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YEARS 1 TO YEAR 14
Years 1 through to Year 13 are the terms used by schools and other education practitioners to refer to the way school year groups are divided in English schools, from nursery through to sixth form. Reception year is for 4/5-year-olds; Year 1 is for 5/6-year-olds; Year 2: 6/7-year-olds; Year 3: 7/8-year-olds; Year 4: 8/9-year-olds; Year 5: 9/10-year-olds; Year 6: 10/11-year-olds; Year 7: 11/12-year-olds; Year 8: 12/13-year-olds; Year 9: 13/14-year-olds; Year 10: 14/15-year-olds; Year 11: 15/16-year-olds; Year 12: 16/17-year-olds; and Year 13: 17/18-year-olds. In special schools, there is also a Year 14, which covers the academic year in which pupils reach age 19. <<
YOUNG OFFENDER INSTITUTION
The Youth Justice Board is responsible for the commissioning and purchasing of all secure accommodation for under 18-year-olds (‘juveniles’), whether sentenced or on remand. Young offender institutions (YOIs) are run by the Prison Service (except where contracted out) and cater for 15-20 year-olds, but within YOIs the Youth Justice Board has purchased discrete accommodation for juveniles where the regimes are specially designed to meet their needs. Juvenile units in YOIs are for 15-17 year-old boys and 17-year-old girls.

Young Offender Institutions have a lower ratio of staff to young people than either Secure Training Centres or Secure Children’s Homes. There are some young people who have been assessed by their Youth Offending Teams as too vulnerable for the regime in a Young Offender Institution; these young people are placed in Secure Training Centres or Secure Children’s Homes.

See also: Secure accommodation <<

YOUNG PERSON
There is no longer any conclusive definition under the law of a young person. Over the years, the terms ‘young person’ and ‘young people’ have come to be used fairly generally in everyday speech, to the extent that they may now lack precise meaning.

In the Children and Young Persons Acts of 1933, 1963 and 1969, a young person was defined as someone aged from 14 to 17 years; anyone under 14 was a child. However, the Children Act 1989 defined a child as anyone under age 18; it made no mention of young person. Both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (which came into force in the UK in 1992) and the Children Act 2004 (for most purposes), also define a child as any person under age 18.

The term ‘young person’ is used in other statutes, but not always with the same definition as that set out in the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (which still provides the main regulatory framework for children in the workplace). Health and safety regulations, for example, define a child as someone who is not over the minimum school leaving age, and a young person as anyone under 18.

Nevertheless, services, policy documents and practitioner guidelines now commonly refer to ‘children and young people’; but rather than imply any definitive demarcation between the two, the intention is more often to use a ‘catch-all’ term that includes all (or most) definitions under the law. And just as importantly, the preference for the term ‘children and young people’ also reflects the fact that many teenagers under age 18 strongly dislike being referred to as children.

The term ‘young people’ is also often used (by some advice and information services, for example) to include young adults aged 18 -25. Care should be taken when using ‘young person’ in a specific (rather than generic or catch-all) sense to make any intended age limits absolutely clear.

See also: Child <<

YOUTH
Although commonly used in everyday speech, the term ‘youth’ does not always carry precise meaning. The term is perhaps most commonly used to refer to 13-19 years olds: that is the age group covered by the government’s youth Green Paper; and youth workers tend to work mostly with young people between the ages of 13 and 19 (although they may also work with young people from age 11 right through to age 25).

The term ‘youth’ is also used as a descriptor within the youth justice system (e.g. the youth court, youth offending teams, and the Youth Justice Board), but the governing legislation – the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 – refers throughout to ‘children and young persons’ rather than youths; the term ‘youth’ is not defined.

See also: Young person <<

YOUTH COURT
Children aged from 10 to 17 are generally tried in the youth court where they are dealt with by specially trained magistrates. Cases will be sent to the Crown Court if a child is charged with another person aged 18 or over, or is charged with murder or manslaughter.

A magistrate may also refer a case to the Crown Court if a child is charged with a ‘grave’ offence (e.g. indecent assault or dangerous driving) and the magistrate decides that, if convicted, the appropriate sentence would be more than they have the power to pass. The youth court was introduced in 1992 and replaced the juvenile court; the juvenile court dealt only with offenders aged 16 and under. <<

YOUTH JUSTICE BOARD FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
The principal aim of the youth justice system is to prevent offending by children and young people under 18 years of age. The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales supports the achievement of this aim by:
activities that combine enjoyment and challenges. They work with young people between the ages of 11 and 25, but for the most part, with 13-19 year olds.

  • Advising the Home Secretary on the operation of and standards for the youth justice system;
  • Monitoring the performance of the youth justice system;
  • Purchasing places for children and young people remanded or sentenced to custody;
  • Identifying and promoting good practice;
  • Making grants to local authorities or other bodies;
  • Commissioning research and publishing information.

The Youth Justice Board is an executive non-departmental public body. It was established by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Its board members are appointed by the Home Secretary.

See also: Secure accommodation <<

YOUTH OFFENDING TEAM
Youth Offending Teams were introduced (under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998) in April 2000 to provide a better framework for tackling youth offending at a local level. There is a Youth Offending Team (YOT) in every local authority, bringing together staff from the police, the probation service, social services, education, health and other agencies.

Each team is led by a YOT Manager, who is responsible for co-ordinating the work of the local youth justice services. Teams identify the needs of all young offenders by use of a standardised assessment process, identifying the young person’s problems and measuring the risk they pose to others. <<

YOUTH WORKER
Youth workers (also known as youth and community workers) promote young people’s personal and social development through a range of non-formal educational

Youth workers are usually employed by a local authority’s education department, but may sometimes be employed by the leisure, recreation or social services department. They may also be employed by voluntary organisations. They may be based in youth clubs or other community centres. Some youth workers are ‘detached’, which means that rather than work in a traditional youth centre, they meet young people in informal settings such as amusement arcades, shopping centres, on the streets, or wherever young people gather. <<