Out of School Provision – Reps talk at the Inclusion Conference
Introduction
Two of our amazing Shout Out for SEND Reps, Chloe and Iona delivered two talks to out of school professionals. They focussed on young people with SEND’s thoughts and feelings on inclusion in holiday and after school clubs.
Here are the steps they took to deliver superb sessions to professionals:
The Shout Out for SEND Reps read the proposal from the team who were organising the conference during a meeting. Chloe and Iona volunteered to work on this project.
Then they took part in planning an Active Reps session, where they carried out research to find out what young people with SEND are saying about out of school settings.
They met with a member of the team to prepare a presentation and a speech, using their findings from the Active Reps session. They also used their own thoughts and experiences to help them.
Finally, they delivered two talks! One at Adams Park in Wycombe in front of 38 professionals and one at the Holiday Inn in Aylesbury in front 46. Read all about how Chloe found the experience below.
By Chloe Sheridan
Me, Iona and Sam, had a few meetings to discuss how we wanted to present our conference. We came to an agreement, where Iona would write a speech, and I would make and read out a PowerPoint. As we had meetings to prepare before the conference and presentation, it ran a lot smoother, we both stood at the front of the room and shared a bit about ourselves, our research, our thoughts, and our experiences. When I stood up there a part of me felt anxious, as I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone. I won’t lie when I was up there my anxiety levels were on the verge of going through the roof, although the other part of me was filled with adrenaline and confidence. I felt great, the way people came up to us and asked us questions in interest, it made me feel like we made a big impact.
My favourite part was the new best mate I made along the way. When I got told Iona was my partner in this project I literally said “who is Iona” but from all the time we have spent together working together, we have formed an amazing friendship. We got along so well that I loved working with her! We have had many great moments and I hope we continue to make more! Though I just know I couldn’t have done it without her. I really hope that from our conference people will take our life experiences and take that into more consideration when it comes to offering children with send out of school clubs that make them, feel more valued, respected, listened to and most importantly more comfortable. It felt amazing seeing everyone engaged, to hear what we had to say. My other favorite part was putting in all our time and effort to make ourselves stand out from the crowd, and it paid off!! We got amazing feedback, even to see my mum so proud filled me with joy! She was so proud of me, not only was she all teary when we presented, she even sent my teacher the feedback telling her how amazing I was!!
The feedback from the audience just showed how amazing Chloe and Iona were!
- “Chloe and Iona were amazing……. So inspiring and so good to hear it from people that have lived it
- Seeing the young girls come in and talk about their own struggles was very useful
- Brilliant presentations by the two girls on autism and adhd
- Excellent conference, especially the afternoon activities and talk from Chloe & Iona
- Having the young adults with SEND coming in a doing a presentation was very powerful and effective
- Really enjoyed the personal experiences from Chloe and Ioana, very inspiring
- Hearing from Young People with SEND themselves about how we can make the club more inclusive and accessible was extremely informative and useful.
- I think one of the most useful parts was actually listening from the 15-year-olds with send and their personal experiences”