There are lots of ways for you to get involve and have your voice heard!
Our SEND Network for Change aims to create youth voice opportunities for young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). And there’s something for everyone! As part of the SEND Network for Change we have lots of different groups and projects going on, and we’d love for you to have your say.
SEND Network for Change
The aim of our SEND Network for Change is to create youth voice opportunities for children and young people with SEND. We want to ensure that you have the opportunity to share your views on topics and issues that are important to you! We want your views to be taken seriously and, whenever possible, for decision makers to take action.
All of our different groups are listed below and are run by the SEND participation team. And If you are interested in joining any of our groups, please complete one of these forms:
If you are not sure which group to join, get in touch with a member of the team and they can guide you through what is available. You can also contact the team if you’d like to explore one-to-one support or if you have any questions and ideas that you would like to share with us. We can arrange to meet you in a place of your choice or we can communicate via phone, Teams, email or any other way that you feel comfortable with.
Champions for Change
The Champions for Change are a group of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who believe that children and young people’s voices should be heard, not ignored.
In our meetings, we share our ideas about issues that affect us and help each other make an impact. We meet online or in person once every month during term time. Recent issues and topics have included a campaign to support more schools to recycle food waste and collaboration on a project to ensure more young people from special schools have the option of going into paid employment.
📅 We meet once every month during term time
📍 We meet online or in person – if we are meeting in person, we will let you know exactly where this is.
Notes from all of our Champions for Change meetings are available here.
If you want to work with the Champions on issues that matter to you, please contact Shirin:
🙋 Shirin – shirin.khastar@devon.gov.uk
Impacts
Impacts is our new participation group for young people aged 12-18 (or up to 25 if you have an EHCP) who are interested in working together on specific issues for change.
📅 We meet in person on alternate Wednesdays from 5.00 pm until 6.30 pm
📍 We meet in Exeter
If you would like to find out more about Impacts, please contact David or Amy:
🙋♂️ David – david.ruiz@devon.gov.uk
🙋 Amy – amy.bickford@devon.gov.uk
Echoes
Our Echoes group is about having fun and building the confidence to have your voices heard. By practising democratic processes in a safe and supportive environment within your schools, you can grow confident in sharing your voice towards achieving positive change for all. Examples of current projects include exploring the way school councils are elected so that SEND children are adequately represented.
Our groups are youth-led, so our projects will vary according to your interests. We offer a countywide service, so if you or another young person that you know would like to know more about Echoes, please contact a member of our team to speak about how to get involved.
🙋♂️ David – david.ruiz@devon.gov.uk
🙋 Shirin – shirin.khastar@devon.gov.uk
School Voice Participation Programme
The roll out of your school voice programme continues. This free programme is delivered by our SEND participation team across local schools. The programme seeks to enable young people with SEND to learn about participation, youth voice and democratic processes both inside and outside of school. This project also aims to help you gain confidence to be able to speak up and promote positive change for everyone.
If you are interested in us coming to your school next, please contact David or Amy:
🙋♂️ David – david.ruiz@devon.gov.uk
🙋 Amy – amy.bickford@devon.gov.uk
Seldom Heard Project
We are looking to create youth voice opportunities for children and young people with SEND who are not represented in our current groups. This includes (but is not exclusive to) young people whose communication needs require a wider range of approaches.
If this applies to you, we want to ensure that you also have the opportunity to share your views on any topics or issues that are important to you. We want your views to be taken seriously and, whenever possible, for decision-makers to take action.
If you or anyone know are interested in finding out more about youth voice but are unable to access our current groups, please contact Shirin or Amy:
🙋 Shirin – shirin.khastar@devon.gov.uk
🙋 Amy – amy.bickford@devon.gov.uk