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On the 29th of April, #BeeWell were invited to spend some time with Wigan Youth Cabinet, exploring the latest data from the 2024 survey and getting their insights on what we should do to improve lives of young people in the borough. The team found the insights the young people shared truly insightful in supporting our understanding of the wellbeing of young people in Greater Manchester and the nuances of their experiences according to the school they go to and where they live. In this blog, we’ll share some of the themes from our discussions in the hope they can fuel our partners in their action planning following data publication.
Our latest data on how young people feel about their physical health sparked great conversations and sharing of experiences linked to participation in physical activity. The group reflected that an hour a day of activity feels like a lot to ask, but agreed that through the combination of walking to school and opportunities to be active in school, it made the guidance more manageable, albeit difficult to prioritise as you get older and focus on academic attainment during exam years. Examples were shared of young people being taken off usual timetable to focus on English, Maths and Science meaning they missed out on PE and it felt like less of a priority, the older you got, despite the well evidenced impact being active has on your wellbeing. Overall, the group agreed that in the majority of schools PE feels “behind the times” when it comes to gender differences, with nuanced examples of uniform, bullying in changing rooms and PE options for girls feeling particularly biased and not conducive to improving the activity levels for girls. Good examples of changes to PE kit and opportunities to try things in school were shared, demonstrating the possibility for young people to influence all GM schools to reconsider some of their historic practices.
Continuing with the theme of “Healthy” the group reflected on the data regarding food and nutrition, sharing examples where food feels too expensive, with one member of the group recalling how the cost of bottles of water resulted in an inability to buy food using free school meal allowance. Young people celebrated examples where free fruit was supplied to schools, meaning it made it easier to make the decision to eat a piece of fruit rather than venturing to the local shop for a snack. We also celebrated examples of schools and youth groups engaging young people in selecting food options and providers, which resulted in far better take up of balanced meals.
Whilst sharing our #BeeWell data on where young people feel safe, have places to go and activities to take part in, the group reflected on times where they were made to feel unwelcome, particularly as you get older. Many places don’t allow young people in in groups, particularly in the evenings, and you can get told off for “hanging about” and threatened with anti-social behaviour charges. Many youth spaces can feel too young for our older teenagers or involve particular activities when mostly young people would just like a space to be, with their friends. The group were interested to know whether there’s a correlation between feeling like there’s somewhere to go and levels of loneliness, something #BeeWell commits to looking into and sharing back with the group.
Our #BeeWell data on “success” prompted a lively discussion regarding what we define as success, aligned with our recent #BeeWell Youth Steering Group project. We spoke at length about hope and optimism for the future and their perceptions of the lack of jobs and opportunities in the Wigan area, not just in the future but for right now. There was a sense of disappointment that early career opportunities and young people jobs relied too heavily on “who you know” and the difficulty to gain experience. The group reflected on the good experiences some members had had in preparing for job applications with mock interviews in school. The group collectively reflected on the skills learned by participating in volunteering opportunities such as youth cabinet and parliament, should be seen as valuable experience within CVs, particularly demonstrating their commitment.
We started the session by sharing the great feedback Wigan Youth Cabinet had on their excellent video they created in response to last years #BeeWell data which has inspired multiple other local authorities to create something similar with their young people. Watch the video below:
