Young people from the Newcastle Youth Council and Youth Parliament are set to make history as they become the first youth led European Parliament Ambassador Schools (EPAS) group in the North of England. By forming the North of England’s first EPAS youth group – and the first youth-led model in the UK – Newcastle’s young people are helping shape a new way for youth organisations to engage with European democracy. Their enthusiasm, combined with strong partnership working, positions the city as a trailblazer in civic participation and international engagement.
The opportunity emerged after after the groups attended a session introducing the EPAS programme, delivered in partnership with the European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK. International Newcastle’s CEO, Declan Baharini and Sarah Edgar (Newcastle City Council, School Effectiveness) had been talking to EPAS about how to address the lack of engagement in the scheme in the region and ways to encourage involvement.
The introductory session with young people from the Youth Council and Youth Parliament included an engaging European Parliament quiz delivered by Asher Jacobsberg, giving young people a fun way to explore how the Parliament works and build foundational knowledge. During discussions, Sarah highlighted that much of the required activity—such as newsletters, debates, and youth engagement—is already embedded in Newcastle’s strong youth participation structure led by the Voice and Influence Team. This led to agreement that Newcastle would pilot a new Youth Council/Youth Parliament led EPAS model, the first of its kind nationally.
A Strong Fit for Newcastle
Newcastle’s success in securing this pilot is underpinned by the work of the Voice and Influence Team, led by Vicky Hartley. The team ensures that children and young people across the city have a meaningful voice in decisions that affect them, including: Youth consultations | Partnerships with voluntary sector organisations | Support for children in care and care leavers | Youth participation in staff recruitment | Locality Youth Voice sessions. Their work is strengthened by the Evry Project, a commitment to ensuring every young person can live, work, study, and thrive in Newcastle. This makes the city ideally placed to host a youth led EPAS initiative.
Newcastle’s young people now have access to exciting opportunities, including: Participation in UK and EU wide EPAS activities | Engagement with Members of the European Parliament | European themed projects and debates | Potential future visits to Strasbourg | Exploration of opportunities aligned with Erasmus+. The EPAS team has already encouraged local participation in youth competitions and projects.
Links with our work across Newcastle and the region
Providing opportunities to children and young people to be more engaged in the world as active global citizens is at the heart of International Newcastle’s partnership work.
International school links: We work with schools to support children and young people to have international experiences through partnerships with schools abroad. There are over 80 international school partnerships now across Europe, India and the USA. Schools build relationships online, work on collaborative projects and in some cases visiting their partners with the aid of Turing Scheme funding.
To date we have helped raise £2.2m from Turing to enable thousands of children to travel abroad, who would otherwise not have the opportunity. These relationships and the visits in particular, are life-changing. The current round of Turing Scheme funding is open and schools can access support to apply up to the deadline of 16th March. Contact sarah.edgar@newcastle.gov.uk to get support for international school links anytime.
International School Award: British Council’s International School Award (ISA) provides a framework for schools to develop international activities across the curriculum, including collaborative work with international partner schools and opportunities to involve the wider community.
The Award celebrates and recognises the international work that schools do and encourages schools to open their classrooms and bring the world in, teaching pupils about other countries and cultures. Declan and Sarah work closely with the ISA team to support and engage Newcastle schools in the programme and two thirds of Newcastle schools have the award and are progressing through the levels.
Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages: Our flagship initiative for the whole region, the Festival has become the largest of its kind in the UK and Europe and is an exemplar. Led by International Newcastle and the City Council, it is delivered through collaboration with local, regional, national and international partners and offers opportunities for children and young people to engage in a wide variety of events, activities and competitions celebrating diverse languages and cultures.
As part of our 2026 Festival, the EPAS team delivered a webinar for secondary teachers on 29 January 2026, explaining how schools can gain free accreditation, access European Parliament resources, and link with more than 2,200 Ambassador Schools across the UK and EU. Interest has been high, particularly with the renewed conversation around future UK engagement in Erasmus+.
EPAS further information and links
The European Parliament Ambassador Schools programme (EPAS) EPAS is an annual programme of accreditation open to all secondary schools and colleges in the UK and the EU. The UK programme is run by the European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK. It enables students to learn more about European parliamentary democracy, organise and take part in practical activities related to the EU, and engage with their community and Members of the European Parliament. It is free for schools or colleges to take part in this programme and we encourage Newcastle and North East schools to get involved.
- Click here to find out about the European Ambassador Schools (UK) programme
- Click here to find out more about the European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK
- Click here to find out about the European Parliament Youth Hub
