Earlier this month I hosted my inaugural Festival of Childhood: Our Future, Our Voice at Young V&A to celebrate the joy of childhood and outline my vision to make England the best place to grow up.
During the day I called on decision makers to listen to young people to make their lives and the lives of other children better.
As Children’s Commissioner, my priority is to listen to children across the country and to champion their voices.
Since becoming Children’s Commissioner four years ago, I have heard from a million children and young people – most recently through The Big Ambition survey last year.
It’s clear from survey responses that this is an ambitious and determined generation, but only 22% of young people agreed that people who run the country listen to what they had to say.
It’s my mission to change this.
Since the launch of The Big Ambition I have worked hard to bring children’s voices to politicians and decision makers to ensure their views are reflected in policies that affect their lives through a series of roundtables, events and media interviews.
The Festival of Childhood was an opportunity to raise the profile of this work with an event that brought together hundreds of young delegates, including my newly formed SEND Panel and newly appointed Young Ambassadors, with a diverse audience of adult decision makers to talk about the issues impacting children’s lives.
I wanted to spark a national conversation about youth voice which was picked up widely across the media and social media.
The Festival of Childhood began with a series of keynote speeches from V&A Director Tristram Hunt, Hughie Higginson, a young presenter from Sky FYI, and the Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson MP.
In my speech, I outlined the potential crisis facing children and how children are turning to the online world for answers, as they feel increasingly ‘disconnected’ from society. I urged adults to connect with children and that the antidote to children feeling disconnected was simple: listen to children and act on what they say.
During my speech, I was joined by my Ambassadors Rylie, Emmanuel, Tamar, Sofia and Zara who spoke about the challenges facing young people today.
They helped me set out my vision for childhood, where I outlined the events that should never have to face in childhood and the things children should always have access to in order to feel supported.
Later in the morning, two panel discussions took place looking at what children need to build successful foundations in the early years, and the support children need in their teenage years to face the future. You will be able to listen back to these panel discussions as podcasts in The Big Conversation series. Listen on Apple podcasts, Spotify and Amazon music/Audible.
In the afternoon, young delegates had the chance to join a number of workshops. Young V&A hosted a workshop on creative confidence; My Life, My Say spoke to young people about getting involved in politics and the power of democracy; while members of my office ran a session about how young people want their ideas to be heard and represented in decision making.
Throughout the Festival of Childhood children had the opportunity to join creative sessions to express their ideas and learn news creative skills. Activities included a magical book reading by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, as well as the opportunity to design badges in Young V&A’s Design Gallery.
There was incredible music from Coldfall Primary School and from Walthamstow School for Girls Steel pan Band which brought a sense of joy and optimism.
As I reflect on the Festival of Childhood, I want to thank everyone involved in making my inaugural Festival such a success – especially Young V&A. I want to thank all the young delegates who joined me – your voices were the heartbeat of the day. Your honesty, creativity and courage lit up every conversation and will have inspired the adults in the room.
As Children’s Commissioner, I will continue to champion young voices – it’s clear that children have the ideas, insight and passion for change, they need adults to listen, act and be by their side. Thank you for making the first Festival of Childhood unforgettable. I cannot wait to see what we achieve together next.
