Unloc & Verizon Business scoop impressive awards at the Better Society Awards 2024
13 June 2024
We’re thrilled to reveal that we and Verizon Business won two awards at The Better Society Awards 2024!
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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: jessi@unloc.org.uk
If you’re aged between 11 to 25 years old then there are two exciting new initiatives you can get involved with which will help us as an organisation to develop and grow. You’ll get to meet new people, make new friends, share your opinions on a whole host of topics – and best of all you’ll have tons of fun doing it!
For over 10 Years at Unloc we’ve facilitated a wide variety of dynamic and engaging programmes to enhance student voice across the many institutions and organisations we work with across the UK. As we continue to grow and expand our reach, young people more than ever need to be at the centre of those decisions.
We consider ourselves incredibly lucky that we get to work with over 15,000 young people every single year, we’re constantly surprised, impressed and amazed by the inspirational young changemakers we meet, so the question was posed ‘Why do we have to stop there?’
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From this, our Community Engagement & Development Strategy was created, in partnership itself with young people, which focuses on expanding our community outreach and by truly investing in them and their changemaker journey after engaging in one of our programmes.
This year we are delighted to be launching two exciting new programmes that will help shape and direct our direction as an organisation – our Youth Board & Unloc Ambassador programmes.
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The Unloc Youth Board
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Our Youth Board will be put at the organisation’s centre to consult and guide the Unloc team to focus on what matters to young people within our work. As youth board members, young people will make significant contributions to the organisation, co-produce our session content with our facilitators and have the opportunity to meet other young people with a heart and passion for developing and empowering young people as changemakers.
Our board will also be instrumental in supporting us with making our programmes more innovative and ensuring they are truly supporting the needs of young people.
Hayden Taylor, Unloc’s Managing Director, said:
“It’s essential that we put young people at the heart of what we do at Unloc. As we grow our reach to work with thousands more young people every year, our Youth Board will be able to properly steer the direction we follow and the decisions we make. I’m so excited to see what this group of amazing young people mean for our future as an organisation.”
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Unloc Ambassadors
We are also establishing our Unloc Ambassadors Programme. Our new young Ambassadors will get the chance to attend our programmes and sessions to help inspire other young people and share their experiences, plus attend exclusive events with our partners to showcase the impact they have made through their changemaker journey.
Both our Youth Board and Ambassadors will receive training and support throughout to develop their public speaking, communication, networking skills and more.
The 2 programmes will work in harmony by meeting for a joint development day in early 2024, and then meeting with the rest of the Unloc Community (any Young Person who has completed a programme with us before) in August for our first-ever Unloc Changemaker Conference.
Ben Dowling, Co-Founder of Unloc & Director of People & Resources said:
“As we grow the work we do, it’s only natural that the young people who engage in Unloc programmes should become advocates for the programmes that are empowering and engaging them in what matters most to them. Through our Ambassadors programme, we can make sure that genuine role modelling of young changemakers can be built into all the work we do, whilst also providing yet another leadership opportunity for young people across the Unloc Community.”
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Emiley Hinton, Unloc’s Community & Alumni Engagement Officer said:
“The community strategy is an amazing chance to grow the amount of young people who will get the chance to access experiences to grow their confidence through a variety of opportunities. This is such an exciting strategy and it’s only the beginning, can’t wait to see the impact this strategy and both programmes will have on the young people and Unloc itself!”
These opportunties not only help Unloc as an organisation continue to grow and best meet the needs of young people, they also provide unique opportunities for young people to develop themselves, network and meet like minded other people, and to grow their skills and empowerment to voice their opinions and take action on issues which are important to them. Don’t just take our word for it though, take it from someone who knows!
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Katie Reid
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Katie Reid took part in the Inspiring Change programme last year, and her group ‘See the difference’ created an awareness campaign about bullying and how to get help and support. This was inspired by their own personal experiences, and was a topic that they cared deeply about and wanted to take action on. Through the programme Katie and her team mate Sasha were invited to the House of Commons to speak about their impressive project at the PAC Parliamentary Event, Katie’s said:
“When I look back at who I was just over a year ago I can’t believe i’m the same person. I first got involved with Unloc through the Inspiring Change project in Summer 2022. The Unloc programme absolutely changed my life, it opened so many doors for me inside my own head, showing me that I have a voice, what I can be capable of, that I can speak up, I can speak passionately, I can come up with ideas of my own and actually create change around me in the world.“
“I feel a lot more confident in my future since completing the programme, and I think I’m more likely to be successful now too because I actually know what I am capable of. I’m not just abandoned by Unloc, I keep getting to do more and more with my future!“
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Click here to find out more about our Unloc Ambassadors programme
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Click here to find out more about the Unloc Youth Board!
We’re so excited to launch our brand new programme for 11-17 year olds in Portsmouth – The Young Changemakers Incubator! This innovative new experience is a free weekend-based opportunity for young people living in a PO1 – PO6 postcode who are looking to create positive change in the world.
The Young Changemakers Incubator programme allows young people to plan and deliver social action projects in their local community, getting to the heart of current issues, getting involved, and taking action in order to inspire and create positive change.
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Change begins within, but all too often we feel strongly about a cause or issue, but don’t possess the skills to do something about it, or we do possess the skills – but have no idea how to use them!
Young Changemakers Incubator is here to change that!
Over the course of four months, April to July 2022, you’ll work with leadership experts to develop your skills and knowledge, growing and nurturing your inner changemaker, encouraging personal development, and learning how to impact change in the world around you.
You’ll join together with other young leaders in Portsmouth for one weekend each month to develop your plans and learn new skills, with the aim of implementing a project or campaign of your choosing.
Whether that’s social injustice, racial equality, bullying, transphobia, food poverty, humanitarian aid, community development or raising money for an important cause – the possibilities are endless.
At the end of the programme there will be a celebration event where all our Incubator Changemakers will be brought together to celebrate each other’s achievements.
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The programme includes 4 exciting and immersive weekends, with the first on 22-24th April at April Park Place – an overnight team building residential.
The following weekend events will be held locally in Portsmouth and include:
Throughout the Incubator experience you’ll develop your existing abilities and using your creativity and the support of our expert facilitators, you’ll create actions that encourage the change that you wish to see in the world.
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By choosing a cause, topic or issue that you feel strongly about, you’ll learn how to channel your passion, energy and determination into impacting positive change towards it.
We’ll help you learn how to use your network, grow it, and impact the influential people around you to help make your desired change happen.
All this will be supported by our bespoke online development programme, as well as our expert Unloc Facilitators Steve Baker and Clair Martin.
Steve is an experienced leader that has enabled young people to make change for the last 20 years. He has a solid understanding of democratic and representative processes that enable young people to make their voice heard, and shares how to engage with their local communities to make change happen.
Clair is a social entrepreneur, visual artist and digital storyteller with over 20 years experience in the creative technology industries, developing and delivering engaging learning experiences to children, young people and the wider community.
Steve said:
“Our new ‘Young Changemaker Incubator’ is a great opportunity for young people to learn the skills they need to make the change in the world they wish to see. Part of the Young Changemaker Cities scheme, our Incubator will be a fun and engaging experience giving young people the opportunity to meet local leaders, focus their passions to good causes, and giving them a voice and the skills they need to make changes inside and outside of their school environment.”
Clair said:
“The Young Changemakers Cities project is an essential tool to spark creative thinking and doing to help bring about social change. The project gives young people the confidence to ask for change and to feel confident change will happen!”
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There are only 30 places available for the Young Changemakers Incubator, the first 30 changemakers to apply will secure their place, so if you’re interested don’t delay – be sure to sign up right away!
The energy in our Changemaker Studios: Portsmouth space was electric recently as students from schools across Portsmouth gathered together for our second Council of Portsmouth Students Summit 2021/2022.
This in-person event is a great chance for the participating students to mix and get to know their peers from other schools in the area, as well as developing their skills and working within their Action Groups to bring about change in their school and community.
This year the Summit included representatives from 11 institutions including Admiral Lord Nelson School, Castle View Academy, Charter Academy, Mayville High School, Miltoncross Academy, Park Community School, Portsmouth Grammar School, Priory School, St John’s College, Trafalgar School, and The Portsmouth Academy.
The day included icebreakers, energisers and activities led by the students themselves, with the rest of the day tailored to the students’ thoughts, opinions, input and feedback.
Our Unloc Programme Facilitator Jessi, and the facilitator of this year’s CoPS, delivered a ‘masterclass’ on Confidence and Public Speaking. We considered what ‘confidence’ means to us, why confidence is necessary, and introduced the ‘Three-Legged Stool of Self-Confidence’, discussing how each leg representing Skillful, Responsible and Appreciation needs to be balanced.
We focused a little more on the Appreciation topic, and why, as British people, we tend to find it hard to accept appreciation and to say ‘thank you’. Whether we’re embarassed, don’t believe the compliment, or don’t know how to respond, Jessi encouraged everyone to share compliments with the members of their group, and asked the received to show their gratitude with a “thanks!”.
We dived into Public Speaking, considering the different styles, famous public speakers, and the positives (and negatives) of their style of communicating. Jessi challenged everyone to give public speaking a go in the form of ‘Just A Minute’ – speaking continuously for one minute without hesitation, deviation, or repetition on a subject of their choice!
Our first Guest Speaker of the day was Fungayi Zinyemba, the Manager of the Mental Health Support Team in Portsmouth, who discussed how MHST are working with their schools to provide help and support with the mental health and wellbeing of themselves and their peers.
It was great to see the students asking questions and starting conversations about mental health, whether that be their own, their friends, or general concern for how mental health is treated in schools and their communities.
Fellow Unloc Facilitator Larissa led an Activity on Debating, where the fundamentals of debate were covered before the students participated in a ‘moving debate’, using the space to show their opinion on hot topics. The students got stuck in, sharing their thoughts on the matter, with many of them utilising the public speaking skills we had covered earlier in the day, confidently sharing with everyone in the room.
Our second Guest Speaker of the day was Lauren, a former CoPS Student from Portsmouth High School who was involved in the forum last academic year. Lauren was invited to speak to this year’s cohort about her personal experience whilst in CoPS and the actions and changes her group were able to bring about in her school and community.
After Lauren’s inspiring talk, we split off into our Action Groups! These represented key themes or current issues, these were:
The students were given time to share their priorities going forward, led by the Action Group Leaders. Each group then presented to everyone else.
It’s amazing to know the actions these young people have already been able to implement, as well as their plans for the near-future to continue to bring about change in their school and community!
It was a truly inspiring event, and wonderful to see so many young changemakers from across Portsmouth gathered together and sharing their ideas in our new Changemaker Studios: Portsmouth space!
We can’t wait to see our CoPS members at the next Summit!
Portsmouth: A Young Changemakers City is Unloc’s exciting new project funded by the Ellis Campbell Foundation. This innovative new programme seeks to better embed democracy and democratic practices within schools, and inspire and empower young people to become changemakers in their own right.
The plan is to develop the project further and roll out the Young Changemaker Cities project to schools across the country in the future. As the city where it all started for Unloc, Portsmouth is the location for our launch of the project, and provides an exciting new innovation for Portsmouth schools and the young people that attend them.
The Project
The Young Changemaker Cities project has 4 key strands to it.
Firstly, we create a localised toolkit of resources which schools can use across tutorials and the curriculum. This bespoke toolkit is specifically designed for purpose, and has been co-produced with teachers and young people themselves.
Secondly, we host in-school Democracy Days – which allows our Unloc Facilitators to bring democracy to life with young people in an interactive, high-energised delivery style that’s both fun and rewarding. It takes the topic of democracy and makes it engaging and interesting in a way that appeals more to young minds.
Thirdly, we are delivering an incubation programme which is open access for young people who show a deeper interest in democracy. This engagement opens up channels of thought that they may not have accessed before, and allows us to empower them to become changemakers themselves.
Young people will get the chance to experience 4 weekend-long experiences which provides them with the chance to boost their democracy and leadership skills.
Finally, we provide ongoing support to schools to help better imbed democracy into the culture of the school.
This is an extremely exciting project that allows schools to really connect with their students around democracy and work together to ensure best practice is followed in the school.
Portsmouth: A Young Changemakers City launches
Recently, we delivered our first Changemaker Democracy Day at Admiral Lord Nelson School in Portsmouth. As part of the day, we had fifty enthusiastic students from all year groups who are keen to ensure democracy is a common theme within their school life.
They had the chance to explore what makes a ‘changemaker’ and what they would do to make a difference both in their local community and beyond.
Each student got the chance to pitch to their peers about what they would do ‘If they were prime minister for the day’, and how they would rally support for their manifesto with a democratic fashion.
The students were also lucky enough to hear inspiring talks from Destiny Kennedy, the Member of Youth Parliament in Portsmouth, and Cllr Suzy Horton, Deputy Leader for Portsmouth City Council, and Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education.
Finally, the students were also given a safe space to actively discuss democracy in their school, their experience of it and what they would like to see improved in their learning environment.
The day was a huge success and we heard some really inspiring ideas from young people about how they would like to make positive differences in their local communities.
Admiral Lord Nelson School students commented:
’I have gained the knowledge of how I can make change today ‘
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‘We have gained the knowledge to be motivational and self-confident’
Unloc Facilitator Steve Baker commented:
“The Portsmouth: A Young Changemaker Cities project is important to enhance the pupil voice across the area. Giving young people the practical skills and knowledge they need to make the change they wish to see in their schools, as well as in the wider communities in which they live”
Fellow Unloc Facilitator Clair Martin added:
“The Young Changemakers Cities project is an essential tool to spark creative thinking and doing to help bring about social change. The project gives young people the confidence to ask for change and to feel confident change will happen.”
The initial launch of the Young Changemaker Cities project in Portsmouth will allow our team to develop the programme even further, refining and developing it with young people themselves so that it benefits young people across the UK in the future.
To find out more about the Ellis Campbell Foundation and the fantastic work they do simply click here.
We’re thrilled to reveal that we and Verizon Business won two awards at The Better Society Awards 2024!
Last Thursday industry professionals from across the country gathered at Verizon’s slick London Hub in at MidCity Place, Holborn, for a Changemaker Moments event on Manufacturing.
During the February half-term and Easter holidays this year, 53 young people, in Year 11 and 12, from across Portsmouth participated in our ‘Portsmouth Inspires’ Programme, funded by NCS.
. We’re looking for a passionate & creative young person aged 16-25 in the Portsmouth or London areas to become our first official social media
We’re thrilled to reveal that we and Verizon Business won two awards at The Better Society Awards 2024!
Last Thursday industry professionals from across the country gathered at Verizon’s slick London Hub in at MidCity Place, Holborn, for a Changemaker Moments event on Manufacturing.
During the February half-term and Easter holidays this year, 53 young people, in Year 11 and 12, from across Portsmouth participated in our ‘Portsmouth Inspires’ Programme, funded by NCS.
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