Welcome from St John’s Community Ambassadors!
Our 2nd session focused on our community. We talked about the safe and happy spaces and about the places that we can’t or don’t feel safe to spend time.
Through our discussions we found out that we don’t all live in the same community, so we tried to think about what “any” child wants from the spaces and places where they live and grow.
We wrote down and drew some of our ideas and views on a large model of a community space and then in our new teams we worked on our individual maps to think about the happy and safe places, the people we know and trust, and the places where we don’t feel safe, and we thought about why.
Thoughts and ideas;
“Teenagers vandalise our play parks, they set fire to the equipment and to the grass.”
“There’s a big park (for older children) and an infant’s park. The teenagers hang about the infant’s park, so we can’t go there.”
“One local shopkeeper banned Portobello High School pupils from his shop. It’s not fair, it’s stereotyping teenagers, so is not very nice. I think they should change that rule.”
“I feel unsafe in my flat. People keep setting fires around there.”
“I love the woods because I love climbing” (discussion about natural play spaces, as opposed to playparks)
“I only go out with my parent’s permission. They need to know where I am. I wouldn’t go to the park on my own with my friends. My parents have this rule because they care about what happens to me.”
“There’s a 5-year-old boy on our street who keeps stealing our bikes and letting the tyres down. He used to be our friend. I don’t know what’s happened to him to make him do this.”
Our question to adults from this session is; Who will listen to children about how and where we feel unsafe in our community?
