Teen Takeover young people from Newcastle write for Chroniclelive

As part of Newcastle City Council’s Evry project, we are giving young people in the city the chance to write for The Journal and Chroniclelive.

'As special educational needs and disabilities youth voice trainees, we have both just started working in our new role for Health Commissioning and Newcastle City Council.

We thought hearing a bit about us and what we are doing in our new job would inspire other young people who might have extra needs.

Dan went to Thomas Bewick school from the age of four to 16 years and said: “I was focused on schoolwork and my lessons. I enjoyed being in school. I did my Duke of Edinburgh bronze award which was good fun.” Hassan went to Hadrian School in year 6 and then went to Sir Charles Parsons school. “I found school hard but really enjoy working better than school or college,” he said.

Learning to travel on our own has been important to both of us, and we both wish we had been able to do it earlier. We have both enjoyed doing independent travel because we can go out with friends and have more freedom and get to work on our own.

We have both been to Newcastle City learning straight from school where we worked on our Maths and English. We also did Supported Internships which is where we started working together. Supported Internships helped us to understand about the world of work. We worked at Ouseburn Farm, Waitrose, John Lewis and CT Furniture store, at each place we learnt to do a lot of different tasks.

We now both work as SEND Voice trainees and are learning to do lots of new things in this role. We like this job because we can speak to students and pupils around different schools in the city. We have enjoyed interviewing staff who want to work with SEND children and young people. We are both helping to make sure young people with SEND get their voices heard about things that are important to them.

We both think Newcastle is a wonderful city with a lot of job opportunities for young people.'

DAN WEARS AND HASSAN ILYAS

Read more here Teen takeover (2): young people from Newcastle write for Chroniclelive - Chronicle Live

'I currently go to Percy Hedley College three days a week and to Gateshead College two days a week. At Percy Hedley, I do an employability course where I learn about jobs, careers, and employability skills in the workplace. At Gateshead College, I do something similar but on Fridays I have an enrichment day where I do sports with Newcastle United Foundation.

I am now attending a voluntary placement at Newcastle City Council as part of the SEND Youth Voice Team. I am very keen to make sure the voice of disabled young people is heard in our city. There is a lot of work to be done to improve resources, especially on transport, special needs sport and getting into and around venues and organised events.

The first time I tried out sports activity was with my physio and it helped me to know what I was capable of and what I enjoyed. My physio told me to try out boccia and I immediately liked it because I finally found a sport that suited me and my needs.

The thing I like most about boccia is the suspense and challenge that it gives me. I like how with each ball first that is being played, anybody could win. Boccia has also improved my hand and eye co-ordination, time management and taught me the importance of practice and resilience. Boccia has taught me so much more than just the sport and I have travelled across the country representing the North East region. The sport has made me realise the importance of keeping my body healthy and keeping busy has been beneficial for my mental health.

There are not enough opportunities in Newcastle for children and young people with disabilities to get involved in sports activities. Sport venues can be quite isolated, and transport is essential, while disabled young people often need help from parents or carers usually need to be involved to assist them. To coach or train them takes a step further depending on the condition of the person.

As a young disabled person living in Newcastle, I am proud to live here because of the equality and diversity of practice involving a range of people from different social and ethnic backgrounds and different abilities. If I was given the chance to change the city I would like to make Newcastle the safest and most accessible place in the world.'

AZHAD FAUZI

Teen Takeover (1): young people from Newcastle write for Chroniclelive - Chronicle Live