Thanks to Lori for sharing this news from UKSA. In her own words. Ed
HRH Princess Royal was the principal guest at a national conference organised by staff at Cowes-based charity UKSA on Friday (23rd November).
The ‘I Am Not a Number’ debate took place on the 33rd floor of the Broadgate Tower in London, a stunning venue chosen to inspire the 60 young delegates.
Keen to hear feedback
The charity organised the event in recognition of the difficulties young people face with transitions in life, particularly between leaving school and gaining employment.
They wanted to know why these difficulties came about and what could be done about them, and ask the young people at the heart of the matter.
An array of representatives
HRH Princess Royal, UKSA’s Patron, sat with each table of delegates and got involved in the discussions, along with key attendees Rob da Bank and Labour MP Karen Buck, shadow education minister.
Other representatives attended from organisations including the Prince’s Trust, Job Centre Plus, National Careers Service, National Apprenticeship Service, Academies Enterprise Trust, Harris Academies and P3.
Inspired by the solutions they came up with
Simon Davies, UKSA’s director of youth development, said: “It was a fantastic event. I was enlightened as to the issues young people have, as in some cases these were different issues to those we predicted, which shows we did the right thing by talking to the young people directly.
“I was inspired by the solutions they came up with, how knowledgeable they were and in their enthusiasm. We had a good mix of local and national young people from different backgrounds and it was a very positive day for everyone involved.”
The results of the discussions and the suggested solutions to the problems are currently being compiled and will be released at a later date.
