To celebrate the year of Engineering 2018 Eastbourne Schools Partnership has been working on a joint venture with Lord Lucas to create an interactive project titled “Your Town Your Ideas Your Future.”
Aimed at a range of young people from Eastbourne Schools, and based on the Creative Café model, young people from across the Eastbourne Schools Partnership spent an afternoon working with professionals to explore ideas about how to make Eastbourne a more vibrant place to live in and visit.
The project kicked off with a creative consultation event on Thursday 7 June where young people shared their perceptions of the town with professionals working across ten different sectors. They were asked to creatively explore the things they like and don’t like about Eastbourne and the local area. Young people then chose to spend 2 half hour slots in two different areas exploring how that sector could better respond to the needs and concerns of young people and they worked together on creative solutions.
“We have had an inspiring time listening to Eastbourne’s pupils’ ideas for making things work better in our town – and helping them realise that they can really happen.” Lord Lucas
There were numerous ideas that came out of this first session together, some of which include improving our sports facilities in Eastbourne and the provision of multi-use spaces that young people can safely use.
The event was attended by Christina Ewbank, Chief Executive of Eastbourne Chamber of Commerce, and Stephen Lloyd MP who both had promising words to say about the events taking place.
“What a great event! The future of Eastbourne is secure in the hands of the young people we met today.” – Christina Ewbank
“What an absolutely brilliant concept today’s event was – bringing the ideas and enthusiasm of our youngsters together; ideas that can help transform our town. Just brilliant.” Stephen Lloyd MP
Following on from Thursday’s event, the schools involved (Eastbourne Academy, Eastbourne College, Gildredge House, Ratton School, St Catherine’s College, The Cavendish School, The Causeway School and Willingdon Community School) will focus on developing 2 or 3 specific ideas each, returning for an interim meeting and advice session in October before making a final presentation in December to a board of professionals, in the hope we can secure some funding to make the winning concepts take shape.
The course of events is another great example of how the Eastbourne Schools Partnership has worked together to meet our mission aims: to develop shared projects and experiences that inspire, excite and offer creative and innovative opportunities for children and young people across Eastbourne.