YCiF Media Skills Weekend March 2014
Last week some of the team from DigitalMe went to YMCA Fairthorne Manor in Botley, Hampshire to facilitate a Media Skills residential weekend for the Young Carers in Focus champions. The weekend was led by DigitalMe, but both The Children’s Society and YMCA were actively involved.
Six projects were invited including, Torbay Young Carers, VOYCE Sheffield, Southend Young carers, PROPS Northeast, Isle of Wight Young Carers and Warwickshire Young Carers. A small group of YCiF champions from each project were selected to attend.
The weekend was a great opportunity for young people to network and meet other young carers. It also provided an opportunity for YCiF champions to further understand the aims of the Young Carers in Focus project and develop their skills, particularly interviewing, filming and editing. Another aim of the weekend was to ensure that the YCiF champions had a good understanding of badge missions and had the chance to earn badges.
The young people created videos in regard to professional and school support as well as careers and skills. They interviewed one another and their project workers in relation to these specific topics. Through working on these videos, the young carers had the chance to use a storyboard to plan and prepare their videos. Their videos can be found on the YCiF homepage www.makewav.es/ycif
Young champions also attended sessions relating to the School Standard, the Young Carers Festival (YCF) and the media. The media workshop was led by the Media Officer from The Children’s Society and taught young carers about how to be interviewed by the media. The School Standard session allowed the young people to gain a better understanding of the School Standards aims and progress so far. The festival consultation enabled the champions to get creative and contribute their ideas.
The young carers in this workshop had the opportunity to design the official Young Carers Festival 2014 t-shirt, which will be worn by every young person who attends the event. The session also encouraged young people to contribute their thoughts and opinions about what activities they would like to see at the festival this year.
It was a fantastic weekend and the YCiF champions now have the challenge of taking their skills back to their local projects to continue making media and pass on their skills to other young carers.
Visit the network www.makewav.es/ycif
