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Newsletter 4: Cut-backs, citizenship, peer training and student voice

Hello from involver: newsletter number 4!

Scottish schools are back, and there’s not too long before all the other UK schools will be too. But we know you’ve still been working hard, as have we, and this is what’s been going on:

News: Student voice support is taking a beating in some LAs

We’ve been hearing from a lot of Local Authority colleagues across the UK who’ve been updating us on whether their services are facing cut-backs. Unfortunately, in some areas, we’re seeing major cuts for children and young people’s services as part of the drive to cut the deficit.
If you’ve already been in touch to tell us what’s happening where you are, then many thanks. If you’ve got a moment to keep us informed, please email us, info@involver.org.uk.
As we get a fuller a picture we’ll be writing up a short, broad report about how student voice support seems to have been affected nation-wide.

Resource: Linking Citizenship and student voice

The student voice CPD resource that we wrote for the Association of Citizenship Teaching (ACT), targeted at Local Authority advisors, is now available online. It’s a half day session and free at:
http://www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk/page?p=84

Blog: School council success: improvement or representation?

What’s your school council really about? How do you measure its success? Is it by what it changes or how well it represents all pupils’ views? These are Asher’s thoughts (and a dad joke):
http://involver.org.uk/2010/08/school-council-success-improvement-or-representation/

Training: Assemblies, Twilights, Full-Day and On-going Support

We’re reorganising our training – which isn’t that exciting – but the fact that we’re going to be running peer training soon is! We ran our first session training up some young people to do just that on Wednesday. This will be in partnership with a national youth-led organisation. Watch this space for more info:
http://involver.org.uk/training

Resource: Simple Student Voice Audit Tool

We’ve had a good response to the simple audit tool that we put together, and schools are finding it really useful to get feedback on how well they’re doing (if you’re still waiting for feedback, it is on its way, we’re just making sure it’s fully customised and useful for your school, so is taking a while). We’re working on an all-singing, all-dancing version which we’ll keep you posted on too. Try out the simple version here:
http://involver.org.uk/resources/simple-student-voice-audit/

Video: Pupils planning lessons

We came across this great video on Teachers TV this week. It’s from a few years back, but well worth a watch to see another great approach to student voice:
http://www.teachers.tv/videos/planning-with-pupils

Blog: 3 lessons we’ve learned setting up a social enterprise

Greg’s been travelling around the UK again feeling reflective as he stares out the train window, and has blogged on three lessons we’ve learnt when setting up involver. Do you have anything to add:
http://involver.org.uk/2010/08/3-lessons-learned-startup-social-enterprise/

Music: August’s involver spotify playlist

It’s a brill mix of top tunes and probably the best yet. If you’re still not on spotify, you can get it here (http://www.spotify.com/uk/) – it’s free and amazing. Playlist link:
http://open.spotify.com/user/scyne/playlist/3sebGGM3jOt4SjOGg5XMgw

Hope to hear from you all soon,

Greg and Asher @ involver