Lewisham’s young mayor’s budget is approved, with £25,000 now allocated to projects for young people including developing an alumni programme, a schools conference, first aid training and a creative enterprise showcase.

Young mayor for 2017/18 Laurelle Henry worked on the proposals throughout the year with her deputy mayor Edafese Erhenede and their advisers.

Laurelle has allocated £10,000 to continuing the development of the ‘curriculum for life’, identifying what young people want to learn outside the mainstream curriculum.

She has also allocated £3,000 to developing a schools conference to discuss what they want to see in the curriculum.

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Her proposals include £3,000 to develop an alumni programme, where past students will visit their old schools to raise aspirations, which was praised by the mayor and cabinet members.

Laurelle said the programme was “very important.”

“I feel like people like me for example should be able to go back to schools and tell them what I have done, be a role model for them.

“I shouldn’t just be able to do it in my school. I should be able to do it so so everyone can see what I have done and what type of role model I am trying to be for them,” she said.

Mayor Damien Egan said “The alumni programme is really inspiring and hopefully something that will continue in future years.”

Cllr Joe Dromey said: “The Lewisham alumni programme is really, really interesting and potentially really effective and transformative.”

Laurelle has also allocated £7,000 to teaching first aid to young people in schools and at youth services to help young people know how to deal with life- threatening situation and knife crime.

“Every child in the Lewisham borough needs to know how to deal with life-threatening situations, whether it’s knife crime or someone needing medical attention.

“People in school, they need to be able to know the basics of first aid so they are able to do something or know what to do in a special situation,” she added.

Her final project was £2,000 for a creative enterprise showcase, to highlight jobs and opportunities in the creative industries.

Cllr Chris Barnham said many young people in Lewisham are “bursting with talent” but don’t know what opportunities there are.

“When you live in Lewisham you can see Canary Wharf, which is like having Monaco or some rich part of the world on your doorstep, but for many young people its kind of another world,” he said.