On 1 December, Joe, Chyna and Faizana, three young people from Somers Park Primary School in Portsmouth, presented the Investing in Children membership award to their Head Teacher, Jan Fleming, because of their evidence of dialogue and change through using The NYA/LGA Hear by Right participation standards.

Young people from St Edmunds Secondary School agreed with staff to rewrite the mission statement, make shorter and more accessible the School Development Plan and rewrite the rewards and sanctions policy. While young people and staff from Motiv8 put in place a young leaders’ course and a new compliments, comments and complaints procedure.

To build on such successes, Investing in Portsmouth Children was launched as a three way three year partnership between Portsmouth’s Trust and City Council with The NYA and Investing in Children.

Tim Stokes, local partnership coordinator, described the range of support available to local services, including consultancy, Hear by Right mapping and planning, staff development, practice support, training trainers and shared learning nationally.

To find out about setting up a similar partnership to bring external validation of the impact of participation, contact Bill Badham (billb@nya.org.uk) or Liam Cairns (liam.cairns@durham.gov.uk).