Hearing the Young Unheard – Oxford Breakfast Conversation

This morning I chaired another of this year’s Breakfast Conversations, this time hosted by Oxfordshire Youth at their offices in Oxford Business Park. It was wonderful to be welcomed by the team and to see so many people – young and adult alike – gathered with a shared purpose: to explore what it really means to hear the young unheard.

Why we met

The purpose of these conversations is simple but urgent. Too many young people in Oxfordshire feel invisible, overlooked, or silenced by the systems around them. My theme for the year as High Sheriff – Hearing the Young Unheard – is about giving space for those voices and asking what we, as adults with responsibility and influence, are going to do about it.

At Oxfordshire Youth, I was joined by Voice Champions, High Sheriff’s Cadets, youth workers, and representatives from the County Council, the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office, and the Shrieval team. Together, we listened, reflected, and made pledges of action.

What we heard

The young people spoke with honesty and clarity about what works – and what doesn’t. A few themes stood out for me:

• Trusted adults matter. Having even one adult who genuinely listens can change a young person’s outlook. For those without such a figure, the gap is devastating.

• Schools can be both a help and a hindrance. While some young people spoke warmly of teachers who had supported them, many more described schools where staff were simply too stretched or too focused on exam results to hear their concerns.

• Language is a barrier. Terms like co-production and apprenticeships mean little to many young people. We need to speak plainly if we want to include them.

• Creativity unlocks honesty. Art, tie-dye, friendship bracelets, and informal conversations created spaces where young people felt able to speak. Traditional surveys or panels simply don’t reach the same breadth of voices.

• Some groups are still missing. Disabled young people, care-experienced young people, asylum seekers, and those not in education or employment often remain unheard. If we are serious about inclusion, we must go out of our way to reach them.

• Feedback matters. Young people told us how dispiriting it is to be “consulted” without ever hearing back. Adults agreed that we must close the loop, even when the answer is “no.”

What we pledged

At the close of the conversation, we each made a pledge. The young people promised to keep gathering the views of their peers, to reach further into under-represented groups, and to keep challenging adults to be transparent. The adults pledged to go out to where young people are, to build feedback loops into everything we do, to avoid jargon, to strengthen collaboration across sectors, and to continue creating spaces where youth voice is heard and acted upon.

These pledges will not be forgotten. They will be followed up when we reconvene all participants from across the county in March 2026.

A personal reflection

As I listened, I found myself thinking back to my early days as a teacher. I can still picture those moments at the end of a lesson when a pupil would hover by the desk, waiting for everyone else to leave, just so they could quietly say what was really on their mind. Sometimes it was about homework, but more often it was about something far bigger: a worry at home, a fear about the future, a desperate need to be heard.

I learned then that the real business of education often happens in those small, unplanned moments – not in the grand lesson plan, but in the quiet conversation that says: I see you. I’m listening. That truth has never left me. And it came back powerfully in our Oxford conversation, as young people reminded us again and again that having one trusted adult who takes them seriously can make all the difference.

What I took away

I came away inspired, challenged, and more determined than ever. Listening to young people is not enough; we must be accountable. It is no use celebrating “youth voice” if nothing changes as a result.

This is why Hearing the Young Unheard is not just a theme for my year – it is a call to action for all of us.

My thanks to everyone who contributed, and especially to the young people who spoke with courage and honesty. And my thanks, too, to Oxfordshire Youth for hosting us so warmly.