Our Voice: Learn Real Life Zine

Posted on by Sarah

Our Voice, Our Vote, Our Future: Learn Real Life is our project that gives young people in Carmarthenshire the opportunity to highlight the issues that matter to them. Our project is all about making sure that our voices are heard and taken into account by decision makers with the aim of improving the services we receive or to make a difference to the issues that affect our lives. We’re talking about things like education, mental health, community services, and more.

After we collected the responses the Our Voice Ballot, (please click here for background information) Teach Real Life Lessons In School was voted by young people as the most important issue, this became the Youth Council’s priority issue for the year. Over the past 18 months, we completed research, surveys, ran focus groups, held ballots and organised events to hear directly from young people Carmarthenshire.

We pushed for change and created the ‘Learn Real Life’ event to listen to young people’s views and experiences about the real-life lessons in their education setting. Held in February 2025, the Our Voice: Learn For Life event was a great success, supported by a number of our Secondary Schools, Decision Makers and Managers from Carmarthenshire County Councils Education Department, they worked together and participated in activities designed to gather their feedback on their experiences with real-life lessons being taught in schools.

Our member Bethan said “I had the opportunity to host the event, and I was nervous before starting but after some time I gained more confidence to speak in front of the young people, teachers and guests. It was also informative to hear the different perspectives from different schools. I find it very interesting how one school can be taught something different from another.”

We are happy to share with you our recently completed Learn Real Life Zine on the findings and feedback we received from young people who attended the event.

The Zine shares views on:
★ What life lessons do young people think they have learnt in school.
★ Explores views on the challenges and opportunities needed to navigate through everyday life.
★ Illustrates areas such as digital skills in future work, social and emotional challenges that need to be improved.

Click here to read our Learn Real Life Zine.

By running “Our Voice, Our Vote, Our Future”, we ensure that young people’s needs remain at the heart of local decision making. It’s our future so let’s make this count! We are excited to be attending Carmarthenshire Headteachers’ meetings before the Summer to share our findings and highlight the feedback to those who can make a difference.

To be involved in the conversation please leave a comment below or follow us on social media.

Article by
Bethan Jones 

Never Silence The Violence… A Resource For Young People

Posted on by Sarah

Our Never Silence the Violence project presents a drama-documentary that highlights the critical stages and sheds light on the experience of a young person following the reporting of a domestic abuse incident.

We are very proud of our members as they took the lead on every aspect of the Never Silence the Violence project, including having starring roles, script writing, filming, and interviewing professionals such as Dyfed Powys Police, Children’s Services, and CarmDas. Click here to read our Project Leads experience of developing the Docudrama – Win The Fight Against Domestic Abuse

The 15-minute DocuDrama, Never Silence The Violence was officially launched by the County Council’s Director for Education and Children, Owain Lloyd at an event in the Carmarthenshire Business Hub at St Catherine’s Walk on Monday, November 25 following a short walk-through the town for men and boys to show their support organised by Carmarthen Domestic Abuse Services Ltd.

We are very grateful to Carmarthenshire Youth Support Service for funding the docudrama and to everyone involved in the making our idea come alive and all the hard work that was put in to raise awareness for such a pressing issue. We hope that this resource will be shared amongst various organisations to give young people an insight into the support available and what happens when they disclose or report domestic abuse.

Find out how to get help if you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse:
★ Remember that you can talk to your Teacher, Youth Worker, Coach or an Adult you trust
★ Live Fear Free – National Website
★ Carmarthenshire Domestic Abuse Service
★ Live Fear Free Helpline – 0808 80 10 800
★ In an emergency, CALL THE POLICE on 999

For more information contact us using our online page Get In Touch or get involved in the conversation by using #NeverSilenceTheViolence on social media.

Our Voice, Our Vote, Our Future

Posted on by Sarah

OUR BIGGEST CONSULTATION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN CARMARTHENSHIRE

OUR PROJECT…

Our Voice, Our Vote, Our Future’ is Carmarthenshire’s annual youth consultation which finds out what issues matter the most to young people in our county. The consultation promotes democracy and enables Children’s Rights by encouraging young people to have a say in what matters to them. We launched Our Voice Our Vote, Our Future Ballot, during the Autumn term of 2023. We reached out and worked with secondary schools in Carmarthenshire, asking them to share the two most important issues for their students, we called these motions.

In November, we held a consultation event where two representatives from each of our secondary schools presented their motions. Everyone present took a vote, shortlisting the 10 TOP MOTIONS, forming our first Our Voice, Our Vote, Our Future ballot paper! The ballot paper went live in early 2024 and young people, aged 11-18 from across Carmarthenshire were encouraged to cast their vote on the one issue that matters most to their lives.

THE VOTE…

After the voting period, we counted the number of ballots we received and were amazed by how many of you used your voice for positive change. A total of 5221 votes were received from across Carmarthenshire. The results of the ballot were announced during the Carmarthenshire Youth Council Annual General Meeting held in April 2024 with the top issue voted for by young people was Teach Real Life Lessons In School with a total of 1051 votes.


The vote will shape the conversation around issues that directly impact young people’s lives and matter to them the most.  Teach Real Life Lesson In School is now our priority issue and over the next 12 months we will give young people an opportunity to work on a campaign to make sure that their vote counts and makes a difference across Carmarthenshire.

WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR:

  • Contacted Schools and Projects letting them know what the top issues is.
  • Met with Carmarthenshire County Council’s Education Department Management Team to discuss the result, share our ideas and gain feedback.
  • Held and taken part in a workshop (for CYC Members) to discuss and research the issue further, created a draft timeline and appointed a sub-group to keep move the campaign on.
  • Created a campaign proposal that we will share with the Education Department Managers, Head Teachers and other relevant bodies to gain support and work together.
  • Four members of CYC are represented on the National Education and Training Advisory Boards for 11-16 and 16-25 year old rung by Young Wales

We can’t wait for you to see what we have planned!
To keep in touch with the campaign or to get involved please follow #LearnRealLife social media or leave us a comment below with your opinions.

Article by
Evie

#NeverSilenceTheViolence

Posted on by Sarah

Our project aims to raise awareness of domestic abuse. It will include information about this topic area, recent statistics, interviews with professionals, a support directory, and blogs. 

Following the Make Your Mark Consultation, we focused on domestic abuse as their priority issue for the past year. With the project’s name “NEVER Silence the Violence” decided on, our group began the research.

We held several meetings, both online and in person, to discuss approaches that they can take to try to bring more attention to this important topic. As part of our project, we attended training about domestic abuse, which included learning about the different types of abuse, challenging myths, and facts about the topic. We have also learnt how to keep ourselves safe in such situations and know where to go for support/guidance all factoring itself into our research and our ability to raise awareness of the matter.

Our members met with many professionals to ask for guidance and gain more information.  We met with Ellana Thomas, DA Project Coordinator and Catrin Rees, Healthy Schools Coordinator. We have also been in touch with the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse, and Sexual Violence Partnership Coordinator and Dyfed Powys Police to develop the ideas for this project.

We are so glad to hear that Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) is part of the new Curriculum in Wales and it is being introduced in schools this term. We strongly believe that this will equip children and young people with understanding and skills to lead healthy, happy and safe lives.

Find out how to get help if you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse:
★ Remember that you can talk to your Teacher, Youth Worker, Coach or an Adult you trust
★ Live Fear Free
★ Carmarthenshire Domestic Abuse Service
★ Live Fear Free Helpline – 0808 80 10 800
★ In an emergency, CALL THE POLICE on 999

Eco Action Team

Posted on by roderick
A voice for young people in Carmarthenshire on environmental matters.

The Eco Action Team was set up in November 2019 with its main aim to act as a voice for young people in Carmarthenshire focusing on environmental issues.

We have been busy running competitions, meeting with professionals and developing new ideas. We meet every month to discuss, develop and plan future projects. We invite guests to our meetings to gain a better understanding of environmental issues and with their expertise, improve our work.

Our members have been involved in the Walk the Global Walk project and contributed to the Climate Action Manifesto, as a result of which the Climate Action Consultation Group was established to monitor the progress of the document. CYC members represented our group in those meetings either by chairing or taking part in the discussions.

With new members joining CYC, we are planning to develop our ideas further and to raise awareness on environmental issues affecting our county. Through our work we would like to highlight what has been done so far in Carmarthenshire to tackle climate change and promote young people’s voices on this important matter.

We believe that children and young people need to change so that we develop good habits that can continue into adulthood. We all need to get involved and should share the same aim to keep our environment litter free, sustainable, and eco-friendly for our future generations!