Child Friendly Redbridge News & Updates

On 3rd December, we hosted students and teachers from Uphall Primary School at the Ilford Engagement Hub on Ilford Lane to help us plant tulips and lavenders inside of the plant pots near the road. Twenty-one students from the school’s Eco Warriors group were present to help make the area greener.

Today (19/11/2024), we had the pleasure of hosting a planting day at the Jubilee Engagement Hub with the enthusiastic and environmentally-conscious eco warriors from Cleveland Primary School.

It was wonderful to see young minds so engaged and passionate about making a difference. Together, we planted a variety of greenery, contributing to a greener, healthier, and more sustainable community for everyone.

This event not only brightened up our outdoor spaces but also highlighted the importance of collaboration and community spirit in tackling environmental challenges. Watching the students work together, share knowledge, and take pride in their efforts was truly inspiring.

A massive thank you to Cleveland Primary School for their energy and commitment, as well as everyone who helped make this day a success. Initiatives like this remind us of the importance of nurturing both our environment and the next generation of eco-leaders.

Yesterday (12/11/2024), we held a fantastic Play Street event in partnership with Uphall School as part of the Ilford Lane ‘Love the Lane’ project. The event was a success, bringing together around 60-70 attendees at its peak, all enjoying the community spirit and engaging activities.

A huge thank you to Uphall School for their support in making this event possible – your efforts truly helped bring the community together!

Thank you to all the young people who voted in the 2024 youth election.

Votes are being counted, and your new Youth MPs will be announced next week. Watch here!

#ChildFriendlyRedbridge #YouthElection2024

World Children’s Day 2023, Youth Climate and Sustainability Forum

As part of Redbridge’s commitment to protecting and promoting the rights of children and young people, Redbridge have hosted and promoted several events across the Council for World Children’s Day. One of these events was the borough’s first Youth Climate and Sustainability Forum in the Town Hall.

Here is a snippet from a press release about the event:

“Led by Redbridge Council’s Neighbourhood Education and Engagement Team, the event gave the youngsters the chance to network with each other, share green achievements and ideas, whilst broadening their skills and knowledge through workshop activities and discussions with a panel of leading environmental experts.

Students also participated in activities and workshops run by individuals and organisations involved in environmental work. It included a Team Repair Workshop demonstrating repair skills that can help fix broken items so they can be reused, instead of discarded.

Other workshops included an art session, and an exploration of biodiversity in Redbridge. Students also heard from, and quizzed, a panel of green experts from Earthwatch Europe, Team Repair, and Redbridge Council.”

Our World Children’s Day celebrations form just a part of our wider Child Friendly Redbridge efforts. The Council is currently working with the United Nations Committee for UNICEF (Unicef UK) to become recognised as a Child Friendly Community. As such, we are committed to promoting the rights of young people in Redbridge and putting their rights and voices at the heart of decision making across the borough. We are currently working are aiming to be the first local authority in England to be recognised as a Child Friendly Community.

To find out more about our Child Friendly Redbridge programme efforts and aims, and how you can get follow the link here.

As part of UNICEF World Children's Day 2023, our Child Friendly Youth Ambassadors took the opportunity to discuss the question 'Why is it so important that decision makers listen to children and young people’s voices?'.

They discussed everything from politics and climate change to mental health and freedom of speech. As you can see from the photos below, they had some insightful conversations, and made wonderful mindmaps too!

World Children's Day Mental Health Engagement Event - 20th November 2023

The Redbridge Children and Young People’s Policy Development Committee is a group of councillors who are working together to develop new policy proposals for Redbridge. The group, chaired by Cllr Saima Ahmed, decided that mental health was one of its key priorities and was keen to engage with young people to learn more.

A group of young people aged 11-25+ met with councillors on World Children’s Day in the Town Hall to discuss the barriers that they and their peers may face when accessing support for mental health services, whether that is in a school setting, in the community or in direct contact with the council.

The young people shared that social media pressures, anxiety around their personal information remaining confidential, stigma around mental health from their families, friends and/or communities, and a lack of trusted peer support networks all pose challenges to their mental health.

The councillors took this feedback on board following dedicated discussion groups and will feed this into their final recommendations report in 2024.

Redbridge has seen fantastic results using Virtual Reality (VR) in social work interventions with young people exposed to child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation, radicalisation, and other risks outside of the home.

‘Virtual Reality’ (VR) is the use of computer technology to create simulated environments. This places users inside a three-dimensional experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed in and interact with 3D, 360-degree worlds.

As part of a project with Enfield and Waltham Forest, professionals at Redbridge Council have used VR films that follow teenage characters who are affected by a range of issues. In a short period of time, the films create an immediate impact on participants.

One of the VR films used by practitioners is ‘Joe’s Story’. We follow the story of a boy named Joe through his eyes. Joe is introduced to an older male who tells him he can help him make some money. The films show how the groomers use fear, intimidation and debt bondage; after buying Joe a phone, they coerce Joe into holding and distributing drugs and threaten him if he does not comply. The immersive experience of the VR enables users to put themselves in Joe’s shoes.

The Children and Families team at Redbridge is using VR to make sure that their work has a child’s rights-based approach. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says that children have a right to be protected from abuse and violence; these videos help young people and the adults who look after them to identify signs of risk and talk to professionals about how to deal with dangerous situations and stay safe. The VR films are largely from a child’s perspective, which means they highlight the importance of the voice and experiences of the child.

Another key principle of a child’s rights-based approach is dignity in all circumstances, such as in schools and in other public spaces. The VR films show the ways in which children can be exposed to harm outside of the home and how their home environment can affect this risk. There are also some other VR videos about adopting and fostering that show how difficult it can be for children to be separated from their parents. These emphasise that young people should be involved in deciding what is best for them in these difficult situations; children are the experts in their own lives and should always have a say.

Across the three boroughs, the professionals who used the VR gave excellent feedback on the impact of the technology on young people. One Redbridge social worker said: ‘The young person who used the VR with me usually says nothing to me, or just gives “yes” or “no” answers. After using VR, it was the most talkative I’ve ever seen him.’

Another worker told us: ‘The young person loved it. She found the VR so interactive and surreal because she felt like she was in the situation herself. Looking at the scenario from a bird’s eye view gave her the scope to learn about situations that could easily happen to her.’

Parents said that after using the VR, they had a better understanding of what their child may be going through, felt better able to talk to professionals about how to protect their child, and were more confident to talk to their child about what they may be going through.

One social worker told us: ‘The young person’s mum couldn’t visualise what a traphouse looked like. The immersive experience really opened her eyes to the reality; she couldn’t have imagined how bad it would be. The experience brought her more on board with our safeguarding plan.’

Redbridge practitioners will continue to use the VR in 1-2-1s with young people, with their parents and in group settings.

The Child Friendly Partnership is excited to be supporting Andrew Brown, a local artist and educator to help shape the future of public art in Ilford and compile stories through the camera lens.

Andrew Brown is based at SPACE Studios in Ilford and has been involved with schools, further and higher education locally, nationally and internationally. He uses analogue, digital and alternative photographic processes alongside soundscapes, documents and artefacts to explore the impact on communities of rapid changes in the built and natural environment in East London.

Ilford has a strong and historic relationship with innovation in photography. In 1879, Ilford Limited, a world-renowned brand of film and photographic materials, was founded. This factory on Roden Street was demolished in 1976 (now Sainsbury’s), breaking the visual link between photography and Ilford as a place was broken.

Andrew, on behalf of UP Projects will be running workshops to help influence public art at this former site. A proposal to redevelop the site with new housing, public realm and the reprovision of the Sainsbury’s will need to understand the views of local people. The workshops will be an opportunity to influence the kinds of public art to be planned for the site with themes rooted in Ilford’s history of invention.

How to get involved?

There are 3 upcoming workshops, which will explore how public art can draw on Ilford's history to engage with diverse communities, renew links to the past and help envision and shape the future.

You will be able to explore Ilford’s role in the popularisation of photography using images and artefacts, including cameras and media from different periods of history. You will learn about analogue photography and the process behind making photographic prints. If you have any black and white photographs, please do bring them along!

Follow this link to register for workshops 2 and 3: From Ilford to the World and Back Again Tickets, London | Eventbrite

As part of the Child Friendly Redbridge Action Plan Launch Day, young CFR Ambassadors took Redbridge Council staff and dignitaries on a tour of Ilford Town Centre.

The first stop was a new billboard outside SPACE Studios. The image is called “Out of this world” and was designed by the British Congolese artist Djofray Makumbu with young people from Hainault Youth Centre.

The artwork was created during a series of workshops held at Hainault Youth Centre, where young people created and illustrated the characters and provided the art direction for the work.

The young people imagined a fun, playful alternate version of their borough, with creative ideas including a character flying on a unicorn.

During their co-design process, young people from Hainault offered fresh perspectives that influenced the eventual final design. Young people drew pictures for Makumbu to use as a reference as part of the collaborative creative process. Makumbu valued hearing the young people’s opinions on what the piece should look like.

They told the council staff and councillors that, as part of the fun interactive nature of this artwork, the artist has actually included a picture of himself in the artwork.

Can you find him?

You can find out more about the exhibition on the SPACE Studios website.

Space Studios also has an exhibition inside at the moment called Mammoth Loop by artist Cecilia Charlton. This is a child-friendly exhibition and includes workshops for children and families to learn skills with textiles. You can also read more about this on the SPACE Studios website.