Student voice has been at the heart of celebrations in Portsmouth for us this past week as we and Portsmouth City Council celebrate the 21st anniversary of the Council of Portsmouth Students (known as CoPS) which culminated in an event at out Changemaker Studios: Portsmouth space at Portsmouth last Thursday 21st November 2024.
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The event saw young people, educators and city leaders come together to celebrate, with speeches from current CoPS Chair and Vice Chair, Daria Nitu and Lotti Pabari, CoPS Vice Chair 2017 Ella Reilly, and CoPS Chair 2008 Ben French.
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All spoke of the heartfelt impact CoPS has had on their lives, and after the celebrations everyone pledged their support to ensure CoPS can continue with strength into the future so that other young people can reap the benefits.
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Facilitated by Unloc throughout the city, CoPS members gather for three in-person Summits each year to discuss the top priorities and issues in their institutions, to problem-solve, speak on lived-experiences, and share best practice with their peers.
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It’s a unique forum that empowers young people in the city to think about the situations, community and environment around them, and to work together to find solutions and proactive approaches to making things better for all.
The Council of Portsmouth Students was first created after the very first Student Voice Day event was held in 2003. Secondary school students came together for the first time in one place to share ideas on how they could improve their schools and make them better.
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The young people agreed it would be valuable to have a cross-city student council where students from different schools could meet regularly to discuss ideas of common interest and concern, and take action together. CoPS was born – and developed into a forum for sharing their experiences of education matters and as a way of offering solutions to any concerns that they identified.
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Ideas and solutions often originate from within the Learning Community schools network; examples include: anti-bullying strategies, the development of student radio, student feedback to teachers on lessons, and student involvement in teacher and head teacher interviews. Many of these improvement ideas have become part of the landscape of schools locally and nationally.
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At the time CoPS was created, Portsmouth City Council also had the resources to develop a Primary Council of Portsmouth Students (PCoPS) recognising the voices of even younger children, and replicating a significant amount of Student Voice activity in the city’s Primary Schools.
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Members of CoPS and the Student Voice Alumni were so well established that they were able to use the funding cuts in 2011 as an opportunity to develop a social enterprise project to ensure the continuation of CoPS and to develop further opportunities for young people to engage and develop their own enterprise initiatives.
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Unloc’s Co-founder and Chief Executive Hayden Taylor said:
“We are so thrilled to be celebrating 21 powerful years of the Council of Portsmouth Students. Youth voice is so important, and thanks to the support of Portsmouth City Council and local schools – we’ve been able to empower so many young changemakers on their journey into society, making their schools, their lives and their communities better as a result. It’s because of this very forum that our organisation Unloc exists today, as a former chair of CoPS myself.
Through this forum, I came together with my co-founder Ben when funding cuts placed it at risk – and together found a way to save CoPS and make it sustainable for future young people. We used the skills we’d learnt to found our own organisation – motivated to empower young people and bring them into positions of leadership. To be here celebrating 21 years of this fantastic movement is such an achievement, we are so immensely proud.”
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Cllr Suzy Horton, Cabinet Member for Children, Families & Education said:
“It’s important that Portsmouth students can have their voices heard, share experiences, and make improvements in their schools, which is exactly what they’ve been doing as part of CoPS over the past 21 years. We’re proud that many of the ideas developed are embedded in schools both locally and nationally and hope the young people enjoy the 21st anniversary celebration.”
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Unloc continues this work with all schools in Portsmouth in partnership with school leadership teams to ensure that the foundations of participation that they learned and experienced through school councils, assessment for learning and CoPS remains in place for future generations of students in the area.
For more information about Unloc visit: Unloc.org.uk
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About Unloc
Unloc was founded in 2013 by award-winning young leaders Hayden Taylor and Ben Dowling. The organisation’s mission is to empower young people to be innovative changemakers who seek to build stronger communities and sustainable businesses. The organisation is focused on developing young people’s skills, enhancing their potential and boosting their determination to succeed.
Unloc works towards achieving its mission by delivering inspiring educational programmes to over 20,000 young people each year, including on entrepreneurship and self-employment, in our network of 250+ schools and colleges in the UK and beyond.
To find out more about Unloc and all our latest news visit: unloc.org.uk/news
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Unloc has been championing Student Voice since our very first Student Forum back in 2012. Our forums act to help young people across a particular area identify and create action plans, encourage them to network and collaborate together to facilitate and generate more positive changes to their schools, colleges and institutions, and drive improvements in their communities, cities and counties.
Now in 2023, we’ve kickstarted three of our Student Forums: the Cambridgeshire Student Forum (CSF), the Council of Portsmouth Students (CoPS), and the Primary Council of Portsmouth Students (PCoPS). Each forum is bespoke to the area it takes place in, the institutions involved, and the student representatives from those institutions who wholly shape their Forum for the entire year of involvement.
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Up in Cambridgeshire, our Summit was hosted by Long Road Sixth Form College (Cambridge), and attended by students from Long Road as well as Abbey College (Cambridge), Cambridge Academy for Science and Technology, Comberton Village College (Comberton), Hills Road Sixth Form College , St Andrew’s College, and Thomas Clarkson Academy (Wisbech), equating to 40 participants from the 7 institutions.
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Down in Portsmouth, CoPS took place at Trafalgar School in Hilsea, and was attended by students from Trafalgar as well as Admiral Lord Nelson School (Copnor), Ark Charter Academy (Portsmouth), Mayfield School (North End), Mayville High School (Southsea), Miltoncross Academy (Milton), Park Community School (Havant), Portsmouth Grammar School, Priory School (Fratton), Springfield School (Drayton), and The Portsmouth Academy (Fratton), bringing 53 participants from the 11 institutions.
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It’s sister forum, PCoPS also met for the first time, with their Summit taking place within the University of Portsmouth’s Students Union, welcoming students from Cottage Grove Primary School (Southsea), Highbury Primary School (Cosham), King’s Academy College Park (Copnor), Mayville High School (Southsea), Medina Primary School (Cosham), Portsmouth Grammar School, The Flying Bull Academy (Buckland), and Wimborne Primary School (Southsea), with 58 participants from these 8 institutions.
Beacon View Primary Academy (Paulsgrove), Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School (North End), and Court Lane Junior Academy (Cosham) are also involved in PCoPS this year but were unable to attend the Summit and have had/will be having Summit Alternative sessions within their own schools.
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All of the forums were formally introduced to Student Voice, including the UN’s Conventions on the Rights of the Child and our focus on Article 12, ‘Respect for the Views of the Child’:
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“Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously. This right applies at all times, for example during immigration proceedings, housing decisions or the child’s day-to-day home life” (Source: UNCRC Summary)
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There was dedicated time within all three Summits for the participants to share their thoughts and ideas on Student Voice, including each Institution Group at CSF and CoPS being invited to present to the rest of the group all things Student Voice at their institution, including examples of Student Voice where things had changed or altered in previous years, talking to their School Council, Link Teacher(s) and even their Head Teacher, as well as the consideration of change: what they wanted to change in their institution, community, city or county, and how to go about actioning it.
For PCoPS, in their Institution Groups, they began to formulate plans to bring about their change(s), using posters, flyers and letters to spread the message.
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In CSF and CoPS, the whole group split into Action Groups, a focus to guide them through the rest of their time in the Student Forum, divided by topics, including Business, Careers, Climate Change, Diversity, Eco-Friendly, Inclusion, Life Skills, Mental Health, Technology and Wellbeing. These groups will meet in 2024 to continue to plan their actions to bring about positive change!
To finish the year, each area will have a Student Voice Celebration (SVC) Day in 2024 to share and celebrate all of the (no doubt) amazing work everyone will have done over the course of the year; Cambridgeshire’s SVC Day will take place on Friday 24th May, kindly hosted by Abbey College in Cambridge, and Portsmouth’s SVC Day will be held on Thursday 13th June, bringing together both CoPS and PCoPS!
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For a taste of Student Voice Celebration Day 2023 – Portsmouth Edition click here!
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Interested in further updates?
Contact Jessi Wilson, Programme Facilitator for Leadership Skills and Student Voice at: [email protected]
Unloc has been championing Student Voice since our first Student Forum back in 2012. Our forums are for young people across an area to collaboratively work together to drive school improvement in their community.
The forums celebrate and share good examples of where students can facilitate a positive change to their educational environment. They also act to help young people identify and create an action plan to generate more positive changes in their school, college or institution.
Unloc’s very own Jessi Wilson, Programme Facilitator for Leadership Skills & Student Voice wanted to share her experience at the two recent summits which welcomes young people from across the area:
“The Council of Portsmouth Students (CoPS) and its’ sister forum the Primary Council of Portsmouth Students (PCoPS) are just two of the Student Forums Unloc facilitates in Portsmouth. Each forum is bespoke to the area, the institutions involved, and the student representatives who wholly shape their Forum for the entire year.
This term, both forums have had their first Summit, with all the student participants coming together in person!
The Council of Portsmouth Students Summit
The CoPS Summit took place on Thursday 10th November, kindly hosted by Portsmouth Grammar School at their Playing Fields in Hilsea.
CoPS is proud to have 57 participants from 10 institutions involved in this academic year:
The Primary Council of Portsmouth Students Summit
The PCoPS Summit took place on Thursday 24th November, and was hosted at our Changemaker Studios: Portsmouth space within the Portsmouth Guildhall.
PCoPS is proud to have over 100 participants from 14 institutions involved in this academic year:
Both forums were formally introduced to Student Voice, including the UN’s Conventions on the Rights of the Child and our focus on Article 12: “Respect for the Views of the Child”.
We observed how CoPS and PCoPS has evolved over the years and discussed what to expect from this year ahead and the responsibilities of all of the forum members in their involvement in their respective groups.
There was dedicated time at both Summits for the participants to consider change – what they wanted to change in their institution, community or city, and how to go about actioning that: for CoPS, they formed into five Action Groups:
For PCoPS, they began formulate plans to bring about their change(s), using posters, flyers and letters to spread the message.
For CoPS, the Action Groups will meet up several times over the coming year to work together to bring about their desired changes and improve the city for themselves and other young people. There will also be two more Summits for everyone to come together.
Both CoPS and PCoPS will come together at the end of the academic year for Student Voice Celebration (SVC) day 2023 – a city-wide celebratory event in June to share and celebrate all of the (no doubt) amazing work everyone had done over the course of the year!
Each institution group involved in CoPS/PCoPS for 2022/2023 has been presented a framed certificate to show they are a proud participant and to display this within their institution.
Thank you to everyone who attended these days and made our Summits such a success! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone and am looking forward to working together over the next academic year and making real changes in our institutions, communities and the city of Portsmouth!”
Jessi Wilson, Programme Facilitator – Leadership Skills & Student Voice
Unloc are working together with the highly respected Further Education specialists Rockborn in order to roll out an in-depth programme of events, training and bootcamps for the UK’s Student Governors.
Maheep Kaur, Portsmouth’s elected Member of UK Youth Parliament, recently met with 2 local Members of Parliament to discuss the issues impacting young people.
14 – 25? Have a passion to tackle social issues or a business concept that needs funding? Now’s your chance to make a real difference!
We work with many organisations to provide the many experiences, courses & opportunities we offer. This year we wanted to take some time to recognise one of these important organisations, The Marketors’.
Unloc are working together with the highly respected Further Education specialists Rockborn in order to roll out an in-depth programme of events, training and bootcamps for the UK’s Student Governors.
Maheep Kaur, Portsmouth’s elected Member of UK Youth Parliament, recently met with 2 local Members of Parliament to discuss the issues impacting young people.
14 – 25? Have a passion to tackle social issues or a business concept that needs funding? Now’s your chance to make a real difference!
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