Democracy Friendly Schools: a Young Citizens blog by Diane Sims

Young Citizens is a series of blogs exploring how councils are involving children and young people in local democracy. Our Director of Communications, Diane Sims, has shared this story on behalf of her Democracy Engagement and Communications team at Kirklees Council.


How we’re inspiring young people to get involved in local democracy

What if every young person grew up feeling part of their local democracy? What if everyone knew how to connect with their councillors, felt listened to and could actively make a difference in their community? What if everyone understood that local democracy is about their everyday lives, and felt inspired to get involved? And how do we make that happen?

These are some of the questions that have inspired my team’s work with young citizens in Kirklees.

Our work has grown from a strong commitment made by the Kirklees Democracy Commission to empowering our young citizens. We worked with young people and school communities to create our pioneering Democracy Friendly Schools programme, based on learning from over 1,700 young people. The first of its kind in the UK, the programme supports children and young people to learn about local democracy and to get actively involved.

We’ve learned that young people of all ages do want to be involved in local democracy. They want flexible ways of doing this – from quick activities they can dip in and out of, to developing their own social action projects. They want their contributions to be recognised and celebrated. They want to get to know and trust people who can help them to make the changes they want. And the place where they feel safest taking part is in their school community.


Youth Councillors from King James's School participating in the Democracy Friendly Schools programme

How the Democracy Friendly Schools programme works

We support schools with a range of flexible activities, which are all based on five key themes: 

  • Learning about local democracy
  • Exploring your local place
  • Having a voice in your school and community
  • Connecting with your councillors 
  • Doing democracy in your place 

These five themes are also the criteria for achieving our Democracy Friendly Schools Award, which we give to celebrate the achievements of our young citizens – and to encourage ongoing participation, year on year.

All schools in Kirklees can take part. Each school chooses how the programme will work best for them. It’s a rolling programme, so schools can sign up at any time, start when they choose and work at a pace that suits them.

We provide ‘Train the Trainer’ sessions for teachers to help build capacity and understanding, a menu of Everyday Democracy Activities for all schools to choose from, and a two-day ‘Introduction to Local Democracy’ training programme for high schools (participants who complete this training also become Kirklees Youth Councillors). We encourage and support schools to tell their story, to celebrate the young people’s achievements. 

Schools in every ward of Kirklees are already signed up to the programme, including 88% of high schools. 100% of special schools, 36% of primary schools, plus madrasa schools, alternative provision and all-through faith schools. Overall, 46% of all Kirklees schools have already expressed an interest in the programme, and over 28% have already started their activities. 

Democracy Friendly Schools activities at Fairfield School

Here are some examples of how different schools are participating:

  • Gomersal St. Mary’s CE(C) Primary
    Gomersal St. Mary’s were the first school in Kirklees to become Democracy Friendly. They adapted our activities for their Early Years setting. Together the children explored their school and created a plan to make their classroom a better place to learn. Children in Year 5 explored further afield: “We wrote to our Councillor, we zoomed him, we tweeted him… and we agreed on a local project.”
    Gomersal St Mary’s’ story
  • Newsome Academy
    Newsome Academy became our first Democracy Friendly high school. The Newsome Youth Councillors shared their learning by organising a series of ‘Introduction to Local Democracy’ assemblies for each year group, reaching over 1,200 students. They invited local councillors to help create a new nature area as part of their social action project, and hosted a Rethinking Climate Action workshop at the Notwestminster event.
    Newsome Academy’s story
  • Fairfield School
    Fairfield provides a learning experience for students aged 4 to 19 who have a wide range of complex needs. Five participants were recognised for their excellent leadership skills and have become Kirklees Youth Councillors. They have also connected with youth councillors in a mainstream local school. The Mayor of Kirklees invited Fairfield to the Council Chamber to celebrate their achievement as our first Democracy Friendly special school.
    Fairfield’s story

Democracy happens where you are

The Democracy Friendly Schools programme is breaking down barriers to democratic engagement by improving the confidence and learning of whole school communities, starting with our key learning about what local democracy is. We’ve created a special video animation – Democracy happens where you are – in which we clearly put citizens at the heart of democracy. This encourages thinking about what local democracy really is, who does it and where it happens. The animation has been particularly important for our schools programme, setting expectations from a young age that democracy is about you. We have a strong focus on active citizenship throughout the programme.


Pupils from Spring Grove School meeting local Councillors as part of the Democracy Friendly Schools programme

Growing connections with councillors

Relationships are what make local democracy work. We’re supporting young citizens to connect with their councillors, to learn about their role, to share how they feel about their local place, and to work with their councillors on practical local projects. 

 

Some examples of how we support young citizens to connect with councillors are:

  • Encouraging children and young people to write to their councillors
  • Inviting councillors into schools to talk with young people
  • Providing councillors with an activity pack to support sessions in schools
  • Hosting online ’Meet your Councillors’ sessions for schools
  • Welcoming deputations from school groups to Full Council
  • Organising school visits to our local election counts
  • Bringing different schools together for Welcome to Your Vote Week, hosted by the Leader of the Council and the Mayor of Kirklees
  • Inviting young people to take part in activities in the Council Chamber
  • Meet the Mayor sessions in our town halls

The Democracy Friendly programme gives a learning framework for all of these activities. This helps us to make sure that all activities are meaningful for our young participants, as part of their ongoing learning journey.


Children giving a tour of the school grounds during the Democracy Friendly Schools award visit at Gomersal St Marys School

Sharing our learning

We are also on a learning journey of our own. We have learned so much from our young citizens over the years about what helps young people to get involved. I feel that we have grown with them. And these are lessons for us to learn about how to inspire democratic engagement for people of all ages. 

 

What if every school was democracy friendly? What would that mean for the future of our local democracy? Let’s work together to make that happen. 


Find out more

Website: Democracy Friendly Schools
Twitter: @KirkleesYC & @kirkdemocracy

Email: Diane.Sims@Kirklees.gov.uk & Michelle.Ross@Kirklees.gov.uk



Share your story

Do you have a story to share about how you’re involving young citizens in local democracy?

We welcome guest blog posts that we can share with our ADSO community.

Please contact diane.sims@adso.co.uk if you’d like to share what you’re doing.


 

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