NCS - National Citizen Service Trust

We were delighted to welcome the Lord-Lieutenant for Gloucestershire to our NCS local community experience at 270 Climbing Park. The young people had an engaging conversation with the Lord-Lieutenant, sharing their NCS experiences, current education, interests, and future aspirations. They also had fun on the impressive climbing course, using effective communication, teamwork and leadership skills to overcome the physical challenges they faced. Pilot IMS LTD

📣 TALK FOR CHANGE 📣 We’ve teamed up with the award-winning social enterprise Shout Out UK (SOUK) to launch ‘Talk for Change’, a workshop designed to help young people develop their political and media literacy. This week is Global Media and Information Week, making it the perfect time to launch this upcoming partnership. The Talk for Change sessions will feature interactive workshops aimed at empowering young people to engage with issues that impact their lives through civic participation. Participants will also learn to navigate online content responsibly, addressing the critical issues of misinformation and disinformation. The partnership comes at a time when young people’s engagement with political issues is varied, with our survey suggesting that only around half of young people follow national political issues, and even fewer local matters. In terms of media literacy, we found that over half (53%) of young people only ‘sometimes trust’ news that is served to them on social media, indicating that misinformation and disinformation is a real issue right now. For more information, read more at: https://lnkd.in/ezQY57ET #GlobalMILWeek #PostWithCare

TikTok is now the go-to place that young people head to for their news.📱 A survey, commissioned by NCS*, reveals that TikTok is now the chosen news source for almost half (49%) of teenagers, ahead of TV News (41%) and online news websites or apps (30%). Just 6% of teenagers get their news from print newspapers, while 8% don’t look for any news at all. Social media now dominates where young people take their news from, with YouTube (36%), Instagram (36%), X (20%), Facebook (18%) and Snap (18%) all places they head to keep updated on headlines. Radio news lags behind, with just 12% of teens listening in to the latest updates. However, young people are cautious in trusting the news they see on social media. Only 6% of teenagers ‘always trust’ what they see there. More than half (53%) only ‘sometimes trust’ news that platforms serve them. What do you think? Is a rise in unregulated news sources on social media a reason why misinformation is often shared? *Survey of 2,308 respondents aged 14-18 by Savanta for NCS. Conducted August 2024. #PostWithCare

Youth voice is at the heart of everything we do at NCS. This week, we brought together members of our Youth Advisory Board and our executive and leadership teams for a co-production event focused on enhancing our youth engagement strategy across all levels of NCS Trust. We were pleased to have Antonia Dixey from Participation People facilitate the proceedings. Hana Saada, a member of our Youth Advisory Board, shared her thoughts on the event: "The co-production event was a great experience, bringing together members of the YAB and senior leaders within the trust dedicated to shaping the future of youth engagement. It was lovely to participate in a workshop with such a collaborative atmosphere and a range of perspectives shared, which allowed us to take a holistic approach to NCS' strategy. Although it was great to discuss the Trust's long term youth engagement goals, I found it particularly exciting to hear about the changes we can start to make today to further improve youth engagement. I look forward to seeing the development and execution of the roadmap that will guide NCS' strategic direction and hope the Trust can build on the momentum of the event to accelerate NCS' youth engagement practice." A big thanks to Hana, as well as the other Youth Advisory Board and young colleagues Jess Evans, Shekinnah Wilberforce, Rachael Oloyede, Kazki Fairman MBCS, Nitish Tamhankar, and Wendy Hau. They joined colleagues from across our executive and senior teams, including Hannah Stoddart, Amanda Best FRSA, Michael Devlin, Kelly Holder, Sarah Charlton, Paul Adnitt, Kirsty Beeston, Sabryna Porter, and board member Jonathan Freeman MBE.

This #BlackHistoryMonth, we're focusing on what is often overlooked: what young Black people might need to bring on their NCS experience. #NCS #GrowYourStrengths #BHM #HalfTerm

Lots of young people take mascots with them on NCS — a little piece of home brings a lot of comfort while you're away. We want to let everybody know that we #RespectTheTeddy, not just over half term, but all year round! Teddies will always be welcome on NCS experiences! 🐻 #NCS #GrowYourStrengths #Anxiety

This week we brought together UK Year of Service providers past and present to discuss the future of the programme. We were joined by Stephen Greene and Lord Blunkett, our national partner NCS - National Citizen Service Trust and one of our UK Year of Service alumni, Will. Will worked for Rewriting Earth during his placement and over two years later is still there! He said "UK Year of Service was an inspiring experience to collaborate with a diverse group of young people from across the UK, each bringing different skills and perspectives." The essential skills Will developed during the programme have led to sustaining a full time job and lots of exciting opportunities, including managing projects and campaigns, gaining line management experience and even attending COP27 in Egypt. Thanks to Volunteering Matters British Red Cross Flying Futures C.I.C City Year UK Groundwork UK for sharing their insights and expertise - we look forward to continuing to engage with our wider provider network in the coming months.

Leading figures from youth work, health, and education are set to Join Up for an inaugural summit which aims to transform outcomes for young people by putting their needs first. Focusing on how they are set up equipped and empowered to thrive in every stage of life.  Organised by UK Youth, The Joined Up Summit will see experts and decision-makers from the worlds of employment, social care, criminal justice, business and the Government – including Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza – join 16-25-year-olds to build a brighter future for young people. The Summit – the first of its type – aims to break down barriers between different youth sectors and promote a “new era of joined-up working that puts young people's needs and aspirations at the centre”. NCS are proud to be one of the founding supporters of the Summit which takes place on November 7 in Birmingham. Chair of NCS Trust Chair Harris Bokhari OBE, said: “We are delighted to play a key role in the organisation of the Joined Up Summit this November. I am looking forward to the new connections the event will foster. “Collaboration is crucial for the youth sector. By coming together to share impactful experiences and initiatives that are transforming the lives of young people, we can ensure a unified approach, prioritising the needs of young people above all.” If you would like to be part of this exciting event, register at: https://lnkd.in/e-zWM_nN

📣 We are delighted to announce the first Joined Up Summit - join us on Thursday 7th November to help shape the future for young people. We’re eager to invite CEOs and senior leaders working in education, employment, health, social care, criminal justice, business, government, and civil society sectors, who are united by our mission to connect and scale evidence of what works to transform outcomes for young people across the UK. It's important to us to be as representative of the UK as possible, including the breadth of voices across regions and nations, as this event will be celebrating our collective diversity of ideas, opinions and intersections. The Summit is shaping up to be an incredible event, we are thrilled to have Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England speaking along with a variety of sessions including young people led TED Talks 🙌 The format for the day will include breakout Discovery Sessions where you can hear from cross sector initiatives making a difference for young people. It will provide opportunities for you to meet and engage with young people, funders, leaders and policy makers from youth-facing sectors across the UK including education, employment, criminal justice, youth, health and social care. Together we will explore what’s working, build new partnerships, and drive forward cross sector collaboration to better support young people. 🔗 Tomorrow is the last day to register, secure your place now: https://lnkd.in/e-zWM_nN

Calling all former NCS'ers! 📣 Did NCS help set you up for life so far, make you who you are, or give you friends for life? If so, we’d love for you to share your NCS experience on your social media. Don’t forget to tag us so we can reshare!