SYP Weekly Update 130
11th February 2010
Find out more about what's happening in the SYP in our weekly updates, click on the section title to take you to more information for each of the articles...
List
Events
- Don’t Dilly Dally!
- Last chance to Apply for Young UK Ambassadors!
- The Gathering 2010
Communications
- MSYP Brand & Presentation Guidance
Policy
- Have your say on SYP’s policy and campaigning work!
- Working together to tackle bullying
- Prime Minister voices support for lowering voting age to 16
UK and International
NOTE: Some of the opportunities mentioned in the Weekly Update may apply only to Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs). Please email rob.g@scottishyouthparliament.org.uk for guidance.
Don’t Dilly Dally!
Have you told your support worker you’re coming to the March Sitting and what your workshop preferences are?! If not, why not??!! Get your skates on or miss out!
Please remember the SYP March Sitting final RSVP date is Friday the 19th of February 2010. Any Local Authorities or Voluntary Organisations who fail to submit their fully completed forms by this date will not be permitted to attend. So please get your forms in A.S.A.P to avoid disappointment!
SYP Awards
And if you haven't nomiated yet for the SYP Awards there's still time!
There’s six categories to choose from and it couldn’t be easier to fill it in quickly and easily. You have until Friday 19th February to get your votes in! Just click here to nominate . Good luck!
Last chance to Apply for Young UK Ambassadors!
There’s still time to apply for The Young UK Ambassadors project, closing this Sunday 14th February at midnight! They are looking for inspiring, passionate young people to represent the UK and take the views of young people to global decision-makers and forums.
If you are:
• An MSYP aged 16-25
• Able to attend one of our recruitment day in Edinburgh on the 26th or 27th February 2010
• Able to participate in a residential induction weekend from 26th-28th March 2010
• Able to commit to the project for 1 year
• Interested in global decision-making
• Willing to develop and share your skills and experience
If you answered yes to all of the above then you could be one of the Young UK Ambassadors for 2010!
For further information please contact Marie (marie.m@scottishyouthparliament.org.uk, 0131 313 2488). You can also download a Young Ambassadors role description and application from the website by clicking here. We are giving candidates the option of submitting a written or video application, the choice is yours!
Check out their promotional video for an idea of what the next year might have in store http://www.youtube.com/youngukambassadors.
The Gathering 2010
There’s a couple of interesting seminars being held throughout this years Gathering event at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). If your thinking about getting some work experience, or fancy getting into the non-profit-sector. You might like to attend the seminar ‘Student internships in the voluntary sector’ on 19th of February at 11:00am-12:30pm. You’ll need to register yourself first by heading to the website by clicking here and emailing the organisers directly, so make sure you secure a place soon if you’re interested!
Another one which may tickle your taste buds is ‘Young voters - Your chance to have your say’ held by The Evening News on Thursday, 18 February, 2-4pm. Hosted by stand-up comedian Susan Morrison, you will have the chance to question the panel about Young voters, and how to make sure your opinions count if you can’t vote or as a first time voter. The panel consists of Big Brother winner and our former SYP chairman John Loughton; leader of the Scottish Labour Party and former Oxfam campaigns director, Iain Gray MSP; co-convener of the Scottish Green Party, Robin Harper MSP; and Nico Juetten, parliamentary officer for Scotland's Commissioner for Children & Young People. To reserve your place for free contact Alison Templeton at atempleton@edinburghnews.com or 0131 620 8703 A.S.A.P!
There are plenty of other seminars and workshops you might find interesting, take a look at the list of programmes by clicking here.
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MSYP brand & Presentation Guidance
You may have noticed things have changed a little at SYP over the past few months. We’ve got a spanking new logo, and some rather fabulously bold colours, and even a new typeface (for those of you who notice the little things)! So we’ve designed a wee booklet for you guys & gals to use as a reference when you plan on sharing the SYP message. You can find this tasty little treat available to download on the website by clicking here. You’ll also find our ‘Guide to Giving a Kick-Ass Presentation the SYP Way’ on that page, and our new PowerPoint template!
Remember they are in the resources section, under Promotional Materials. Please use them as a handy guide before you make an SYP presentation, or need our details for other materials. If you have any queries give us a shout at: social@scottishyouthparliament.org.uk.
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Have your say on SYP’s policy and campaigning work!
Last year, SYP made a number of changes to the way we operate, which are now firmly a part of what we do. However, at that stage, there wasn’t time to fully review specific issues or look deeply into how we can best involve MSYPs in the policy and campaigning work we do. It was agreed leave the rest of these issues until a time that they could be given the attention they deserve.
That time is now! We’re running a consultation which is open to any MSYP that wants to take part. These views will be gathered together and presented to the Conveners Group at their next meeting in April where any decisions will be made.
We want to hear your thoughts on things like how well the SYP provides opportunities to MSYPs to raise issues you care about, whether there’s anything missing from the policy & campaigning work we do, and whether there’s anything we don’t need to do.
In an SYP first the consultation will take place online through Google Docs. This lets you read and add to other people’s comments and should let us get a really good discussion going! If you’d like to take part, get in touch with Rob Gowans on 0131 313 2488 or rob.g@syp.org.uk to get an exclusive invite into the discussion!
Working together to tackle bullying
If you or someone you know has ever been bullied, you’ll know how upsetting, worrying and damaging it can be. Bullying affects many young people across Scotland each year and it’s important that everyone works together to tackle its causes and effects. Young people’s views are vital to help shape the way we do this, so with that in mind, six MSYPs joined together with youth work professionals on 28th January to talk about what should be done, and make recommendations to the Scottish Government about how it should happen.
The SYP teamed up with our partners at the national youth work agency YouthLink Scotland to bring together young people with youth workers and policy experts to look at the issue. MSYPs Danielle Rowley, Jodie Campbell, Anneliese Burnett, Christie Clarke, Kieran Morrell and Nathan Duncan took part in a fun and interactive session that looked at what bullying is and what impact it has on young people’s lives, how the youth work sector can play its part in tackling it and how everyone can work together to make it happen.
The session was looking at the Scottish Government’s proposals for a national approach to anti-bullying, which you can read online here. Issues such as cyber-bullying, why people bully each other, what is already being done and how young people can be involved in all parts of the approach were raised and using creative methods (including clothes lines, googly eyes and feathers!) MSYPs did a fantastic job of sharing the views of young people across Scotland. Together with the opinions of the youth work sector these will feed into a response which will hopefully having a big part in shaping the Government’s approach!
The many outcomes and opinions from the day will be gathered together into a joint response from SYP and YouthLink Scotland, so watch this space for it coming to www.syp.org.uk soon!
Prime Minister voices support for lowering voting age to 16
The Prime Minister has confirmed his support for lowering the voting age to 16 but said such a move must go hand-in-hand with improvements in citizenship education.
Speaking to MPs on the House of Commons Liaison Committee, Gordon Brown said that if schools were teaching citizenship to a high standard and 16-year-olds could "assume their British citizenship in a formal way" this would pave the way to lowering the voting age to 16. He said: "If we are going to have reform like this we need to make sure that citizenship education is good."
Brown said he thought most 16-year-olds were mature enough to vote, and that young people today were "more knowledgeable, more able to find out what is going on, and more informed". He said there would be a wide consultation before lowering the voting age. You can read more on this by clicking here.
Looks like votes at 16 are becoming more likely as the days go on. Fingers crossed we’ll keep seeing more progression on one of our major campaigns Votes@16 in the future.
Chance to be Chancellor
With Budget 2010 just around the corner the Citizenship Foundation, in partnership with Aviva, has launched the ‘Chance to be Chancellor’ competition 2010 to challenge young people (14-19) to take on the role of the Chancellor and deliver their vision for the future of the economy.
As Chancellor, competition entrants will need to look at the main areas of concern for the government. Each of these areas has a number of different ideas (or policies) to improve life in the UK. Entrants will decide which policies should be prioritised and given money from their overall budget. Each idea has been allocated points, based on how expensive it would be to carry out – and they only have twenty points to spend, so remember you can’t choose them all!
If they feel that something is missing from the Budget, and have their own ideas for public spending, students have the chance to produce their own policy and price it between 1 to 4 points. As Chancellor it is their job to spend the country’s money wisely and justify their choices to the nation with a Budget speech between 500-1000 words.
To find out more on how to enter check out the website by clicking here.
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