About the Youth Summit

Following the success of our first Youth Summit last year, our second annual Youth Summit will take place on Tuesday 4 February 2025. The summit will build on our theme, One Stockport One Future, with a renewed focus on making Stockport the best place to live happy, healthy lives. This year, we're excited to welcome 15 secondary schools and 2 colleges, with a total of 150 attendees.

The aim of the Youth Summit is to give young people an opportunity to:

  • discuss and share their views on Stockport Council’s ‘One Stockport, One Future’ plan
  • voice their opinions on the ‘Five Big Things’ Stockport Council plans to do to improve Stockport

This ensures that the long-term plan for Stockport provides what future generations want and need in their communities.

Purpose and goals

The Youth Summit aims to provide a platform for influential leaders in Stockport to hear and understand the key issues impacting young people's wellbeing. Our goal is to work together to improve these areas, supporting Stockport to become a place where young people both belong and thrive, directly linking to our One Future vision.

Empowering young voices

We're committed to ensuring that young people feel heard and continue to develop a community where their voices matter. By working with key partners, we've developed ambitions, understood strategic links, and ensured that young voices influence key priorities and the delivery of existing plans. The outcomes and ambitions for each workshop have been co-produced, taking a lead from the youth voice in our planning.

Inclusive engagement

In addition to the main Youth Summit, Autisk has been running smaller workshops with young people with additional needs and disabilities. This makes sure that their experiences and views on wellbeing are heard, shared, and prioritised. We've also engaged with young people from specialist schools, with Pursuing Individual Excellence (PIE) delivering informative sessions in schools ahead of the summit. A short video from these pre-sessions, along with footage from Autisk's workshops, will be shown at the summit.

Focus on mental wellbeing

This year's summit focuses on mental wellbeing, linking to the delivery of One Future, the Mental Health Strategy, the SEND Strategy, and the Five Ways to Wellbeing. Our workshops will address key areas identified as needs:

  • belonging
  • anxiety
  • self help/iThrive
  • schools and mental health with a whole school approach
  • climate and wellbeing