The Youth Voice Project, a collaboration with Vincentia High School, Firefly/Uniting, Western Sydney University, is a dynamic, youth-led initiative fostering leadership, co-decision-making, and positive cultural change within school and community. Launched in 2023, continuing through 2025, the project empowers students to actively shape their environments through research, advocacy, and action.

Demonstrating Student Leadership and Co-Decision-Making
The heart of the Project is a commitment to genuine student leadership. Fourteen students from Vincentia High School were trained as researchers using a tailored version of the ReSPECT youth co-design research model. With support from mentors, students led school-wide investigation into wellbeing, safety, and satisfaction. This research directly informed the development of the Youth Voice Roadmap, a strategic guide for positive change, along with four youth-led and co-designed projects.

Students didn’t just participate—they made decisions. They led the process from identifying issues to planning and delivering solutions. Their work influenced school priorities and ensured young people were seen as equal partners in shaping school and community outcomes.

Creating Impact on School Culture
The research led to several tangible changes that have directly impacted the community.
• Expansion of Breakfast Club: Now running five days a week at the school, meeting more dietary needs, providing emergency lunches, this student-led initiative ensures all students have access to a healthy start, supporting learning and wellbeing.
• Beyond the Spectrum: Created to support young carers and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families, with activities and information sessions.
• Revitalisation of the Malcolm Moore BMX Track: students advocated for and initiated plans to revitalise the BMX track in Basin View. They presented their proposals to Shoalhaven City Councillors in 2024, receiving positive feedback and support for the project.
• Creative Spaces: Collaborating with local artists and the Jervis Bay Maritime museum, students designed and created a mural, providing a platform for youth artistic expression.

Student voices reached beyond the school gates. Participants presented to council, community groups, engaged in leadership events, and contributed to meaningful conversations about youth needs and aspirations.

Sustainable and Inclusive Student Participation
A defining feature of Youth Voice is sustainability. The project’s structure and partnerships have allowed student-led initiatives to be embedded into the school’s culture. Continued collaboration with local organisations, has ensured these efforts are not one-off, but part of a long-term vision ensuring students have the knowledge and skills required for their future pathways.

Vincentia High School is committed to repeating and expanding the project with future cohorts, embedding student voice as a core feature of school life.

Hearing from Diverse Student Voices
Inclusivity is a cornerstone of the project. The peer research model enabled participation from students of different ages, backgrounds, and identities. The school-wide survey captured data on gender, sexuality, Indigenous identity, and disability, ensuring that the voices of all students were heard and valued.

The Youth Voice Project has not only given young people a platform—it has shifted how leadership, learning, and wellbeing are approached at Vincentia High School. It’s a model of youth empowerment and advocacy with lasting impact.

The Youth Voice Project empowers students as leaders and decision-makers through a partnership between Vincentia High School, Firefly/Uniting, and key stakeholders. Using the ReSPECT youth co-design model then into 2024 the incorporating elements of the Community Minded Kids program, students led research on wellbeing and co-designed solutions.

The project promotes inclusive student voice, genuine co-decision-making, and lasting cultural change. Embedded in school practice and supported by strong community partnerships, Youth Voice ensures young people are active, valued contributors to shaping their school and wider community. Student ended up working with three additional co-design partners.

The Youth Voice Project has had a significant and lasting impact on the students involved, both personally and collectively, and has also strengthened school-community relationships. Findings from the project evaluation highlight multiple areas of positive change, particularly in student confidence, skills development, and belief that their voices truly matter.

Participation in the project led to a measurable boost in student confidence. Survey data showed that:
• At the mid-point, 36% of students felt “much more confident,” and by the end, that rose to 60%.
• 100% of students reported an increase in confidence by project completion.
“I was never comfortable with talking to adults until now. I know more people and I feel respected and heard within the group.”

Students became more willing and able to speak up, especially in front of adults. They reported feeling being taken seriously—a major shift from initial doubts.

Students gained practical skills through authentic learning experiences like conducting research, presenting pitches, and collaborating with stakeholders:
• Improved public speaking
• Enhanced teamwork and leadership
• Greater advocacy and community engagement
“Capable of voicing opinions and concerns to the community about issues.”
“Surprised by how well [I] spoke at Pitch Day.”

Some students even noted their peers looking up to them as role models:
“Felt younger kids looking up to [them] and asking advice.”

The project’s structure actively supported diverse and sustained participation by:
• Creating an inclusive, judgement-free environment
• Removing financial barriers to access
• Providing incentives that showed students their contributions were valued

Students consistently reported feeling comfortable with facilitators and would recommend the experience to others.
Perhaps most powerfully, the project has begun to shift students’ beliefs about their role in shaping their community.

The Youth Voice Project at Vincentia High School is a powerful example of how student voice can drive real, lasting change when it is genuinely respected, resourced, and embedded into school life and community. This initiative deserves recognition because it has redefined the role of young people in education and their environments at a grassroots level, placing them not just at the table—but at the heart of decision-making.