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Every Child Matters involves everyone who works with young people. This includes teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers, youth workers, Connexions PAs and many others.
It’s all about making sure you can have a good life, whoever you are, and no matter what problems you may face.
Everyone who works with young people should be aware of the things you need to help you be happy, successful, healthy and safe. The Government wants services to work better together to look after your needs.
In 2003 the Government asked children, young people and adults in England for their views on how you should be treated and helped. Young people said they wanted support to:
- Be healthy
- Stay safe
- Enjoy and achieve
- Make a positive contribution
- Achieve economic well being
These five aims (or “outcomes”) are at the heart of the Children Act 2004 – so it is a law that services must make these aims a top priority.
The 5 aims sound good – but what sort of things do they actually mean? Here are just a few “real life” examples...
Be healthy:
- Stuff like... eating healthier foods and getting some regular exercise... saying no to smoking... getting your regular checkups – eyesight and teeth
Stay safe:
- Stuff like... being security conscious at all times... saying no to drugs... remembering that people you meet online might not be who they appear
Enjoy and achieve:
- Stuff like... getting a good education... getting qualifications to get a good job/career... volunteering and helping others
Make a positive contribution:
- Stuff like... having friends and looking out for each other... respecting other people and yourself
Achieve economic well being:
- Stuff like... finding work... going to uni to help your career... knowing what to do with money
These are the sorts of things that Connexions can help you with, so if you want to know more, talk to a Connexions PA in school/college, or at a Connexions Centre – and check out the information on the rest of the website. We're gradually adding an “Every child and young person matters” bar to the bottom of all our webpages, with logos to show you which of the five aims that page might help with... like this:
