Title

Youth Advisory Board

The Pupil Voice

The Haberdashers’ Advantage gives children and young people opportunities to use their voice to drive change and innovation. We want our young people to feel empowered and see that they can make a positive impact on the world around them. School leadership and pupil councils enable our young people to contribute to decision making in their own schools and the Youth Advisory Board (YAB) allows children and young people to influence decisions that impacts the wider Trust. We hope that our children and young people develop a sense of shared moral leadership and foster an investment into school and Trust developments. Through the Trust Youth Advisory Board pupils will learn to articulate themselves confidently and understand the importance and power of their voice not only to impact themselves positively but also those surrounding them.

The story so far

In March 2021 when we began a Trust-wide consultation around our legacy and founder, Robert Aske. As part of the consultation, pupils undertook detailed research and represented their school’s views on the issues facing our organisation. To say, we were impressed by the children and young people is an understatement! We wanted to hear more and give pupils the opportunity to come together as a group of nine schools to discuss important issues that are facing our organisation and local communities. We decided to pilot our first ever Trust-wide Youth Advisory Board. Two critical areas were identified for the Trust to consult the YAB on. These were:

Establishing a new Trust Motto – more information here.
Developing our Green Agenda and Pledge

What is the Youth Advisory Board (YAB)?

The YAB is a group of 18 children and young people, from each of our primary and secondary schools across Haberdashers’ Academies Trust South. YAB members sit on the board for one school year and are responsible for bringing their school’s perspective into key areas of the Trust’s work. As part of their role YAB members:

Attend quarterly YAB meetings to provide comments and feedback on key plans and specific issues before they are taken to the Board of Trustees
Work with the Trust and their schools in a variety of ways including attending meetings, sharing feedback and ideas, contributing to social media or speaking at assemblies
Work collaboratively with other YAB members to ensure that projects are moved forward

Can I be a member of the Youth Advisory Board?

If you are a pupil at a Haberdashers’ Academies Trust South school, and want to be part of the Trust Youth Advisory Board, then you are encouraged to apply!