Young Voices and young people with SEND

Welcome to the Young Voices area.
What is this project all about?
Young Voices is about young people having a say, and working with services as the experts on their own lives. There are lots of different ways to take part; from online surveys, to our Youth Ambassadors Forum. If you can't find the information you need on this page, please do contact us and we'd be happy to help.
Who is it for?
We embrace all areas of additional needs, disability, neurodiversity and inclusion. Not everyone wants a 'label', and this is something we are respectful of.
Everyone isContinue reading
Welcome to the Young Voices area.
What is this project all about?
Young Voices is about young people having a say, and working with services as the experts on their own lives. There are lots of different ways to take part; from online surveys, to our Youth Ambassadors Forum. If you can't find the information you need on this page, please do contact us and we'd be happy to help.
Who is it for?
We embrace all areas of additional needs, disability, neurodiversity and inclusion. Not everyone wants a 'label', and this is something we are respectful of.
Everyone is an individual; many young people who have taken part in our projects would not describe themselves as having 'SEND' (Special Educational Needs and Disability) .You do not need to have a diagnosis or Education Health Care Plan to take part.
What about access needs and other ways to take part?
If you have access needs that aren't catered for by what we have on offer here, please do contact us. We also have a Wiki micro website you may find useful, as it presents information in a visual and accessible way. It is very important to us to remove barriers to young people taking part, and we are always happy to learn from you about what works and what doesn't.
You certainly don't have to be able to speak and/or write to have something to say!
Perhaps you , or someone you know, communicates non-verbally, or communicates best through pictures, signing or symbols? We have virtual 'scrap books', and a sensory story project you might be interested in. You can take a look at some examples on the links on this page. If you'd like to be able to edit and add to our books, please use the form below to request access to this project.
If you feel that having a peer 'buddy' would support you to take part in our projects, please use the form below to express your interest in this, and we will get back to you.
Who do I contact if I need help?
Please contact Rachel.Sadler@westsussex.gov.uk, for more information, to discuss any access needs you might have, request information in different formats or anything else we can help you with.
What about parent carers?
The West Sussex Parent Carer Forum can help you with enquires about parent carer voice. West Sussex Parent Carer Forum website
Accessibility statement:
If you need this information in an alternative format, please contact us on 0330 222 6678 and rachel.sadler@westsussex.gov.uk. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and have an NGT texting app installed on your computer, laptop or smartphone, you can contact us on 18001 0330 222 6678.
We are committed making this website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. West Sussex County Council has created an Accessibility Statement, and details about the general accessibility of the Your Voice Engagement Hub can be found by clicking on the 'Accessibility tab' right at the bottom of the page.
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us at haveyoursay@westsussex.gov.uk.
Data Protection/Privacy Notice
The SEND Commissioning team will use this questionnaire to collect personal and special category data the processing of which is necessary to enable us to be compliant with the law (general well-being duties), and for reasons of substantial public interest. The data will be processed in accordance with the 2018 Data Protection Act, the General Data Protection Regulations, and any subsequent data protection legislation. The data we collect be securely stored and kept for period of up to 2 years before being appropriately destroyed. The data we will collect will not be used for any other purpose than that stated above without your prior written consent. West Sussex County Council is registered as Data Controller (Reg. No. Z6413427). For further details and information about our Data Controller, please see www.westsussex.gov.uk/privacy-policy.
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Have you seen our list of what's coming up this year?
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linkedin Email this linkWhat’s coming up for Young Voices and SEND youth voice in 2021?
When?
Theme
March
Emotional health and wellbeing – What is important to you? What supports you with your wellbeing? What do you think we need more of/ to do better?
Autism Awareness week workshop and resources
Easter holidays
Easter themed fun pop-up session, including crafts and games.
What is ‘masking’/’camouflaging’? Coproducing a fact sheet and resources on this important topic to help young people, practitioners and parent carers understand it better.
April
Autism and ADHD assessment- What helped you while you were waiting for a diagnosis? Was there anything you wish you’d had more support with? Is there anything you know now, that you wish you’d known before?
May
Experiences of Speech and Language, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy
May half term
What inclusion means to me in school/college.
June
Activities and breaks; What do you enjoy doing in your free time? What would you like more of? What would you change about what is on offer?
July
5th to 9th July Coproduction week- celebrating working together to improve services
Transitions into independent adulthood; What is important to you? What are your hopes for your adult life? Do you have any worries you’d like support with?
August
Summer holidays
Fun social sessions for all young people involved in our projects
Online sensory story sessions
September
Focus on Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities ; celebrating our young people with PMLD and their families, and what is important to them.
October
ADHD Awareness workshop and activities
Half term
Share your ideas for Disability History Month
November
Disability History Month – awareness workshops and activities
December
Round up of the year; what have Young Voices been up to?
Fun social sessions for all young people involved in our projects
Christmas holidays
No sessions
For dates, times and further details of events and workshops, please check the Local Offer Calendar and/or follow us on social media Facebook Instagram
For regular email updates about what’s on please Register your interest
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Do you have a great tip for looking after your wellbeing? We are putting together a help sheet for the Local Offer Website and you can help us by sharing your top tips...
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Who's Listening
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Phone 07734000401 Email rachel.sadler@westsussex.gov.uk -
SEND Participation Assistant
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SEND Service and Market Development Manager
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Acting Senior Commissioning Manager (SEND)
What's on and termly updates
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Moving to adulthood-my story (291 KB) (docx)
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Tuesday 31st session plan Half term .docx (165 KB) (docx)
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spring summer programme Young Voices 2022 (53.8 KB) (docx)
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Winter 21-22.docx (56.9 KB) (docx)
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Summer flyer 2021 (88.9 KB) (docx)
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Young Voices What's On Summer Holidays 2021 (40.8 KB) (docx)
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Lodge Hill half term letter .docx (326 KB) (docx)
Events and sessions calendar
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29 June 2022
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31 May 2022
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19 April 2022
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14 December 2021
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08 December 2021
Requests from services and involving young peoples' voices in your work
Videos
FAQs
- What is the age range?
- Do you work with over 25s?
- Can any young person with SEND take part? Do you have 'eligibility criteria'?
- I'm a parent carer; how do I know my child/young person is in safe hands?
- With everything being online at the moment, what about digital safety?
- Who are the Young Voices forum?
- How will you support my needs, so I can take part?
- What do children and young people get out of taking part?
- What do you do with my comments and outcomes from these projects ? How will taking part make a difference?
- Will you still be offering virtual and online sessions, once Covid restrictions are lifted?
- I can only access face to face, virtual doesn’t work for me. Is it still worth signing up?
- What if I don’t have access to the tech I need to take part?
Some suggested communication supports and tools for talking to young people
National research findings and practice guides
Downloads, leaflets and resources
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An introduction to Young Voices .ppt (6.79 MB) (pptx)
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Young Voices intro leaflet pdf (1010 KB) (pdf)
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An introduction to Young Voices for parent carers (8.44 MB) (pptx)
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Information pack for parent carers (1.18 MB) (docx)
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ICAN - Let our children be heard rescource (411 KB) (pdf)
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young voices intro presentation .pptx (6.65 MB) (pptx)
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Pupil voice tips for practitioners .docx (55.5 KB) (docx)
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SENCO conference mental health hand outs .pptx (18.2 MB) (pptx)
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SEND_Review_consultation_Easy_Read.pdf (2.93 MB) (pdf)
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Flyers for our projects .pptx (1.8 MB) (pptx)
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WSCC CYP Participation Strategy (1.56 MB) (pdf)
Parent Carer Voice
Resources for schools and groups
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Disability awareness presentation and activities (9.83 MB) (pptx)
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toolkit_safeguarding_young_people_with_autism.pdf (11.1 MB) (pdf)
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Activity session plan 5 ways to wellbeing (3.79 MB) (docx)
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5 ways to wellbeing cards Photosymbols wellbeing activity cards (22.3 MB) (docx)
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5 ways to wellbeing cards Widgit symbols (3.62 MB) (docx)
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5 ways to wellbeing cards Text only (4.1 MB) (docx)
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PSHE framework links emotional wellbeing (378 KB) (docx)