School pupils debate their education

Pupils from Merton’s schools recently took part in a borough-wide conference to discuss and debate issues affecting young people and their education.

Barriers to Participation in Education, held on 14 March, was the second conference to be hosted by the Merton Youth Forum and was extremely well attended by young people representing schools including Ricards Lodge, Eastfields, Cricket Green, Ursuline Convent and Raynes Park.

Each school gave a presentation on a subject which related to surveys carried out prior to the conference. Themes included; making learning fun, resources in schools, subjects that could or should be in the curriculum and dealing with exclusions.

Sue Evans, Director of Education at Merton Council, attended the event. She said: “The presentations that discussed the results of the surveys made very interesting listening and it was nice to get such insightful feedback from pupils.

“I am very grateful to the Youth Forum for organising the conference and I am sure we will see positive results from it in the near future.”

The conference was also addressed by educationalist and regular contributor to the Voice, Tony Sewell, who highlighted the importance of making young people’s voices heard.

Anyone who would like more information about the conference or The Youth Forum should contact Cheryl Bowen on 020 8540 5533 or email merton@groundwork.org.uk or Karen Hutchinson on 020 8640 7050 or email youth.office@merton.gov.uk

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