The Portsmouth Youth Cabinet’s End of Year Celebration was one to remember and an amazing way to end the 24/25 academic year! The Portsmouth Youth Cabinet (PYC), facilitated by Unloc and supported by Portsmouth City Council seeks to represent all young people in Portsmouth, hearing and amplifying their voices, and driving positive change.
We believe that Portsmouth is enhanced by the voices of the young people within it. It is our vision that an active and connected youth voice will have meaningful interactions and will influence decision-making, which will, in turn, enhance young people’s ability to thrive across the city.
The Portsmouth Youth Cabinet is led by Portsmouth’s Member of UK Youth Parliament (the MYP) who is a youth representative elected in a city-wide vote every two years, with the most recent elections having taken place in March 2024. The home of the Youth Cabinet is our Changemaker Studios: Portsmouth space within the Portsmouth Guildhall, so what better place to come together at the end of the 2024/25 academic year this Summer, and celebrate an incredible year of youth voice, action, and impact!
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We started the party with an Opening Speech from Mackenzie Bird, previous PYC Chairperson, who via video gave thanks to Jessi, PYC Facilitator, Maya, PYC Chairperson, and Amelia, the PYC Vice-Chair, as well as to all of the Youth Cabinet Members, stating “Today is all about celebrating you all and your amazing achievements – you should all be so proud of yourselves because I’m proud of you!”
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We also had a few messages of apologies and thanks for guests who were unable to attend the event but keen to thank everyone for their efforts and work in the Youth Cabinet and various projects the group had been able to contribute to.
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We then launched into an Energiser of a Picture Challenge. Everyone had to get into groups with a mix of PYC Members and guests and given 20 minutes to complete a variety of tasks to earn points! Tasks included taking a photo of all of the team members jumping (which deemed harder than it seems!), filming a one-minute video of one of the team members talking about why youth voice is so important, as well as making a PYC hero cape out of paper, tape and colouring pens, and then having the team take a photo pretending to be Avengers with one team member proudly wearing their hero cape!
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The three Subgroups of the Youth Cabinet each proudly reporting back, reflecting on their year, sharing their achievements, learnings and their upcoming plans:
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Climate Change and Environment
Climate Change and Environment spoke of the Climate Conference they hosted and facilitated, supported by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, back in April, their Student Voice Celebration Day Consultation with Years 1, 2 and 3 students, and their application for a Changemaker Grant of £250, which they were successful in gaining! The group hope to host another Climate Conference in 2026 to build on their success and learnings from the ‘pilot’ this year.
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Crime and Safety
Crime and Safety reported back on their learnings from their SVC Day Consultation with Year 5 students, as well as their findings from a survey looking at safety in the city. Their upcoming plans are to utilise Op Sceptre (Knife Crime Awareness) week in November where they hope to hold a consultation with young people around the issue.
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Health and Wellbeing
Health and Wellbeing celebrated the success of their survey and gained lots of useful responses to aid their work, their SVC Day Consultation with Year 4 students, and the group’s creation of a powerpoint focusing on Sexual Education. They are currently planning to consult more primary school children on their physical health.
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We are so proud of each subgroup for the hard work they’ve put into this year!
We then heard from the Executive Committee, who shared what the previous executive achieved, which included introducing lanyards, accountability sheets, youth voice updates and more. The new Executive Committees plans are to introduce a minute quiz, Song of the week and a brand new accountability sheet.
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They then shared what their outcomes of this would be, which were to keep everyone in contact between meetings and ensure everybody has read last meetings minutes in full.
Unloc’s Reporting Back of highlights not previously mentioned:
- MYP Elections 2024
- Two internal Executive Elections
- ‘Make Your Mark’ Survey – three topics formed our subgroups
- Two Student Voice Celebration Days and consultations with PCoPS
- Two UKYP Annual Conferences
- Maheep winning ‘Sanctuary Seeking’ Award
- Mackenzie winning ‘Inspirational Young Person’ Award
- Christmas Party for families living in the Royal Beach Hotel
- MYP attended House of Commons Sitting
- ‘Future of Portsmouth’ at Mayor Making Ceremony
- Maya and Amelia attending Lord Mayor’s Volunteer Garden Party
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Upcoming and looking forward to in the next academic year:
- Leadership Day for Executive Committee
- Meetings resume in September every 3 weeks (approx. 5 a term)
- Portsmouth100 Launch
- Baton of Hope
- Amelia nominated for an award at Inspiring Volunteer Award Night
- MYP attending another House of Commons Sitting
- MYP Elections 2026!
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We then moved onto Youth Voice activities which were packed with creative ways to share thoughts, opinions, and dreams for the future:
- Our Listening Booth, utilising the Unloc Podcast equipment, was set up for people to verbally answer ‘What does it mean to you to be involved in the Youth Cabinet?’ – these recordings will be shared through PYC Social Media soon!
- A game of ‘Cup Pong’ where you needed to throw a ping pong ball into a cup, find the number written on the bottom of the cup, and answer the corresponding prompts, which included ‘My alternate meaning of PYC is…’, ‘Portsmouth is…’, ‘Youth voice can/will…’ and ‘I am a Changemaker because…’.
- With the upcoming Member of UK Youth Parliament (MYP) Elections in Portsmouth taking place, we wanted to gather people’s thoughts and ideas to assist with how these elections will look, building on what we had already gathered from Year 6 students at the recent Student Voice Celebration Day! Questions included ‘Where do you find out about things going on in Portsmouth?’; if people would attend a ‘Meet the MYP Candidates’ session, how long it should be, and what kind of questions should be asked of the candidates; and showing Maheep and Mackenzie’s MYP campaign posters from 2024, asking people what they liked (or disliked) about it for us to improve upon for next time!
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We thank everyone for being involved and contributing to these activities!
After a break with delicious pizza, Maya and Amelia led our Circle energiser where everyone had to get into ‘order’ of their name, birthday and height, all without speaking to each other so having to use non-verbal communication to ‘speak’ to each other!
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We gave out the PYC Awards for people who we recognised for their amazing contributions to the Youth Cabinet:
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Kindness & Community – Acknowledging empathy, teamwork, encouragement, and how young people support others.
Cheerleader Award: For always uplifting peers – Oscar
Team Player Award: For always being helpful and cooperative – Cora
The Golden Rule Award: For always treating everyone with respect – Kaitlyn
Learning & Growth – Highlighting academic mindset, curiosity, progress, and dedication to learning.
Brainpower Award: For always showing sharp thinking – Freya
Curiosity Award: For asking great questions and loving to learn – Chan
Growth Mindset Award: For never giving up, no matter the challenge – Hope
Participation Pro Award: For always engaging and being involved – Meghan
Rising Star Award: For showing amazing progress this year- Dyuthi
Personality & Passion – Celebrating unique traits, energy, creativity, and the spark students bring to the group.
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Movement Maker: For big ideas and even bigger passion – Quinn
Big Energy Award: For bringing the hype, vibes, and volume – Lesley
Human Sparkler Award: For lighting up every room and meeting – Theo
Loud & Proud Award: For not being afraid to speak up and stand out – Daria
Idea Machine Award: For never running out of wild, brilliant, and doable ideas – Imi
Comedic Relief Award: For always bringing the laughs in meetings – Kam
Leadership & Advocacy- Recognising strong youth voice, leadership, and impact in advocacy and community change.
Resilience Award: For overcoming barriers to make a difference – Jayden
Youth Voice Innovation Award: For new approaches to youth participation – Austin
Peer Leader Award: For guiding, championing and uplifting peers – Mimi
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Bridge Builder Award: For connecting vital youth groups – Iulia
Youth Communicator Award: For excellence in representing youth perspectives – Henry
Emerging Leader Award: For a rising star showing exceptional potential – Hayden
Changemaker Award: For creating powerful and meaningful impact – Maheep
Voice of the Future Award: For honouring outstanding leadership in youth advocacy – Mackenzie
Youth Voice Champion: For consistent and powerful youth representation – Amelia
Bold Voice Award: For courageously speaking truth to power – Maya
Well done to everyone and thank you for everyone’s individual contributions to the Youth Cabinet and our success this year!
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To close off the evening, we heard from our Chairperson, Maya Choudhury. Maya said:
“Serving as Chairperson of the Portsmouth Youth Cabinet so far has been such a great honour. This year has been a testament to the power of young voices, your voices, and the change we can create when we speak up, show up, and stand together.’”
She spoke of the power of the three subgroups and being able to tackle issues that matter deeply to young people in Portsmouth, as well as being able to represent youth at events like the Mayor Making Ceremony and the Shaping Portsmouth Conference. She went on to thank every member of the Youth Cabinet, past and present; Jessi for ‘being the backbone of everything we do’; and Mackenzie whose ‘leadership laid the foundation for so much of what we’ve accomplished this year.’
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Maya finished by reminding everyone to ‘be bold, be kind, and let’s never forget that the future isn’t something we wait for, it’s something we build.’
What an amazing finish to a wonderful academic year full of passion, energetic and action by the wonderful young members of the Portsmouth Youth Cabinet. Every single one has been an inspiration and offered so much to the wider team and community around them, we can’t wait to see what the year ahead brings.
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For more information on Portsmouth Youth Cabinet click here!
