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El’s #BeeWell Story
After a few months of travelling in the summer of 2024, I stepped into an internship with #BeeWell, eager to develop my skills and gain experience in the policy space.
The internship – provided by The Gregson Family Foundation, a founding partner of #BeeWell – offered just that. The programme was about to embark on what has since become a journey spanning over a year into affecting national policy change: establishing a wellbeing measurement programme for children and young people across England.
The plan was twofold: work with MPs and Peers to amend the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, newly introduced to Parliament; and submit a bid to the Treasury’s 2025 Spending Review. The Our Wellbeing, Our Voice coalition grew out of this ambition – a core team of colleagues from #BeeWell, The Children’s Society, Pro Bono Economics, and the Fair Education Alliance.
We met fortnightly to bring together the group’s diversity of expertise, identify and capitalise on opportunities, and coordinate next steps for influencing change. My role involved monitoring engagement, drafting parliamentary briefings and broadly trying to ensure that our activities kept pace with the bills fast-moving progress.
Working closely with the #BeeWell team and our policy consultant, we planned for the Bill’s passage, mapping key relationships and expanding our reach. Within the communications team, we ensured the campaign message was continually out there, achieving coverage in national media publications and creating engaging content for #BeeWell’s platforms.
Co-authoring the bid to the Spending Review with the team was a highlight, demonstrating how a young people’s wellbeing measurement programme could support the objectives of the government’s missions. I was able to practise writing concisely, with evidence, and placing readers’ interests at the forefront.
In the ten months of my time at #BeeWell, the campaign coalition has grown to over 60 high-profile organisations, all united in their vision that children and young people should have their perspectives heard.
As I begin a new chapter as a Policy Adviser in the civil service, I’m taking with me everything I learned at #BeeWell. The programme and the brilliant people behind it are making a real difference, and I feel privileged to have had such broad exposure to every aspect of the work – nothing was off limits. While I’m sad to have not been able to see the campaign through to its final outcome, I leave highly confident that it’s in safe hands with the Our Wellbeing, Our Voice team. I can’t wait to see what’s next!
The Our Wellbeing, Our Voice Campaign is calling on the government to implement a national wellbeing measurement programme to address the needs of children and young people across England.
Explore the campaign, read the latest updates, and find out how you or your organisation can get involved at ourwellbeingourvoice.org
