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If you could change what it’s like at school for young people in Scotland, what would you change?
The Scottish Youth Parliament has been thinking about how they’d like to change the picture to make Scotland a better place for young people to live. They’ve come up with all sorts of ideas, including some really good ones about support at school – like challenging bullying, and making sure that disabled young people have a say and teenage mums and young carers get the help they need.
The Scottish Youth Parliament now needs YOU to check that they have got the picture right, by sharing your views in a survey. The survey results will be used to tell politicians and the Children’s Commissioner how young people in Scotland want the picture changed.
And finally…. Here’s a picture of singer Amy Macdonald, who launched Picture the Change. Lucky Derek Coupar, the Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament, got to have his photo taken with her! 
Congratulations to the schools’ art competition winners at the National Gallery
For one of the coolest shows at the Edinburgh Festival, check out the school art competition winners at the National Gallery in Edinburgh. The art is by school pupils of all ages – from nursery up to secondary.
And there is so much talent! It is hard to tell the difference between this art and the art hanging upstairs in the gallery, which sells for millions of pounds
Enquire have been lucky enough to get our hands on some of the winners’ art to add to our gallery Your Views.
So thank you and congratulations to the following young people who are now on our gallery: Pupils at Stanecastle school, for their group effort on this picture above. And in the special schools category – Sylwia Kolanka, Richard Muir, Ayesha Chappell.
You can find out more about the art exhibition on the website for the National Galleries of Scotland. The exhibition is on until 15 October.
You can also find out how to enter next year’s schools’ art competition at this weblink.
1st Place by Sylwia Kolanka
2nd place Richard Muir
3rd place Ayesha Chappell
Another cool picture for the Enquire gallery from young people at Project Ability
“Why label me because I’m in care?”
This month Enquire interviewed James, Melissa and Russell, three young people who all have experience of being in care.
If you’re in care then sometimes this gets called being ‘looked after’. As Melissa says in the interview, there are more looked after young people than you might think. In fact, over 12,000 young people in Scotland are looked after/in care.
There are lots of reasons why a young person might be in care. Often it’s because your parents aren’t able to look after you, so you go to live with a foster carer or stay in a residential unit instead. But there are also a lot of looked after young people who are still living at home with family and are getting support from social workers.
Being in care can make it hard for you at school. In the interview, Melissa, James and Russell talk about how they feel that young people in care get a ‘label’ for ‘being bad’. They say that it’s common to get bullied by people at school for being in care. And there’s a worry that all too often young people in care leave school without reaching their potential.
So what might help looked after young people get more out of school? Melissa says it’s about educating other people so they understand better about why young people are in care. Russell and James reckon its about getting the right support and some understanding from the teachers.
One thing is for certain. The message from young people in care seems to be…GIVE ME A CHANCE!
For more info on the Give Me a Chance Campaign, visit their website.
You can find out more about Who Cares? and contact their local support workers here.
And finally, you can read a transcript of what was said in the interview here. Continue reading this entry »
Caring for someone at home? You’re not alone.
Did you know? There may be up to 30 young carers in every secondary school in the UK. And shockingly, it may be that over two thirds of them are being bullied. That’s according to a new campaign by young carers.
A young carer is someone who helps to support someone in their family who is unwell or who has disabilities. As a young carer, you might help out with the housework and the shopping and look after your brothers and sisters. You might also help the person who you care for to look after themself.
Whatever it is that is keeping you busy as a young carer, it might mean that you find it hard to keep up with homework and get to school on time. When you’re in lessons you might be worrying about whoever it is you care for. And you might be missing out on chances to hang out with your friends and go on school trips.
If you’re a young carer and you’re having issues at school, you may need some extra support. You can call or email Enquire to find out more about your rights to get extra support at school. If you feel too shy to call or email us, then get an adult to do it for you. You could also check out the guides on our website, as there’s lots of helpful advice in them.
To find out more about the young carer’s campaign, watch this short film:
Also, look at this clip from GMTV. It shows a film about the day in the life of a young carer. It also has an interview with the Princes Royal Trust for Carers.
If you want more info about the young carers’ campaign, visit their website here.
If you’re a young carer, there’s a discussion forum and lots of helpful advice on YoungCarers.net
How are you feeling? Have your say in a national survey
Have you been feeling unwell for a long time? Have you got a disability? Then now is your chance to share your views in a national survey.
The survey is about how being ill or disabled affects your life. It asks questions like:
- Do you have enough time with your friends?
- How is school going?
- Do you feel happy or sad?
The survey is by the Long Term Conditions Alliance and For Scotland’s Disabled Children Campaign. They want to find out your views so they can campaign to make young people’s lives better.
You can fill in the survey here. It should take you about 15 minutes. You need to fill it in by Thursday 8 July.
Need to chill out? Pupils at Niddriemill primary head to The Retreat
Sometimes it may seem hard to control your behaviour. When other people at school call you names, or when you feel angry about stuff at home, it can really wind you up.
What may help is having a place to chill out. Somewhere you can take a step back from it all and have a re-think.
Niddriemill Primary have got just this sort of a place. They call it ‘The Retreat’.
Last week I went to the school to interview some of the pupils about The Retreat.
When you walk into The Retreat you find yourself in a bright, colourful room. There are lots of toys, big cushions to sit on and calming music playing. There’s a slideshow on the wall with photos of pupils hanging out here.
Pupils at the Retreat each have a super-hero picture which climbs up a ‘ladder of achievement’. Every time you are good, your super hero climbs that little bit higher up the ladder.
And if you’re really good, then you might be made a ‘playground pal’: someone who is specially chosen to look out for the younger ones and make sure there’s no trouble in the playground. ”I used to be bad”, says one of the boys I talked to. ”But then I started being good, and now I’m a playground pal with a posh green jumper!”.
To listen to the interview with the pupils at Niddriemill Primary, click here.
To find out more about the Retreat at Niddriemill Primary, check out the school’s website.
And finally… here’s a transcript of the interview if you want to read what was said rather than listening to it. Continue reading this entry »
New artwork by young people in Glasgow
Check out this brilliant artwork by young people from East Park school, St Raymonds Primary, Kirkrigg Primary and Govan High Autism Unit. The art is being shown at an exhibition put on by Project Ability, which supports people with disabilities to explore their creative side. The exhibition is called “Rolling the Ink” and is at the Trongate 103 in Glasgow.
Project Ability are also offering arts workshops for young people with learning disabilities and a Saturday Art Class that is open to everybody.
For more info check out Project Ability’s website here. You can also phone them on 0141 552 2822 or email info@project-ability.co.uk
The day that aliens from outer space visited our Pupil Council
Looking for examples of democracy in action, aliens from space are visiting pupil councils at schools around the country.
Don’t believe me? Check out this comic Councils of the Galaxy, pictured below.
Children in Scotland – the organisation that made the comic – has sent a copy of it to every school in Scotland. So if you fancy having a read, just ask your teacher.
In the comic you’ll find useful info for pupil council members about holding fair elections, getting support from teachers and keeping in touch with people at school through blogs, text messages and e-news.
Oh, and my favourite idea – rocket- powered school canteens. Genius!
Fancy the chance of winning an ipod? Then visit the Having A Say At School website at this weblink. If you click on the comic picture you will go to a survey with ten easy questions. If you answer these questions, you will be entered into the competition to win an ipod.
To complete the survey you’ll need a password – it’s the name of the character in the comic who is a Chef (Clue! Look at the back of the comic - the name of the Chef is written there!).
Enquire interview on Young Scot website
‘Young people can play a really important role in challenging the stigma about getting support at school. The truth is that we all need extra help at some point in our lives’.
This was the message Enquire gave in a recent interview for In tune on the Young Scot website. It was an awesome opportunity for Enquire to talk about some of the things that can make it hard at school and different ways of getting help. Check out the interview this Month by clicking on the In Tune logo at http://www.youngscot.org
Young Scot have done lots of other interviews with services working for and with young people. It’s worth checking out their range of ‘Ask the Expert’ podcasts. For example, if you’re getting ready to leave school and want advice about applying for jobs, there are some useful interviews with Careers Scotland.
Got any feedback about the Enquire interview? We’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment on the blog or get in touch with Enquire.