B-involved

YCP Day - "YOUR Lewisham, YOUR YCP"

2010-02-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

Well today is YCP Live Event day for February and, with less than 90 minutes to the start, we're hoping for a really decent turnout.
The two main themes for today's meeting are what the YCP can do for the young people of Lewisham and how Jacob Sakil, the Young Mayor of Lewisham, will spend his £30,000 budget this year. Needless to say we can't answer these questions without YOUR input. So if you're coming along today we'd love to hear your suggestions and if you're unable to come today make sure you check out www.twitter.com/LewishamYCP for a live feed of today's meeting or check out B-Involved in the next few days for a full summary of what was said and done today!
Cheers,
The YCP Tean

The B-Involved Blog Needs YOU!

2010-02-23T05:51:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!
Just a quick word to say we need YOU to help us with the B-Involved blog!
How do I do this you ask?
Simple. If there's anything you've been up to or something you want to comment on in the news send us a 200-300 word article and we'll do our best to get it up on here!
Thanks,
The YCP Team

2009-10-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

Should cannabis have been reclassified?
The government's been attacked by its most senior adviser on drugs over the decision to reclassify cannabis from a Class C drug to Class B. Is he right?

Professor David Nutt claims Ecstasy, LSD and cannabis are all less dangerous than both alcohol and cigarettes.

He says he's not happy that his advice on reclassifying cannabis was ignored.

Last year worries about the links between high-strength cannabis and mental health issues led to the government reclassifying it as a Class B drug, despite disagreement from official advisers.

Do you agree with Professor Nutt? Or was the government right to reclassify cannabis? Do you think cannabis is less dangerous than cigarettes and alcohol?

Check out the BBC Homepage on www.bbc.co.uk

2009-10-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

The Schools Question Time Challenge 2010 is now under way.

It gives students aged 14 to 18 the opportunity to stage their own Question Time-style debates around the UK and a chance to work alongside David Dimbleby and the Question Time production team to make a special edition of the programme next summer.

Schools are invited to register for a free online education resource pack to support the teaching of citizenship and political literacy for secondary school pupils in the classroom.

The aim is to help schools nationwide by supporting the citizenship curriculum, helping improve students' public speaking and listening skills, and engaging young people in society and politics.

There will also be a chance to take part in the Schools Question Time programme, broadcast on BBC One in July 2010, is the final product of this far wider education initiative.

Staging school debates

The resource pack will include a new Politics and Parliament Toolkit that includes lesson plans on the different roles of Parliament and government and voting rights and the reasons why people do or do not vote.

Student producers celebrate their success in the 2009 competition
It will also provide guidance on how to take part in the second element of the challenge - trying to win the chance for students from schools all over the UK to help produce a special edition of Question Time.

Schools will be invited to send in applications describing how they would stage their own debates based on the popular Question Time format. From these applications, an initial shortlist will be drawn up in November of 45 schools from around the country.

Three schools will be chosen from each of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the 12 BBC English regions (ie North West, North East, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire & the Humber, East, West Midlands, East Midlands, South East, London, South, West, South West): 45 schools in all.

National finalists

These schools will then be invited to film a debate and send the footage in to the BBC. On the basis of these films, the 45 will be narrowed down to 15 (one school each from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the 12 BBC English regions).

The 15 national finalist schools will be given an Institute for Citizenship/Parliamentary Education Service grant to plan and stage Question Time-style events in March. They will each receive professional support in staging their event during a Schools Question Time Challenge workshop.

Choosing the winners

A team of judges will visit each of the 15 finalist schools to attend and evaluate their Question Time event and assess how well they have applied the principles of citizenship. In early April, four schools will be declared winners.

These winning schools will be invited to nominate two pupils each who will work with David Dimbleby and the Question Time production team to produce an edition of the programme in the summer.

In early May, the eight winning students will take part in a two-day workshop with the Question Time team to discuss their plans for the programme.

Making the programme

During the preparation and broadcast of the special schools edition in July, the eight students will experience various production roles such as editor, audience producer, panel producer and online producer.

Challenge partners

The Schools Question Time Challenge is supported by UK Parliament's Education Service, the Institute for Citizenship and the BBC.

For more information on how to apply and to download free Citizenship resources please see: www.schoolsquestiontime.org

2009-09-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

My name is Liam Webber, I'm a Young Advisor and today's blog is about young people and their exercising habits.

"Research commissioned by the BBC reveals that the average young person in Britain spends less time in an average day engaged in physical activity than the average pensioner. On the average day, Britons aged between 8 and 19 spent 1 hour and 15 minutes doing any form of physical activity, while Britons aged over 65 tended to be active for 1 hour and 40 minutes. The gap is large enough to reflect a real difference in lifestyle between younger and older people."

I believe that Physical Education in school needs more attention, it should be made compulsory to ensure that every student receives the correct amount of exercise needed in order to help sustain a healthy balanced lifestyle. More knowledge on food should be passed on, children and young people need to know exactly what they are eating.

Athletics, football and other sports clubs should create programmes they can take into schools for after school activities encouraging children and young people to keep fit.

Obesity is on the rise in the U.K and unless some serious changes are going to be made, then X-box, Internet, TVs etc will be the only fun thing to, we have to show that exercising is not just important, but "FUN" too! and by incorporating sports and incentives, this will help to be the cure.

I am currently working on a Lewisham Sports day event for next year 2010 that young people can be apart of representing their schools, this is for primary, secondary and special needs schools. I believe events like this will help to make a positive contribution to Lewisham and increase the awareness on being healthy and keeping fit!

Thanks for reading, comments most welcome,
Liam Webber Young Advisor to the Young Mayor

P.S
Sir Steve Bullock will be hosting a fun run event on Sunday 4th of October in Beckenham Place Park in aid of the Lavender Trust at Breast Cancer Care. The trust raises money to fund support and information for younger women diagnosed with breast cancer.
1km for children 11 and under-10:30am 3km for 16 and under-10:44am 5km for anyone over the age of 16-11:30am

The Details: Entry Fee £2 for 16 and under (£3 on the day) and £5 for adults (£8 on the day) for an entry form, go to: www.lewisham.gov.uk/lewishamfunrun.Email: funrun@lewisham.gov.uk Telephone: 0208-314-3997

Voices and Choices

2009-07-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Dami Benbow and I am one of the young advisors to the young mayor for Lewisham and this is the first blog for our new website.
So what’s going to happen is that our blog will hopefully be updated regularly by different young advisors and the young mayor in the coming years so you can find out about what we have done, what’s happening in Lewisham and also what we think about certain things.

Before I begin I would like to explain a little more about myself as I’m sure the other young advisors will do when they write their first blogs. So as I said before my name is Dami, I have stood to be young mayor 3 times before and in 2005 I managed to be elected deputy young mayor. I have also for a year been the chair of the young advisors and I have just finished my International baccalaureate Diploma (worst thing I have ever chosen to do) at Dartford Grammar School. I am a resident of Lewisham Borough and used to attend Deptford Green School but all that is about to change as I am about to go to as of yet an undecided university (I did not get the grades I would have hoped for). But anyway I have done many things with the Lewisham young mayors’ project and even though that time is coming to close I hope its still continues to flourish and that I can still have an influence on the project, the effect it has had on my life has been phenomenal.

So again before I begin what I really want to talk about firstly a news update, five things that the young advisors have been involved with in the past 2 weeks:
• We did a residential in North Wales on the edge of Snowdonia national park in a centre called Tyn’y’berth. While there we did many teambuilding activities including walking up Wales second highest mountain (I wasn’t there due to coming down on the train from my prom), abseiling down a 140ft cliff, walking down a mountain stream and building a raft to cross a river in (and sink the other teams boat). A very fun 5 days.
• A few of us abseiled down Eltham Green School a week later with the deputy mayor and staff from the mayors office to raise money for the wider horizons charity which runs the Tyn’y’berth mountain centre. I also demonstrated some new equipment that would allow people with disabilities to also include themselves in abseiling.
• The Young Citizens Panel (YCP) launch event which was attended by a number of important people from Lewisham council, the young advisors and about 150 other school children where we launched the YCP. A very good event which had a high turnout, it was very positive to see so many young people who want to take the chance to use their voices and make a difference in their lives.
• Lewisham Peoples Day was a spectacular day for all to enjoy and was probably the safest people’s day so far. We had more people sign up for the young citizens’ panel and the Young Advisors also spoke (myself included) at a peace rally in the CND tent.
• Three young advisors (including myself) went to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu Nobel Peace Prize winner and one of the advocates for ending apartheid in South Africa. He was opening the Tutu Peace Garden in Grove Park and a reception was held for him.

That’s all the updates I can think off so now I can talk to the thing I really want to talk to you about.

As you all know (or should know) the young mayor’s slogan is our voice, our choice. But what does that mean? What does it mean to you? Well me and Justin Cole a former young mayor for Lewisham want to take that slogan and develop it further, we want to turn it into something that actually can enable everyone to utilise their voice and not just the lucky few who have been elected. So we are starting a new campaign with the full support of the mayors’ office (watch our new website for our page as soon as we get things finalised). We hope to kick off our campaign by either abseiling down city hall or Big Ben (we are seeking permission for both to maximise our chances). So why do this? What is a voice and why should I use it?

This country, this nation or to use the correct word this state has a very serious problem, it’s a problem that is quite often over looked and many people don’t seem to care, but it’s perhaps one of the most serious problem facing us today. For if this problem persists then the consequences will be far reaching and severe. This problem is very simple but the solution to fixing it is difficult. The problem is that this country is lacking something and the thing it lacks is a voice. It’s always the same people making the decisions with very little consultation to the people they are making the decisions about. Politicians have set themselves up as a different caste above the rest, today to make a difference it seems you have to be a white, middle aged, upper middle class, male. These are the people that represent us but there are so few of them in this country. As people it is our democratic right to stand up and say what we think but so little people do politicians seem to think they can get away with anything (which as the recent media has proved they can’t).
You see people: you and me don’t realise that our only source of power is our voice. Everything we have everything that we might have and everything that we want has been attained or can be attained by using our voice. From rights to own property to the right to earn an income or even reside in this country, it all comes from our voices. We need to be careful because we are no longer using our voices we are letting them rot and they are loosing power, and if our voices loose power then everything is lost. Beauty, Physical strength and income are all irrelevant and pale in comparison to the power of the voice. These things fade and diminish over time but words will always retain their power as long as they are utilised and not left to be forgotten or misused.
Because people have forgotten to use their voice, ultra right wing parties such as the BNP who misuse their voice are beginning to rear their ugly head. People forgetting to use their voice has sparked a worrying change in government policy where they think that because we do not use them they might as well stop us from using them by destroying our civil liberties.
This is what this campaign is all about, telling people not to forget their voice, to use words rather then fists and knives, to finally realise they, you can make a difference if you put your mind to it. Your voice is your greatest gift, your most valuable treasure, use it, treasure it, do not loose it and do not misuse it. Remember your voice. You can make a difference; you can make change as long as you remember to use your voice. Do not stand and wait for somebody else to make that change, you must be the change that you wish to see. Don’t think that a contribution you make will be insignificant, it is the little difference that we all make together that add up to the big difference we see in our communities.
Next time a decision is made about you, that affects you but the decision is not made to you, demand that you be consulted, give them your views on what should happen and they will be powerless to not do anything but listen. You have the power, just use your voice, don’t be afraid to stand up and say “I WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE”, and be the change that you wish to see!

We must use our voice to make our choice
We must use our voice because it’s our only choice
People using voices and making choices
Our Choice, Our Voice

Imagine everyone using their voice, now that would truly be a powerful thing to behold, an unstoppable force of people finally talking about decisions that affect them in their lives and altering it for the better, a truly awesome sight to behold.

Thank you for reading
Check back on the Campaign soon
Dami