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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Amazing art work for our disability register!
3 months agoDuring April , in partnership with the West Sussex Library Service we asked children and young people to send us their art work on the theme 'What is important to me'.
You showed us just how incredibly creative and talented you all are by sharing with us a brilliant range of art from messy art to drawings done using tablets and computers. Below, you can see all the art created in our Easter holiday workshop in partnership with Worthing Library and all the fabulous entries handed in at libraries and emailed to us.
We'd like to say a huge well done and thank you to all those who entered.
Our Graphic Design team will now work their magic so that all your beautiful pictures will represent young people on the new West Sussex Disability Register 0-25 webpages. Watch this space for a link to the new website when it goes live soon!
We had so many excellent entries . Congratulations to our three prize draw winners Joshua, Emilia and Maxim , who will each receive an a gift voucher.
Add your idea
Rachel553 months agoEmilia
0Rachel553 months agoAnya
0Rachel553 months agoShannon
Shannon did lots of great art at our workshop. We especially loved this one.
0Rachel553 months agoSofia
0Rachel553 months agoMark
Mark attended our Easter workshop and made lots of great art. This is his forest.
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Fantasy festival- what performers would you choose?
about 1 year agoIf you could see any acts, performers or musicians at a festival who would it be? Post your ideas and links to any YouTube clips here by August 10th . We will make a fantasy festival playlist and share it here on August 11th 2021.
We can't wait to see what you choose!
Important note; we won't include any content that isn't suitable for all ages, so please don't post any clips with swearing etc. in, as these won't be included in the playlist.
If you'd like to join us for some online games and activities on 11th, as well as listening to the playlist, please complete our Young Voices sign up form online .
To get you started, you can take a look below at what the SEND Contracts and Commissioning Team chose for our team fantasy festival ( you might be able to guess our ages from our choices!) .
Add your idea
Rachel55about 1 year agoThis is what the SEND Contracts and Commissioning Team chose for our festival .
Get ready for some 70s and 80s classics and more!.... https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD_x5tmsXTTgvHsCd7hlh78Ee4e6rGXCz
0Graceabout 1 year agoMusical stuff
Like lion king, wicked ect.
0Rachel55about 1 year agoOur playlist so far....
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_PNHVueR61H3DgCw1L54c2NDY2r4GaSk
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Ethan, one of our Youth Ambassadors, has co-created a guide for young people about short breaks services. We would love to know what you think , and any ideas you have for improving the guide before we publish it.
Please take a look at the draft of the guide Short breaks guide Draft and then post your ideas and comments in the box below.
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Does your social worker have superpowers?
about 1 year agoMaybe not, but we're sure they do some amazing things and we want to hear about them! We are collecting your views on what you like about working with your social worker. Please share your ideas here about what works for you, how they support you, and what you think is great about them. Click on the documents under the heading 'Working with my social worker' on the right of this page, to find some activity sheets to get the conversation started. All your ideas and comments will show social workers just how important their job is, and give them some top tips on what works well for you.
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Emotional Wellbeing Tips and Ideas wall
over 1 year agoPlease share your top tips for emotional wellbeing here. What helps you? What do you like doing to feel happy, relaxed or calm?
Add your idea
Rachel55over 1 year ago50 ways to take a break poster
0Anonymous 1over 1 year agoThinking about the issue and trying to figure out what is causing me to feel that way so you can do something about it.
People say distracting yourself and avoid thinking about your problems but your not actually solving it, your just avoiding it because it will come back. You need to do something about it and fight it. People need to know and hear you- that’s the way change happens- sometimes confidential things is not good, it needs to be out in public but anonymous to protect your identity- it makes a huge difference to other people suffering in silence
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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)