Charity Wallis and Rachel Jewell attended the VCSE Post-16 NEET Reduction Planning Session at the Triodos Foundation Event Space, joining partners from across Bristol to explore how the city can work together to better support young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET).
The session brought together organisations from across the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, alongside wider partners, to share learning, reflect on the work already underway and discuss future plans for reducing barriers to opportunity for young people across the city.
One of the strongest themes emerging from the day was the importance of collaboration. Tackling youth inequality and improving long-term outcomes for young people cannot be achieved by one organisation or sector alone. The event highlighted the value of organisations coming together as a city around such a vital and urgent issue.
The statistics shared throughout the session brought the scale of the challenge into sharp focus, reinforcing the need for sustained partnership working, early intervention and long-term investment in young people and communities.
As highlighted within the Bristol Corporate Strategy 2025:
💬 “Breaking the link between deprivation and educational outcomes… is essential to becoming a fairer city, tackling poverty and supporting the national government’s ambition for breaking down barriers to opportunity through growth.”
Rachel Jewell reflected on how closely the discussions aligned with the priorities of the Bristol Education Partnership (BEP), which focuses on overcoming disadvantage, raising aspirations and broadening opportunities for young people across the city.
Rachel said:
💬 “What stood out throughout the session was the shared commitment across Bristol to ensuring that we understand the complexity of the challenge, to play our part in supporting the young people in Bristol together, particularly those who do not have equitable access to opportunities. The conversations strongly reflect the Bristol Education Partnership’s vision around working in partnership to create the opportunity for all young people to flourish and reach their full potential. Real progress will only happen when education, charities, businesses and public sector partners continue working together to create joined-up pathways into education, employment and training.”
The discussion also recognised the huge amount of important work already taking place across Bristol to support young people into education, training and employment pathways. From youth support and mentoring to employability programmes and wellbeing services, organisations across the city are working hard to create opportunities and improve outcomes for young people facing disadvantage.
The Bristol Education Partnership itself continues to champion cross-sector collaboration to broaden education, improve outcomes and support young people to thrive through shared opportunity and partnership working across schools, universities, charities and civic organisations.
Events like this provide an important opportunity to strengthen connections, share insight and continue building a more joined-up and collaborative approach for the future.
Bristol Charities remains committed to supporting partnerships and initiatives that help create a fairer city where all young people have the opportunity to thrive.
Get Involved
To find out more about the Bristol Education Partnership and its shared vision for young people across Bristol, visit:
🌐 https://bristoleducation.org.uk/
Together, we can help build a fairer city where every young person has the opportunity to thrive.
