Students get their voices heard by Manchester's decision makers

North Manchester Sixth Form

Students at The Manchester College have had their voices heard by some of Manchester's key decision makers. Students at North Manchester Sixth Form, Harpurhey, spoke up at 'The Youth Debate'.

The event was held as part of the launch of The Factory Youth Zone in Hapurhey. The Factory Youth Zone is north Manchester's flagship sports, education and recreation facility for young people.

It was a really enjoyable event and a fantastic opportunity

Students from The Manchester College, The Harpurhey Studio School, Manchester Communications Academy and Manchester Creative Academy prepared a presentation and questions that could be directed to a panel of representatives from across the city. These included Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, Mike Green from City in the Community and Ruth Ibeguna from RECLAIM. The event was hosted by Paul Lockitt from Key 103.

Hamza Shahid, Seana Lewis, Luke Riley, Adesola Adedeji and Zoe Leach represented The Manchester College. They debated the topic of volunteering and what opportunities were available to them.

Hamza Shahid,17 who is studying BTEC Extended Diploma in IT explained: “We recognised that it is becoming increasingly difficult for students to find work and it is important that students find voluntary opportunities to enhance their chances of gaining employment.”

The panel gave some useful answers

Hamza added: “It was a really enjoyable event, the representatives on the panel were extremely forthcoming and gave some useful answers. I also thought the questions posed by the younger students were excellent. This was a fantastic opportunity, and on behalf of my colleagues I would like to thank The Factory Youth Zone and Manchester City Council for giving us this opportunity.”

OnSide, the charity behind The Factory Youth Zone, hope that the centre will provide ‘world class facilities’ for eight to 21-year-olds in North Manchester.

What next? Living in North Manchester and wondering what to do after school? Find out about courses at North Manchester Sixth Form at The Manchester College.