The Participation Party: acting with young children’s experiences of the Alton West Estate. Welcome!
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Welcome to the party! ‘The Participation Party’ project aim was to find out about how young children relate with their local environment as part of their nursery education and so their views and preferences can be included in decisions about the Alton West Estate, London, where they live. It is a collaboration between Eastwood Nursery School, the University of Roehampton, and The Participation People. Come to the exhibition 15th – 30th November in London (see the invitation above) and see highlights from the exhibition below.
who lives here too? 
who lives here too? 
who lives here too? 
who lives here too? 
who lives here too? 
Zone 3: What to do about rubbish and smells? – about what children want to do about rubbish, and smells of rubbish and pee.
Zone 4: Participation space: Exhibition visitors shared thoughts. Lower down there’s a link so you too can share your responses to the exhibition so we know the children have been heard and help think about how we can act with what they say.
Here is a sample of visitors’ comments:
“Great exhibition!”
“how detailed the thoughts and ideas the children have come up with”
“so few processes genuinely respond to children’s voices – that made it interesting”
“What an inspiring and exciting research project – a strong reminder to listen to children and really pay attention to our immediate environment. Thank you and congratulations all for an interesting and welcoming event”
“Children care about their local environment and are vocal about improvements they want to see” “I love how the children’s voices can be heard”
“As a parent I can see that children are aware of the same things that concern us. Improvements to these things would encourage a community atmosphere”
“I’d be great for those that are in charge, the councillors and Regeneration, associations, for them to hear that from the children’s point of view that actually changes do need to be made on the estate, the bins, the lifts. The walkways. Hopefully, that can encourage them to hear and make a change!”
“Play is especially important. A clean and easy to navigate environment. Feeling connected to other residents.”
“I learned that the children are disgusted by the rubbish! I will redouble my efforts to get rubbish collection improved”
“I will work hard to ensure that residents are not taken for granted by the Council and that young people’s views are at the forefront”
“I promise to continue to advocate for citizens to be genuinely involved in local consultation processes along co-design principles and for this to include our youngest citizens!”
How we researched – The children visited the estate, choosing the routes between their homes and took photos This was recorded on video. The children selected images from the visits and discussed them and the video with their families, class teacher and family worker to choose the focus for the exhibition.
Your participation space – What have you learned with the children? .
<strong>The Participation Party</strong> 