Published: Sunday, 22nd November, 2009 9:00am

Working with youngsters is 'best job in the world'!

In the frame: From left, Thames Valley University student Shakira Thomas, 16, and Kendrick School student Miriam Wright, 17, interview Anna Wright, Reading borough director of education and children’s services. Filming is Prospect School’s Nicole Jaaqar, 15.

Some 29 young people studying in the Reading borough have taken part in the nation's 11 Million Takeover Day, joining decision-makers to discover how the choices affecting them are made.

The 11 million represents the population of children and young people nationally.

In Reading, students spoke to prominent figures from the borough council and other organisations. Here are some of their reports written for The Chronicle.

Interview with Anna Wright, Reading Borough Council's director of education and children's services, by Miriam Wright and Anne Ebue.

IT sums up Anna's enthusiasm for her role when she says 'it's the best job in the world!'

Anna works with a great variety of people across Reading to bring better services to young people, helping with everything from improving the emotional well-being of young people and making them feel better about themselves, through such things as No5 youth counselling to improving the service of young people in need of protection.

She talks of the outcomes of her service and refers to the youth website, www.readingyouth.com, and how it helps the promotion of youth services.

She works with families to improve parenting and aims to enable young people to be economically successful by helping them gain the right qualifications.

Anna also helps with school improvement and achievement by working with headteachers.

Anna has made a huge investment in the social workers of Reading in both time and money and even has social workers coming from Canada to bring fresh ideas and a new perspective.

With a 21st century teenager at home, Anna finds young people in general are more mature, with skills and knowledge of social networking and IT.

She talks of them being aware of and eager to contribute to the world they live in but still anxious about the future.

But she did also express her concerns for young people, as it is her view that perhaps young people smoke and drink too much.

Anna also expressed annoyance at the way teenagers are portrayed in national media; similarly she talks of frustration at how young people are criminalised at such an early age.

She said: "Teenage years mean breaking barriers and finding out about the world, but teenagers also need to have structure and boundaries.

"I like to listen to what young people think."

Anna's confidence in Reading's department of education and children's services shows clearly when she talks about her passion for making a difference.

She confides that she finds it "hard being responsible for everything, even things not in her direct control, like what happens to young people on the streets".

But she concludes that she is working hard to influence young people to be healthy and to succeed.

Finally, we wanted to know if Anna had ever felt intimidated by teenagers.

She said: "Everyone could be intimidated by anyone, not just young people."

But Anna does recall her first day teaching a class of Year 11 boys in a school for children with behavioural difficulties.

She said: "They made a 'sculpture' out of the tables in the room!"

But then her view also is that without young people pushing the boundaries, evolution says the human race would go extinct, so perhaps a little 'creativity' can be forgiven!

**Gloves are off for Jan**

Interview with Jan Harris, Reading Borough Council's virtual headteacher for children in care by Miriam Wright.

HEADING up a multi-agency team putting the needs of youngsters at heart, Jan works with designated teachers and social workers within schools across Reading to enable children in care to get the best support in education.

Her role meets the Youth Cabinet's four targets in many ways but especially in the category of 'things to do, places to go'.

She co-ordinates extra-curricular activities for children in care, one of the more recent examples being boxing lessons!

But these opportunities are just one small aspect of the positive impact this service has; others include genuinely listening to young people's opinions (last year a questionnaire was launched as a wider-reaching way of collecting the views of young people) and generally encouraging and supporting young people in education and gaining awards.

Jan defines young people simply as - "our future" - get things right with the upcoming generation, then things will improve.

In addition, it is her belief that the 21st century young person is keener to succeed than ever due to the increased pressure of the job market, more interested in ethical and green issues and more IT literate.

While Jan has never felt threatened by young people, she knows of people who have but says it as a matter of perspective.

On occasion, people have been shocked at her calmly conversing with groups of 'hoodies' on street corners.

Finally, if presented with today's youth cabinet targets when she was a teenager, Jan says it would have been 'crucial for her to get involved' as they are extremely relevant and important.

**Teens work hard**

Interview with John Ennis, Reading Borough Council leader for

children's services by Anne Ebue and Sam D'Cruz.

COUNCILLOR John Ennis will be the first to tell you how passionate he is about children and young people.

He believes they are the role models of today. "Young people have to reject the fact that they need role models, because you are role models yourself," he says.

In his opinion, the 21st century teenager doesn't differ greatly from previous generations, sharing similar priorities and problems.

The main difference is that he believes today's youth faces more pressure and much higher expectations, from parents and society, wanting university and similar achievements.

But young people today are more social, they have access to a lot more technology and are hard working. John says he has felt intimidated by young people, but there is a general perception that big groups of young people cause intimidation.

He said: "The older you get, the more detached you are with young people. When people start to talk to each other, it is less intimidating."

As lead councillor for children's services, John explains that he sees his role as supporting and enhancing Reading Youth Cabinet's priorities.

He said: "There should be equal access to youth services and free transport for young people, I really want to support your Better Transport campaign and get involved in the work you do where I can.

"Safeguarding children and young people is important as well as consulting young people to monitor youth services."

As many of us are members of Reading Youth Cabinet, we were interested in John's explanation of the key political parties.

John defined his view of the foundations of the political parties, saying "The Labour Party is about the working classes, it's supportive of public services and the trade union."

His bit of wisdom to pass on is: "listen to advice, but make your own mind up".

**The future is young**

Interview with Charles Waddicor, Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire West Primary Care Trust by Anne Ebue and Saraniya Thayaparan.

CHARLES answered our questions on the impression of young people today and how the PCT supports our priorities.

Charles' opinion of young people in the 21st century is honest, describing them as full of energy.

He said: "They are the future. Young people are only just finding their way. It's very hard to be a young person when adults don't understand what they are going through.

"They are hard-working, focused on their future and know what lies ahead. Most of them face issues like 'who am I?"

We often feel young people get a bad reputation from the media and wanted to know if that was Charles' view as well.

He said: "Young people are demonized by the national media. They are made to seem like the cause of trouble when most of the time they are actually the victims.

"I haven't felt intimidated by young people, but both my son and daughter have been robbed by other young people." Charles lives in London.

As chief executive of all things health, a safer Reading is high on Charles' agenda too.

He said: "We provide young people with advice and services on healthy lifestyles, contraception and methods to help young people facing problems and transport for patients to and from hospital.

"We aim to reduce the rates of teenage pregnancy by talking to schools and providing nurses and health visitors to offer advice.

"We have drop-in sessions and provide a free screening service to reduce rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections.

"We want to make health services more young person-friendly and engage young people in the development and improvement of services. We want them to work so young people know about them and actually use them."

**Tracey makes Reading safer**

Interview with Tracey Daniel, Reading Borough Council's youth integrated

services operations manager by Saraniya Thayaparan.

TRACEY promotes the safety of young people and their families across Reading.

"Having a safer Reading is what affects young people and parents the most," she says.

"If I were a young person, I would want to know how Reading could be safer. I would want to dismiss the perception that all young people carry knives and change the way young people are portrayed in the media."

Tracey's best example of a safer Reading would be the development of a young persons' health forum, created with the hope of "allowing young people to express their views on developing and improving health services".

As the mother of a teenager, Tracey tells us her opinion of young people in the 21st century: "Generally, young people in Reading are doing very well.

"They are excelling in and out of school and have learned to get on with life and deal with problems they may face.

"Life can appear complex for young people and they are expected to achieve a lot of things which they don't always have the necessary support needed to achieve.

"A 21st century young person knows exactly what they want and how they go about getting it.

"They wear what they want and aren't afraid to express their individuality and know who they need to talk to, to get the information they need.

"They are skilful, knowledgeable and aware of issues that affect them in all aspects of life."

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