Issue - meetings

The report, prepared by the Medway Youth Council (MYC), provides the Committee with the findings and recommendations from the MYC Annual Youth Conference 2021, which was entitled ‘Covid-19: The Effect on Youth’.

At its meeting on 5 August 2021, the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommended that the report be reported to Full Council.

Background:

This report provided the Council with the findings and recommendations from the MYC Annual Youth Conference 2021, which was entitled ‘Covid-19: The Effect on Youth’.

At its meeting on 5 August 2021, the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommended that the report be reported to Full Council.

Councillor Kemp, supported by Councillor Johnson, proposed the recommendation set out in the report.

Decision:

The Council noted the Medway Youth Council report, Covid: The Effect on Youth, as set out at Appendix 1 to the report, along with the comments from the Director of People – Children and Adults Services, as set out in section 4 of the report and the comments of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee, as set out at section 6 to the report.

The report, prepared by the Medway Youth Council (MYC), provides the Committee with the findings and recommendations from the MYC Annual Youth Conference 2021, which was entitled ‘Covid-19: The Effect on Youth’.

Discussion:

Archibald Bean, the Chair of the Medway Youth Council (MYC) for 2020-2021 presented the report which provided the Committee with details from the MYC work on ‘Covid: the effect on youth’ which comprised of three phases; a mental health and wellbeing support pack, an online survey and a question and answers session. He highlighted the key findings, as set out in the MYC report at Appendix 1 and its recommendations.

Members then raised a number of questions and comments, which included:

·       Mental Health – concern was raised about the ongoing support needed regarding mental health and emotional wellbeing.  The previous MYC Chair confirmed that one recommendation was for MYC to continue to work with mental wellbeing organisations to support them in reaching out to young people.  He also referred to the waiting lists within the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service for over 11 year olds, which was also an area of concern that he felt needed to be addressed.

·       Soft skill development – comment was made on the loss of opportunity for young people to develop soft skills such as relationships with authority and with peers, which had been caused by the lockdown periods during the pandemic.

·       Distribution of report – the previous MYC Chair confirmed he had made the same presentation to the Secondary Headteacher Association.

·       Experiences of remote learning – in response to a question regarding the experience of students during school closures and the impact on their education, the previous MYC Chair explained that many young people had felt that the way mock examinations were managed should have been more flexible and that some people’s experience of online learning had been poor.  He also referred to the way in which information regarding examinations and grading was handled nationally, which had caused confusion and anxiety amongst young people.  Positive experience was also shared in relation to the use of online tools such as MS Teams, where students could find all their assignments, calendar appointments, deadlines and markings all in one place, which had been a positive way forward.

·       Accessibility of the survey – it was requested that if the MYC ran surveys in the future, could they be provided in a way to make it accessible for young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities to ensure it also captured the voice of those young people.  The previous MYC Chair undertook to feed that back to the current MYC Chair.

The Director of People – Children and Adults Services thanked MYC for the report and explained that the Medway Education Partnership would work to progress the recommendations and findings forward as part of its work, particularly in regard to supporting emotional wellbeing.

Decision:

The Committee noted the Medway Youth Council report, Covid: The Effect on Youth, as set out at Appendix 1 to the report, and the comments from the Director of People – Children and Adults Services and recommended the report be presented to full Council for its consideration.