The children’s commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, visited Cranbrook Education Campus last Thursday, (September 28).

Rachel de Souza visited the school as part of her role to promote and protect the rights of children, especially the most vulnerable and speak up for them to ensure their opinions are heard.   

Dame de Souza met with groups of children in Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 from schools around Exeter and East Devon including Cranbrook Education Campus, Exwick Heights Primary School, West Exe and Isca Academy. Children shared some ideas on the issues affecting them, and how the prime minister could help improve their and other children’s lives.

She also visited the school's community hub, EX5 Alive, which provides cradle-to-career support for children, young people and families in Cranbrook and East Devon to improve the quality of life within Cranbrook and the surrounding area.  They work with a wide range of external partners, including the Live and Move Sport England fund (Move More Cranbrook), Exeter Foodbank, Action for Children, Parental Minds, Cranbrook Medical for social prescribing and Reach Academy in Feltham to ensure they provide the highest quality of community support for local young people and their families.

Dame de Souza is in the South West to raise awareness about The Big Ambition, which is a national survey of young people across England, in the lead-up to the next general election, she will take the thoughts, opinions and ideas of children who completed the survey to those in Government to ensure that they listen to the voices of young people on what they think should be done to improve children’s lives. 

Stephen Farmer, headteacher at Cranbrook Education Campus said: “It was brilliant to welcome Dame de Souza to Cranbrook today, her passion for promoting children’s ideas is obvious and the group of students that met with her were really interested to hear about how their ideas would be fed back to those running the country.

“At the campus, we believe that ensuring children are engaged in their learning is key to making sure they succeed and we are so proud that our students are taking part in shaping the country for the children of the future.”

Freddy and Abi in Year 7 said: “We talked about vapes and how to make the situation better by not making them colourful or flavoured. We also talked about shopkeepers being more responsible for what young people buy, for example energy drinks and vapes. After that we discussed feeling safe walking home or taking the bus and the school environment. We want to introduce more safe environments, like youth clubs and have more people who are trained to help children who have additional needs.”