"Finding My Future": Outwood Students Lead the Way

Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT) students gathered for their fifth student voice conference this week. The theme for the event was ‘Finding My Future’ - a career and personal development focus, chosen by the students themselves. More than 100 secondary and Post-16 students from across the Outwood Family of Schools attended the conference where they could collaborate and network with fellow students from other regions.

The conference was hosted at the Outwood Institute of Education in Doncaster and had keynote speeches from Cameron Holt, Member of Youth Parliament for Bassetlaw and Lindsy James, Director and Founder of Active Fusion.

Cameron Holt, currently a student at Outwood Post 16 Centre Worksop, and former Student Prime Minister at Outwood Academy Valley, used his time at the conference to launch his campaign for statutory financial education in schools.

Cameron has undertaken considerable research to produce a report into the need for financial education for young people and is now campaigning for it to be given statutory status on the national curriculum.

Alastair Campbell has written the foreword for Cameron’s report, which states: “Feeling confident and safe in a world in which money, whether we like it or not, matters so much. Helping young people develop that confidence is what this report is all about. It deserves to be widely read, not just by young people, but by thought leaders and policy makers too.”

Cameron Holt, said:

“It was amazing to launch my report into the need for statutory financial education at the conference. It was received well and the enthusiasm from all students and staff was inspiring; I now have great confidence that my campaign will be supported by many. The event was a brilliant opportunity for all of Outwood to come together and for me to be able to share the work I have been doing.”

Lindsy James’ keynote address focused on connecting students with their passions, what change they wanted to create in the world, resilience and overcoming setbacks, as well as preparing young people for the challenges of the future.

Lindsy James, said:

“I was honoured to join such an inspiring group of students and staff at the conference.

“Cameron’s campaign for statutory financial education is a powerful example of student leadership, and I’m thrilled to have been part of the conversation about how we can better prepare young people for their futures.”

The purpose of the Student Voice Conference is to allow all students to provide feedback to school leaders about what they want or need from the curriculum. Students were given time to complete and submit ‘bids’ for funding from the Trust’s newly established Student Voice Innovation Fund to support initiatives they want to organise in their schools.