Summit involves young in region's future

PUPILS from two Thornbury schools were among 150 young people who gathered for a look in to their future lives.

The Castle School and Sheiling School students joined people from more than 60 secondary schools at Aerospace Bristol in Filton for the West of England Schools Summit, hosted by Metro Mayor Dan Norris, and co-designed with Creative Youth Network.

They were there to learn about the possible careers they might follow in the future and were asked to make their voices heard on key regional issues affecting their lives, with a chance to shape the policy decisions of the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority headed by Mr Norris.

The event included a series of interactive workshops led by regional employers, including a session from Bristol Energy Network on cutting energy use and a test of the engineers and planners of the future using a

LEGO model of a city under the shocks and stresses of changing weather conditions.

Ten students were also able to pitch policy ideas to Mr Norris and a panel of business leaders in a live Dragon’s Den-style competition.

The summit included a

‘marketplace’, with information about the skills needed to take up jobs helping tackle the climate emergency and were offered wildflower seeds to help encourage pollinators in the region.

Mr Norris said: “Thank you to all the students who came to my

West of England Schools Summit and for sharing your brilliant ideas to help my Mayoral Combined Authority get on with making our region an even better place to live, study, and thrive.

"They told me their number one issue was the climate and biodiversity emergency we face, but more importantly they also looked for solutions."

Mr Norris said ideas from the young people will directly feed into WECA policy - including an upcoming West of England plan for transport - and said the authority would issue progress reports on how the summit has shaped change.

He said: “This summit was all about asking young people what kind of West of England they want to see - and turning their ideas into reality.”

The event was sponsored by Deloitte, Atkins and Airbus, with Air Giant and the National History Consortium also taking part.