Rochdale Children’s Forums

School children from across the borough will come together at Woodland Primary School in Heywood on Tuesday 20 November.

The day will be a coming together of the eight Rochdale Children’s Forums from 28 schools across the borough to meet together, many for the first time. 

The forums meet within schools throughout the year to allow children to air their views about their community and lives. 

There will be a whole day of activities planned, including a graffiti artist who will be listening to the views of children throughout the day and translating their voices onto a graffiti board.  The finished artwork will be revealed at the Big Listen’s Big Event on Saturday 24 November at Rochdale Town Hall. 

The innovative idea is to encourage debate and discussions to identify strategies for good emotional well-being.  This is to underpin the Big Listen theme of ‘Be Healthy’ and to highlight that being healthy is emotional and mental well being as much as the physical wellbeing that is more visible. 

Children will have the opportunity to partake in decision making on the day to build the confidence and self esteem.  The Children’s Empowerment Team at Sure Start who have organised the event hope it will break barriers for children to understand more about their feelings and expressions.  There will be information on hand of where children and families can get more information or support at any time from agencies in Rochdale.

Jazz Mahboob and Angela Koszla from the Children’s Empowerment Team are involved in running the day.  They said: “The day will be a lot of fun and a chance for children to use graffiti as a positive expression of their views and opinions.  It is an exciting time for all the forums to come together and talk about issues that children have in common despite where they live or the lifestyle they lead.  We hope the day will also convey the important message of talking about our emotional welfare and how to express that to make a positive impact in our own environment.”