Story by Zobia, Afreen, Mohammed, Samer, Saqib, Isaac, Zuzana, Amane, Hamza, Kvetoslava, Maria, Sohail, Fahid, Mustafa, Karolina, Zakia, Izza and Emilia from Fir Vale School.
When we asked our Y11 class at Fir Vale, nearly everyone felt that there wasn’t enough to do for young people in Burngreave. However, it turns out that there is actually quite a lot going on that young people don’t know about.
Rhona said
“They don’t advertise it enough, we’re not aware of it.”
Out of the 177 young people we asked, 64% take part in organised activities. But these are often sports activities, like football, basketball and boxing. Some of the girls feel that sports and youth clubs are “mainly for boys.” Amane said that activities need to be “more mixed, to give people different choices.”
Suggestions for new facilities include community centres, more playgrounds and parks, places to study, beauty courses, or an all girls’ football team.
We also think that activities in the community need to be promoted more in schools. People could come and talk to us in assembly or have a stall in the foyer. They could advertise on a notice board, there could be a leaflet stand and posters on toilet doors! There should be a page on social media just for young people in Burngreave and a youth section on the Messenger’s website.
Students have volunteered to go and talk to the people who run the activities, and we plan to talk to our teachers about this.