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 A brief(ish) guide that won’t blag yer head!
In April 2006, a new department was launched to help deliver the
Children & Young People’s Plan across Wigan Borough.
Hang on… what?
The Children & Young People’s Plan.
Right. So what’s that then?
Basically, last year (2005), Wigan Council went around talking to
children, young people, their parents and carers about five subjects set
by the local government. When everybody had finished chatting, the stuff
they talked about got put into this document, The Children & Young
People’s Plan.
OK, with you so far, but erm… what’s the point?
Because, in order to help improve the lifestyle and well-being of all
children and young people in Wigan Borough, Children & Young People’s
Services need to know what sort of support you would need…
Wait… Children & Young People’s who?
Children & Young People’s Services, remember earlier I told you that a
new department was launched in April?
Yeah…
Well that’s the new department – Children & Young People’s Services.
CYPS for short.
And who are they, exactly?
Well, in April, three organisations, Positive Futures (who include
Connexions, Youth Service and Educational Welfare Service), Children’s
Social Services and Wigan Educational Department, decided that it might
be a good idea if they joined forces to work together. A bit like the
Three Musketeers of youth work, only with less sword fighting, these
groups came together to form the Children & Young People’s Services
(CYPS).
Gotcha. So what do they do then?
CYPS work with all young people from 0-19 to improve their lifestyles
and well-being based on those five subjects set by the government that
we mentioned earlier.
And those are…
Being Healthy.
CYPS want you to enjoy the best possible standard of physical and mental
health. So they’re always on hand with plenty of support and advice
about
• Improving your fitness
• Feeling better mentally and emotionally
• Sexual health
• Drugs, alcohol misuse and smoking
• Dental health
• Feeling comfortable with yourself
• Who to turn to if you want to discuss any personal issues.
Staying Safe
Everybody likes being safe, right? That’s why CYPS are on a mission to
• Help reduce bullying
• Help to make sure that staff who work with you know how to respond to
any worries or concerns you might have
• Make sure that you know where there are safe places that you can go to
hang out.
• Let you voice your opinions on your personal safety
• Help you improve your confidence and self-esteem.
Enjoying & Achieving
Who says you’ve gotta be bored rigid when it comes to getting on and
doing well at school, college, and in the future? CYPS are all about
• Helping you enjoy school and college more
• Making sure that you’ve got plenty of opportunities to do well both in
and out of school
• Giving you a shot at different creative, leisure and learning
activities outside of school, and encouraging you to take part in ‘em.
Making a Positive Contribution
This is all about getting out there, having your say and getting
involved in improving your local community. CYPS are gonna help you do
this by
• Helping more adults give you the time of day and treat you with the
respect you deserve
• Helping you get stuck in and improve your local environment so that
you can proud of where you live
• Sort out more activities and chances to get involved in stuff like
volunteering
• Helping you get the skills and confidence to speak to those folk who
make the decisions about improving your community.
Achieving Economic Well-Being.
This basically means not being skint, and having enough cash to have a
good standard of living. Obviously CYPS aren’t going to give you free
cash (believe me, we tried that one!), but they will
• Help you develop skills so that you can get a job
• Make sure that you get the information and support you need so that
you can make the right decisions about your future
• Help you feel motivated to learn both in and out of school
So they’re quite busy folk, these CYPS people?
It certainly looks like it, doesn’t it? There’s all sorts of stuff going
on to work towards achieving all this, and if you wanna find out more,
then you’re best bet is to go speak to your youth worker or teacher.
Meanwhile, our ‘Advice, Information & Services’ page has a big list of
organisations that can help you out with all the things mentioned here.
Alternatively, you might wanna check out Connexions at
http://www.connexions-wigan.org.uk
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