Children's Collaboratives

As a result of funding Sage secured through the Government's Invest to Save programme and L&Q's Neighbourhood Investment Funding, we set up Children's Collaboratives and Parents' Collaboratives, to allow a group of representative pupils from many of the Sage schools to meet regularly to discuss various issues.

The latest set of Children's Collaboratives meetings took place on Thursday 27 January 2011, at Downham Healthy Lifestyles Centre. The focus of the meetings was 'Aspirations'. Here are the answers children gave ...

What do you want to do?

Travel the world	Vet	Zoo keeper	Athlete	Army or Artist	PE Teacher	Lawyer	Dancer
Hair-dresser	Goal keeper	Singer	Author	Actor	Hair-dresser	Nurse	Artist
Pilot	Fashion Designer	Actor/Actress	Artist	Football player	Swimmer	Lawyer	Build a rehab for dogs
Doctor	Animal Rescue	Doctor	Vet	Teacher	Architect	Hair-dresser	Gymnast
Football manager	Astronaut	Engineer	Government or Lawyer	Pilot	Author	Vet	Author

Which qualities could you develop now that could help you with what you want to do?

Treat people nicely	Sharing	Manners	Trustworthiness	Friendship	Respect for others	Listen to people	Being calm in emergencies
Be supportive	Generosity	Kindness	Honesty	Listening	Working hard	Being proud of yourself	Keep trying to reach goals
Doing your best	Believeing in yourself	Doing sports	Practice	Push yourself	Keep up learning	Watch and learn	Sharing
Be funny	Being helpful	Caring	Listening to one another	Creativity	Reliability	Understanding	Friendliness
Trustworthiness	Honesty	Confidence	Listening	Focus	How to look after classmates	Trying best	Concentration
Be the best you can be	Ask for help	Question	Fun	Valuing yourself	Behaviour	Being good	Make friends happy when they are sad
Education	Never give up	Be a kind person	Listen to each other	Being helpful	Be a good friend	Say nice things	Play with you
Respect others for them to respect you	Stick up for each other	Individuality	Caring	Always be there for each other	Believe in school motto ...	"If it's to be it starts with me"	Fitness

If you went back to school with all of these qualities, how would it make you feel?

Relieved	Cherished	Able to represent a lovely school	Cheerful	Truthful	Glad	Excited to go to school	Pleased
Joyful	Safe	Respected	Grateful	Thankful	I'd want to come to school every day	Happy	Shared respect
Happy	School would be nicer	Excited because you know people like you	Everyone would be your friend	Proud	Trust everyoe	Cheerful	Enjoyable

What are you doing now to help you to be able to do what you want to do?

Practising	Writing stories	Singing	Gymnastic performance	Playing football for school	Dance competitions	Styling siter's hair	Trying my best in everything
PE teacher lets me help him	Looking after lizard	Helping little brothers learn	Cheerleading at school	Helping relatives with hair	Researching nursing	Drawing pictures	Designing
Scripts for movies	Writing stories	Acting school	Football club	Teaching sister to swim	Helping people with problems	Writing stories and researching	Animals
Looking at books	Matching own skills to profession	Cane rows in sister's hair	Asking questions	Auntie showed me drawings	Watching documentaries

What can you do in the future to help you to be able to do what you want to do?

A levels	Be prepared	Believe in yourself	Extra homework and work	University	Confidence	Behaviour	Perseverance
College	Responsibility	Independent	GCSEs	Exams	Scholarships	Make your own	Degrees
Graduation	Be determined	Improve levels get better at learning	Study hard	Experience	Books	Computer	Diploma
Be honest	Make your own decisions	Research	University	SATs	Move up levels	Challenge yourself

Which word best sums up your day today?

Amazing	Fun	Interesting	Good	Brilliant	Great fun	Excellent	Fun
Good	Amazingly fun	Excellent	Fantastic	Exciting	Surprise

 

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The Children's Collaboratives meetings in December 2009 focused on Health, discussing 'Being Healthy', 'Emotional Wellbeing' and 'Being Active'. They were asked various questions. Click on each question below to see the replies (the numbers in brackets indicate how many children gave that response):

BEING HEALTHY

What does being healthy mean?

What you eat	Balanced diet (2)	5 a day (3)	Being active
Exercise for a healthy heart (6)	Limit the amount of sweets	Telling jokes and laughing	Everything in moderation
Growing food and cooking it	Recycling	Drinking water and milk (3)	Looking after your teeth
Taking care / respecting your body	Lots of fruit and veg (2)	Low fat diet	Don’t eat too much
Eat protein	Play sports (2)	Calcium from milk helps your teeth grow	Limit fizzy drinks – you get addicted
Keeping fit (2)	Sleeping	Do activities	Doing things you like
Fresh air	Wii fit	Dancing	Swimming
Running	Jumping / gym	Dodge ball	Tennis
Keeping safe	Using a walking bus	Recycling	Freedom
Being a friend	Use a step counter	Do walking	Stretching
Skip to be fit	Don't smoke	No drugs	Cleanliness

Do children know enough about healthy eating?

No, we need to know more about healthy foods	Need to know more about balanced diets	Yes, lots of children do know, but not all children
You have to find out yourself - your own independent learning	Little children don't understand until they are older	Some parents teach their children about healthy eating

Do families know enough about healthy eating?

Not all families	Needs improving	Better lunch packs	Less salts
If families know they pass it on to their children	Some parents let/encourage children to eat sweets	Parents know about healthy eating and encourage it	Some families eat healthy meals at home and loads of fruit

How can we promote healthy eating?

Teachers showing you how to make fruit salad	Show videos that show the effects of too much fatty foods	Advertising / Make posters to promote good and bad food (3)	Encourage children who have unhealthy packed lunches to come back to school dinners
Growing your own food	Promoting healthy eating by art	Low cost breakfast club	Use a straw with fizzy drinks
Healthy snacks	Talk about it in assembly	Disguising unpopular food	Children's clubs
Fruit kebabs at play time	Cooking together as families	Have food tasting	Shopping together
Set an example to younger siblings	Science tests	Parent classes	Making your own food song album
Sell fruit in school	Copy Ready Steady Cook	Bicycle smoothies	Vegetable Super Heroes and games

EMOTIONAL WELLBEING

What makes children stressed or angry?

Family issues (2)	Being hit (2)	Being cussed (2)	When you don't get what you want
When you are hungry	When you can't do it	Being wrongly accused (2)	Being bullied or being the bully (3)
Getting in a fight	Unkept promises	When things go downhill	Losing at football
Brothers and sisters (2)	If you are picked on	Hurt feelings	Being unfairly treated
Parents doing child abuse	Subjects at school you are not good at	When you are not safe	Worried if they get their clothes dirty
Older children worry about parents if they smoke or take drugs	Sports days	Homework - when you are stuck and need an explanation	Disrespecting each other's stuff
Test	Arguments	Name calling	Fights
When toilets look nasty	Unfair fighting	Not being listened to	Thieves
Competitiveness	Teachers	Graffiti

What would help children not to be stressed or angry?

Listening to what they have got to say	Managing their own feelings	Making up with friends	Making sure they are well nourished
Playground buddies	Not being pushed to sort out the problem there and then	Going out of the class - remove you from the problem	Someone to talk to e.g. childline, head/teachers, school council, TAs, learning mentors (3)
Distraction	Quiet space	Massage	Candles
Laying down	A person in schools	Count to 10 (2)	Writing down
Listen to music	Go to bedroom	Go for a walk	Walk away
Need privacy	Walk home with a friend	Walk with an adult	Discuss with friends
Family meeting	Stress balls	Thinking	Having a locker in school
Being honest - owning up	Being the bigger person	Being the role model	Having friends
Mediators (2)	Punch bag / pillow (3)	Suggestion boxes	Having free time
Peer buddies	Breathe	Think about things	Relax
Meditate	Avoid eye contact	Exercise	Let out emotions - e.g. scream or cry
Control your anger	Think of happy things	Cool down / Calm yourself	Tell an adult

BEING ACTIVE

What stops children from being active?

Scared of heights	Low confidence	Driving in cars instead of walking (2)	Television (3)
Being lazy (2)	Eating lots of fat	Staying up late	Embarrassment (2)
Not being allowed out (2)	Computer games (4)	Bullying	Not doing exercise
Lack of money (3)	Scared from horror films, news and adverts (2)	No equipment	Weather (2)
Distance from things	Your parents	Injury	If you don't like sports

What would encourage children to be active?

Posters	Parents taking their children	Knowing where the clubs are	Knowing where free things are
Role models (2)	Trying things	Trips	Residentials (3)
People sowing how to do things	Encouraging other people	Bike sheds	If friends go (2)
Having bikes	Going to clubs	Active sports	Having friends
Going to the park	Free places to go	Walking rather than going in the car	Having the right clothing
One sport at a time - pick a favourite	Team games	Famous people role models (2)	Making more use of the back garden
Parent support	Family days out	Encouragement	Being able to travel
Fun activities	Winning awards	Dancing with friends	Advertisements
Auditions	Adventures	Feeling safe

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In 2009 the Children's Collaboratives had a great deal of input on the structure of After School clubs and activities Sage organised for local children. Following a Children's Questionnaire, completed by around 500 local children, the Children's Collaboratives met in July with and AGENDA to discuss further the set up of the proposed activities. They were asked the following questions (click on each question to see the various replies):

What should we call the activities programme?

Fun Factor	Fabulosity	Adventure island	FABULOSITY was chosen
Project Fun	Go for Gold Club	Extreme Team
F is for fun	Live the Dream	Games R Us
Tunnel of Fun	Mash and Dash	Gamastics
Mr Tickly games	Funtrataining	Funny factory

What activities should we organise?

The children came up with lots of suggestions for different activities ...
Swimming	Cookery	Movie Making
Tennis	Dressmaking	BMX riding
Chess	Karate	Rock climbing
Golf	Trampolining	Cycling
Archery	Athletics	Water sports
Brownies / Scouts	School band	Computer club
Maths	Basic DIY	Fishing
Horseriding	Camping	Parachuting
Collage	Art	Sky diving
Book club	Warhammer	Wood Sculpting
Gardening	Theatre	First Aid
Abseiling	Mini motor club	Steel Pans
Wrestling	Languages – Russian, Polish, Mandarin	Adventure clubs

How can we let children know about the activities?

Posters full of information	Email	Leaflets
Tell a friend	Timetable around school	Assemblies - show activities
Newsletters	Exciting mottos	Regular activities each week
Teachers to tell children	School Councils	Cookies with messages
Talking place in playground	Ambassadors have badges to promote clubs	Banners

How can we make sure children keep coming?

Make them pay up front!	If they don’t like one they can try another	Keep it interesting
Friendship groups / needs to be in a friendly place	Make sure its safe	Talking place in playground
Questionnaire re sports/activities you like	Get children to do presentations	Buy 1 get one free
Don’t just do one, do a variety	Posters / Advertise on school website	Different activity each week
If it is expensive – needs to be cheaper	Right tutor	Make it easy and fun

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How can we make sure children are happy with the clubs?

Check attendance	Facial expressions	Add new things
Try Me Clubs / Trial visit	Ask children to give marks out of 10	Secret writing on paper
Take votes	Talking place in playground	Survey – make changes if needed
Certificates, badges, rewards etc	Get children to do presentations	Group discussion
Keep a tally /frequency chart	Downham and Bellingham Club website	Right tutor

Should we encourage children to try activities they didn’t ask for?

The consensus was yes, children should be encouraged to try new things, even if they hadn't initially asked for them ...
Yes, encourage them, they might enjoy them	No, some are only for clever people	Yes, if they are good at it, it will make them feel better about themselves
Yes, at least try it, talk about it and let them know other children know about it	Yes, it's good for self discipline	Yes, encourage boys to dance!
Yes, people should try it at least once	Yes, how are you going to know that you don’t like it if you've never tried it?	Yes, they will meet new people
Yes, it's good to try something you have never done before	Yes, offer taster sessions	No, Dance is not for everyone!
No, some are boring!	Yes, children might develop new skills	If you don’t encourage children to do it – they will never know if they like it

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The first meeting of a pupils' collaborative took place in summer term 2007. At the meeting the children identified what is Good and Bad about School and what is Good and Bad about the Wider Community.

As a result of the meeting the following activities were planned for the following term:

• A training day on school councils for children and school staff
• Further termly half-day meetings for children in all three collaboratives
• Video conference discussions across schools
• Children outreach workers to support the work of school councils in a number of schools

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