cope. Year 9 students were in the audience and they clearly loved it. It was almost as much fun watching those who made the film squirm as they saw themselves singing and dancing. But they have done a great job and they should be proud of what they have achieved.

Many congratulations to all involved.

Posted in Participation, School Visit | Comments Off

“What are disabled people?”

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

I spent a wonderful morning in Gnoll Park at the Local Aid Schools Challenge this week. The event runs the whole week long and has been going on for twenty years or more. We have enjoyed days and days of unbroken sunshine so I was a little surprised to see rain but it didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm for the event. And what an event it is. 

For those of you who do not know Local Aid it is a local charity working to raise awareness of the needs and aspirations of young people with special needs. The organisation provides specialist equipment, arranges travel support, specialist services and activities for young people with severe learning disabilities and challenging behaviour in local communities in Neath, Port Talbot and Swansea. The organisation supports young people with learning difficulties and physical disabilities, and promotes the rights of individuals to be supported to reach their potential. They also actively support children and families in need as well as offering fun, choice and opportunity for the children and young people involved.

So what was going on in Gnoll Park? All kinds of activities with all kinds of challenges and all outdoors. The park was full of muddy, wet, happy young people having a fantastic time. They were doing assault courses, pulling rafts across the lake, going down zip wires and water slides and doing all kinds of activities. Each team of young people, and there were 400 or so young people involved that morning, (2,000 during the course of the week), earned points for taking part, completing things, answering questions and for getting the most soaked! Great stuff. All sorts of organisations are involved supporting the event. Police officers, firefighters, PCSOs, probation officers, volunteers, physiotherapists, nurses, teachers, youth workers, play workers, sports officers … the list goes on and on. All taking part in providing learning and fun activities.

I took a walk around the park to get a feel for the whole thing and to chat with the young people. In one stall – SNAP Cymru’s European Social Fund programme: ‘Diversity Challenge – a group of young people were standing in front of a table full of photos of famous people and celebrities. Each one of the people in the photographs had a disability. “So, which one of these people can’t see?” said the organiser. “Well, I think that must be Stevie Wonder” said someone at the front. “That’s right it’s Stevie Wonder but it hasn’t stopped him making some of the best music has it”. Everyone nodded. “Hold on a minute” said a lad to my left “what are disabled people anyway?” His mate turned round to him and said “That’s who we are!” “Oh, I see.” Laughter all round.

I spoke to lots of young people. All having a great time. I don’t know how many times I heard that doing things outdoors is “cool”, “brill”, “fun”, “exciting”, “mega”. But why is it so good? Well the best answer I heard was the one that went something like “Well, I have learned loads, I’m soaked to the skin, I’ve got mud in my tummy button and my wheelchair will need a bit of a clean … but who cares!”

I can’t speak highly enough about this event. It is brilliant to raise awareness about disability but also to see that barriers to involvement and participation can come crashing down. It is all about positive mental attitude and the positive energy this event generates speaks for itself.

Posted in Disabled Children and Young People, Participation, Play | Comments Off

Stealing the show

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Over the last week or so I have been to a couple of events where children from two Primary Schools really stole the show.

The first was the launch of the Welsh Government’s Pupil Participation Wales website: www.pupilvoicewales.org.uk . The event was hosted by Kitchener Primary School in Cardiff. The Headteacher welcomed all those present to the school and there were short speeches from Huw Lewis, Deputy Minister for Children and me. Joe Ledley the Cardiff City and Wales footballer was also there. I was very pleased to be there and congratulated the Welsh Government for taking this forward. When the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child published their concluding observations or recommendations for the UK they emphasised that more work was needed to increase pupils’ participation within schools and colleges so seeing some action on this via the introduction of this new web based resource is very pleasing.

I was asked to say a few words about how my new Children’s Commissioner website had helped me to hear from children and young people about issues that are important to them. Our website has had quite an impact and through the Backchat pages we have seen children and young people engaging with us on all sorts of issues. It is important for me that children and young people do directly inform my work programme and there is no doubt that the website has proved really useful in gaining children and young people’s views. There is nothing as powerful as a one to one conversation or a meeting with a group of children and young people but using technology does provide some children and young people with the opportunity to engage with us in a fun and interactive way. At the moment Backchat is providing an opportunity for children and young people let us know about how they use the internet and social networking sites so we can look at new ways of communicating with them.

Part of the proceedings included a short presentation from three members of the Kitchener Primary School Council. They were so good. They told us how important the work of the School Council is and how children are making a difference by working with the teachers and other adults at the school. They also referred to learning about citizenship and how involvement in the School Council is giving them new skills and opportunities. “Who knows” they said “one day we might become Assembly Members or MPs or even the Children’s Commissioner for Wales!” Everyone in the audience laughed at that one.

And then yesterday I attended the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference in North Wales. After my speech I took questions and continued the discussions during the morning in the coffee and lunch breaks. Those present, and there was quite a cross section of practitioners there, had lots to say. There were comments that did acknowledge that the Health Minister had made some finance and resources available but that these had not always filtered down to the front line and that there were challenges for the new LHBs particularly around making age appropriate services available. I also spoke to someone from the youth offending service who raised an issue about private care homes and what happens when young people in those homes commit offences. I also heard from GPs and others in the medical profession as well as from Cruse Gogledd Cymru about bereavement care for children and young people. I also heard two very stimulating presentations. The first was by Professor Simon Gowers from the University of Liverpool who spoke about eating disorders. He was followed by Joy Mitchell from Wrexham CBC who spoke about anti-bullying and emotional well being.

Once again though the show was stolen by children. Keystage 2 pupils from Rhosymedre County Primary School performed a buddying drama. It showed everyone how the buddying system they have in school works by playing out three different stories. The first was called “text troubles” and demonstrated how cyber bullying works. The second one, “wicked whispers” showed how children can become isolated and picked on and “missing money” demonstrated how extortion can leave children feeling vulnerable and hungry when someone takes away their dinner money and bus fare. In all three dramas the buddy system sprang into action. They acted it out brilliantly. You really got a sense of the pain the victims of bullying feel. You also though got a sense of the pride that all these children have in their school, in each other and in their buddy system.

I doubt that any of the adults present at both these events minded the children stealing the show. Just as well really because whenever children take centre stage they invariably inspire those around them.

Posted in Backchat, CAMHS, Concluding Observations UNCRC, Participation, School Councils | Comments Off