The Office for Youth has wrapped up a busy end to the year, releasing its Student Experiences Snapshot: School Stress report, which revealed that almost all children and young people in NSW experience school-related stress, with many reporting high or severe levels. The team also delivered several Connect and Thrive initiatives, including Pathways events in Tweed and Moree, and sector training in Narrandera—each helping young people build confidence, explore future opportunities, and strengthen their voices in local decision-making. November also saw the announcement of the Future Health Worldbuilding Competition winners, highlighting innovative youth-led visions for the future of health in NSW.
New student-led resources on sense of belonging in NSW public schools were also released, providing valuable insights into what helps young people feel connected and supported at school. The annual Voices of Change event also brought together young changemakers and key leaders from across government, community, and business to discuss solutions to major social challenges, while the team connected with over 690 children and young people at SpecFest.
Sadly, the end of 2025 marks the conclusion of my six-year term as the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People. It has been a joy to sit in many different spaces with children and young people throughout my term as Advocate. Thank you to all the children and young people who let me sit with them and listen to their voices, you helped me thrive as much I hope I helped you thrive. Throughout my time, I have listened to and engaged with over 35,000 of you from across NSW, and I can’t wait to see what the Office for Youth achieves in the future.
Read on to catch-up on our work from the last few months.
Last week we released our report Student Experiences Snapshot: School Stress, which highlight that school stress is affecting nearly all children and young people in NSW.
We know that stress is a normal part of learning, but it becomes a problem when young people feel overwhelmed or unsupported. This research gives us insights to make sure no young person feels alone in managing school stress.
Based on a dataset of 1,000 children and young people aged 10 to 18 from across NSW, the report revealed that 95 per cent of students experience school-related stress, with two in five reporting high levels of stress and more than half of Year 11 and 12 students rating their stress as severe. A quarter of primary students also reported high levels of stress.
The full report can be found here.
An innovative grants program is set to provide funding to support young people, through offline connection, mentoring, safe spaces, and prosocial activities.
Connect IRL Grants Program, jointly funded by the Office for Youth and the NSW Premier’s Department, offers eligible not-for-profit organisations to apply for grants between $10,000 and $250,000 to deliver projects which break down the barriers to social connectedness and promote positive youth development. This is a great opportunity to run events IRL (in-real-life) for young people to connect following the introduction of the social media delay. Applicants are encouraged to co-design the projects with young people.
Applications are open until 20 January 2026, with successful projects expected to be announced in April 2026.
For more information on the grant guidelines or to submit an application please visit the Premiers website.
The Office for Youth, in partnership with the Riverina and Murray Youth Officers Network, delivered a two-day Youth Sector Training workshop in Narrandera on Wednesday, 5 and Thursday, 6 November 2025.
Twenty-eight youth sector professionals, predominantly from Local Government and Headspace attended the event. The training explored the Key Principles of Youth Work and the NSW Youth Work Code of Ethics, allowing participants to reflect on their own and organisations’ practices, share strategies for better engagement, all while building new peer networks for future collaboration and self-care. Feedback was positive, with some participants suggesting they plan to re-evaluate their intake and youth engagement strategies based on the Code of Ethics, ensuring young people are always their primary focus, creating a safe and inclusive environment for better connection.
Youth sector workers said about the workshop, “I was unaware of the code of ethics before and knowing and discussing them with other members of the group made me understand how I can implement them in my job,” and “Code of Ethics, I’m going to make sure I print it out and put it on my office wall to refer to! This event provided an opportunity to network; I’ve now got some contacts and met people who are in the same field and had a chance to chat about the field.”
On Tuesday, 18 November, Connect and Thrive Pathways brought together 46 young people from across the Moree region for a full-day youth engagement session. Held at the Moree Services Club auditorium, the event involved young people aged 15 to 18 from four schools across the Moree region.
One of the attending Principals shared that this was the best they had seen some of their students engaged. This was the fifth Connect and Thrive Pathways event delivered by the NSW Office for Youth as part of a broader approach to helping young people build confidence, develop communication and networking skills, connect with peers, and explore their community vision and priorities.
The Office for Youth delivered the Tweed Connect & Thrive Pathways event on Wednesday, 26 November, bringing together 26 young people from local high schools to explore future pathways, share ideas, and strengthen community connection.
Across the day, young people worked alongside local services, council staff, training providers and community organisations. Sessions included a panel, a Think Tank conversation on community priorities, and a rotating Pathways Station showcasing local opportunities.
Young people want more real-world opportunities to contribute, better access to volunteering and leadership outside of school, safer and more inclusive spaces, and clearer information about pathways in their community. They also expressed a desire for stronger youth voice in decision-making and more chances to collaborate directly with local organisations.
Young people described the day as “engaging and inspiring” and said it helped them “come out of [their] comfort zone” and “understand different pathways”. Another shared, “I enjoyed rotating tables and talking to all the different people about their journeys.”
A full summary report capturing insights from the Think Tank and feedback from young participants and stakeholders will be available soon.
In November, the Advocate presided with other leaders from across government to decide the winner of the Future Health Worldbuilding Competition.
The Future Health Worldbuilding Competition challenged young people in Years 7 – 10 to produce a creative vision of future health in NSW. It supports NSW Health by nurturing future workforce talent and gathering fresh, youth-driven insights into the evolving nature of health work and workplaces. The panel judged over 100 worlds and selected 21 finalists based on their solutions to challenges that Australia’s biggest healthcare system could face in the future. Our finalists presented their ideas at the Future Health Symposium 2025 and won some amazing prizes.
These entries were selected as they showed the best blue sky thinking to shape their vision for health in NSW over the next 15 years.
You can view the winner and runner-up entries here.
At the end this year I will conclude my term as Advocate after six-years in the role. To celebrate my term, the team have put together some highlights from across my time as Advocate. Watch the full video below.
Last week, we released student-led resources for teachers and school leaders, which highlight the voices and experiences of students and provide insights into their perspectives and what helps them belong at school.
Last term, the team and I visited five schools across NSW to ask students what helps them feel like they belong at school. We know that children and young people’s feedback is critical to creating more inclusive school environments. These findings are intended to offer insights that other schools can consider, and guide engagement with students to better understand contextual factors that create a strong sense of belonging.
Thank you to all the children and young people who gave these resources a voice, students valued the opportunity to be consulted and shared incredibly thoughtful insights, and we encourage teachers and school leaders to not only consider the initiatives in the resources but also consult with their own students about what matters to them.
Access the resources online here.
At the end of November, we hosted Voices of Change. The event invites young changemakers to participate in a panel discussion, with key members of NSW Government, non-government organisations and the business community listening to and asking questions about young people’s experiences and solutions to social issues.
The event was emceed by Youth Advisory Council alumni Billy Bofinger, who also moderated the panel. The panel of young people from across NSW had the opportunity to discuss their own experiences as a young person and the work they are doing to bring about positive and lasting change.
Speakers included Usha Makkena, 2024 NSW Young Volunteer of the Year, Austin Turpin, 2025 Konica Minolta Career Achievement Award recipient, Laura Penfold, 2025 Moree Young Woman of the Year and Maddison O’Gradey-Lee, 2025 NSW Young Australian of the Year.
Attendees of the event included 100 stakeholders made up of Members of NSW Parliament, senior decision-makers from NSW Government departments and agencies, policy makers, CEO’s and leaders of non-government organisations who work to improve the lives of children and young people in NSW, and members of the business community including the financial industry and innovative service provision.
At the end of November, the Advocate and team headed to SpecFest at Sydney Olympic Park. The theme of the 2025 Schools Spectacular was “REMARKABLE”. The team engaged with over 690 children and young people over the two-day event. The consultations and surveys undertaken with the children and young people will help inform some of the work of the Office in 2026 and beyond.
Young people from across NSW can look forward to an exciting line-up of activities during the upcoming school holidays, thanks to the NSW Office for Youth’s Holiday Break program.
For the first time, the Holiday Break program has been expanded to include all of NSW and provides access to activities for all NSW young people in their local community.
Over 100 successful applicants will deliver 467 events across the Summer school holidays, providing a wide variety of activities designed to engage, inspire and connect young people in their communities. Some of the exciting activities on offer for young people include bowling and pool parties, skateboard workshops and pottery and circus skills classes.
To find events near you, search out interactive map.
Keep an eye out for opportunities to apply for funding to deliver activities in future school holiday periods, on our website.
Receive updates and invitations from the Advocate
We acknowledge Aboriginal people as the First Nations Peoples of NSW and pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future.
Informed by lessons of the past, ACYP is improving how we work with Aboriginal people and communities. We listen and learn from the knowledge, strength and resilience of Stolen Generations Survivors, Aboriginal Elders and Aboriginal communities.