School Needs An Education

The last few weeks have been pretty busy, attending the Welsh Team’s Youth Panel in Cardiff, heading to Manchester and Belfast to work on planning future projects and then undertaking workshops in Bradford with young people who had been excluded from school.

During these workshops, we discussed young people’s experiences of education. They also gave presentations and developed mock letters to send to Gordon Brown on what needs to change to make the education system more fair and relevant.

Dear Prime Minister

Re. School Needs An Education

We are writing to inform you about the local schools in Bradford and our experiences of education. We believe that school could be a better place if some changes were made. We think that the following are the most important issues that need addressing:

• More opportunities for good quality vocational training and work experience placements to help to prepare young people for the world of work
• More money to be spent on children and young people with learning and behavioural difficulties
• School should cost less. School dinners, equipment, trips and uniforms are all too expensive
• If teachers worked with children and young people to create rules and boundaries
• If there were less detention and exclusions
• If there were no put downs and more recognition and rewards for making an effort and doing well
• If we stop bullying in schools
• If there were counsellors in every school
• If the participation of children and young people was taken more seriously. For example, if a school tells young people that they can choose whether to wear a blazer or not in school and then revokes this suddenly, it sends out the message that young people do not really have a say.

We believe that tackling these issues could make a big difference and help to work towards a perfect school.

Yours faithfully

Princes Trust Groups
Buttershaw Youth Club, Bradford