Introduction
Young people who are We Do Care Care Ambassadors decided they wanted to help improve their education / PEP meetings. In particular, they wanted their voice to be heard more in relation to how meetings about them are organised and run.
Taking action
Supported by Youth Participation Workers from Buckinghamshire Council, the young people developed a Top Tips document, which you can see below. The Top Tips were also made into a PowerPoint presentation that was shared with attendees during a recent designated teachers training session, run by Virtual School Team at Buckinghamshire Council.
Top Tips for Designated Teachers document
The document says…
Top Tips for Designated Teachers – written by We Do Care Care Ambassadors
My PEP meetings are all about ME. Please…
Before the meeting:
- Rather than always asking me to complete the pre-questionnaire, ask me if I would like to be creative, e.g. draw a picture, do a power-point, show a piece of work that I am proud of.
- Have all the admin stuff done like my attendance info before my meeting.
- Let me complete the questionnaire on a different day, not before my meeting.
During the meeting:
- Don’t just focus on what I need to improve, tell me what I have done well too. Celebrate my achievements.
- Keep the meetings short and focused on me.
- Ask each person to introduce themselves and what they do.
- Ask me how I would like my Pupil Premium spent.
- Ask me if the time and date of each meeting is okay with me.
- It’s my meeting, ask me what I would like to talk about.
- Use language that I can undersatnd.
After the meeting:
- Tell me how to make a complaint or compliment.
- Tell me about my rights and responsibilities and support me to speak out confidently.
- Make sure I am told what’s going to happen next or updated on what’s being done. For example, if I’m told I’ll get extra help then I should be kept updated when / how this will happen.
How did we listen, act and respond?
Listen
Youth Workers from Buckinghamshire Council facilitated conversations with the care-experienced Care Ambassadors to listen to any issues that mattered to them. The Care Ambassadors raised several things they felt could be improved in their PEP meetings. The youth workers arranged a meeting for the Care Ambassadors to raise their issues with Virtual School colleagues. At the end of the meeting, it was agreed the next steps.
Act
The Specialist Participation Team produced a Top Tips for Designated Teachers with the ways to improve their PEP meetings. A PowerPoint presentation was also produced with voices from care-experienced young people that was used at a training session delivered by Virtual School colleagues. The Top Tips and PowerPoint were also shared with professionals that work with young people in care in Buckinghamshire.
Respond
The Specialist Participation Team responded to young people by
- showing the young people the final, branded version of the Top Tips and PowerPoint documents
- adding them to the Youth Voice Bucks website so professionals can be easily signposted to it
If you are in care or care-experienced and would like to get involved in a project like this, please email us at wedocare@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.