Inspired by the BBC's popular TV show 'Dragon's Den', 45 young people aged between 9 and 18 sat on funding panels as organisations tried to woo them with their proposals for a new HeadStart project.
Wolverhampton City Council is one of 12 HeadStart partnerships across the UK who were successful in securing funding from Big Lottery to run a series of pilot programmes to test new ways of supporting children and young people aged 10 to 14 to be more resilient.
The HeadStart Programme is also committed to supporting young people who are disengaged in some way in getting back on track and giving parents an opportunity to contribute to the dialogue around the issues the programme is looking to tackle.
The programme also looks to create opportunities for young people to come together to work with adults and peer mentors.
The young people took part in a day of training where they took it in turns to pitch ideas and sit on the panel of 'Dragons'.
The training was led by Carol Codner from the Education Business Partnership who covered important 'soft skills' such as communication, listening and body language.
Kevin Pace, Programme Manager for HeadStart Wolverhampton said: "The young people were fabulous. They took their roles as 'Dragons' very seriously and applied their training to ensure the process went as planned. The organisations who pitched their ideas were really positive about the experience and the professionalism of the young people."
Councillor Val Gibson, Cabinet Member for Children and Families, said: "This is a brilliant example once again of our young people demonstrating their ability to play an important role in contributing to the council's thinking and decision making."
Sally Grayson, a teacher from Springdale Junior School who brought 4 Year 5 pupils to the training added: "It was brilliant to see children of all ages working together and watch their confidence blossom. I saw some things I never thought I would see."
In total, the programme attracted 37 applications for the funding. The Dragon's recommendations will be put forward to the final decision making panel in January.
- released: Wednesday 17 December, 2014