Agenda and minutes

Councillor Steele welcomed everyone to the special meeting of the OSMB which was once again supporting the Children’s Commissioner’s Takeover Challenge (CCTOC) by working with Rotherham Youth Cabinet (RYC).  Brief introductions were made to assist the young people in directing questions to the most appropriate person.

Toni Paxford (Rotherham Youth Cabinet) assumed the Chair.

Emilia Ashton set the context for the choice of theme and presented the initial recommendations developed by RYC following their research to capture young people’s views of work experience in Rotherham. It was recognised that these recommendations might be amended in light of the discussion and information provided during the meeting.

Images of RYC

Around 20 young people were involved in the Youth Cabinet, working on different issues that matter to children and young people and acting as their voice.

Work experience – why is it important?

•      Top issue for the young people of Rotherham – 1166 votes out of 7000 in Make Your Mark consultation

•      It helps young people make life choices

•      It helps them become more employable

Our manifesto aim:

We want to increase opportunities for young people to take part in positive work experience and highlight where they can find existing work experience and volunteering opportunities.

Report recommendations

1)    Have a system so that all young people can have work experience.

2)    Publicise available work experience in schools.

3)    All schools to deliver work experience.

4)    Have a quality control for work experience offered.

5)    Make work experience count.

6)    Wider sector of jobs included in work experience opportunities.

7)    Support for young people doing work experience including expenses if needed.

8)    To provide more support for young people with disabilities.

9)    Carry out regular research to ensure young people aren’t forgotten about.

10) To share positive practices among organisations.

In relation to developing the recommendations the following points were emphasised during the presentation:

-       All young people having equal access to any opportunities that were out there, including young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).

-       Although work experience was not offered by all schools, young people did want to partake in it, so it was important to know what was available and where if people wanted to be proactive themselves.

-       All schools to give young people at least one chance of taking part.

-       Quality control was important as young people’s ratings of their work experience revealed quite a lot of 1s (not very good) and not enough 5s (outstanding).

-       Meaningful activities not just photocopying and making tea.

-       Providing a real insight into the career path so people knew if it would be the right career path or sector for them.

-       Research to ensure consistency within a placement over time and high standards across all sectors/industries.

-       Sharing good practice between employers and from school to school.

Contact Us

1)            Have you had work experience?  Was it useful? (Jonathan Badger)

Ian Goodall – Yes, when I was 15 I went on Trident work experience for three weeks at Herringthorpe Leisure Centre and experienced the tasks and jobs that leisure centre attendants did at the time, including supervising the courts, counting children using the slide and making tea. It was very valuable and I think every child should be doing that now more than ever.

John Barber – No and now that I am involved in it I regret not having the opportunity. Although I was lucky enough to know people who had their own businesses and was able to go in and look round for a day. But I’ve realised now how valuable it is and what a great opportunity it is.   I recognise that a lot of young people would not know anyone or have those connections that I had but I agree that every young person should have the opportunity of a good quality work experience.

Tim O’Connell – I did not have formal arranged work experience, but delivered on a milk round when I was still at school. It was not relevant to what I wanted to do but there were useful lessons on timeliness with a 4a.m. start, attitude, work rate and aptitude towards work.  It was really practical and useful and put me in good stead for work in the future, even though it was not work experience.

Kerry McGrath – I also did some Trident work experience and think anything like that is valuable to try something and learn new skills.  But I think for me, and I’m probably going to be biased, I did some volunteering and found that more useful as that was the sector I wanted to go into.  I think the voluntary and community sector (VCS) gets forgotten about a little bit and we are a massive sector, a really massive employer with some really well paid jobs and opportunities.  Volunteering is a great way to break into that sector as I think it is very difficult without it.

Emilia Ashton – I have been lucky enough to do two lots. The first was in a primary school and that was quite useful for me because I decided that I did not want to work with small children.  The second I did with the Youth Service and that was really interesting because though it was not the career path I knew that I was going to go down, all the hard work and different skills I learned were vital.  I am now a university student and I know that I could have taken a completely different degree if it had not been for some of the work experience opportunities I have had.  So I am very fortunate but I know other young people who have not been so lucky with their opportunities.

Cllr Yasseen - I went to Oakwood School and went on Trident and as I wanted to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 134.

Councillor Steele thanked the partners for their contributions in answering the Youth Cabinet’s questions and thanked the Youth Cabinet for their questions and input and doing an excellent job.  Toni Paxford was also commended for doing an excellent job as Chair.