It was great to attend the very first conference of the 'Leading Lundy National Community of Practice' yesterday in Manchester. Professor Laura Lundy herself was there as the keynote speaker, inspiring us even more. Organised by Bez Martin for the Anna Freud National Centre for Children & Families and held at the St. Thomas Centre, this was a truly wonderful event. Bringing like-minded professionals from different children's & youth support and health services together, it gave us the opportunity to delve more deeply into how we are using the Lundy Model of Child Participation. Representing the education sector, it was a privilege to be there, championing what we have been doing in Thrive over the last 15 months since we began on our Pupil Agency journey in earnest. The Lundy model, with its four key domains of Space, Voice, Audience & Influence is founded on Article 12 'The Right to be Heard' of the United National Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
There was a whole-hearted agreement from everyone that this feels like the start of truly exciting times with our sights set on a National Participation Strategy based on the Lundy Model. We can't wait for the next steps and to bring more people and organisations on board. Of course, one group which we all agreed should be part of this will be the young people themselves. I'm sure, we've all returned to our places of work today with even more zeal for this.
We're already looking forward to a Belfast Conference in the autumn.
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