Is the youth council for children aged nine to eleven years who come from local primary schools to discuss the issues which are affecting them locally. We meet every other month in the Council Chamber at Pippbrook (Dorking) from 4:30-5:30pm.
The schools which we represent are:
* Brockham School
* Eastwick Junior School
* The Greville Primary School
* Leatherhead Trinity Primary School
* Oakfield Junior School
* St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School
* St. Martin’s C of E Primary School
* St. Peter’s Catholic Primary School
* St. Paul’s C of E (Aided) Primary
* The Weald C of E Primary School
* West Ashtead Primary School
* The Dawnay School
* Powell Corderoy Primary School
We get a budget of £2000 each year which they can spend on a project which will benefit other children, families and young people.
1. What have we done so far...
Created Our Own Community Plan
So far we have been involved in a number of projects. In 2005/2006 we were invited to come up with our own Community Plan for Mole Valley. This is something which the District Council produces normally telling everyone what things they will be working on over the next few years and what their priorities are.
We decided to do the same thing and called it “Get into Mole Valley…Our Way Forward”. This document was planned by us, we came up with the chapter headings and contacted each school for picture and poem entries, we then chose those which gave out the best message to be included in the booklet. We then presented it to the District Council. We have had some really good feedback and it is the first time children of our age have been invited to share our views with the District Council.
Implemented a Safety Project
For 2007 we decided to launch a safety competition because at each of our meetings we talk about the difficulties that we face near our school and getting to and from school. Things like busy roads, not enough traffic lights, that we want to cycle but we can’t because the roads are too busy etc…
We have just received funding (Feb 2008) from the High Sheriff of Surrey to turn some of our posters into corrugated plastic roads signs for schools to display. This will hopefully reinforce the safety messages in the community.
Graffiti & Road Safety Playscript Competition
We have teamed up with the Police and Surrey CC to work on educational playscripts about road safety and graffiti. We recently received over 60 playscript entries written by children. A winning selection have been chosen which we will compile into a teacher's resource pack for schools, this will include playscripts that other children can act out and educate others about road safety and graffiti.
2. Get in touch….
If you want to get in touch with us, do some work with us or come and do a presentation contact the Youth Development Officer at Mole Valley District Council on 01306 879178.
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