Students from 10 of Carlisle's secondary schools will come together for the first ever Joint Schools Council meeting this Wednesday (26 September), between 10am and 3pm.
Each school has nominated representatives to take part in the meeting, which will discuss issues of interest to young people.
The project has been organised by Cumbria County Council's School Improvement Team as part of their Healthy Schools Initiative. This week's event has been organised in partnership with Carlisle City Council; it is being held at the Civic Centre's Council Chamber and is the pilot for the whole county.
The idea for the joint council came in part from responses to the 'Teenage Health Survey' which was carried out across the county around 18 months ago.
One of the issues raised by young people in the survey was that there were a lot of good ideas being put forward in their individual schools but there was no way to bring all those ideas together and enable the young people to talk to each other.
Children's Services met with teachers and school councils earlier in the year, along with the county's youth services and organisations working on the 14-19 Strategy. From these meetings, the idea of a joint council, to meet four times a year, was born.
The arrangements for the joint council, and what issues to discuss have come from the young people themselves, and the first meeting at the Civic Centre in Carlisle on Wednesday will look at 'teaching and learning performance'.
Mike Telford is a school improvement officer with Cumbria County Council who is helping with the project.
He said:
"We realised that there was an awful lot of good work going on at school councils but the ideas usually stayed within the individual schools. The joint council project is a way of giving those ideas a wider hearing and giving young people more opportunity to debate issues important to them.
"It is essential that the young people themselves are in charge of this week's event, rather than it being something we have imposed on them - the agenda, the format and the subject of the meeting are all down to the schools' representatives."
Councillor Jim Buchanan is Cumbria County Council's cabinet member for Children's Wellbeing. He said:
"We are always looking for ways young people can have more of a say in their community, but when you are of school age it's your school that forms a big part of that community.
"So it seems only right to provide an opportunity for young people to feed back their views on their school experiences, and give us their ideas about what 'good education' should look like.
"After all, they're the ones at the 'chalk face'."
Over lunch at the joint council meeting on Wednesday, students and teachers will meet the Mayor of Carlisle, Councillor Elizabeth Mallinson, and other members of Carlisle City Council, including the portfolio holder for Economic Development and Enterprise, Councillor Marilyn Bowman and the portfolio holder for Learning and Development, Councillor Peter Farmer.
Councillor Marilyn Bowman said:
"We pleased to be involved in the first ever Joint Schools Council and will continue to provide our support. Carlisle is a Learning City and initiatives of this kind emphasise the importance of learning for all ages. We wish the scheme the best of luck for the future."
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Further information from Alison Lister, Media Team, (01228) 606335