Annual General Meeting
An AGM – but not as you know it. That was the promise from Linda Sanders, Interim Chair of Sandwell Children’s Trust and she wasn’t wrong!
The AGM kicked off with a welcome from Amy & Josh two of our young people who are taking an active role in the Voice group (formerly the Participation team).
Amy & Josh took us on a whistle stop tour of their year of events, trips, awards and celebrations as the Participation team became the Voice team and launched the Working Together strategy (as they said – ‘more on that later’).
Setting the tone for the day Emma Taylor, Chief Executive of the Trust was able to tell the staff and our partners that ‘we’re a forward-looking organisation’ and report back on the success of our workforce development strategy. ‘We are making many improvements and our ambition is strong.’
Following on from that Tara Malik, SCT Director of Resources and Company Secretary gave a clear and precise overview of the financial picture putting SCT’s accounts in context, both in terms of the sector as a whole and the changing political climate.
We also had an inspiring guest speaker in Parminder Singh Garcha, Deputy Director for the West Midlands from the Department for Education (DfE), who revealed his own strong connections to Sandwell while confirming that for the DfE ‘the theme is change’.
For the DfE that change is about providing better chances for children and young people, Parminder quoted Kier Starmer ‘the Government is returning to service’ and although he was clear that he couldn’t yet go into details, it was clear that Parminder sees a different approach and was confident that policies are coming.
Although he understandably couldn’t be specific, Parminder was able to say that children’s social care and SEND will be priorities.
Lots to look forward to there! But the undoubted highlight of the AGM was the return to the stage of our young people, Amy, Josh, Ellie and Jevon talking through the principles of our Working Together strategy and explaining why each pledge is important to them with powerful testimonies from their own lives.
The room stopped. We had just been reminded of everything we are working towards and why it matters, in the most remarkable way.
