Category: Imagineers

Looking for a new year’s resolution that will make a difference to children? Look no further. Happy New Year from the Imagineers.

To mark Universal Children’s Day and Children’s Parliament’s 21st birthday, children and adults travelled from all across Scotland to 2017’s National Sitting in Edinburgh to discuss the future of Scotland and how it can be a safer, healthier and happier place for children and families to live and grow. Imagineers from Bramble Brae, Manor Park, Riverbank and Tullos primary schools journeyed on the train from Aberdeen to take part.

“Today has been really fun because this is my first time ever going on a train. My favourite part of the day was getting a birthday cupcake – it gave me a green tongue!” said Leo.

“We got cool Imagineer t-shirts and we worked with adults, talking about how children feel. We made viking boats and we wrote what’s important for us on cardboard stones. We put these on the lighthouse. We exchanged paper lanterns with the adults and wrote a wish for each other. It was fun and exciting. I met the rest of the people in Children’s Parliament. The adult I talked to was Theresa. She was wonderful” said Croydon.

At the National Sitting we met these adults: Juliet, Ben, Katie, Irene from Brazil, Amber, Gayle, Mr Swinney, Barbara, Susan, Amanda and Theresa.

“I talked to the adults about my siblings, my dog and children’s rights. We built boats together” said Deacon.

“I talked about school and work. Talking to the adults was my favourite part of the day” said Ralfs.

“I talked to adults about how they can listen to children and how to make Scotland better. My favourite part of the day was being in Edinburgh because I felt like I was in Harry Potter” said Sammy.

“What we’ve spoken about this afternoon is at the heart of making Scotland the best place to grow up!” said Deputy First Minister John Swinney. We agree at Children’s Parliament!

A ‘defender’ is a term used to describe people who promote or protect human rights. They can be identified by what they do and the actions they take. At their November meet-up, the Imagineers created their own Children’s Rights Defenders.

‘We went to Northfield Academy and we made an adult figure who fights for our rights.’

“This is a children’s rights defender. She’s wearing two dots and they are about the right to food and drink and the right to have a house and safety. We chose a girl because we feel like girls need a lot more help with their rights than boys do.”

“This is the love saviour- he’s called that because he has his heart here and because he loves saving children! The love saviour has a magic broomstick that he flew on to save the children from their house.”

“Our defender defends the rights to have a home and school! This one is all different colours to show that all races are involved.”

Aberdeen Tobacco-free Alliance held a smoke-free generation event in September at Robert Gordon University to discuss “A TOBACCO-FREE FUTURE BY 2034 – HOW CAN WE ACHIEVE IT?” The Imagineers contributed their ideas for how to stop adults smoking and for how to stop young people from starting to smoke.  This poster shows what they came up with:

At their first full session of the school year the Imagineers were taking some time to reflect on being back at school. It’s an important time for many of them with the transition to High School. Some of our new P5 Imagineers were at their first full Imagineer session.

We met at the amazing Treasure Hub in Northfield. Here are a few highlights of the ‘life at school’ session. We will make a special newsletter about it, so watch this space. Here are some messages from the Imagineers.

The Primary Imagineers love art and music. They don’t like it when children feel lonely. The most common things that get in the way of enjoying school and learning for the Primary Imagineers are: distractions in the classroom (some kids need to understand how annoying it is), homework, hitting and bullying. One of the Primary Imagineers suggested these things to make school a better place for them: Listen to me; Be nice; No bullying; More discipline; No racism.

The High School Imagineers have seen some big changes. A lot of the first day feelings about being at High School were being nervous or anxious. But there was also excitement. For some Imagineers being at a new school means meeting and making new friends. But for some it’s been a struggle, with feeling a bit lost, worrying about how to manage things and experiences of violence. Some Imagineers have had detentions and feel they are just getting into a lot of bother. Looking back at preparing for High School the Imagineers would have liked a lot more visits and time in the High School when they were in P7, so they could meet teachers and other children. A thing they would like High Schools to do is make it feel safer.