NICCY membership

Congratulations to Grosvenor pupil Taisie Court, Year Thirteen, who has taken a leading role as a member of the ‘Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Young People’ (NICCY) over the past two years.

NICCY is an organisation that aims to give young people a voice on issues affecting them, ensuring that children in Northern Ireland have their rights respected. Its panel of teenaged members works closely alongside the Commissioner for Children and Young People, Koulla Yiasouma, and provides her with evidence and guidance on what to raise with and challenge the Executive on.

Taisie’s involvement with NICCY began in January 2019 when, as a new recruit to the organisation, she attended an induction day for anyone interested in joining the panel. Since then, her involvement has come primarily as a valued member of NICCY’s Mental Health group, which has discussed and advised on a range of issues relating to mental health support in schools. Linked to this, one of Taisie’s most prominent contributions came on 21st March of this year when she delivered a presentation to the Assembly on the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of young people, before then answering a series of questions posed by MLAs.

In the aftermath of this, Taisie has now joined a subgroup that has been specifically set up to look at the impact of Covid-19 on the lives of young people, while, during the recent Easter holidays, she helped to facilitate induction days for new panel members via Zoom.

As she now enters her final year as a member of the Commission, Taisie hopes to become as involved as possible and grab every opportunity she can; especially with physical, in-person meetings looking more possible in the near future.

Well done to Taisie on her involvement with such a commendable range of projects over the past couple of years; we wish her all the best for her involvement in future projects over the coming twelve months.