Our Values & Mission
The Purpose of The Student Voice
Who we are
The Student Voice was created by a team that believe in creative approaches to contextual safeguarding, thinking beyond traditional outlooks.
Firstly, we seek to overcome barriers to reporting so that all young voices can be heard. Secondly, we empower young people to be courageous and responsible by giving them the tools to advocate for their community and participate in keeping their community safe. Lastly, we seek to understand young people’s experiences, so schools can expand their safeguarding culture and prevent future harm in their communities.
‘Brave spaces create supportive environments so that all people may equally participate in challenging dialogue’ (NASPA, 2017)
As we have all experienced at some point in our lives, it is extremely difficult to come forward and disclose something, even to our trusted friends, and especially face to face, which is, unfortunately, why many people stay silent.
For young people, the social rules that govern their lives (Dr Carlene Firmin, 2017) can make coming forward even harder. We can, however, start the conversation by listening to our young people authentically and providing them with brave spaces.
There is immense potential in providing young people with these spaces and we operate with an awareness of their varied life experiences, striving to respect and understand their social rules.
Our founding team bring different skillsets to the business:
Stephen Willoughby
Leads IT and development. Stephen experienced severe bullying at school, resulting in him leaving formal education early. This drives his passion for developing entirely child-focused tech to empower young voices.
Jason Tait
An experienced and active DSL and Director of Pastoral Care, whose passion for Contextual Safeguarding and preventative approaches to safeguarding young people led him to join forces with Stephen to create The Student Voice.
Eve O’Connell
Leads growth and operations. Eve works closely with Jason and Stephen to build a unique way to empower young voices, authentically. Eve collaborates with our schools to achieve effective student engagement and ensure the satisfaction of our DSLs.
We all share a passion for driving positive change with a strong focus
on building genuine relationships with likeminded people.
Student safeguarding in changing times
The world has changed immeasurably in the last few years. We understand that student concerns are changing and evolving along with society, which is why we are proud to continually develop our platform to provide opportunities for young people to share their experiences in their online world, at school, their communities, and at home.
Working in partnership with likeminded schools, colleges, and academies
We are very proud of the work achieved with schools, colleges and academies, assisting them in producing better outcomes for young people. Providing a community focus is helping schools to tackle the full range of issues, including mental health concerns, child-on-child abuse, bullying, harassment, and county lines.
With The Student Voice, schools are enhancing real-time safeguarding provision and creating positive learning opportunities for young people to take into adulthood. By doing so schools will both safeguard communities and safeguard their futures.
Our Values
COURAGE
We seek to provide young people with the opportunity to stand up for their community.
RESPECT
We seek to validate the views of young people.
GROWTH MINDSET
We seek to continually learn and grow from the experiences of young people.
RESPONSIBILITY
We seek to develop young people who will contribute to making their communities safer.
