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Mini commissioners call the shots |
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Fire Brigade staff took their orders from young Londoners last November as part of national ’11 Million – Takeover Day’. The day was an opportunity for children and young people to take over leading institutions and sit in the decision making hot-seat. London’s Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson made room in his office for two 15-year old ‘Mini Commissioners’ who donned the officers uniform and experienced what it’s like to run one of the world’s biggest fire and rescue services. At the same time, other young people took over by getting involved in activities:
• A group of teenage girls became firefighters for the day at Southwark Training Centre, training in full firefighter gear. As part of the day they also chatted to the brigade’s recruitment team about how more young women can be encouraged to consider the fire service as a career.
• A group of year 6 (10-11 years) pupils became Fire Brigade Schools Officers for the day. Under the guidance of the Brigade’s Schools Team, they taught year 2 (five to six years) children about fire safety in the home, whilst providing fresh insight into some of the resources used by the Schools Team.
• Young people (various ages) took part in a range of workshops where they were asked for ideas and opinions on key Fire Service issues like preventing hoax calls, protecting the environment and attracting new firefighters.
London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said: “This was a great opportunity for us to learn from young people. We hope they had a rewarding time, but the real aim of the day was for them to take part in decision making. We run a range of youth programmes in the community, but this is the first time young people have come into our headquarters, with the sole aim of telling us what they think. We’re here to make our city safer for all Londoners, so we’re ready to listen and hopefully pick up new ideas.”
Mini Commissioner Kate McMahon, 15, from Erith, said: “It was good to get information about the background stuff that nobody knows about. There are more changes going on and debates than I thought. We had fun today and I enjoyed speaking to the firefighters. There should definitely be more days like this.”
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