15 March 2010Young People's Action Plan Survey April - July 2008
We had a massive response to our consultation with 3060 surveys filled in by children and young people from age 9 to age 18. That is a whopping 21% of the children and young people of that age who live in the Sevenoaks District!
The survey asked young people for their ideas, opinions and solutions on a range of topics including:
We have looked at all of the answers and ideas you gave and have used them to write the next Young People's Action Plan. The Plan is still in development at the moment and will be published in April 2009.
The Young People's Action Plan sets out the most important results from the survey and key actions, changes and improvements that need to be done to improve facilities and opportunities for children and young people in our District.
The Council work with lots of different organisations to get things done, organise activities and provide services. The draft copy of the Action Plan has been shared with these organisations to see what they think and they have agreed that it is important to make the changes recommended and have signed up to help us deliver it over the next three years.
We prepared a survey for children at Primary School, in years 5 and 6 and also another, more detailed one for young people of secondary school age, from 11-18. We also held focus groups with pupils from Dorton House School and The Valence School.
There is a lot of information on this page so use these links to jump to results from each section of the survey:
Survey - interesting facts and figures
We asked what are your top three favourite things to do in your spare time?
Children at primary school said:
The results for young people at secondary school are different as you might expect - their top five activities are:
The main thing that stops young people from doing the things they want to do is having enough money. They also said it was difficult if the activity is not available in their town or village and that transport was another barrier to doing activities.
One thing that should help a lot of young people to become mobile is the Kent Freedom Pass, which will be available in June 2009. It is a subsidised bus pass that for a £50 per year fee, gives young people up to age 16, free bus travel across Kent. Follow this link to find out more about the Kent Freedom Pass. There is also a new website that lets you look up what is going on in your area - www.togogo.info.
Moving from primary to secondary school
It can be a really big step when you change from being one of the oldest people at school, back to being one of the youngest so we wanted to find out if children in Year 5 and 6 were excited or worried about moving to secondary school.
We asked what they were worried about and around half of them said:
A lower number of children are worried about being bullied (40%). Other issues included transport to and from school, getting lost, or not knowing which school they will be going to.
To find out if children do settle in once they are at Secondary School, we asked a question just to young people in Year 7 about how they feel about school now. (We asked the questions in April so they had been at their new school for two terms)
Compared to the high numbers of children who are worried about changing schools when they are still at Primary school, our results show that most young people do settle into school, make new friends and can handle the homework.
It is planned that more projects will be set up to help children who are worried about moving schools so that they know what to expect. There are several projects already in place to support young people finding it hard at secondary school, such as peer mentoring, specialist teachers and support staff and lunchtime and after school clubs. Follow this link to read a useful leaflet by Kidscape, all about changing schools.
We know that children and young people get loads of information about important health issues already so we asked for opinions on what age they think they should start getting information and also in what format - online, by text message, through school, peer mentoring, workshops out of school time, from their parents or carers, from professionals at clinics for young people or by reading leaflets and posters.
11-18 year olds told us that information about smoking, alcohol, drugs and sex and relationships should be available to children at around age 11-13. A big majority of people said that information about healthy eating should given to children before the age of 11.
Children age 9-11 who answered the survey also said they think children should be taught about these things while at school.
The most popular way to get the information was through classes, sessions or workshops during school time:
There are some really good websites on the internet that can give you advice and information. Follow this link to go to the Links section where you will find lists of useful websites.
To stay fit and healthy, children and young people should be active for at least one hour a day. This can include doing PE at school, playing sports, walking quickly, dancing, riding a bike, swimming or playing active games in the playground, after school or at weekends. We asked how active children and young people are at the moment:
If you want some tips on how to stay active and get some information about what you can do, follow this link to go to the British Heart foundation's Y Heart website
Children aged 9-11 are more active:
To find out about other ways you can get active, and find clubs or activities in your area, follow this link to go the Links section of this website, where you can find out about all kinds of things you can do. You can also look up sports clubs and activities in your local area on the Get Active Database.
Staying safe, bullying, anti-social behaviour and crime
The Sevenoaks District is officially the safest district in Kent with the lowest recorded number of crimes last year. However, we know that young people are concerned about becoming a victim of crime when out by themselves, with friends or travelling.
We asked if fear of crime stops young people from doing any of these things:
As you may expect, the younger age group do not go out a lot on their own or at night. This changes as young people get older with fewer saying they would not go out for fear of becoming a victim of crime. This could be due to raised awareness about personal safety, increased confidence and more experience.
Girls are more concerned than boys about their personal safety. The Plan will aim to provide more sessions and information about personal safety and they should include a focus for young women to help them to feel safer when out and about in the community.
Follow this link to get some excellent tips for staying safe from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust
We asked what would make young people feel safer. These are the top five answers:
The Sevenoaks District Community Safety Partnership are already working hard to make people feel safe where they go to school and where they live. You can find out about what they are doing and get advice and information by visiting the Community Safety for young people page.
Next we asked for solutions for how to deal with bullying, anti-social behaviour and people who commit crime.
To deal with bullying, young people aged 9-11 suggested:
11-18 year olds suggested:
If you are being bullied or know someone who is, follow this link to go to the Bullying UK website. It has loads of information and advice on all kinds of bullying - for the victims and for young people who bully others. There is also advice for Parents and Schools.
Young people often get the blame for anti-social behaviour, or are accused of behaving in an anti-social way by gathering in groups and hanging about on street corners. It is important to challenge the negative perceptions of young people who are not doing anything wrong; just as it is equally important to properly deal with those who are responsible for anti-social behaviour and crime in our communities.
We asked for solutions and ideas for how to deal with young people involved in anti-social behaviour such as vandalism, graffiti, underage drinking and verbal abuse. The top answers are given below:
9-11 year olds said authorities should:
11-18 year olds said:
The Council have a dedicated Anti-Social Behaviour Officer who works with local communities and the Police to deal with people involved in anti-social behaviour. If you would like to find out more, or to report anti-social behaviour, follow this link to go the Community Safety page for anti-social behaviour.
A small minority of young people get involved in more serious crime, such as dealing drugs, violence or stealing. We asked young people aged 11-18 for their ideas on how to stop more young people from getting involved:
More activities for young people
Harsher Punishments
Educate young people about the consequences of crime
More Police involvement
More parental involvement
Some other comments were made about peer pressure and encouraging others to report crime
You can report crime anonymously to Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or follow this link to go to the Crimestoppers website. Crimestoppers also have pages on Facebook and Bebo so you can access information and advice easily. www.bebo.com/Crimestoppers
If you know someone who is at risk of becoming involved in anti-social behaviour or crime, follow this link to find out more about the Power Project. The Power Project supports young people to make better choices about their future and works with them to help them take part in things they would like to do. It has been really successful in deterring young people from getting further involved in crime.
The Internet is used as a way to stay in touch with friends and family, to keep up to date with news and interesting information, watch videos and live webcasts, shopping, play games, and get advice and guidance on any topic. Use of the Internet has grown over the last few years and now it is used at least once every day by a huge number of people.
Young people in the Sevenoaks District are no different, with 65% of 11-18 year olds using the Internet every day and a further 31% using it 2 or 3 times a week. Most (53%) use a family computer but a large proportion do have their own computer in their bedroom (43%).
The younger age group, 9-11 year olds, use it less often. Just under a third (29%) use the Internet every day but the majority (57%) use the Internet about once a month. A fifth (20%) of 9-11 year olds have their own computer in their bedroom but the vast majority (almost 80%) use a family computer.
We asked some questions to find out about young people's Internet use and safety knowledge. Here are some of their answers:
There is loads of good information about how to stay safe when you are online. www.thinkuknow.co.uk is a really good website to find out about how to stay safe when online or using your mobile. It has sections for 5-7 year olds, 8-10 year olds and teenagers and also sections for parents/carers and teachers. It has information about IM, chat, mobiles, social networking, blogs, gaming, P2P TV and file sharing with information on how to use it safely and also how it all works and how to get the best out of it.
For info about spyware and adware, viruses, spam, popups, file sharing and identity theft you can check out a site designed for young people, by young people. Follow this link to go to the Sorted website.
11-18 year olds were also asked if they think file sharing music tracks and videos with their friends is illegal.
The reality is that P2P (Peer to Peer) file sharing is not illegal and is a method of sharing files and information over a network on the Internet. The problem is that most items shared through P2P are copyrighted music, video and software.
Any original music track, video or album released has copyright on it to protect the artist. Any film will also be covered by copyright. As soon as the original of a file is copied, it becomes unlicensed. It is illegal to share unlicensed copies over the internet.
This means it is illegal to download music tracks or files with copyright from someone else's computer or a file sharing network such as Limewire or Kazaa. It is also illegal to upload music you have ripped from a CD as it does not have a license. The legal issues relate to the files you are sharing rather than the software itself. If you download unlicensed songs, films or software then you may be prosecuted, and if you make them available to other people then you could face significant fines.
The top five things that young people say they need support with are:
The Council will be working with lots of service providers to make sure there is up to date and useful information on all these topics. Follow this link to go to the Links section of the website to find out more.
A lot of young people give their time to help others, either by volunteering with an organisation such as VSU Youth In Action, or by joining forums, committees, environmental projects and school council. We asked how young people would like to participate in their community. The top answers are:
We shall be looking at new ways to continue to involve children and young people in events, activities and services run by the Council. If you have any good ideas on how we can do this - please let us know. Send an email to youthmail@sevenoaks.gov.uk
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the major housing issue for young people is the cost of buying or renting property. Other problems were finding a house in green belt land and getting a mortgage. Young people said the most important housing service that should be provided is help with budgeting and paying the bills.
Following the recent developments in the world economy and housing market, it is not surprising that young people’s views echo the needs of current house buyers and those looking to rent property.
Your future
Lastly, we asked about children and young people's aspirations for the future.
Of the 11- 18 year olds just under 80% expect to go into further or higher education after school. For the younger age group, the figure is 63%.
We asked about what they hope to have done by the age of 25. The answers are quite different for the younger and older age group. Age 25 probably appears to be quite a way off for 9-11 year olds and this may explain some of their answers!
That completes the results of our survey. The Action Plan will be launched in April 2009 and will be posted on this website with a version for children and young people included.
We want young people to continue to be involved in the Action Plan – this could be as part of a action group, street team, the Project Team, answering email questionnaires or by visiting youth projects and talking to youth workers and young people - if you would like to get involved send us an email at youthmail@sevenoaks.gov.uk and get ready for action!
