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A Recipe for Community

We asked children and young people ‘What does your community mean to you’?

Their Communities are: 

  • Social Places and having things to do such as youth clubs, cinemas, libraries, sports and spaces to meet friends
  • Outdoors and Nature (places to play and enjoy green spaces)
  • Places- physical buildings within a community
  • School and learning
  • Places- personal connections to places

A happy community has:

  • Laughter, peaceful, quiet, happy
  • Inclusion, belonging, Fairness,
  • Understanding and learning
  • Safety
  • Basic needs

Things that matter: 

  • Children and young people value positive and inclusive social interaction.
  • Outside spaces and nature play an important role in good mental health and wellbeing.
  • Children and young people would like to have options for where they receive help when needing any additional support. Having a ‘No Wrong Door’ approach should mean that support is given at the right time but also in the right place.
  • Children and young people want support in the spaces and places they feel most comfortable in.
  • There are many day to day issues with practicality that children and young people in North Wales are faced with. Lack of technology and transport infrastructure can make them reliable on adults or ultimately face inequality.
  • Children and young people want to feel safe in their communities. It is important that this includes belonging and understanding. A high proportion of children and young people linked their bedrooms to the places they feel most safe and the value of time they have within these safe spaces.

Things that made us think: For children and young people in primary school community was about school, family, friends, clubs and places to play.
But we noticed as we worked with the secondary schools the young peoples worlds were so much bigger. Community means so many different things to them, including which community they see themselves as part of. Young people discussed their identities, gender, body image and who is part of their community, online, in school and beyond. It made us think about the vital importance of keeping connected to young people and understanding ‘what does matter to them ‘