Please join us in congratulating year 11 student Nina who has been appointed to the UK Youth Parliament.

Nina has been selected to serve as a voice of our region’s young people and is also now standing as vice president for West Wakefield.  

As a Member of Youth Parliament, Nina will be active in amplifying the voices of young people in her constituency. During her term of office, Nina will represent these concerns, needs and views to decision-makers on a local, regional, and national level.  In addition to working locally and regionally, the UK Youth Parliament also undertakes to facilitate meetings between Members of Youth Parliament, Government Ministers and Government Departments on the issues that are raised in the UK Youth Parliament Manifesto.  Nina is looking forward to meeting with the UK Youth Parliament at their Annual Conference, and the House of Commons Sitting. 

As part of the election process, Nina delivered her manifesto, which we are delighted to share below.

Congratulations on your appointment Nina. Preparing students to become who and what they want to be is at the heart of everything we do – we are super proud of you !

Nina’s manifesto

I am here to share with you my manifesto on how I can help the local youth of Wakefield have a better education and quality of life. I know that if I was elected as your MYP, I will be able to be a mouthpiece for the local youth community and be someone whom people can come to for advice or support. Firstly, I am not afraid to speak up about issues that many of us face as I am confident and empathetic and I want to make a difference as many of the issues I have found can and will affect many people later on in life as well. I have used my communication skills I have developed on during my work experience with a local MP to find out what the problems are that many young people face as I have campaigned in the Wakefield District before and part of my campaigning was surveying, telephone canvassing and going door to door leafleting to find out local issues not only in school, however outside as well. 

As I am a part of the school council, I already know what the issues are that we face inside school. However I have also been going classroom to classroom to find out what my peers think are the most troubling issues. For example, there is a lot of anti-social behaviour happening inside and outside of many schools and this is not acceptable. We as a community should come together to accept one another and empower each other to strive for excellence. I believe that introducing more youth led clubs in Wakefield would help reduce this divide between people as part of being in a club is being able to work in a team. In addition, those leading the club can put it on their college application or CV to show they have good communication and leadership skills. I know that there are multiple grants in place to help start up youth clubs and to improve mental health and education. So I will work alongside local authorities and the local MP to seek more funding and provide these grants to those who need it. 

The second most raised issue was many children are not having an excellent education and this is a problem as having a good education is key because to be able to get a higher skilled job you will need to achieve good grades and for many people this is a struggle as they aren’t getting the support they need from that young age. If I was the MYP for Wakefield I would contact the local businesses, from all sectors of the workplace, and colleges to come into schools and help advise younger people what jobs they could be suited for and give them an insight into the many different educational paths they could follow, and if they already know, then how they can achieve their goals. 

Conclusively, I feel my third point ties in with the other issues I have mentioned as they all are part of the same vicious cycle that affects many people daily. The youth crime rate has increased significantly throughout the years and I believe that part of this issue is caused by many young people not getting the support they need, whether it is mental health support or support with schoolwork, and I feel this causes many young people to not try as hard in school so therefore they may drop out early or not achieve the grades they want. This can cause many people to turn to crime as a way of earning more or as a way of coping with their emotions, as I understand it can be very difficult to control emotions when you are not given the correct support needed. This is why I will campaign for more funding to be allocated to schools to allow more resources for young people as a way of learning or even just working with schools to change the way they teach as there are many different types of learners as not everyone can learn the same way and for there to be more information about who to contact when you feel you are struggling such as posters around school or assemblies to tell you who to go to for advice.`I know that if I am chosen by you to be your MYP then I will do everything in my power to assist and guide the local youth and I will work alongside local authorities, schools, charities and businesses to give everyone a better quality of life. Thank you for your time and thank you for listening to my manifesto.