Our Inaugural Bright Futures Youth Board

Ensuring our young people have a voice and, more importantly, one that is heard, is weaved through our Trust mission, vision, and values. We rightly place high importance on pupil voice, and we have now chosen to launch the inaugural Bright Futures Youth Board.

The Board, made up of two representatives from each of our schools, will have three main areas of responsibility:

• Advisory – to advise on the direction of Trust work, how to best engage with our children and young people and effectively collect the views of children and young people in our Trust. They will look at wider impact and consider strategic priorities such as sustainability and supporting students and families who are new to our schools and Trust.
• Development – to establish a youth-led fundraising strategy, generating funds for the Youth Board to distribute appropriately.
• Communications – to showcase the Trust through social media channels and internal communications, and to represent Bright Futures in the mainstream media.

John Stephens, CEO of Bright Futures Educational Trust, said: “We always need help to make us think better and to guide our decision-making, and we want to make sure the voices of the children and young people in our schools have a positive impact. We look forward to hearing about the issues that matter most to our young people and, through the Youth Board, involving them in important projects and initiatives.”

Following training, our elected Youth Board will meet once every half term but will be involved in projects and initiatives throughout the academic year.

For our Youth Board members this is a wonderful leadership opportunity to gain a better understanding of different schools and their contexts but also a ‘bigger picture’ view of the work. By being part of the Youth Board individuals will also develop their negotiation skills, resilience, and confidence as part of a team.

The Youth Board will make a difference to all our children and young people by offering another outlet for them to feel valued, listened to and understood. They may aspire to join the Youth Board themselves with this dedicated leadership pathway and they will have more opportunities to put forward ideas and initiatives for consideration by the Youth Board.