Happy December all! Gaby will be filling you all in on our last meeting of the year but first I’d like to express my gratitude to The Unstoppables.
What a year 2023 has been. I’d like to thank our fantastic members and YPC Gaby for their hard work this year and giving us their time to help make a difference for children and young people with SEND. Our members are amazing, and we have had new members join throughout the year who have been marvellous additions to our group. We said goodbye to some longstanding members who left due to reaching the maximum age & are sorely missed but we will keep in touch!
Some topics we have worked hard on this year have meant a lot to our members – at the beginning of the year they selected priorities they wanted to tackle in 2023. Topics such as Transitioning into Adulthood, Independent / supported living, Mental health and Wellbeing plus many more. We have taken these topics to multiple strategic board meetings with professionals from across the organisations hearing our lived experience and what we would like to see change moving forward.
I am looking forward to seeing what we can achieve in 2024, and hopefully we can gain more membership to ensure as many young people as possible with SEND are having their voices heard (recruitment details are below).
Happy holidays and enjoy the festive period, whatever you are doing,
Sian Smiley 😊
December update from SEND YPC Gaby
We started this month’s session by doing an update to find out what everyone has been up to. This month’s Unstoppables was the end of year celebration, this is time that the members can relax and have some fun. It’s all about celebrating the year and spending time with others.
The Unstoppables had a fun packed day, with many different activities and games to play. There was a station for playing with a Nintendo switch, this involved playing games like just dance. There was also a station for uno and a craft station where you can make holiday crafts like greetings cards and other pretty things.
We had domino’s pizza that was gifted from the Somerset Parent Carer Forum. We also had snacky bits for lunch, this included something sweet.
At the end of the day Sian thanked everyone for a lovely year and sent everyone on their way with a box of chocolates from the Parent Carer Forum and a card and some yummy bits from Sian. We look forward to more exciting work with the Unstoppables in the new year.
Our next meeting is Saturday 3rd of February 2024. If you or someone you know would like to be a member of the Unstoppables then follow the link to our form Expression of Interest to join The Unstoppables (office.com) 😊
Similarly, If you or a young person you know wants more information about how they can join the Unstoppables, or be part of our work they/you can contact us via email (SENDParticipationTeam@somerset.gov.uk) or via phone/What’s App (07976 809 773).
You can also follow us on social media:
Facebook @sendparticipationteam
Instagram @sendparticipation
To follow information about all youth voice activities across Somerset follow:
Facebook @SomersetYouthVoice
Instagram @somersetyouthvoice
Twitter @SomerYouthVoice
