Children, young people and services from across the county took part in Flintshire’s Respectfest ’12 recently, at Elfed High School.
The event focused on encouraging respect within schools and communities and celebrated the work going on in Flintshire in line with the Welsh Government’s Anti-bullying guidance ‘Respecting Others’.
Respect is a core value at Elfed High School, and students worked with other pupils in the Buckley Mynydd Isa Consortium of Schools on a leaflet to make sure pupils know bullying is not acceptable.
Rosemary Jones, Head of Elfed High School said –
“It was a pleasure to welcome Respectfest to Elfed High School. The students who took part shared an important message about building positive relationships and avoiding conflicts. Congratulations to all who were involved in this event.”
The Flintshire Youth Forum, pupils from Elfed High School, Connah’s Quay High and Cornist Park Juniors facilitated the event and played key roles to make sure that the children and young people attending got the most out of the day.
Chris Ablett from the Flintshire Youth Forum said –
“It was brilliant to see so many young people supporting the issue of respect. Everyone got involved and applied themselves with infectious enthusiasm. This was an event where individuality and kindness were brought into focus and celebrated. Respectfest ‘13 is one to look out for!”
The delegates had an opportunity to share their thoughts on bullying and respect in two workshops. The Flintshire Youth Forum (FYF) ran a workshop using Theatre Forum to explore issues around respect and being an individual. Another workshop focused on staying safe on the internet, and all of the information will be used by the Flintshire & Wrexham Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (FWLSCB).
Jill Gilliam, FWLSCB Business Manager, said –
“I was very pleased to be invited to represent the Flintshire and Wrexham Local Safeguarding Children Board (FWLSCB) at the Flintshire Respectfest. It provided a great opportunity to raise awareness of the FWLSCB among professionals and children and young people and to obtain their views on staying safe on-line – the theme of this year’s FWLSCB annual conference. The young people at the event shared some great ideas with us which will be considered by our Junior LSCB in the future”.
Over 130 people attended across the day. Representatives from the Local Authority also offered their support on the day and local services had stands to help children, young people and the staff who support them become more aware of sources of support available if any of the issues particularly affect any one attending.
Ian Budd, Director of Lifelong Learning at Flintshire County Council said –
“It was great to see so many young people coming together to share their ideas on keeping safe and respecting others.”
The event has been kindly supported by The Children & Young People’s Partnership, Elfed High School, the Flintshire Youth Forum, the Respecting Others Multi-agency Steering Group and the Flintshire Youth Bank.
Alongside this event, multi-agency groups have been working to produce a toolkit of resources to support those who work with children and young people. The toolkit includes guidance on setting up a ‘Respecting Others’ policy in their setting, workshops on how to explore respect with children and young people and advice for parents if bullying enters their child’s life.
If you would like to find out more about the Respecting Others Project in Flintshire, please visit www.youngflintshire.co.uk/en/about/respecting-others
