Year: 2020_21
Module: Coronavirus
Variable: COVADVICE

Below are the responses to the open-ended question:

'What actions should Government take to make things better for children and young people as we look to move forward from the Covid pandemic period?'

Note: Responses were edited for grammatical reasons, if necessary.

   

• 4 day weeks and the school gets cleaned down on the day off.
• A bigger focus on preventing mass outbreaks, similar to Covid19.
• An easier scheme to understand etc. The stages of coming out of the pandemic laid out for better understanding.
• A more well thought out system in awarding centre determined grades.
• A stronger and better equipped service to assist with the mental health of individuals affected by the pandemic and a streamlined way of communicating how education is to be handled in the event of lockdowns such as the ones that have been in effect during the pandemic. Plans should also be developed in case of future lockdown situations for how education can rapidly transition to a remote state without significant disruption or confusion.
• Accessibility to mental health services, confidential from parents.
• Acknowledge them more.
• Actually get rid of GCSEs overall during lockdown.
• Actually listen to our concerns.
• Actually listen to our thoughts and views more and explain it in a way where everyone can understand as some adults don’t even understand never mind young people.
• Actually listen to them and not just brush their problems under a rug.
• Actually listen to them instead of making surveys to try and keep them satisfied.
• Actually listen to us.
• Actually listen to what young people are saying and do something with that information instead of just doing what suits them.
• Actually listening to them.
• Actually take young people’s thoughts into consideration, I believe that they say they listen to us but they don’t really.
• Additional educational and mental health support outside of school as well as inside school. Making sure that there is structure.
• Advertise mental health services more.
• Advertise things like helplines and guidance for young people more regularly on platforms such as social media and television.
• Advertising and financially supporting methods of help for young people, as well as making news resources more child friendly where it is easier for young people to understand and keep up to date with what is happening.
• Advertising mental health charities in a more child friendly way, as the majority of them feel they were better aimed at adults. Most come across as overconfident when they should be more humble and human in their advertising in order for young people to feel more comfortable and invited.
• Advise young people to be honest with someone if that is your parents or friends
• After this I’d personally like to see many people get back on their feet and what in a better way to socialise but yet have information that could benefit many young people. The government could set up clubs and activities to help young people in life such as getting a job, looking after mental health and steps that could help benefit their future.
• All the blame is on teenagers.
• Allow children to meet up with friends more and run more clubs or camps for children.
• Allow children to meet with friends in larger groups but in a safe environment from COVID.
• Allow clubs to restart, sports and the arts.
• Allow concerts and live music so it feels like normal again.
• Allow exercise.
• Allow cinemas to open WITH RESTRICTIONS being in place.
• Allow more people to meet up in a group. Open cinemas and other leisure activity places.
• Allow outside school sports and extra-curricular activities to be open for young people.
• Allow shops to be open or beer gardens ersum.
• Allow more of a social life.
• Allow more people from different households to meet indoors.
• Allow more people in a house.
• Allow more public places to open up.
• Allow outdoor meetings.
• Allow outdoor sports to be played.
• Allow parties.
• Allow people to meet inside whilst wearing masks.
• Allow people to socialise more.
• Allow singing in schools. More busses to and from school.
• Allow small groups to meet up indoors as long as they don’t have any symptoms.
• Allow social events to open however keep them closed to a degree to allow recovery from the pandemic and recovery of social health.
• Allow social gatherings.
• Allow sports and meetups.
• Allow sports in larger groups and larger groups for social gatherings.
• Allow students who have missed out on their school/college because of predicted grades especially if they worked hard throughout their school years.
• Allow teens to have more of an input in what should happen especially if it has to do with schools because they are the ones who are going to be the most affected by it.
• Allow them to go out and have a social life. Also they should look at a way to alleviate the stress caused by exams coming up.
• Allow them to go outside.
• Allow them to have a voice, by lowering the amount of work they have to do.
• Allow them to have free speech towards the disadvantages of the government’s decisions.
• Allow them to meet.
• Allow them to meet up with friend groups.
• Allow them to meet with friends.
• Allow them to play outside in a safe environment.
• Allow them to see friends by filtering them in school in small manageable groups.
• Allow us to be children and stop locking us in our houses.
• Allow us to go out and see our friends.
• Allow vaccinations for younger people.
• Allow young people to meet up in small groups.
• Allow young people to receive the vaccine to allow them to be more outgoing as risk is reduced.
• Allow youth clubs to have more access.
• Allowing competitive sport to continue.
• Allowing people into houses.
• Allowing public transport to be free for a period of time or reduced in price as an incentive of not going out for so long.
• Allows them to meet with friends.
• Although restrictions prohibit contact with other households, there should be more activities available for young people ages 16-20.
• Although this may sound like the opposite of what many young people say, I feel stronger enforcement of coronavirus regulations would be helpful because knowledge of how people in school and outside of school are not complying with the set regulations, for example on social distancing, can increase worry about whether we are safe or not in school. I know I have been worried about what I know people have spent their weekends doing in terms of meeting up outside of Covid19 regulations with people from other schools. I think there are good opportunities already for young people, for example being able to meet a friend in the park, and I have enjoyed doing this.
• Always be positive.
• Always be prepared.
• An easier access for help for young people and children’s mental health as the pandemic has been very stressful for me and many people I know and will benefit by having someone or some place to destress or talk [about] their worries.
• Anyone who was transferring from primary to secondary and for anyone leaving to continue further education has really missed out on a lot of support and guidance, more recruitment drive for young school leavers as the amount of unemployment now will be higher than ever.
• Anything other than more stress and expectations that are difficult to meet.
• Applying a youth and intergenerational lens in crisis response and recovery measures across the public administration.
• Arguably, they need to be more transparent and have a set plan that they will not turn back on. Young people have suffered greatly because of this government.
• As a young teenager I would like there to be no restrictions as every other teenager and child would want but the more actions we do to help remove these restrictions past us would be best so I would say let young people live their lives freely but make them take safety precautions like wearing mask and sanitizing.
• As I said in the last answer there’s nothing we can do now. Ourvteen years are down the drain things I wanted to do i can’t even do anymore because it’s too embarrassing because I’m too old now which is a shame. But I think they should just do more things to bring everyone together like music concerts or big youth clubs to do things with like trips and stuff like that I’m not the best at thinking of stuff but everyone needs brought back together.
• As the coronavirus worsens day after day the government shouldn’t just open shops and malls as we are still in schools and colleges this could decrease the risk of catching the virus and increase the kids the be able to get their qualifications they might need further in life
• As the COVID19 eases up in summer, people should open up activities or youth clubs around young people’s rural areas for different age groups to get back to normal socialisation.
• Ask our opinions more and listen to what we have to say.
• Ask children how them feel and actually listen to their answers.
• Ask for our opinions and put them into action
• Ask for the opinions of more young people.
• Ask for the young people’s opinions and take them into consideration.
• Ask for their opinion.
• Ask more surveys like this.
• Ask our opinions.
• Ask the young people what they want.
• Ask the youth what they want to change as we are not given a place to speak in the government and they have no relatable feelings like us.
• Ask them questions and respond with proper action.
• Ask us how we feel and think about our wellbeing.
• Ask young people more questions about how this has affected us so that they answer more questions and be able to try and allocate funds to try to fix the issues that young people may face such as declines in mental health. Don’t just assume you know what goes through the minds of a teenager in today’s society, find out by asking.
• Ask young people their opinions before making decisions that will affect young people mentally.
• Assist them properly. Being nice about the exams and grades. Giving out money that people have lost due to it.
• Assurance that exam results will be awarded fairly.
• Attempt to have more open activities for children.
• Attempt to make less impactful changes for young people, where they are more restricted and have to change their day-to-day life, and instead attempt to make smaller changes that would still effectively protect families from the possible threats of the coronavirus.
• Attempt to relieve some of the stress that the pandemic brought, allowing us to take a break and as we try to return to normal schooling.
• Banning sporting activities is unnecessary.
• Be able to agree on set dates.
• Be able to have contact with extended family members or be able to bubble with them. Also being able to meet up with more people at a time from different households so friendship groups can see each other.
• Be able to meet each other in slightly bigger groups outdoors.
• Be able to see mates for an hour a week.
• Be aware of how the pandemic has effected education, and show that through having a plan for the people who start sixth form in September 2021.
• Be better prepared if such a situation arises again.
• Be clear, especially with plans for schools as things were extremely confusing for me, my classmates and my teachers right up until the govts. Deadlines to make decisions and even then they were extremely confusing.
• Be clearer when providing information and to insure that they fully inform people of their decisions.
• Be clearer with school work and exams. It has been very difficult and for many courses nothing was taken off.
• Be completely transparent with testing and assessments, better mental health programs for children and young people School needs to not teach us things that we will never use, but life skills including how to deal with eating disorders and what to do with suicidal thoughts, school doesn’t care about students, they care about grades and it makes me feel like a number and not a person.
• Be considerate of what children had to go through.
• Be easier on the exam students due to the immense amount of pressure put on them.
• Be honest about how good or bad the virus is, don’t lie and say everything will be fine, if there are issues that involve the public and young people then talk to them about it honestly.
• Be less vague and confusing when saying what to do and what not to do and have more care and empathy. Bring more awareness to social issues to create a society that is more accepting and compassionate. Construct a thorough and detailed pandemic plan if such a thing ever happens again.
• Be more careful about people’s mental health if they have to start another lockdown.
• Be more clear in the future about what is happening with exams as we ended up sitting two sessions  of exams as the exam boards couldn’t  get their act together and tell us what we needed to complete for evidence for our GCSEs.
• Be clearer with what restrictions have been put in place and not to rush back to some sort of normality.
• Be clearer, give more help to those who are struggling with health problems.
• Be more considerate.
• Be more considerate about school at the moment as it can be difficult to adjust back to what it was like prior to the pandemic.
• Be more decisive with topics like exams and school.
• Be more decisive, not wait until the last minute to tell us what we’re doing.
• Be more efficient with easing restrictions in instances such as youth clubs and outdoor gatherings.
• Be more helpful with school etc.
• Be more honest about what is happening. Think about families more.
• Be more open and clear in the ways restrictions ease.
• Be more open, be more considerate.
• Be more specific about the number of people allowed to meet.
• Be more straight forward about what is happening in terms of exams etc.
• Be stricter on young people meeting in crowds of thirty or forty to drink and have a good time as this would help stop the spread of the virus.
• Be more understanding and include the younger generation in their decision making.
• Be more vocal about how they intend to ease restrictions and the effect that will have in society.
• Be open and transparent about their plans for the school system and other things relating to young people.
• Be prepared.
• Be prepared for something like this to happen again.
• Be quicker, better at providing information on changes with education and take into account our opinions on them.
• Be realistic with this new virus.
• Be understanding towards young people and the impact the pandemic had on them and not expect everyone to be willing to meet in large numbers so quickly.
• Become more informative and stop blaming it on young generations.
• Being able to meet friends and be able to go on holidays.
• Being able to meet up with at least one friend in serious situations.
• Being clearer on what is going to happen for our age group and not telling us one thing and meaning another.
• BETTER AND INCREASED MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND SUPPORT IS GREATLY NEEDED.
• Better communication to young people through our media platforms, schools.
• Better communication with schools.
• Better concise wording, and get straight to the point of what you’re trying to say.
• Better education all round if this ever happens again. Give young people a chance to have their own voice.
• Better facilities for sports and leisure. I found the Comber greenway fantastic over lockdown and more development of things like this would be great. More football pitches etc.
• Better financial support, more opportunities for young people. It just seems like young people have been forgotten, and actually listening to children and young people and settling on one thing before coming out and telling us that that’s what we will be doing like with exams.
• Better guidance from Government as to access to resources.
• Better help for with mental health and addressing it.
• Better mental health teaching in school, making the outside a safer place.
• Better online education.
• Better opportunities for younger people to get work experience.
• Better schooling.
• Better support.
• Better support for education.
• Bigger push on mental health.
• Boris should address children directly, same as for adults.
• Bring back all sport activities like football matches.
• Bring back normality as soon as it is safely possible to do so.
• Bring in rules and make sure they are in their own bubbles
• Bring two meter social distancing to one meter.
• Build facilities.
• By helping those in education, so their education can be better instead of being worse.
• By removing all restrictions and letting us enjoy this summer fully because I think we deserve a summer to enjoy and the vulnerable are all vaccinated.
• Cancel exams/assessments.
• Can’t think of anything
• Catch up on lost education.
• Change the education system, or at least the people in charge. Everyone’s mind would be a little more at ease if they knew that they wouldn’t be forced to do such massive amounts of work under such short notice.
• Change the exam system, I personally only found out how my grades were being decided a month ago and my term is basically over.
• Change the way GCSE and AQE tests are being graded.
• Change the way grades are taken, less exams, change the education system in general.
• Change the workers in the education system with Peter Weir, rather than having business men take care of our future and exams it should be much more wise to take teachers into that system as they know their job and what needs to be done. I believe that teachers can only do their job to a certain extent if our board is throwing us into the storm and expecting us to survive especially during this pandemic.
• Check on all children’s mental health as it has been affected in the lockdown period.
• Checking that children and young have not been effected by the socially and mentally due to the coronavirus.
• Children who may be getting abused should have easier access and especially through coronavirus as they would have been worse off through lockdown.
• Clarity for future exams.
• Cleaner parks.
• Clear communication, keep them informed and better mental health programs.
• Clear guidance about restrictions and not leaving anything up to interpretation.
• Clear guidelines for teachers.
• Clearer guidelines.
• Clearer instructions on what is happening with students sitting exams.
• Close everything down.
• College students fees reduced, support for college students placement year as few companies are taking on placement students, bonding activities with friends.
• Communicate better about education.
• Communicate better to students and schools.
• Communicating in a way in which younger people can understand and reduce stress.
• Compensate those who have been negatively affected by the pandemic and may have not performed as well as they should in exams e.g. allow into certain A levels or give UCAS points after evaluation.
• Consider fair grades and the effect on what it’s like for people in school as well as improved mental health services for anyone who needs it.
• Consider how we have been effected and actually inform us about what’s happening.
• Consider mental health.
• Consider our sacrifices and stop blaming us for everything stop blaming young people for the pandemic and young people will not put up with another lockdown because the government have kept on failing us and blaming us when we do what they say.
• Consider people with the right qualifications and right experience to be in charge of the Department of Education, someone younger yet understanding of what young people face on a day to day basis.
• Consider school.
• Consider teenagers emotional wellbeing more and consider the risk they present.
• Consider the huge effect it will play on young people whether it be affecting their school studies, social life, or mental and physical health. They have to remember politics plays a pivotal role in everyone’s life not just the adults of our society.
• Consider them as priority or at least with more thought
• Consult with young people.
• Consultation with young people, regarding exams especially.
• Continue to have restrictions but allow people to meet while social distancing. Support things/groups that help with mental health.
• Continue lateral flow tests to make children in school feel safer, and thus allowing them to focus on education. Allowing people to see their friends, of course within reason like isolating before and after. Sustaining levels of sanitation seen in public places like buses and trains, and the wearing of masks in these places.
• Continue the vaccination programme in the younger age groups.
• Continue to consistently evaluate the education system and what pressures it is placing on those who are having or have had their schooling disrupted and put appropriate measures in place to make it fair.
• Continue with giving the vaccine to everyone and finishing trials on younger people to then be able to let people go to school or work without anxiety of bringing COVID home.
• Continuous support in schools.
• COVID safe events for teens to socialise and have a good time.
• COVID vaccine.
• Create a more open and welcoming environment for young people to talk about their opinions, and have young people represented in parliament.
• Create an environment where we feel heard and understood. A lot of the time it feels as though the government and older generations, in general, look down on us and dismiss our opinions and feelings saying that were making a big deal out of nothing or when speaking up and fighting against prejudice and racism we are called sensitive or snowflakes just because we can understand that those racist jokes or remarks aren’t funny and should be corrected. However, it feels as though they aren’t listening.
• Create community social activities for kids my age like discos because we are too young to go to bars etc. and too old to go to play parks, free public transport for kids my age to be less dependent on stressed parents and able to be independent and get to places to meet friends,
• Create events,
• Create fun things for us to do,
• Create mental health groups for young children and give more availability in education.
• Create more clubs and activities to socialise with others,
• Create more enjoyable activities e.g. Discos…
• Create more jobs,
• Create more opportunities for young people to  socialise together and form new friendships,
• Create spaces where people can hang out and do activities.
• Create ways to gain feedback from young people and then listen and review them,
• Creating more employment,
• Creating new opportunities for young people and providing schools with more funding.
• Cut exam content and consider switching to open book assessments
• Cut exam content clear plan on what actions to take if schools are needed to close again.
• Cut exam content for the current year 11s and provide extra help for primary school pupils who are falling behind in English and Maths.
• Decisions about exams made well in advance and clear about what is happening.
• Didn’t affect me none.
• Do a separate announcement for kids and teens using simpler terms and pinpointing the rules so we know what is happening where we live and what we can and cannot do.
• Do clubs and stuff to help them socialise better.
• Do not know.
• Do not print it everywhere.
• Do not stop clubs from playing football trainings or matches.
• Do things more gradually.
• Don’t be as harsh on us.
• Don’t cancel school.
• Don’t close everywhere down again because it can affect mental health if we can’t go anywhere.
• Don’t focus the blame on any certain group, use your time explaining why and how to follow the guidelines instead. Live lessons are a big reason many young people didn’t do work or want to attend home-schooling. Encourage schools to make live lessons less of a priority in lockdowns. Videos or powerpoints are a lot more effective as students can complete work and learn when they are comfortable and can go back to catch up or revise easily. This will increase the engagement and amount of work submitted enormously.
• Don’t force people to do exams. We need to have time to recover. Provide counselling. Add self-care and how to look after your mental health to school curriculum. Allow kids to redo the past year if they are unhappy with their mark. Universities shouldn’t take these marks into consideration as this is not a reflection of how intelligent a child is, it is now a reflection of how much support their parents were able to give them, if they had internet and if they had a tutor. For example my school didn’t allow us to have zoom calls with our teachers but most other schools did. This has possibly left me at a disadvantage compared to grammar schools etc.  The government need to figure out a way to balance that out. Somehow we need to be compensated for the damage caused and the memories lost. Our childhood has been forever effected by this.
• Don’t give out false dates for when restrictions will end. Close the border down to stop people from the south coming up and making our cases rise.
• Don’t have any happy with the actions they are already taking.
• Don’t have schooling over summer as it is important we have our summer to relax
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t let next year’s students down because of missed learning this year. Provide better mental health services for young people that are easy to access and ones where you don’t have to involve your school, parents to get help from.
• Don’t make them do as many test overloading them with revision.
• Don’t make us do tests on things we have never been taught by our teachers in person.
• Don’t know.
• Don’t open clubs or bars. That’s how it is spread, rather than through 15/16 year olds having to suffer for 18 year olds actions.
• Don’t open schools as early.
• Don’t overwhelm them with more work, give them more leisure opportunities.
• Don’t overwhelm us with information, could cause stress and anxiety.
• Don’t send us back to school to kill our family members when we get Covid off some smelly child in our class.
• Dunno.
• Ease Covid restrictions slowly so that life can go back to normal.
• Ease lockdown restrictions and assist in returning the country back to the state it was in in late 2019.
• Ease measures on certain activities like sports.
• Ease restrictions.
• Ease restrictions.
• Ease restrictions.
• Ease restrictions.
• Ease restrictions for young people first.
• Ease restrictions for younger people and instruct older and vulnerable people to stay safe and at home.
• Ease restrictions in clubs outside of school to allow more children and young people to enjoy activities that the pandemic has disrupted such as sports.
• Ease restrictions in schools.
• Ease restrictions on night clubs etc. and going into the new school year allow the transition back into exam studies easier by reducing content.
• Ease restrictions when it comes to extracurricular activities in schools.
• Ease restrictions.
• Ease results for GCSE and A level.
• Ease stress relating to school work and educate teachers and adults on mental health young people tend to hide.
• Ease the academic load for GCSE and A level students, provide mental health support for young people.
• Ease the exams to help with stress and mental health.
• Ease the lockdown restrictions.
• Ease the restrictions.
• Ease the restrictions as soon as possible and provide support for mental health.
• Easier access to mental health support, and improve methods. Be a lot clearer about rules and where and when to go out. Clear and definitive information regarding education. And take into consideration what the young people say about improvements and how they feel.
• Easier to understand.
• Easing restrictions faster.
• Easy restrictions and provide help for young people with mental health issues.
• Education aspect.
• Encourage more physical activity and open up sports facilities sooner and keep them open.
• Encourage or subsidise sports and other physical activities so young people can socialise and improve their physical health.
• Encourage physical exercise. Such as sports walks hikes or cycling.   Keep parks open. Keep football fields open.
• Encourage them to get out more meet new people.
• Encourage them to meet up with big groups of people but acknowledge the whole social anxiety problem people may have developed.
• Encourage time meeting new people on the internet so that kids won’t be as bored.
• Encouragement of sports and better availability, vaccinations of 16yrs and over.
• Engage with them through social media and even visiting their areas or schools. Listen to young people and hear their opinions on rights and laws for their future and listen to their educational needs and worries.
• Enough access to helplines.
• Ensure clubs are opened so children and young people socialise again.
• Ensure education is provided to all in the same it was before by ensuring teachers set work and hold online classes. Also ensure we are taught new material do not just go over old things for the benefit of those who did not engage with online learning.
• Ensure everybody is safe.
• Ensure mental health support within schools.
• Ensure tax doesn’t rise.
• Ensure that all leisure activities are reopened safely so that everyone can be able to see their friends Make sure schools are opened up fully by September so that we can gain full access to our education.
• Ensure that we get the best educational opportunities and reassure us that we can get back to school/college as soon as possible.
• Ensure they can keep schools and physical meet ups going.
• Ensure they feel happy and safe. Communicate to them in an easier way and include them.
• Ensuring that children’s mental wellbeing is prioritised as much as their health and safety is.
• Ensuring that sticking by restrictions will later help ease them and allow young people to return to what they want to do would be a big motivation in helping them look forward and encourage them to follow restrictions in order to return to normal life after the pandemic.
• Evaluate the workload for exams that students will face next year.
• Everyone wear a face mask.
• Exam boards and the whole school system I personally think has lost a lot of respect and the Government should aim to help young people feel more certain about their future and put their trust back into the school system. Also, extra support should be provided for young people whose mental health has been seriously affected by the pandemic. I think young people should be given more of a voice to speak out about mental health and traumatising experiences which may have occurred over lockdown. When in lockdown there is no way to speak up and very limited support available, as a result, many young people may not have told anyone what happened to them during lockdown due to limited contact with friends, school and extended family, the government should give them a voice and a chance to seek help.
• Exams need to be geared up towards the amount of missed education and there needs to be parts of the course that we will not be examined on. The government needs to be able to address people’s stresses and anxiety plus mental health. The government also needs to foresee school closures and exams cancellation before they happen, and give us young people a lot of notice not last minute. The government also needs to come up with back up plans to help students next year which have been really affected by coronavirus to achieve fair grades.
• Exams should be made much easier and the government should not state that exams have been cancelled until they are absolutely sure of it. We also shouldn’t have had to do exams when we were told they were cancelled.
• Exams telling us one thing then doing another.
• Exams. I have done 3x the amount of exams I would have been doing. GSCEs were not cancelled if anything there was so much more exams. Helping young children’s and teens’ mental health and more support and help would have been nice.
• Exercise.
• Explain better what will happen as many of us were left with no idea what was going to happen. They should also improve local Wi-Fi connections
• Explain in English.
• Explain it in a way that some children can understand and to actually care about us people.
• Explain it in better form instead of yelling through tvs to stay home, telling kids they get to stay in on their phones, tvs, video games air other things could help impact their views on it.
• Explain more clearly exam results and work for next year.
• Explain their decisions better so that children can understand.
• Explain things clearer.
• Explain things in an easier way so we understand.
• Explain things in an easy yet informative way and provide support for those who may need it.
• Explain things to the public in full detail so there is less of a misunderstanding.
• Explain to us what is happening because it is confusing.
• Express rules clearly.
• Extra month of in summer to make up for all the time we spent inside.
• Extra support and encouragement to those in education and those hoping to enter the workplace.
• Extra support at schools.
• Feel as if we are being blamed for the spread of coronavirus, because we are apparently meeting people, when we are not.
• Figure out how to deal with any spikes with little to no impact on schooling.
• Financial and more educational support.
• Financial help to struggling families.
• Financial suppor.t
• Financially support them and their families.
• Find a better grading system for if this happens in the future.
• Find ways to ease any issues that children had suffered during the pandemic.
• Find ways to help young people deal with mental health issues.
• Fire Peter Weir, and appoint someone who has experience within education.
• First they should get our government system sorted and then proceed to opening up community activities that would bring people together who have been locked up for months. They should also give young men and women the chance to express their opinions to the leaders of our country.
• Fix CAMHS.
• Fix CAMHS. Make it better.
• Focus money on mental health.
• Focus more on educational needs and support.
• Focus more on mental health.
• Focus more on our mental health.
• Focus more on young people mental health. Create alternatives to social segregation due to lockdown.
• Focus on keeping schools open. Fix CAMHS service, waiting lists etc.
• Focus on limiting the amount of workload young people face. Personally I felt that school took over my life which wasn’t healthy for my mental health.
• Focus on making sure Covid doesn’t impact chances at higher education.
• Focus on mental health and clear guidance as to what is happening with schools, as the inconsistency with actual guidance annoyed many young people including myself.
• Focus on mental health of young people.
• Focus on young people’s mental health.
• Focus on young people’s mental health and putting less pressure on us while it is time to do our exams.
• Focusing on mental health in schools.
• Follow through with plans instead of changing them every week.
• For gods sakes, just keep the lockdown on until you’re CERTAIN that the Virus has been adequately contained.
• For one thing they could provide make work programs that do not require school qualifications to help people like me and get the money flowing through local communities and give young people something to put on their CVs. They could also stop running those incessant Covid awareness advertisements, they’re unnecessary and annoying and they alienate people like me who would be content to ignore the whole fiasco.
• For online learning to be less stressful by cutting down the online lessons or shortening the days for online teaching.
• For school to continue as much as possible, home schooling doesn’t work for the kids who struggle.
• For them to tell us we will get through this pandemic and all will be normal again.
• Free education.
• Free meals in schools and better looks at children’s mental health.
• Free therapy.
• Free vouchers.
• Freedom children are more likely to catch a cold not being round different sickness and they need to build immunity, no mask wearing because if people are going to catch it they will.
• Freedom to go outside.
• Fully look into the education system and exam boards to remove content to ease the stress and to benefit our mental health.
• Fully vaccinate the people with high risk. So then young children young people can visit grandparents.
• Fund more money towards mental health services as the waiting lists are ridiculously long.
• Funding Educational help for university students when people doing GCSEs or A levels now get to university, so 2021/2026.
• Further procedures must be taken to relive COVID 19 measures for young people so they can gain some sort of normality in their education especially if there aiming for a further education.
• Get a new government.
• Get an education minister who has experience within education.
• Get children out of their houses into group activities of any kind, encourage kids who have become more socially independent to create relationships with children their age.
• Get clubs back open and have as many public events as possible.
• Get everyone vaccinated.
• Get EVERYONE vaccinated for the Covid 19 pandemic then nobody will have coronavirus, it’s really simple but the government keep putting us in and out of lock down.
• Get more group activities and clubs up and running for social interactions.
• Get rid of exams all together.
• Get rid of lockdown.
• Get rid of poverty. Being more open minded about home schooling, not everyone finds it easy to learn in a school environment.
• Get rid of the NI protocol.
• Get their opinions, give better advice on exams and assessments, mental and emotional support.
• Get us vaccinated so we can interact with less chance of carrying the virus to our family.
• Getting life back to the way it was with everything open and school back to normal will help children and young people.
• Getting tested 1 or 2 times a week.
• Give adults enough money for themselves and their families so they do not need to go to work and further spread the virus or something so it will be safer for children to go outside and go to school.
• Give an explanation on what will be carried out.
• Give answers and announcements sooner and in advance.
• Give back our freedom in a safe way. Keep predicted grades until there is no more lockdowns.
• Give better instructions.
• Give better resources and talk with teachers more about what needs to be done. Stop leaving teachers with no idea what’s happening, making students confused.
• Give better support to young people in terms of youth groups and activities.
• Give information in a way that is easier to understand, don’t get peoples hopes up.
• Give money.
• Give more guidance about regulations.
• Give more information set up more schemes.
• Give more of a focus to our opinions for example in terms of exams and school safety.
• Give more support with education and mental health and take issues seriously no matter the persons age.
• Give out statistics.
• Give parents who lost their jobs due to the Covid 19 pandemic some seed money to get on their feet and keep bread on the table for their kids.
• Give some form of compensation to young people in money for lost education. And fix the internet.
• Give something back to them or just don’t lie to them.
• Give the children a say in it.
• Give them more details and help if needed.
• Give the people support, listen to their ideas.
• Give them all a ticket to a concert or party and vouchers.
• Give them good support.
• Give them money.
• Give them more accurate guidance that is easier to understand and not free for interpretation.
• Give them more help and support in school.
• Give them more information earlier about marking in schools.
• Give them more support in school and outside school and support them more mentally and physically.
• Give them positive reinforcement.
• Give them the required resources to support them.
• Give them the right information for example telling us we don’t have exams and then we go in and we have just as much exams as we would have if we did the GCSEs.
• Give them the vaccination so they can go out and live their lives and get experience.
• Give us a 100 pound voucher and not just parents.
• Give us a compensation check to make up for the crucial parts of our lives we have missed and help us financially.
• Give us a gift voucher to make up for having to do tests.
• Give us actual answers of what’s happening instead of changing last minute.
• Give us an extended summer break.
• Give us clear instruction on school life and what will happen in the future. Let sporting activities continue that’s outdoors
• Give us help with school and more social life.
• Give us more insight of what we can do ourselves instead of blaming the spread on us.
• Give us more skate parks in NI.
• Give us more support and free money.
• Give us more time off school.
• Give us plenty of notice the next time there are GCSEs instead of cancelling them a week before we were due to sit them.
• Give vouchers for physical, craft, music or other learning activities.
• Gives us more info.
• Global warming.
• Go easy with GCSEs by not marking so hard or giving us so many.
• Go to young people and ask for their opinion instead of being biased.
• Going on social media platforms like Instagram or Tik Tok and making videos saying to leave our opinions in the comments, but in a non cringy way because that will make us think less of the situation. Treat us like adults and with respect and we will give the same back. Try to get to speed with what we are doing but be respectful with it.
• Government should ensure that schools, jobs, hospital are safe.
• Grants etc. for sports clubs to help establish again and keep going.
• Handle reducing restrictions competently. Be transparent and explicit about exams and assessments. Consult young people in regards to policies.
• Have a more structured release of information without it constantly changing.
• Have a plan in place for if this should happen again.
• Have a real plan for school exams instead of leaving everything last minute, putting extra stress on young people.
• Have actives more for young people and child with social distancing and masks on.
• Have additional support for young people who nay need to talk to someone outside for their own household.
• Have all rules in a better formatted list all in one place.
• Have better facilities online that young people can access.
• Have consideration that exam conditions, especially in 2021, were incredibly unfair and many pupils’ results will NOT mirror their true academic ability, ensure other years do not have the same unfair testing conditions as us and that all schools are tested equally.
• Have free sport activate vouchers so young people can spend time with their friends.
• Have less complete lockdowns.
• Have many activities open outdoors so children can enjoy normality again.
• Have more activities ready for them coming out of lockdown and things for children to do.
• Have more counsellors and talk more openly about mental health issues and not give as much work.
• Have more facilities for young people.
• Have more freedom with their friends and family and to be able to learn in class.
• Have more interactive facilities for young people.
• Have more opportunities to speak to young people about mental health.
• Have more resources and places for them to go.
• Have more sanitary products easier to use.
• Have more socially distanced group activities.
• Have more support centres so that kids or teens that are struggling with mental health can talk to people without their family worrying because sometimes people might struggle to speak up.
• Have more support for mental health and wellbeing.
• Have more things for mental health.
• Have more things for young people.
• Have more young people in steering groups.
• Have no idea.
• Have them take a survey to see how they feel and if something happened during lockdown like abuse or other things happened to them or someone they know.
• Having activities in smaller towns as they don’t [get] much funding.
• Hear what ideas we have and take them into consideration.
• Help for people with mental health issues.
• Help mental health. Help social skills. Education.
• Help people get back to work, help small businesses.
• Help provide more sources to help with mental health, panic disorders, eating disorders, OCD etc., so that people don’t feel lost when they are in this situation.
• Help support schools and given more supplies to schools, allowing for extra help as every missed nearly a year of education. Help provide support for young people suffering mental health problems.
• Help them with education and mental health.
• Help us more with what teachers can set as work.
• Help with counselling.
• Help with mental health issues, school work reduction.
• Help with our grades and getting work placement etc.
• Help young people’s mental health.
• Honestly not sure.
• Hopefully allow young people to gather again and to attend social events again like before COVID.
• I am not really sure. There have been many deeply affected by the lockdowns who need support, better counselling services in school would help perhaps. For me personally I just need to forget about it and move on. However if something like this happens again there needs to be much smarter solutions than just shoving kids in their bedrooms with a laptop away from their friends and with no proper teacher engagement.
• I am not really that political so I do not really care what the government do.
• I am not sure.
• I am not too sure but I do know that they need to take things slowly and carefully, so that we do not end up in another lockdown.
• I am unsure.
• I am unsure.
• I believe more emphasis should be taken to implement more plans and road maps for the reopening of children’s facilities and clubs. We are constantly reminded of when pubs are opening but never youth clubs, counselling centres or sports clubs for children.
• I believe that the Government could potentially create different schemes to help get young people socialising again, to help stimulate their minds. The Government could also give us more chances to voice our opinions for change, even though we are not of the voting age we have numerous different opinions that need to be voiced and listened to.
• I believe that the government should try to relate more to the youth and to invest heavily in ways the stop the rising social problems with teens.
• I believe that there should be a focus on providing young people with more knowledge regarding looking after their mental health and wellbeing whilst ensuring any coping methods can be remembered or practiced at a later date. I also feel that it is important to communicate with young people through methods such as this survey to gather the views of young people and how they feel especially regarding decision making.
• I believe the government need to act swiftly on examinations. Currently the pressure and stress being exerted on young people is unbelievable, I’ve felt like breaking down in tears. The examination boards have continuously pelted the schools with exam after exam after exam. Disguising these exams as assessments despite the fact that they are exactly the same to previous papers.
• I believe the government should actually listen to young people as we are the people who are going to have to pay back all the money the government spent during the pandemic and that if they don’t listen to us, things are just going to revert back to the way they were.
• I believe the government should take more opinion from children and school teachers particularly in Protestant areas as when principals and educators were interviewed about coronavirus they more than often were schools in catholic or nationalist areas where beliefs are different. Moreover the government could help make things better for children by fully understanding how we and our education and social life have been affected by lockdown especially for teens where mental health is a problem with the added stress of being stuck at home unable to meet up with friends and the stress of the new way of online schooling over this Covid period.
• I believe the government should’ve closed pubs etc. long before they closed everything else. However, they should ensure only a small number of people are meeting each other and that in more public spaces, where lots of people meet up, people are socially distanced in order to prevent number of cases from increasing.
• I believe they should take into consideration how some of their laws and regulations may affect people my age.
• I believe young people have been affected psychologically which has created fear and anxiety about something as harmless and beneficial as social gathering. The government should try to alleviate this anxiety by releasing the pressure of, still mandatory, COVID restrictions.
• I do not know.
• I do not know.
• I do not know.
• I do not know as I have not spent time looking at the numbers of the virus days.
• I do not know.
• I do not know. To me it does not look like the Government is needed to intervene. After all, like I said, the people who I know that struggled with lockdown and the pandemic eventually became a lot more content with it as time went on.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know. What could be done that is safe to be honest
• I don’t know, just try to get it back to normal before Covid
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t know.
• I don’t really know.
• I don’t think there’s any way to make a pandemic or its impacts appealing to any particular generation.
• I enjoyed being off school and was able to work independently at home. By being able to manage my own time I could actually exercise more and spend more time relaxing which benefited my mental health. But I also value in person class time and feel that it is necessary but I think that the Government should at least consider a 4 day school week and have 1 day working from home.
• I feel as though the pandemic has shown the world that we young people are very capable of working from home on our computers etc. Thus I believe that we should be given more freedom in this aspect.  Allow us to work in our own way rather than keeping us in a class designed for the 1900s for factory workers.  The government should take a survey and see what realistic ideas that we the young people can come up with.  I wholeheartedly believe that this will improve education as a whole.  In addition, I also feel that we the young people should be given to work from home.  Check in to school once or twice a week to show that work is still being completed.  This will also improve morals [morale?] and increase the wellbeing of students. mental health.  I also think the way of examination is wrong.  This in my opinion only tests obedience.  Most people cram the information into their head and forget about it after five minutes.  Instead, a variety of things should be taken into consideration.  Teachers’ opinions as to what the child id capable of is a good place to start.  Their whole profession is based upon this and my proof is the Covid19 pandemic.  By no means am I saying that we should solely follow what they say but they will be asking questions to the pupils and seeing first hand have they retained the knowledge.  Yes, I know that some student needs to go home and go over notes.  That is why pop quizzes are a good idea.  Given throughout the year randomly on previously learnt knowledge will force the pupil to learn the information.  It may also make those who do not listen often listen.  This is because on any day whether that be tomorrow or next month or six they will be tested without being told.  Thus knowledge will be retained.  Many other changes could be made but that’s a conversation for another time.
• I feel it’s unfair that the Education Minister is requiring year 12, 13 and 14 to sit assessments when they have lost out on so much face to face teaching, The government did not provide my family with any extra financial support for lunches and breaks as both parents work but at home these items cost more and food is more expensive for my parents.
• I feel that the schools should be told plans in advance to prevent misleading conversation but what is going to happen with the schools causing less confusion.
• I feel the government need to listen to the voices of young people to find out what young people have to say. I think the government should make opportunities available for young people to go out and experience the world around them and find ways where young people can socialise with friends, as they have been unable to, but still be done in a safe way
• I feel they are doing an alright job at the moment.
• I feel we should be able find out more about how we can meet up and when with friends. As we are in school with them anyways there shouldn’t be as much restrictions when outside of schools.
• I have no opinion on this.
• I hope to see that the government teaches pupils how to deal with stress and mental health in school.
• I no bars have been affected big style due to Covid but I think the government should support the bars financially and keep them closed a little bit longer as there will be no social distancing in the bars when they open. Also introduce more programmes within the schools relating to mental health and the awareness of it so children feel they can talk to someone without feeling embarrassed.
• I personally don’t know.
• I saw cancelling of exams as a good thing as I would not have been prepared due to online learning and it eased pressure.
• I say they should have always have after school clubs as some parents count on after school clubs if they are at work and can’t really be there at that time but for young adults they usually go out more than children with friends and things like that or parties as they just wanna be around a friend to forget about their own problems.
• I strongly believe schools should better equip young people to be able to teach themselves. There are countless resources available online that most people either are not aware of or do not know how to use effectively.
• I think again that mental health should become a big focus of the government and making sure that there are resources and help for those struggling with their mental health. And more programs on education of mental health to teach people how to take care of theirs and how to help others that are struggling with theirs.
• I think that mental health should be taken way more seriously and the proper resources should be promoted to young people in an appropriate way.
• I think that our opinions should be taken into consideration bit more regarding education.
• I think that the government need to take into consideration that most young people were struggling during the lockdowns with their coursework and so they need more help now they are at school finishing their GCSEs .
• I think that the government should let people enjoy themselves and have fun over the summer as we already had to say home for 2 years.
• I think that the government should vaccinate every one as soon as possible instead of focusing on the older people because it is the younger people that are spreading the virus and every one under 18 should have the choice if they want to get it or not so that young people can go out with their friends and family and have fun without having to worry about bringing a virus back to their elderly relatives.
• I think that the most important goal right now is of course making sure that the pandemic is constantly downsizing. We need to flatten the curve and strive for normality. Beyond the pandemic, I strongly believe that our Government should be working hard to relieve the emotional, physical, financial and academic damage that young people have experienced as a result of the pandemic.
• I think the actions the Government should take to make things better for children is to allow them to take off their masks in the classroom with their bubble as masks are very discomforting to sit in all day in school.
• I think the government have neglected to even think about the needs of young people, I think they have spoken and acted as if they have but they haven’t. I think that they should implement a better, easier to get on with means of learning at home, because with just having teachers upload text based work without any real help to complete it, it was quite difficult, especially during my GCSEs.
• I think the government should consider less lockdowns.
• I think the government should ease the social distance restrictions a little bit. I think they should allow for dine-ins and deliveries. I think they should open all stores and leisure centres for young people.
• I think the government should listen to what younger people have to say as much of what we have to say gets disregarded. I think they should be allowing families to get paid monthly as they could be unable to work and open up more homeless shelters as besides it being the right thing to do if homeless people are outdoors and getting infected with Covid 19 then they are spreading this wherever they go. This could make the pandemic drag out even longer as they cannot protect themselves from this virus.
• I think the government should prioritize schools returning back to normal.
• I think the Government should try to not stress children and young people with exams and reassure them that everything will be ok.
• I think they should address the concerns of young people.
• I think they should give us more help.
• I think they should sort out the exams to help young people in the future because right now we have been sitting assessments even though exams were supposedly cancelled which has been causing stress for young people. I think the government should be more prepared for something like this if it is to happen again.
• I think they shouldn’t cancel things that they have announced are reopening such as festivals.
• I think to allow young children to attend to school and be with their friends.
• I think with the pandemic some of the blame has been put on young people even though we are not the issue. Of course, I wouldn’t agree with people going to parties and spreading it but there also has to be a consideration for the mental effects of the pandemic and blaming us for how our school work is or problems within schooling and possibly lack of concentration is completely unfair and I feel were not given enough lenience and that our mental health problems do not matter as much as our school work. Although we have been home at online school does not mean we should be going to extra school, being at home doesn’t mean it feels like summer, it just means we work from home. I also feel there was not enough consideration for the fact many people were working, eating, and sleeping in the same room all day and the way that has affected many.
• I would all efforts for young people towards mental health and increasing awareness and support in schools to make sure all young people know it is okay to feel the way they feel. Everyone needs to talk especially young people after this hard time in lockdown by themselves.
• I would feel safer with a vaccine.
• I would say keep everything the same.
• Idk.
• Idk.
• Idk.
• Idk
• If COVID gets worse at some point once again, make the lockdowns shorter but more frequently instead of having a month or two off then having to go back.
• If it happens again they should shut EVERYTHING down for a few weeks, obviously hospitals and caring in the community etc. would have to remain open but perhaps offer the older nurses etc. a financial package to stay in hospital etc. until we are free from this, then let the younger nurses step in and let the older ones live comfortably after all the hard work. Ensure everyone has whatever food and medication they need in and shut EVERYTHING as much as possible.
• If there is another virus, completely close the boarders immediately.
• If you don’t have a lot of friends you and your like 6 friends should be able to sleep over etc.
• If young people were able to understand what is going on by the government explaining in more simple terms.
• I’m not quite sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not sure really.
• I’m not sure that I would change anything about what the government are currently doing.
• I’m not sure what actions the government should take to make things better for children and young people. Perhaps changing how many students are in a school at one time by having certain years do online learning while others learn in person, maybe changing this every week, so only half the school is in the building at a time, allowing for easier social distancing and other actions taken to protect against Covid19 while still giving all students an equal chance at a safer and somewhat normal education. Again I don’t know what the government should do, and I’m trying to think of realistic ideas as I write this.
• I’m not sure, I’m not exactly a politician.
• I’m not sure, just hoping everything will return to being somewhat normal.
• I’m not sure.
• I’m not too sure.
• I’m not too sure.
• Important to get to go to school full time.
• Improve internet in rural areas.
• Improve mental health facilities for teenagers and stop the youth groups that do NOT bring communities and encourage employers to employ young people apprentices.
• Improve reaction times from the education boards to changes and let cinemas open please.
• Improve sporting facilities to have more outdoor facilities in the local community and schools. Provide a safe space for 16/17 year old to spend time with friends without standing on the streets as nowhere to go.  Offer free vouchers to entertainment areas i.e. cinema, water parks etc. To encourage young people to get outdoors and enjoy themselves again. Offer free driving lessons to help young people regain some independence as everything is so much more expensive now.
• Improve the current education position.
• Improve the education and testing system if there would be a repeat of this year’s events.
• Improve the examination process dramatically for young people. Open nightclubs and allow festivals to go ahead in the coming months, with some restrictions if necessary i.e. all negative COVID tests. Ensure sports and social clubs are kept open for mental health considerations.
• Improve the school system.
• In my opinion, I think the Government should be clear and concise about the decisions made regarding to the educational system for example, exams etc. Moreover, I think young voices needs to be heard more often in the near future about what children and young people think about specific situations such as the COVID pandemic period of what their views are regarding to this situation.
• In terms of finance, I believe the government could provide more support to those financially struggling or even offer a space with free internet for children struggling to access the internet. However this space would have to abide by COVID guidelines and could many not hold very many children at once.
• Include them more when making decisions, maybe even listen to their views  take into consideration the mental health decline in ratio to Covid related deaths.
• Include us more.
• Increase awareness for mental health e.g. depression or anxiety, as many young people suffered like this during the lockdown.
• Increase communication with young people in order to get a more realistic response as to how they felt throughout lockdown. Focus on educational needs and increase educational funding to make up for lack of time in school. Promote mental health charities and offer support for young people.  Take young people’s mental health into consideration when making decisions about moving forward.
• Increase funding for schools.
• Increase mental health help for young people that struggle in silence.
• Increase provision of mental health services for young people.
• Increase the places for young children to play and have fun with their friends.
• Increased opinion from teenagers.
• Influence people who have cut themselves off from society to join in and take part in more social activities. Open more facilities so children can experience new things after lockdown.
• Inform about changes to school and education.
• Inform the schools. I generally don’t watch the news, I get announcements on my phone. I feel if the government send teachers information and they announce this to the school, the information would be passed around regardless of watching the news or having the app.
• Inform young people about things they can and cannot do and reinforce the rules for everyone throughout the city.
• Inform young people with better information.
• Information without threats or scapegoating, less policing.
• Informing young people of the decisions being made the government and let us meet with our friends.
• Interact more with the public and be quicker to make announcements regarding lockdowns or restrictions.
• Introduce a mental health scheme that should be followed to all households.
• Introduce work schemes for people who have left school as it will be harder for people to get jobs.
• Invest in events and activities where young people and children can socialise in a safe environment.
• Invest in more recreational areas that appeal to children and young people.
• Invest in the NHS and stop lying. Invest in mental health. Stick to previous promises made i.e GCSE exams will not take place even though they did. This has caused me and a lot of my peers a lot of unneeded stress.
• Invest more in mental health programs, training programs, education programs, mentorships, listen to young people’s opinions.
• Invest more money into the CAMHS and fund foodbanks instead of making budget cuts.
• Investment into mental health services for those who need it.
• Involve us more.
• It is hard for me to give suggestions for the government. Over the lockdown we were in contact with our teachers and we received homework which had a deadline of some sort. Now most of our teachers had dumped all the work on us and we had 3 days to do it, if not we would have got a call home. I had that happen to me and not because I did not care but rather I had other subjects to finish before. This sometimes led to me staying up until 2 or 4 then go to sleep if I was lucky enough. Overall I think the home schooling should have been made fairer towards the students.
• It’s hard to name one thing because there is so many, but they really just need to listen to young people - their ideas and their opinions because ultimately, all of their decisions will affect us most in the long term.
• Job opportunities, parks for over 15s.
• Just continuing to open things that appeal to the youth whilst watching for Covid case spikes to prevent anymore major waves.
• Just keep everything open and if ur at risk then stay at home and if u do get it its ur own fault.
• Just let us out. We need to be let free so do it now we are going crazy inside all day and every day.
• Just made things more clear, however at the same time I understand this because it isn’t like we were expecting Covid to happen, so honestly it is hard to say.
• Just make things clearer I think cause I feel like none of us really know what is happening.
• Just to keep things opening up to get it back to normal as safely and quickly as possible.
• Just to listen to us.
• Just try to get back to normality as much as possible as young people need to be out socialising whether at the park or at school.
• Just with education the whole logic and system makes no sense.
• Keep in contact more.
• Keep masks.
• Keep pools open the chlorine cleans and sanitises you.
• Keep schools off until it is completely gone.
• Keep schools on, get more mental health help for children.
• Keep schools open and be able to meet up with friends.
• Keep schools open, make them safer.
• Keep the schools open.
• Keep the schools open.
• Keep the shops open.
• Keep them in school.
• Keep them in school as much as possible and tell us what they plan to do with exams with more time to actually revise.
• Keep them in school, lessen examination requirements for future admission to schools and college.
• Keep things as normal as possible.
• Keep things as normal as possible.
• Keep us better informed about what we can or cannot do and outline restrictions in an easier to understand way.
• Keep us in school and if schools are open, allow us to take part in things such as dance schools and sporting clubs.
• Keep us in the loop and listen to us more.
• Keep us lockdown properly and safely until Coronavirus is nearly ended. Also lockdown airports to prevent new strains. Health of the people should be prioritised.
• Keep us more informed.
• Keep young people informed.
• Keeping outdoor sports clubs on.
• Leeway with exam results.
• Less emphasis and priority on education based qualifications.
• Less exam stress.
• Less pressure about exams and work in school. Have access to a therapist and counsellor for all young people..
• Less pressure on schools and reduce exams
• Less pressures on exams.
• Less restrictions.
• Less restrictions.
• Less restrictions on meetups countered by more restrictions on shops etc.
• Less school work.
• Less stress in school less focus on catching up  make school more fun, missed out socially but do not focus on this,
• Less stress over exams,
• Less tests and exams. Meaning less stress.
• Let certain amounts of young people meet up outside and keep certain places like gyms open.
• Let everything get back to normal and cancel all grades since they were all forced and happened too fast.
• Let people live again.
• Let PE/sports do more things like contact sports.
• Let schools go back to normal.
• Let them fool about.
• Let them know they are safe and let them feel safe by getting the vaccine.
• Let them meet up with more friends.
• Let them out.
• Let them out.
• Let them resit GCSE exams as we have been off for months.
• Let them see their friends.
• Let them socialise.
• Let there be GCSEs for the children.
• Let us access our activities.
• Let us go out to improve our mental health.
• Let us have a bigger say in things.
• Let us have a voice.
• Let us know what is happening in advance.
• Let us meet up with friends and give us vacations [maybe vaccines?] so we don’t have to panic about getting them
• Let us out and hopefully don’t put us in another lock down.
• Let us out, open more stuff for us to do.
• Let us outside.
• Let us play sports.
• Let us stay off longer.
• Let young people get the vaccine, become more aware of people’s mental health.
• Let young people meet together in large groups.
• Let younger children meet up with friends outside of school times.
• Let younger people have more of a voice and actually listen to them not just do it because it makes them look better.
• Lift all social restrictions.
• Limit the amount of exams.
• Listen.
• Listen.
• Listen more to the young people especially teenagers as we are going to be living the life of choices that the older people decide which most of the time isn’t what we want.
• Listen more to the younger generation.
• Listen to children’s ideas as there are the next generation of society.
• Listen to children’s opinions more.
• Listen to educators.
• Listen to how we feel, take us more into consideration as it’s our lives that have been drastically changed.
• Listen to our concerns and problems and devote time to fix these problems to make life less stressful for young people.
• Listen to our opinions.
• Listen to our opinions and take our experience as an example of what not to do in this sort of situation as I feel my generation was very lost and ignored in the pandemic.
• Listen to our opinions and views.
• Listen to our views about school and external exams.
• Listen to our words more and our suggestions.
• Listen to pupils more instead of teachers and ease restrictions faster with the same speed as England.
• Listen to suggestions.
• Listen to teachers etc. who see and hear first-hand how hard the pandemic is on young people.
• Listen to the children.
• Listen to the children and put more into local communities.
• Listen to the children and what they have to say about the pandemic.
• Listen to the children, not just who they want to listen to.
• Listen to the ideas of younger people that may be helpful towards their decisions.
• Listen to the needs of the young person. Not all young people are the same. Stop promising support then don’t follow it through.
• Listen to the opinions of young people on issues that affect them.
• Listen to the points of view from some young people.
• Listen to the thoughts, opinions and issues in which children and young people express.
• Listen to the voices of young people.
• Listen to the young people more, we are the future generation and our lives are being ruined by the current government and their actions, we have to live in the world they are creating.
• Listen to the younger people more, like doing for surveys and acknowledging the younger people.
• Listen to their concerns which are actually relevant to us.
• Listen to their needs and open clubs and sports before unnecessary things.
• Listen to their opinions.
• Listen to their opinions more and take into consideration how it is affecting them because it does lead to serious mental health problems that can’t be fixed easily.
• Listen to their views as this is our future.
• Listen to their voices when I come to matters that regard us. It shouldn’t be the voice of an older generation deciding what our generation has to do or not do. We should have an equal say if we are the demographic most affected by the decision.
• Listen to them.
• Listen to them.
• Listen to them.
• Listen to them.
• Listen to them.
• Listen to them.
• Listen to them and hear their ideas and expectations and try to help them.
• Listen to them and let them live their life.
• Listen to them if they have something impactful to say.
• Listen to them more.
• Listen to them more.
• Listen to them more and act on it.
• Listen to them rather than blaming them for spreading the virus, provide more information on things for us.
• Listen to them, it’s the young people their decisions are going to effect. Be more open minded
• Listen to them. Treat them with vouchers, for participation.
• Listen to us.
• Listen to us.
• Listen to us.
• Listen to us more and take our advice. Just because we are younger doesn’t mean that we are wrong.
• Listen to us more on our views on different things.
• Listen to what matters to young people. Let them be part of planning.
• Listen to what the children and young people more carefully..
• Listen to what the young people have to say.
• Listen to what the young people have to say about Covid and their experiences.
• Listen to what the youth are saying.
• Listen to what they have to say.
• Listen to what they have to say about COVID and take their opinions and views into account as young people have also been left disadvantaged.
• Listen to what we are trying to say.
• Listen to what we have to say.
• Listen to what we have to say.
• Listen to what we have to say and not just push us under the rug which is what it feels like they do to young people a lot of the time. Also make decisions faster and do not double back the night before they plan to make a change, this happened a lot with exams, one minute we were doing them and the next minute we were not. How are we supposed to have any motivation to revise etc. if we don’t even know if we are having an exam.
• Listen to what young people have to say.
• Listen to what young people have to say about issues in society such as climate change and global warming or our inequality within schools as what we learn within society and school carries though out our lives. We need to take actions to help our planet and each other as the pandemic has taught us the valuable lesson that hope and kindness is so much more effective than anger and fear.
• Listen to what young people have to say about the whole situation and take into consideration the affect it will have on them.
• Listen to what young people have to say. Understand their opinions and thoughts and feelings and make decisions based on what young people are telling them.
• Listen to what younger people have to say.
• Listen to young people.
• Listen to young people.
• Listen to young people.
• Listen to young people and give us a voice also regarding school work listen to teachers who actually witness to day to day experiences.
• Listen to young people and their concerns about mental health.
• Listen to young people and think about what they have to say.
• Listen to young people more.
• Listen to young people more.
• Listen to young people when making decisions about the Coronavirus.
• Listen to young people when making decisions.
• Listen to young people, the government is full of people who are older, why are there no people closer to our age making decisions for us especially about education. Those in government don’t listen to us, especially with what happened with exams and grades.
• Listen to young people’s concerns and properly address them. Listen to how young people have been affected by COVID and deal with them properly.
• Listen to young people’s opinion on areas such as mental health and especially exams and education.
• Listen to young people’s opinions
• Listen to young people’s opinions and take on board their advice and views. Understand their points of view, from all backgrounds, perspectives, living conditions, social standings and religions.
• Listen to younger people, and make mental health a priority.
• Listen.
• Listen to what we had to say and try to understand how difficult it was to go back to school and be expected to sit assessments after not having in person class time for months. The government also needed to step in much sooner with schools rather than saying how we were not at risk in schools because we are young. Many young people have health problems and they can also still carry the virus and pass it on to others like their loved ones or teachers.
• Listen to the community for once.
• Look after the young people’s mental health and help them.
• Look at future employment prospects as young people have had limited exposure in terms of work and life experiences both in and out of school.
• Look at my lost years of education and help me get better grades because of non- education.
• Look at the teenagers point of view as they are not getting to spend the best years of their life, they have to sit inside all day.
• Lower rules.
• Lower the GCSE and a level grade boundaries and be supportive and proud of all the work the young people have done. Because even if people have done better than others in their work you don’t know what they have to deal with in their home life and their mental health could’ve seriously deteriorated due to the lack of socialising and constantly being in front of a laptop.
• Lower the GCSE grade boundaries.
• Lower voting age, higher value attributed to youth parliament.
• Lower work required in schools.
• Lowering grade boundaries for exams, more free outdoor activities e.g. gyms.
• Make a child Covid vaccine instead of making 3 adult ones.
• Make a decision and stick to it and also stop making decisions at the last minute.
• Make a decision and stick with it. Listen to children because mostly it effects them.
• Make a lot of things they weren’t able to do better for them e.g. parks.
• Make activities cheaper for people who aren’t as well off. Giving money to year 11 to year 14 student in school. More jobs opportunities.
• Make any information clear rather than confusing.
• Make at home learning less demanding for young people for example what vietnam [?] has done for their education.
• Make changes to exams, as a result of disruptions to term time due to lockdown. Perhaps a reduced specification or more lenient marking.
• Make children more aware on how serious Covid is as there is lots of people who won’t listen to the rules and regulations as they are hardly being enforced enough to children.
• Make children understand by speaking without big words use words that are easy to understand.
• Make clear decisions on when we will doing exams and when we return to school.
• Make Covid in general seem more child friendly, as in not talking about death etc. but just something like how people can get ill or sick.
• Make decisions about education in advance rather than last minute.
• Make decisions quicker and be more certain with them.
• Make education information clear and understandable for us.
• Make hand washing and hand sanitizing fun therefore kids will want to stay clean and hygienic. Vaccinate kids in schools.
• Make information clearer and more easily accessible.
• Make information more understandable for teenagers. Make information more accessible.
• Make it clear on how they’re giving us our exams results.
• Make it clear on what happening.
• Make it easier for children to communicate with others.
• Make it easy for children to make money and become employed so they do not have to rely completely on parents and put them under pressure to make enough money for them and their teenagers.
• Make it less about how we shouldn’t and more about why we shouldn’t.
• Make it mandatory for schools to teach how to deal with stress.
• Make learning from school easier and take the pressure off of us.
• Make masks something u have to wear in classrooms so that less spread and hopefully less restrictions.
• Make mental health services more accessible and generally promote mental health in schools. Encourage children to seek ways of escaping abusive households, a problem exacerbated by the pandemic, and promote awareness of signs of abuse and ways of preventing it in schools. Eliminate barriers to success for children from working class backgrounds.
• Make more activities available, e.g. sports, gyms, music.
• Make more decisions that are focused around young people as at the minute it seems as though we are the least of their worries and that they do not really care for the future generation.
• Make more job available.
• Make more mental health help options available for young people and children.
• Make more money available for local clubs.
• Make more places to go and have fun.
• Make more things available.
• Make new advice easier to understand.
• Make new rules about socialising not too strict and also set a curfew.
• Make our mental and social health just as much a priority as our physical health.
• Make outside activities like parks open to children and heavily encourage healthy eating.
• Make places for children to meet up.
• Make restrictions less strict for lower age brackets.
• Make school and workload easier to handle.
• Make school less stressful as for us young people all it does is stress us out.
• Make school plans more clear, bring support in ways for young people, let education such as A level support the fact that children were not taught everything on their subjects and more.
• Make schools more adapted to ease stress and better online schooling and moving away from the flawed way we educate children and young people.
• Make slight changes maybe like a curfew of some sort.
• Make socialising less restricted.
• Make solid statements about what will happen and don’t change it last minute.
• Make sure all children are properly educated and brought up to date on the situation.
• Make sure children are happy and have the right to properly experience their childhood and early years.
• Make sure every child has something to be excited about such a competitions e.g. painting competitions or talk more about mental health problems so children don’t feel alone.
• Make sure everyone gets the GCSEs they deserves and are not disadvantaged because of not being able to go to school.
• Make sure families have enough to provide for their children like internet and computers.
• Make sure kids are getting the things the need.
• Make sure that businesses are supported, not rush into easing restrictions and provide necessary information to stay safe.
• Make sure that children are able to do their school work and are able to understand it
• Make sure that branches of the government including the education branch do not give contradictory guidance i.e.. no exams turning into controlled assessments which turned into effectively exams with the only difference being the teachers are the only moderators. God forbid your teacher did not like you. Also more free public services, teaming up with the private sector to deliver these services. Making essential services free for young people as the encouragement for our lives is not to make money yet, just to survive so essential products and services should be free, there is no benefit to not making these things free.
• Make sure that people are okay with going places with crowds.
• Make sure that restrictions and changes are made earlier to stop impacts of the coronavirus when essential and needed.
• Make sure that there will be options in terms of jobs and careers for us in the future and that we will not take the fall for the repercussions of their actions and choices during COVID.
• Make sure that we are all safe and having a good time.
• Make sure that we get the grades that we deserve.
• Make sure that wearing masks in school is happening.
• Make sure the next school year commences as normal with no restrictions, interruptions and with all activities that took place prior to lockdown.
• Make sure the school and work environment is safe.
• Make sure their impacted education has been taken into account.
• Make sure there are things to do.
• Make sure there is a clear plan if exams can’t operate as normal before that actually happens so there is some clarity and everyone has an idea of what will happen. Also allow activities like orchestras and choirs to operate again in schools.
• Make sure there’s more support more support in place to help those with mental health problems.
• Make sure they have everything they need for example help with school like the way it was before Covid and also actually talking to or listening to young people before they make their decisions.
• Make sure they know how hard it is for young people to stay in and not see their friends as it might be a way to cope with their mental health.
• Make sure they release information about what is happening next in a way that young people can understand.
• Make sure to keep young people activities going e.g. sports
• Make sure we are all okay with school and at home
• Make sure young people can spend time with friends and families who they have missed, and enjoy social outings with others.
• Make surveys like these for children too so they could do it with their parents.
• Make the decisions clearer to young people so they can understand them instead of them not knowing what to do when a problem comes their way.
• Make the education system easier because lots of students will struggle to keep up with the information that teachers give us.
• Make their announcements more final and give us something to look forward to.
• Make them come first.
• Make them wear a mask, not allow big groups of children.
• Make therapy more accessible.
• Make things back to normal.
• Make things cheaper everything is more expensive nowadays because of COVID and families have less money because there trying to buy stuff to stay safe.
• Make things cheaper so it’s easier for the kids to go out.
• Make things clearer for the younger society to understand. Make the best effort to allow some sort of social interaction to prevent nerves and worry going back to school and meeting in large groups.
• Make things easier at school.
• Make things for younger people easier to understand.
• Make things more clear.
• Make things more clear with things like Grade allocation, and sports.
• Make things more fun and safe.
• Make thorough decisions about exams and school work, but stay true to these decisions and do not change them a lot as some young people may have already started preparing for the alterations. Provide better resources such as all examination materials, from the exam boards, from previous years instead of just some of the years.
• Make universities and further jobs aware of the impact Covid has had on our results. This could be shown as a statement on a CV etc. Also, large funding is required for mental health services.
• Make up for lost school time when they closed schools.
• Make us more aware of what is going on around us.
• Make us more comfortable in school.
• Make us socialise more.
• Make wearing masks stricter so that sports and other activities can come back sooner.
• Making more sports and activities allowed.
• Making online learning easier through faster Wi-Fi / Ethernet speeds, higher quality hardware and higher resolution camera.
• Making places such as cinemas open soon.
• Making sure they receive stability in information about how we will proceed and trying to make sure our exam results are viewed with the same credibility as any other year’s exam results.
• Mass vaccination.
• Maybe actually take our opinions into account as we have a fresh view however the government are more concerned over money and never have taken young people’s opinions into account
• Maybe do a survey on their opinion.
• Maybe get schools to continue using Google classroom for students who are unable to attend school so they don’t miss out on as much e.g., assignments or important dates for tests or exams.
• Maybe more educational support for students who are struggling with their studies as a result of lockdown.
• Maybe some events to get people outside and making new friends would be helpful.
• Maybe try to help children with their education.
• Mental health.
• Mental health.
• Mental health awareness.
• Mental health education in schools, making emotional education as important as numeracy and literacy. Make sure support is there for those who seek it by guaranteeing funding for CAMHS. Stronger focus on the outcomes for the future employment of children, as a results of education being impacted by the pandemic.
• Mental health facilities more easily accessible for young people.
• Mental health issues need to be addressed.
• Mental health programmes.
• Mental health services should be improved and more financial help for families.
• Mental health should be addressed more and taken into consideration when making big decisions regarding young people.
• Mental health teams if need be more accessible.
• Metal health and stop general scapegoating of young people in regards to the spread of Covid.
• Minimum wage Increase for part time jobs for students.
• Money.
• Money.
• More access to youth services and clubs.
• More activities.
• More activities.
• More activities for young ones.
• More activities to get back into society.
• More adverts on the television programmes being based upon children cartoons or animations.
• More available counselling, helplines, more awareness in schools about health and abuse, a bigger focus on education and helping those who are struggling with more interactive lessons whether physical or virtual.
• More awareness of young people’s social lives, more accessible mental health services are important and must be addressed, the closure of schools and entertainment facilities have had drastic and major impacts on young people’s lives and cannot be taken as lightly as a decision.
• More chances to meet up with friends, more focus on social opportunities and importance in school rather than all academic focused.
• More clarity with rules and restrictions,
• More classes in order to build up their confidence and reduce stress and anxiety.
• More clear info. Not changing their mind and giving different scenarios,
• More communication with the education board to avoid the stress we were put through,
• More concern for the wellbeing of physical health,
• More extracurricular outside of school, less examinations,
• More financial support to families, making sure that GCSEs and A levels are awarded fairly, better mental health support.
• More flexibility when started back on new courses to adjust to being out. Option to do the work from home if it eases mental health.
• More freedom.
• More freedom.
• More fun activities.
• More funding for social programmes.
• More government funded opportunities and activities that actually appeal to young people.
• More guidance and support.
• More guidance ASAP less constantly changing ideas surrounding school, rules etc., guidance for those struggling physically and mentally,
• More gym,
• MORE HELP WITH LEARNING,
• More help with mental health,
• More Help With Passing GCSEs in school,
• More information to guide young people like telling them roughly when they can see their friends.
• More informative things about coronavirus in ways that children and young people will understand. Not all scientific, in ways that will be more easily understood and engaging to young people so that they are properly informed about the latest restrictions etc. that the government has implemented.
• More job opportunities.
• More job opportunities or more training schemes to allow us to learn.
• More jobs.
• More lateral flow testing, we should have been allowed to do our GCSEs as we would have been socially distanced and could have worn masks.
• More measures for mental health.
• More mental health awareness.
• More mental health care, being more considerate that everyone has different experiences and not comparing others’ situations as it affects everyone differently.
• More mental health services available.
• More mental health services that can be easily available to those who need them. Having an overall better system for receiving help for these issues.
• More mental health support and how we can look after it.  Also how sports e.g. football and horse riding are beneficial.
• More mental health support groups online.
• More money into schools, government funded activities and social care.
• More nights out for every age.
• More open places for mental health without guardians.
• More opportunities and help for those struggling with mental health, more ways to exercise without having to do it at home.
• More opportunities to do things in smaller towns.
• More outdoor activities.
• More outdoor training facilities.
• More places for older children to go.
• More places for young people to go.
• More realistic martial arts training and fitness for mental health.
• More resources and support services in regards to mental health rethink on how GCSE and A level exams should go forward how should they be awarded.
• More safe social events.
• More sanitation.
• More services for mental health.
• More skill based training, How to manage mental health, More activities and facilities in local towns and villages.
• More social events.
• More social events.
• More socialising.
• More socialising platforms that aren’t on social media or phones in general.
• More sports activities.
• More support.
• More support for mental health.
• More support for mental health.
• More support in general, and not as much pressure on deadlines for schoolwork.
• More support in schools and homes.
• More support should be given for young people suffering with mental health.
• More support within education.
• More things for mental health.
• More things open.
• More time to focus on balancing aspects of their lives such as how to balance school work, free time and social life and how to find a healthy balance.
• More catch up lessons in school. Pushed back exams to allow more time to go over or relearn courses that we’ve missed out on.
• More websites accessible to children.
• More workshops, activities and crafts  and grants to youth groups for trips, camps and weekends away.
• More worthwhile mental health initiatives in school e.g. 1 mandatory counselling session.
• More youth work.
• Most definitely try to help children learn online, and make sure that they are actually doing the work they’re assigned to do. They should also guarantee access to health and nutrition services and make vaccines affordable and available to every child.
• NA.
• NA.
• NA.
• NA.
• NA.
• No comment.
• No comment.
• No exams.
• No ideas.
• No masks.
• No masks in classrooms, more school trips as they can be educational and fun.
• No more lockdowns.
• No more lockdowns.
• No more restrictions.
• None.
• None.
• None.
• None.
• Not blame us for the spread of corona and let us socialise with our friends.
• Not create summer schools or extend the school year.
• Not everyone has the same household and some people can’t always stay inside, being able to leave their house is away to escape a toxic household and effects them the most. Another is how some kids are neglected and the only time they get fed is at school so that also stopped them from getting that.
• Not forget about the education these children have missed out on, primary school is the foundation for their learning.
• Not lie towards everyone.
• Not make changes last minute.
• Not making wearing masks in class mandatory. Allowing extracurricular activities at school e.g. drama or choir. Try to make sure that exams will go ahead next year instead of predicted grades.
• Not pressure kids into doing GCSEs and A levels.
• Not put too much pressure and listen to what we think.
• Not putting pressure on them to do as well in school.
• Not scare people as much and set no limits to outdoor activities.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure.
• Not sure
• Not sure if this counts but there were too many mini assessments instead of GCSEs which were stressful.
• Not sure.
• Not to dismiss us and our concerns and to put themselves in our shoes before making decisions.
• Not to expect much of their schoolwork and let children have a chance to improve their mental health before bombarding them.
• Not to only blame us for numbers rising.
• Not to rush us out of lockdown to ensure another lockdown wouldn’t be necessary as the aforementioned would be extremely detrimental to young people’s mental health.
• Not to sound like a child, but maybe not blame the spreads on us as we are encouraged to go out and socialise. Like I said before many people have struggled with mental health, I believe it was brought to light more during that first lockdown in 2020, from my experience, it was horrible. I think that even though many people may say they’re fine, there’s a high chance they’re not and need help. I believe more mental health facilities should be opened. I would also like to focus on school therapy, as once a child signs up for school therapy, both the therapist and client sign a contract that states that the information or matters spoken about in that room would not leave that room unless it was related to harming oneself or others. Now I know all this from past experience, and I believe that it should be talked about more how many school therapists break these contracts and as soon as the student leaves the therapist would go phone the parent and tell them what was talked about. Now I’m sorry for going off topic and I’m not going to name schools as I know from friends as well this happens in many schools but this is a huge invasion of privacy, if a teen goes to therapy to talk about matters that they haven’t been able to talk about, and are comfortable with it, then it simply shouldn’t be talked about to anyone besides their therapist, especially their parents, in case the teens simply weren’t comfortable with their parents knowing this type of information.
• Nothing.
• Nothing.
• Nothing.
• Nothing.
• Nothing as I’m aware.
• Nothing is wrong. There is nothing more the government can do.
• Nothing it’s all good
• Nothing, Government should stay out of people’s lives
• Nothing, it was fine before Covid.
• Nothing.
• Now that the vaccinations are in full progress restrictions should be eased for younger people.
• Offer better mental health services that will respond within 2 weeks and take action quick instead of letting the person wait for months.
• Offer emotional support to those affected mentally by the pandemic and give clear advice regarding education.
• Offer free counselling more in schools etc.
• Offer free lateral tests to everyone over 12 and under 25 not just 16 and above in post primary schools. Make important decisions in good time rather than cancelling exams 2 days beforehand. Not turn Covid into something sectarian.
• Offer gym membership at reduced price or free.
• Offer in school assistance for those who feel that they need it to cope with their own personal affects with the pandemic.
• Offer incentives to get people out more and more involved such as cinema tickets.
• Offer more job opportunities.
• Offer more mental health support in schools etc. Reassure them about their education, relieve them of some of the pressure. Ensure young children don’t miss out on essential early social or intellectual development.
• Offer more online support for mental health and better guidelines on healthy methods for young people to cope.
• Offer more support schemes.
• Offer support and allow nightclubs to reopen for young people.
• Offer support groups, listen to young people.
• Only in school a few days a week.
• Open.
• Open activities.
• Open activity centre.
• Open air concerts that are safe something for young people to do.
• Open all sports, make some social clubs for people to talk and regain the lost ability to be social for some.
• Open all up and give them space.
• Open appropriate places.
• Open cinemas.
• Open concerts.
• Open discos and nightclubs so that young people have the opportunity to socialise which can help mental health.
• Open everything back up.
• Open health centres.
• Open more outdoor places or make more places outdoor.
• Open more parks for youth.
• Open more schemes and opportunities.
• Open more social entertainment earlier such as teenage discos, cinemas etc.
• Open movie theatres.
• Open nightclubs.
• Open outdoor sports earlier.
• Open places up so we can do fun things.
• Open social places back up is the only way but it isn’t that easy.
• Open social places e.g. cinemas, clubs gyms to allow children to meet with their friends more frequently.
• Open sports activities and clubs over the summer.
• Open sports clubs.
• Open stuff and give us money for jobs we couldn’t do in summer.
• Open things back up, allow mental health days off school, and include better options for therapy.
• Open things to do for young people.
• Open up after school at and young centres for somewhere to go.
• Open up all the sports facilities but only allow a certain amount of people at a time, and put hand sanitizer stations around the buildings.
• Open up more place for young people and children to meet up.
• Open up night clubs.
• Open up social activities again.
• Open youth clubs.
• Open youth facilities again.
• Opening schools so children can get a fair education and aren’t lacking behind in school. Letting them see friends outside of school. Getting the vaccine to most children so they don’t spread it.
• Opening up shops and areas for children to socialise again.
• Opening up social areas like parks and football pitches.
• Opportunities to ensure gaps in learning are filled and opportunities to ensure fun amongst all young people again and that anxieties are reduced regarding exams at transition stages.
• Organise activities for young people to get them out of the house and back into normality.
• Organise festivals.
• Organise more activities.
• Organise more social events.
• Organise more sporting events and extracurricular activities.
• Outdoor activities.
• Outdoor facilities.
• Pay more attention to mental health of young people.
• Pay us some money so we can go to different things, open up discos so that we will be safe, my gymnastics have to be outside so I have missed lots because of the rain, start up some support groups because we are frightened about going into groups again-  well I am.  Have some big safe concerts so we can have fun again. We have missed all our school events, school trips maybe the government can give the schools lots of money so they can take us nice places. The school and government told us we could not do our GCSEs and then they made us do lots of tracking tests, it wasn’t fair because I was really worried about them, the Government should just let us all pass our GCSEs because our tracking tests might not be a true grade.
• Perhaps invest more money into group activities such as football or dance to get young people active and invested in a hobby.
• Perhaps the Government should listen more to what we want to do, especially now as it’s reaching the summer term and holidays.
• Place advertisements on different apps and social media asking schools to do assemblies with information.
• Place more money in looking after our mental health as it has been greatly effected.
• Possibly look into other suitable, fairer ways to get grades for e.g. GCSEs and A Levels. The way grades were awarded this year and last year was unfair as each school provided different assessments for students in terms of difficulty, timings and levels of preparation, for example students being hinted at topics or questions. Additionally, once one class has done the assessment, pupils from other classes or schools that are doing the same exam have the opportunity to know the questions before the test.
• Possibly more mental health services and helping with it.
• Practical activities at school.
• Prevent misinformation being spread.
• Prioritise and put more funding into mental health support for young people as we emerge from lockdown and back to normality. Support and help children and young people who did not have access to devices during lockdown catch up in their studies to make sure that their education does not suffer because of something that was completely out of their control.
• Prioritise children and young people’s metal health as we have had to go weeks without seeing friends due to school closures but our parents and guardians could meet co-workers. Also we should be taught the risks and dangers of Covid as many people still believe that they won’t get it and spread it but they can.
• Prioritise mental health.
• Probably make them respect COVID guidelines a bit more by stricter regulations.
• Precautions just.
• Promise that they will never do this again as these so called cure lockdown proved to be more harmful than the disease.
• Promote an accepting way that teaches everyone not to participate in bigotry, stereotyping, prejudice and discriminate against young people. We are aware and careful, not all young people are the same.
• Promote and fund youth groups or schemes.
• Promote exercise more.
• Proper interaction.
• Proper recognition of people who have turned non binary or similar.
• Proper time and money into the mental health of young people so everyone has someone to go to, young people’s mental health has been affected a lot by COVID. Help with the jump in education as has been a disrupted two years.
• Provide a clear route for children’s futures and education. I have had very little help from anyone trying to figure how to get into a different school or apply for courses.
• Provide a platform for the youth to continue to do group activities.
• Provide actual support for their mental and physical health, ease school stress e.g. exams.
• Provide as much information to young people as possible about restrictions, particularly the reasons behind them, prioritise education and options for socialisation and look for the safest way to re-establish something of a normality for young lives.
• Provide as much support.
• Provide better channels to communicate.
• Provide better reassurance.
• Provide better sporting facilities that would socially distanced.
• Provide clearer answers to questions.
• Provide clearer explanations as to the situations regarding exams.
• Provide every student GCSE, AS level and A level students the best grade as they deserve it. Being bombarded with 3 exams for each subject in 3 weeks isn’t good, is it affects mental health and physical health so much. They don’t deserve this. Government has failed us students putting us u see so much stress telling us our exams are cancelled, then told we have assessments that determine our grade. Many people couldn’t get the help they needed and had to stay off.
• Provide for more surveys like these and more free counselling services.
• Provide free gym memberships to youth. Provide free mental health workshops my school has done a bit of this.
• Provide help for those who went through a hard time during the pandemic e.g. Free therapy and counsellors.
• Provide mental health services instead of worrying about political fights about events 30 years ago or giving themselves pay raises for doing nothing.
• Provide more access to facilities for young people that struggle with their mental health and listen to them when they bring up issues that they feel should be more talked about such as racial discrimination issues and environmental issues as more of these issues have been brought to people’s attention since the pandemic.
• Provide more awareness and help for mental health.
• Provide more awareness help for mental health. I suggest this as I know many and myself who are now suffering from mental health problems that have grown like wildfire over lockdown, so it is important we are provided the health needed so it may not get any worse.
• Provide more care for the young people in difficult situations at home, whether that be due to financial situation or domestic abuse. Children and young people need to be taken better care of, by perhaps implementing a higher unemployment wage for parents who struggled to provide during these times, or set up more organisations that can provide food, access to the internet and other things to these families, as well as a protective service which ensures children who are stuck in an abusive home are safe.
• Provide more computers for some who are not able to do work online
• Provide more facilities for young people so they can socialise and share worries or relieve stress, with people that understand what they are going through.
• Provide more financial support for students.
• Provide more funding to local clubs and schemes for outdoor summer activities.
• Provide more help in school.
• Provide more information.
• Provide more information about school in terms of exams.
• Provide more information and make it more available, also think more about the teenage generations in government decisions.
• Provide more information that can actually be used. Telling us that reading, walking, and running will quote ‘clear our heads’ unquote will not help children at all. A different type of criteria needs to be put in place to help benefit children that are affected by the last year directly.
• Provide more mental health care and more information about schools and exams.
• Provide more mental health funding.
• Provide more mental health services.
• Provide more mental health support.
• Provide more opportunities for social interaction with other young people.
• Provide more outdoor activities or information on different places in Northern Ireland to visit.
• Provide more support.
• Provide more support.
• Provide more support and guidance for young people.
• Provide more support and guidance for young people.
• Provide more support for education.
• Provide more support for mental health and provide more setups like suicide awareness.
• Provide more support for parents.
• Provide more support, fund schools, encourage youth groups to meet outside to ensure the younger people are still socialising.
• Provide more support in school for the work we have missed due to lockdown.
• Provide more support to learn and catch up in school. Provide more mental health support and pastoral care. Listen to young people.
• Provide more things and activities for them.
• Provide more things to do.
• Provide more youth clubs.
• Provide opportunities for group activities.
• Provide opportunities for the future.
• Provide opportunities for young people to socialise with others outside of school.
• Provide optional extra time at schools to make up for missed education. Provide extra counselling for young people who struggled mentally through lockdown.
• Provide pre-existing or new activities for children within education, to allow them to have as much social time and interactivity with others as they possibly can, due to the lack of this over the past lockdowns.
• Provide schools IT equipment to let students who need them borrow them.
• Provide social occasions.
• Provide support better and easier to access.
• Provide support for people when they need it.
• Provide us the reassuring information prioritising our mental health and wellbeing.
• Provide us with better reassurance and information in regards to plans with education.
• Provide us with information in an easier to understand format, and provide us with information further in advance, and make set plans and don’t keep changing those plans.
• Provide us with social gatherings to attend.
• Provide vaccines and eases out of restrictions to stop wild increases again.
• Provide vouchers something to look forward to.
• Providing better access to mental health support and counselling.
• Providing clarity with social, education and medical issues.
• Providing easier and better access to mental health resources. Listen to the opinions of young people more.
• Providing help to those who have been disadvantaged in important school years due to lack of classroom teaching.
• Providing us with proper assistance and support.
• Put in as much learning into a day as possible but not too much homework to give parents a break.
• Put more facilities in schools to help young people in school with mental wellbeing.
• Put more money towards digital education and free school meals.
• Put more resources into mental health services that not only treat but also reach out.
• Quicker return to activities such as team sports and youth clubs.
• Quickly open more places.
• Quite simply, just publicly ask. I don’t speak on behalf of all young people.
• Reopening facilities.
• Reassure employers that grades given still count.
• Reassure us about what will happen in the next school year.
• Recognise that all young people have been impacted in some way, they could invest money into social activities and more physical activities for young people.
• Recognise thoughts and opinions of young people. Factor in effects on lives of young people.
• Reduce exam and workload.
• Reduce the curriculum of each subject if another lockdown happens, give the students COVID tests every week at least 1x or 2x a week.
• Reduce the restrictions on leisure activities and gyms.
• Reduce the restrictions so we can see our friends more.
• Reduce work for the coming years in school as all expected work during the pandemic was not effectively or properly taught.
• Reduced curriculum for A Level.
• Reducing school workload and examinations.
• Re education
• Reflect on what has happened, draw lessons as to how to work from home as well as in school, consider improved relationships between students, teachers and parents, with a view to improving students’ results.
• Relax some restrictions such as spectators at sport to make it more enjoyable, provide support.
• Rely more and trust more in our teachers for predicted grades and education.
• Remain wearing masks, have masks easily provided.
• Remove all restrictions.
• Remove GCSEs. The government informed us that we would not be sitting any formal exams. This was a lie that was told to the media to make it seem like young people got it easy.
• Remove restrictions.
• Remove social distancing.
• Reopen as much as possible to bring back a sense of normality.
• Reopen nightclubs for the youth and provide rapid testing and make sure all the elderly are vaccinated so we young people can safely carry on with life.
• Reopen social places for young people.
• Restart the school year as we are falling behind in work and are being rushed to get the work done.
• Rethink the education system and focus on learning again. It’s mad. I will get the qualifications because I did the tasks and produced the evidence but I didn’t actually learn much in the last 12 months- joke. If we all went to school near our friends we wouldn’t have been so isolated. Let them do sport, lets kids be more free as they are not a risk of dying and then focus on protecting the vulnerable people in society like grandparents etc.
• Return to normality as quickly as is safely possible.
• Review the curriculum and ensure systems are in place for those facing mental health issues.
• Review GCSE and A level tests.
• Revision classes and catch up for school we missed.
• Try to open things to entertain young people.
• Safer and better ways to meet friends etc.
• School online.
• See what young people need to be able to improve skills that will be needed in later life.
• Set precautions in the case that something like this was to happen again and listen to what students and people are experiencing at the time, and if that means to do things that normally wouldn’t happen, to do them like cancelling test and not having to think about them or changing the decision.
• Set up more support and awareness of mental health causes.
• Set up more youth clubs where young people can go and talk about their feelings, get away from the stress of home and school life and make new friends. Additionally, it would be better if there was more public areas for young people to hang out, such as skate parks etc.
• Set up some activities or things to get young people more involved with each other as they come back round to the idea of being able to do things outside again.
• Should listen to young people’s needs.
• Show us you care and provide us with something genuinely helpful for all of us and don’t just focus on specific hobbies or groups, not all of us play video games not all of us play sports and not all of us like art. Specifically teenagers can spot something fake and not truthful and meaningful so be smart.
• Simply stop all the lockdowns.
• Slow down and take small steps because young people don’t really understand fully what is happening every day and what is opening or closing.
• Slowly allow people to go back to activities such as sports or leisure activities.
• Slowly and gradually allow larger groups to meet and socialise.
• Slowly open more facilities for us to go to and enjoy.
• Social activities opened up again.
• Socialise more.
• Some coin for everyone.
• Some subjects have gotten work cut out to help students manage the work, which I think is a great idea, I think they should go ahead with this. Another would be to have after school catch up for those who didn’t get all work caught up if they can’t focus at home or want to get caught up in a focused environment.
• Sort out the lack of education open up more places to encourage young people to socialise, have festivals, should be allowed to watch sport.
• Speak out and address our problems.
• Speaking more about mental health issues, let young people be listened to when speaking about problems they are experiencing.
• SPORTS.
• Sports and places such as cinemas and for example Dundonald Ice Bowl for entertainment of the kids instead of staying at home and the only place they can go to is school.
• Spread awareness about mental health, make the vaccinations available for all ages, not just for older people as young people, particularly those with mental illness, need it too, ease exam pressures as we did not know what we were doing throughout lock down, increase communication about coronavirus  we were often confused, provide better support for young people.
• Spread awareness on our current mental health issues and let us enlarge our bubbles
• Start listening to young people more often rather than getting their parents or carers to speak for them.
• Start reopen stores and social arrears.
• Starting doing what the kids want.
• State more ways young people can reach out for help e.g. Samaritans.
• Stop blaming our age group for the spread of the virus and appreciate that we haven’t been complaining. Starting sports and outdoor activities would also be good so we could return to some sort of normality.
• Stop blaming the spread of coronavirus on young people.
• Stop blaming young people for issues the government create.
• Stop blaming younger people for all infection rates. Stop looking down on younger generations and help them with education.
• Stop cancelling outdoor sports and extracurricular activities as they are some of the main ways healthy mental health can be achieved.
• Stop changing the fucking rules and ban travel to other countries until the pandemic is over.
• Stop changing their mind.
• Stop changing things last minute so we can plan things that won’t have to dissolve the next week.
• Stop easing then going back into restrictions because its making young people feel uncertain about their lives.
• STOP EXAMS the pressure is unreal.
• Stop fighting with each other and act as a team and the DUP should stop blaming everything on Sinn Fein and the Catholic people.
• Stop forcing things on them. Young people have enough to deal with e.g. exams, puberty and social challenges. The government basically told you to stay indoors and they say this is a free country.
• Stop going back on decisions made.
• Stop having to wear masks.
• Stop lifting restrictions just to enforce another lockdown right after.
• Stop lockdown.
• Stop lying.
• Stop lying for a start, actually listen to us and be consistent and clear.
• Stop making last minute decisions about exams and have back up plans in place.  If they are going to vaccinate young people give us plenty of info on the vaccine.
• Stop making us wear uniforms, they’re uncomfortable and too expensive for something that doesn’t even protect you from hot weather or cold weather or rain.
• Stop placing blame on us when it is not our fault. The government should accept responsibility for the disastrous way in which they have handled this pandemic and apologise for the amount of lives lost due to their actions. They should also express empathy for the experiences we missed out on and admit they have handled things terribly. Other countries such as New Zealand are completely back to normal. The government need to accept responsibly.
• Stop pressurising us into doing things so soon. I did exams disguised as assessments after being back for one week with little time to work.
• Stop pretending that the exams we are doing aren’t our GCSEs and are just evidence to prove our exams are worthy of being awarded.
• Stop telling people lies.
• Stop thinking that they can’t be wrong and take criticism and different viewpoints on board. And to also stop being so hypocritical.
• Summer schemes or activities for friends.
• Supply accessible mental health services.
• Supply more money to organisations like CAHMS.
• Support.
• Support.
• Support children. Overcome by adapting and planning well.
• Support for catching up on missed learning during the pandemic.
• Support for education access to appropriate IT and internet.access to medical support e.g. counselling.
• Support in school environments.
• Support in schools and getting back to normality.
• Support mental health.
• Support talk groups.
• Support them more.
• Support them through funding for clubs or mental health charities.
• Tackle education issues sooner.
• Take another look at how GCSEs are chosen until the virus is under control they know will last for a long enough period of time.
• Take care of our mental health ever since we have been sent back to school we have been sitting exams for our cancelled exam grades and have been under so much stress.
• Take in consideration the youths’ mindsets towards options going forward
• Take in the fact we are just kids, don’t put too much stress and work on us. Get better mental health counsellors.
• TAKE IN TO CONSIDERATION THE AMOUNT OF TIME OUT OF SCHOOL WE’VE HAD.
• Take into account young people’s opinions more as I feel adult opinions are often the only ones valued but young people live in the same world so their opinions should be listened to.
• Take into consideration how different the school year has been and how it has effected pupils learning.
• Take into consideration how stressful it can be for kids too.
• Take into consideration more factors regarding GCSE grading and schooling.
• Take into consideration more our opinions by asking us to complete surveys.
• Take into consideration on the young people’s opinions.
• Take into consideration our thoughts when deciding on examinations etc.
• Take into consideration those with disabilities both physical, mental and medical.
• Take it slow in school so the students aren’t stressed.
• Take learning seriously with people doing exams.
• Take pressure off young people’s shoulders when it comes to exam or assessments
• Take opinions from young people using surveys and learn their perspectives to help make decisions suitable for everyone when possible.
• Take our childhood and missed out experiences into consideration.
• Take our experiences and voices into consideration for big decisions. We are the people that have to deal with it and we have no say in our situation or what is best for us.
• Take our social lives into consideration, as I know that not being able to see friends due to lockdown has effected quite a few young people’s mental health. Seeing their friends was an outlet for them from their household life, where we were all living the same day over again.
• Take pressure off of students doing a levels and GCSEs as they didn’t get taught half the course.
• Take restrictions away.
• Take suggestions from young people.
• Take the restrictions away and give us all the injections.
• Take their mental health into consideration a lot more.
• Take their opinions into account more.
• Take them into consideration.
• Take them into more consideration.
• Take time into encouraging children and opening more facilities to ease children back into normal life.
• Take time to listen and understand their issues and how to improve the situation.
• Take time to listen to how young people have been affected by the pandemic physically, emotionally and mentally.
• Take us more into consideration instead of worrying about themselves.
• Take young people into consideration more often when creating new rules and regulations.
• Take young people’s opinions, views and ideas into account.t
• Take young people’s mental health into consideration. Try if possible to keep schools open.
• Take young people’s opinions and views into account for once.
• Take young people’s opinions into consideration.
• Taking action about individuals’ problems, increasing mental illness doctors, increasing mental illness support.
• Taking our thoughts into account and offering support and help if needed.
• Talk about mental health. Have less pressure around exams. Ease restrictions for young people if another lockdown.
• Talk about the outcome of the pandemic more.
• Talk and listen to young people.
• Talk directly to kids.
• Talk more about mental health and give us the exact resources. Try and make things safer for marginalised groups of people like Asians who are being racially targeted by the public for starting the pandemic. Talk about the hate crimes and the struggles that are still happening to make them more aware.
• Talk more about why restrictions are in place and where it will get us instead of throwing rules at us.
• Talk to them and listen to their struggles.
• Teach is about the pros of vaccinations and masks, to help us all return to physical school.
• Teachers be more helpful.
• Tell children what is actually happening with exams. This has been two years of insecurity for our GCSE pupils. Put money into mental health and even a celebration grant for all schools.
• Tell education system to slowly break us into the run of school again.
• Tell schools information at an earlier time so we can be informed early on.
• Tell us about it in school.
• Tell us to stop using pointless pieces of cloth over our faces.
• Tell young people that they should not be scared of being stuck inside all day, and that they will get back outside again soon.
• Temporary free bus and train tickets to allow people to meet up with friends that live far away.
• That we get better help with school work especially as I have ADHD.
• The actions that the Government should take is providing organisations for children and young people that have mental health issues and that their wellbeing must be taken care of.
• The adults are being rewarded to keep small businesses open, I think a certain age group of people should have some sort of insurance for the problems that struck through lockdown
• The government could make transport for young people free, it would ease the burden of financial issues of families just a little by letting young people have free transport to school.
• The government could provide proper, well-functioning, and more easily accessible mental health support. Information should be given in a clear concise way and young people should be consulted on the things that affect them namely education.
• The government in the past have been very last minute on giving young people information about our education, and stop only blaming young people for the spread of coronavirus.
• The government needs to allow young people to know that it is okay to feel anxious about social activities and you do not have to feel as if it is something to be ashamed of. Social anxiety is something that a lot of young people have developed throughout this last year.
• The government needs to empathise with the high pressures of education imposed on young people that the lockdown and grading fiasco last year has only further aggravated and exposed. The government needs to ensure that the education system of the post pandemic world is not just the same as before and is more adapted to the loss of crucial face-to-face education all young people lost during the lockdown. With the current financial volatility due to the pandemic, the government must also take action to ensure the post pandemic generation are guaranteed a stable job and lifestyle in the future, and not create uncertainty over our futures, particularly in regards to unemployment and higher taxes to pay for the government’s current spending.
• The government should allow the meeting of friends and able to have gatherings at houses.
• The Government should ask young people about how they think public facilities should be opened up again, whether they would feel safe enough to use certain facilities so soon after they were reopened, which ones they want to see opened first, and how people could be encouraged to start using these facilities again. The Government should also ask young people about how the Coronavirus has affected their mental health, and, from there, set up organisations and facilities that will provide emotional support to young people and encourage them to use these organisations and facilities.
• The government should be advised what to do to keep activities and school as close as possible to what they were before lockdown while keeping a lookout if the virus got worse. That’s all.
• The government should be clearer on what they are doing for education and activities and should not take so long to decide how to award qualifications.
• The government should be more informative and clear about rules but should keep kids in mind.
• The government should definitely take into consideration children’s mental health and make decisions faster and more decisively on exams and plans for the future that will not change to allow us to create a solid plan.
• The government should ensure better communication between teachers, exam boards and the education minister to make clear what will happen in terms of exams and predicted grades so that students are not left in the dark of what will happen.
• The government should give student a better understanding how the school are going to work with exam.
• The government should implement a better CAMHS system and fund it more, for example, assessments for disorders are too long of a process and the treatment of eating disorders and treatment for them are based on an individual’s weight rather than their habits and symptoms which is ethically wrong but a result of underfunding. They should also support working class families more to help the development of the children of these families and to give them equal opportunities to children of a higher socioeconomic class.
• The government should invest in our education with better facilities to improve the weakened education of young people in Northern Ireland. The government should try to better include more progressive young minds in the running of Northern Ireland that could actually relate to the young people of Northern Ireland.
• The Government should look more into children’s mental health and see how lockdown affected them.
• The government should make it a priority to inform young people on what is happening with their education. For me I was only told that we were going to be sitting our assessments over a six week period 2 weeks before it they actually started. These 2 weeks we had off due to it being Easter time but I was not in a good position to be revising due to me and my family sitting in my grannies house all day everyday as we watched her slowly die. This put me in a bad position as I was unable to get the revision that I needed to do which I could have already done if the government had made their decision when the exams were cancelled back in January.
• The government should make teachers check in on all of the pupils. As some silently struggle but do not have the confidence to admit they need help.
• The Government should make things better for children and young people as we look to move forward from the COVID pandemic period by encouraging young people to get back out and socialise with friends and others, to help them with their social and emotional development.
• The Government should provide more opportunities for young people to mix with their friends and extended family so that their mental health does not deteriorate.
• The government should provide support for children suffering from the lack of education they got in the pandemic. Some children didn’t have computers or Wi-Fi to get in touch with teachers or complete the work so I think they should focus on getting the children who feel like their knowledge has suffered.
• The government should really start listening to the young people on the issues that young people are going to be effected by, e.g. global warming. The government also needs to seriously change the way young people are treated in the workplace, payment wise, the minimum wage needs to be increased to a sustainable level rather than giving them a payment  which they cannot live off
• The government should sort out their own problems first.
• The government should start to open more outdoor activities for all young people and develop places that are only for people 18 and below.
• The government should support young people and create more job opportunities, especially part time ones. They should ease restrictions where possible and overall pay more attention to our views and opinions.
• The government should take into account how the pandemic has affected young people and their physical, mental and emotional health, and should review how they perceive secondary education, as the methods taken to, so they say, improve their experiences of online learning and lightening the workload have failed. Even the government’s attitudes towards GCSEs and A Levels before the Covid19 pandemic put teenagers under an enormous amount of stress, and when they tried to make things easier for the teenagers, it just made things worse. So I think that the government should properly take into account the thoughts and opinions of young people in terms of education and the schooling system.
• The government should take into consideration that times have moved on since they were at school and they could improve their lives by not using guilt tripping adverts on places such as social media where they know they will see them as this will just worsen mental health.
• The government should take more action to listen too young people’s beliefs and thoughts about the schooling program and how they should change. Students are the ones experiencing school but they have no chance changing it for the better because they are not listened too
• The government should take the mental toll of this pandemic more seriously. However, they should not just say they are doing this but they need to put measures into place to support care for those, young and older, with mental health problems. One way of doing this would be not to cut funding in mental health sectors.
• The government should try to implement youth gatherings, that obey the restrictions of course, to encourage some social interaction between youths and to encourage making new friends in person rather than on the internet.
• The government should try to keep in mind how much teaching and information time we have lost and give leeway in future exams because of this.
• The mistake at the start was that young people could not catch Covid and this made some very complacent.  They should ensure young people are provided with more support.
• The school exams system for GCSEs this year put unnecessary pressure on me which meant I had to do work that didn’t count towards anything, not knowing if school work would count towards my final results and giving me more exams than I would have if there was no COVID. Moving forward I think the exam system needs modernised to take pressure of the young people.
• They should try to organise outdoor events so young people can interact with each other and start to socialise again.
• The younger generation need their own voice and we shouldn’t be treated like children we should let our feelings and anxieties be known.
• Their mental health.
• There should be more facilities that can be very easily accessed by children. For example, there could be a few free football pitches, suitable for all weather, that have the actual nets on all year round.
• There should be more opportunities for young people to do work experience that we have missed because of the pandemic.
• There should be resources for young people to go to for help if they need anything such as, external teachers that don’t work in the school or college we attend, mental wellbeing officers etc.
• They are doing all they can to help young people
• They could be clearer for exam years on what’s going to be happening with exams.
• They could give us more time to come to terms with the changes. It is going to take us a good bit of time to wrap our heads around things and fully understand what is happening. They could also take our mental health into consideration when making decisions about our education. Also they should understand that what they are doing is having an impact on not only them but also on people nationwide.
• They could have more mental health support.
• They could make Covid guidance easier for young people to understand.
• They could open up more things for young people to be able to go and do.
• They could take more of our input when it comes to things like school and education. I believe this because us young people are the ones living through the decisions that the government makes and these decisions directly impact us.
• They have to take our mental health into consideration.
• They need to have better facilities for young people, there’s nothing for us to do in our town.
• They need to let us know how we will be graded in our GCSEs and A Levels and stick to it rather than changing their mind every week or so.  They also need to come up with a more fair way of awarding grades.  They should let some activities go ahead e.g. sports and outdoor activities and perhaps even let indoor events happen if masks are worn.
• They need to listen to us. I feel that were not taken seriously.
• They need to make decision faster as the stress left on young people about exams was exponentially more than necessary, if decisions were made quicker students could have made better preparations for returning from school. Overall, the government did well with all apart from sorting out schools.
• They need to provide clear information and proper support for young people coming out of lockdown.
• They should announce their actions regarding school etc. with certainty and maintain what they promise. They should also be more vocal regarding mental health so that young people know it’s okay to feel affected by this pandemic and the current state of the world.
• They should be able to listen to young people’s voices and base government decisions while accommodating young people based on their current situations.
• They should be allowed to socialise.
• They should be improving the systems that support young people’s mental health. We need better school counsellors and more accessible therapy for young people. Teachers need more support, so that they stop being so stressed and potentially take it out on students.
• They should be clearer about the action plans they are going to take.
• They should consider making changes about restrictions. I think they should make different restrictions for young people and for adults.
• They should find a better way to grade students.
• They should get kids vaccinated if at all possible, more support for the arts drama music etc., there should be an exam centre for private candidates that can mark coursework so people can do drama and music GCSEs I would have loved to do those but just could not.
• They should give help to people who need it most, regardless of age.
• They should have handled the education and consequently the mental wellbeing of young people. Exams and school dates were messed around with too often by the government which caused and excessive amount of stress on young people.
• They should have removed exams, GCSEs and stopped testing in schools and continuing on may need to look into removing them for next year too
• They should have told us that we would still have to do exams rather than tell us two weeks before that we need evidence for our GCSE grades.
• They should increase the amount of funding that goes into trans healthcare.
• They should listen to what young people have to say and take into consideration how young people feel.
• They should listen to young people because they have a lot to say.
• They should listen to young people more and take their needs into consideration as much as they do with adults. Just because we are younger does not mean we don’t matter as much. Our education was greatly affected and our mental health as a whole was equally as greatly impacted. I felt as though during the pandemic we young people were almost blamed for the spread of the virus when the vast majority of us did everything we could to protect the older generation but instead of listening to us and seeing we were trying to help, the government instead let the minority represent the majority. I would like the government to listen to us more and take us into consideration when they make decisions especially on things that impact us such as education.
• They should make it clear to the younger audience and deliver the message to an older adult such as teachers or parents to deliver the message clearly to the child.
• They should make sure we don’t go into another lockdown
• They should persuade more after school clubs in school or after school to be able to become more social again. Be able to open up small services for children or young children to spend time with their friends and to do some activities e.g. camping services.
• They should provide a reward system for young people e.g. vouchers or discounts. They should also look into providing free tutoring sessions for any pupils that may have fallen behind in school.
• They should put more money into schools to help with facilities such as counsellors to help more young people and children.
• They should reach out to children and ask them their thoughts and opinions instead of just doing what they think is right.
• They should slow down the opening of various things.
• They should take in to consideration the impact there decisions have on young people.
• They should try to get sports in and outside of school back up and running to pre Covid levels as soon as possible.
• They should try to guide us through this and offer support to anyone who feels they need it.
• They should value young people’s opinions more and take on their ideas we are the next generation of politicians etc. And should be listened to. We need to work together to help EVERYONE.
• They shouldn’t have replaced exams with double the amount of tests.
• They were incredibly vague with regards to school and how we would get are exam results, so I guess if they were more open about that.
• Think about them and not what adults want.
• Think about how lockdowns and restrictions are going to affect younger people’s mental health.
• Think about our mental health.
• Think about the lives of teenagers more, some of us have not got to experience their teenage years to the fullest like any other older age group.
• Think about the mental health of young people. Offer better teaching for students as 2020 was a bad year for it.
• Think about young people when giving out exams to do. Mental health if they have been in school to be able to teach the information needed.
• Think ahead and make decisions quicker.
• Think before they act, ask young people.
• Think carefully about the important GCSE and A level grades given as remote learning has been a struggle for many people and many people have been robbed of opportunities and grades they could of achieved due to the struggles of remote learning.
• Think harder with regards to the restrictions.
• Think more about activities that children can do when further easing restrictions and present such changes in an understandable manner. The same applies to young people, but they are likely to understand it so there is little need to accommodate in that regard.
• Think of children’s mental health.
• Think of children when making decisions.
• Think of possible outcomes rather than dealing with problems as they arise
• Think of us that are under 18, older people have beer gardens etc. to go out to and we have absolutely nothing open to us like that at the minute.
• Thinking about mental health in the same capacity as physical health.
• To ask children and young people their opinions and allow their voices to be heard too.
• To be able to see family.
• To ease restrictions for young people.
• To enforce certain laws to make Northern Ireland a more environmentally friendly country. And other laws to make society more politically correct.
• To ensure all citizens wear a mask and use hand gel accordingly to provide a safe environment for all persons. Provide additional finances to educational establishments and hospitals.
• To have better means of communication with the younger population before making decisions which impact their future.
• To have less pressure with school work and tasks.
• To hear our thoughts and opinions, as we had to go through tough times and continue to do so because were blindsided and distant from the UK because were from NI.
• To lessen requirements needed to get into sixth form, universities etc.
• To let them meet up with their friends outside and indoors.
• To let things go back to normal and the way that it was before and stop opening and closing place and stop all lockdowns completely.
• To let young people know that wearing masks ain’t normal, sanitizing hands every 40mins isn’t normal and is unhealthy and that you wear a mask to protect yourself.
• To listen and not assume.
• To listen to children and hear what they have to say they are the next generation and should be valued.
• To listen to them and hear their opinions, Adults always have the upper hand but this is our lives and our futures that they are shaping and we would rather us be listened to, this could be things such as our own thoughts on what we should do for our education.
• To lower grade boundaries so that we, young people, will have a better positive future.
• To make it more clear what is going on with the lockdowns and not to be putting us in a lockdown then taking us out straight away.
• To make life as normal as possible again and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
• To make sure we are still getting our education we need to prepare us for the future, and that we are still getting as much opportunities as any other generation.
• More information at the right time.
• To not go into another lockdown again but if it’s necessary then to keep schools and essential shops and businesses open.
• To prevent closing schools. Listening to research papers by independent organisations which are not influenced by the funding of corporations, to look for the best outcome. To institute more funding to schools, to support mental health issues and raise awareness by providing young individuals with things to do which alleviate stress. This could include the development of parks, gardens and other outdoor activities.
• To take in to consideration young people’s mental health, as the following years it’s shockingly common how many teens are suffering from severe mental health issues.
• To allow public places for play or leisure to be opened as soon as possible.
• To try and have fun again and be spending time with our friends but take into consideration there should still be some restrictions because we never know if Covid will come back. Also tell us young people we should be able to get back to how our lives were normal and have an education again and be able to see our friends in school instead of being at home worried.
• Try and get the vaccines rolled out to younger people.
• Try and give all children access to a reliable internet.
• Try and set up more programmes for kids to do during lockdown, youth clubs over zoom etc. My community has a youth club with nothing to do in it. Set up more suicide awareness places such as Lighthouse etc.
• Try and understand that blaming us for killing our grandparents and putting it in advertisements, will not work and in fact only has a more negative effect on the teens’ mental health making them too scared to leave the house.
• Try and understand that wearing masks in school is really difficult and makes it a lot harder to concentrate. Being more open about information on exams as it caused many to be stressed over the unknown.
• Try explaining it in a way that everyone would understand.
• Try make school easier for children as the year has affected their learning.
• Try not to constantly talk about [Covid] as then it starts to consume people’s lives. Yes this is a terrible thing we are all going through and people’s lives are changing and being affected by it however it scares people and if you nonstop talk about it, it will never go away.
• Try their best to support and do things like eat out to help out to help young people improve their social skills that they may have lost during lockdown.
• Try to encourage more young people to socialise with others through events.
• Try to keep schools open so they don’t fall behind in school and this could also lead to mental health problems.
• Try to make sure there’s future opportunities for students affected.
• Try to make the information about coronavirus as accessible to all people as possible. Finding a concrete way to complete exams next year, as we were left in the dark for a very long time...
• Try to not put them under massive stress as we are only coming back from having months off of school, and we have to come back to a place where we are not used to the setting and have to wake up early, which can be mentally draining for us.
• Try to open after school activities of some kind, or even just encourage young people even more to slowly get involved again within school and their physical and mental wellbeing.
• Try to open more establishments for young people like gyms, restaurants and parks
• Try to reduce risk of another lockdown which could affect young people’s education, try to roll out vaccines for younger people as well.
• Try to understand young people and stop ignoring them, allow young people to express their views on politics etc., assist young people who are going to university by cutting fees, offer mental health services within schools and generally invest in school facilities, provide more jobs for young people aged 16, provide community centres or safe places for young people.
• Trying to prevent it happening again for us in the future.
• Understand that it isn’t just older people that can be affected from world events. Also understand that young people having mental health issues is a real thing and they shouldn’t just disregard or completely ignore them.
• Understand that their education has been influenced by their mental health due to Covid.
• Understand the vast impact that this has had on our education and social skills.
• Understand us younger people better.
• Understand what we are feeling and listen to our input.
• Understand what we have been through.
• Unrestrict numbers in a group.
• Unsure.
• Unsure.
• Unsure.
• Unsure.
• Unsure.
• Use better resources for online learning.
• Vaccinate.
• Vaccinate all.
• Vaccinate all secondary school pupils and teachers to cut down the spread of infection.
• Vaccinate more quickly or have young people friendly events.
• Vaccinate young people so they can go out with friends.
• Vaccination programme.
• Vaccinate pupils in schools.
• Vaccine rollout to younger people.
• VACINATE TEENAGERS.
• We have learnt the importance of mental health and this awareness should be carried forward into the future as well as maintaining strong encouragement of physical health. Another aspect is very carefully considering of the spectrum of the country. There is huge variation in just about everything that needs to be accounted for and considered before laws etc. are passed. Any negative impacts should be highlighted and judged on severity beforehand to prevent a situation that only benefits a small proportion of the country. Coming out of lockdown has also brought with it the age old issues of racism, discrimination, sexism and sectarianism that are depressive and frustrating to young people as they clearly indicate the slow rate of change of a supposed Western country. Its 2021, these issues have no function or purpose in society other than to restrict the rate of change and improvement. Things need to start changing.
• We need to put more effort into providing ways for young people to socialise. We are unsocial already due to technology, the lockdowns have only made it harder.
• What was done by the government I think was beneficial.
• When easing the restrictions keep them in mind as we won’t be going to bars and restaurants we would like the likes of cinemas and shops opened.
• When there have been lockdowns there should be no stress put on us to do exams.
• When you lockdown, actually lockdown, we would not need a second lockdown if the first lockdown worked properly.
• Within schools let us know what is happening.
• Work closely with education settings to ensure that going forward measures are in place for us to feel confident about our A Level choices. Also potentially being able to involve more young people with extracurricular activities so that they will have contact with other young people outside of the classroom.  We have been in bubbles for long enough, the vaccine uptake has been widely accepted in NI and so we now need to look forward to getting back some of the lost time for young people before mental health of the young and old is affected any further.
• Worry about the effects it has on them as mostly they will be affected in some way even if it wasn’t directly related to them
• Young people’s mental health issues rising must be addressed
• Youth club

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