My Say Matters recent achievements and activity
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Our 2024 - 2025 achievements and activities
May 2025 Interviewing for the New Director of Children’s Services
In May 2025 six My Say Matters members took part in interviewing for the new Director of Children’s Services as part of the Youth Stakeholder Panel, which was also chaired by a young person - Zakia. This was an excellent opportunity for our members to gain access to the inner workings of a senior recruitment process and take decisions about how to conduct their interview, including writing their own questions and undertaking a scoring exercise. Their feedback contributed to the appointment of the final candidate who was also the Youth Panel’s first choice. All our young people showed exceptional maturity and gave relevant and perceptive feedback.
Connor, our Member of Youth Parliament said:
“Thank you so much for the opportunity to be involved - I really enjoyed the experience and being able to see what it's like to interview.”
February 2025 - Young people put their questions to the council’s politicians
On 3 February, more than 30 young people aged 11-18 took part in the first ever Barnet Youth Question Time. The online session gave young people the chance to put their questions to the Council Leader, Cllr Barry Rawlings, and his Cabinet. For an hour the council’s political leaders were grilled on a variety of issues affecting young people, from council finances and tackling the cost-of-living crisis, through to sustainability and dealing with the vape epidemic.
Questions were submitted in advance with follow-up questions taken on the night and the discussion was lively, with the informed audience pressing the Cabinet on a number of tough subjects.
Thanks go to the evening’s excellent Youth Chairs – Dia and Zoi, both 13, and Winter, 16, all students at The Compton School, who asked the questions and encouraged the audience to ask their own and to get involved in other ways to make their voices heard in local decisions that affect them, including My Say Matters.
February 2025 Youth Assembly Motion on School Councils becomes part of Guidance to Barnet Schools
BELS (Barnet Education and Learning Service) Chief Executive Neil Marlow has been a champion for My Say Matters and regularly attends Youth Assembly and takes part in the debates and follow up. He has invited young people to be participants in Barnet’s Schools and Settings Standards Partnership Board Meeting (SSSPBM) with headteachers and senior education staff and this has proved an effective way to progress motions that require the support of schools.
Winter’s Youth Assembly motion from 2023 regarding school councils has been discussed SSSPB meetings and as a result guidance written by him has been agreed by headteachers and circulated to all schools. It has also been agreed that Learning Network Inspectors will add an inquiry about school councils to their regular contact with schools, the result being a broader conversation about the ways in which pupil’s voices can be heard. A recent survey to schools has explored this issue further. This is an excellent example of young people being part of all 4 quadrants of the Lundy participation model; Space, Voice, Audience and Influence.
October 2024 and February 2025 Barnet Mayor’s Projects
Barnet Mayors continue to support My Say Matters vigorously and champion the voice of young people by offering a slot at the start of full council meetings.
In October 2024 Onyinyechi, Isabel, Mimi, Tochi from Woodhouse College spoke about the importance of Black history under the theme Reclaiming Narratives, including celebrating the contributions of Black Barnet residents to the local education sector and economy.
In January 2025 Saba, Shaimaa, Alina and Alexa (all students at Copthall School) addressed full council on the topic of Barnet’s 60th anniversary. Their speeches recognised all the elements that make Barnet a great place to grow up and their hopes for the Barnet of the future.
Young people greatly value this slot which brings them into the heart of local democracy giving them a chance to speak whilst also seeing the behind-the-scenes preparation for full council and meeting officers and council members on the night.
October 2024 - Barnet Youth Assembly breaks all records and goes global
This month Barnet Youth Assembly has hosted its first session of the season with a record attendance of 52 young people. The meeting was also attended by local councillors and the Leader and Directors of Children’s Services and Education. We started by debating a motion proposed by Freddie, which passed, calling on the council to share more information about the current financial challenges and protect services to children and young people. We elected Vanshi as our third youth chair and got feedback on what members want to do for the rest of the year. Afterwards we got some really encouraging feedback from members:
“Youth assembly is very welcoming first of all. You feel free to give your opinion, your choice. You feel part of something, you feel you can actually make a change and impact” Elitsa, 14
“As soon as I entered, I felt I was going to be part of something where I had influence. I felt I could make a positive change for Barnet. I have lived here all my life and I think it’s important to give back”. Reema, 15
“I really enjoyed our first Barnet Youth Assembly meeting of the academic year, where we engaged in a lively debate on an important motion. It was inspiring to hear everyone's perspectives and witness the passion for making a difference. The energy in the room was contagious, setting a great tone for the year ahead!" Paarth, 15
Barnet Youth Assembly has also gone international with a mention at the United Nations! Watch a previous Youth Assembly Chair Ishaan Shah talk about his involvement in Barnet’s youth and democracy offer and his role in developing the My Say Matters strategy.
Ishaan said “In September 2024, I was back in New York at the UN where I was invited to speak at the UN Pre-Summit of the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments.
Of course, since Barnet Youth Assembly and your support have been instrumental to my journey of civic participation and youth engagement, I had to speak about these and the accomplishments made at the local level.”
Young people across Barnet elect representatives to champion their views (March 2024)
Four Barnet school pupils have been chosen by young people across the borough to represent their views at the national and local levels.
Thousands of youngsters voted to elect their Members of Youth Parliament and Youth Ambassadors for the 2024 - 2026 term.
The newest Members of Youth Parliament are:
- Connor Gill, age 15, Finchley Catholic High School
- Freddie Atkinson, age 16, Saracens High School
Barnet’s newest Youth Ambassadors are:
- Eleanor Sidnick, age 15, JCoSS
- Sylvia Bega, age 13, East Barnet School
Barnet’s Youth Ambassadors chair the council’s Youth Board, where officers seek feedback from young people about policies, strategies and projects around the borough.
The Members of Youth Parliament represent Barnet as part of the national UK Youth Parliament, which sits annually at Westminster and campaigns on youth issues across the country.
All four young people will also progress their individual campaigns for better youth mental health support, diversifying the curriculum, supporting students with school stress and tackling knife crime.
Forty young people aged between 11 and 16 stood in the elections - a record number of candidates. There were 5,831 votes cast for the Youth Ambassadors and 7,596 cast for the Members of Youth Parliament across 14 schools.
The results were announced at Hendon Town Hall on 21 March at an event hosted by Barnet’s Mayor and attended by candidates, their schools and families. Also present were local councillors, Barnet’s Director of Children’s Services, and the Chief Executive of Barnet Education and Learning Services.
The night was also a chance to thank the outgoing youth representatives for 2022-24, MYPs Elysse Adil and Isaac Reuben and Youth Ambassadors Ania Siad and Deetya Pardasani.
Elysse said: “I’ve learnt many important life skills that I will definitely need in the future, like public speaking and debating, which are used in the Houses of Parliament.”
Isaac is now studying Politics at the University of Leeds – a decision he said was inspired by his time on the Youth Parliament.
He said: “It’s been amazing seeing the practical level of politics alongside doing it academically for A-level as well. We’ve done all sorts of things locally, testifying to council about things like trans children in schools, accessibility in various areas. And then on a national level, that’s been really fun. We’ve met people from across the UK who you would just never meet.”
The Worshipful Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Nagus Narenthira, said: “I would like to congratulate all those who took part in this year’s elections.
“These initiatives are a great opportunity for all students in Barnet to take part in democratic processes at such a young age – and that is very, very valuable.”
Youth Elections 2024 - 2026
For the 2024 youth elections, 42 young people from across Barnet applied for a chance to become members of the youth parliament and Barnet youth ambassadors. So far, 16 schools have taken part from across the borough, and 3241 votes have been submitted for candidates. This high level of youth engagement is impressive and inspiring as young people have shown their determination to use their voices to shape Barnet for the better.
The young people presented their campaign topics at the hustings event at Hendon town hall in February. Each young person spoke for 2 minutes about their campaign and how they would like to represent the young people of Barnet. The diverse range of young people that took part was reflected in the campaign topics presented at the hustings at Hendon town hall. Topics ranged from knife crime, bullying, and the environment. To review candidate’s campaigns in more depth: 2024 UK Youth Parliament Election Candidates.
In the lead-up to elections, young people also spoke at full council meetings. Dario, Ava, Akay, Sophia, Kashmala, Avi, Freddie, Meir, and Sejal shared their campaigns with councillors and were even able to meet the mayor.
They shared the various ways they would like to help shape Barnet in the future such as diversifying the curriculum, homelessness, and youth participation in politics. The speeches were well received, and it was impressive to see Barnet’s young people once again striving to make a difference in their local community.
We are really proud of the hard work all the young people have put into the campaigns for this year’s elections. We look forward to welcoming the new members of the youth parliament and Barnet youth ambassadors at the results night on the 21 March 2024.
2023 achievements and activities
Our 2023 achievements and activities