The SEND Engagement and Participation Team for Somerset Council makes sure the voices of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities are heard.

The team includes the Engagement and Participation Officer and a Young People’s Champion who is a young person with special educational needs and/or a disability themselves. We use lots of different ways to provide opportunities for children and young people with SEND to share their experiences and tell people how they want to be given opportunities to thrive, provided with support, and cared for.

We work through schools, colleges and other groups of young people to find out what’s important to them and how they want to see services and social attitudes towards children and young people with SEND change. We ask young people what they think on a wide range of different issues. They then share these views and opinions with lots of different decision-makers and practitioners within Somerset Council and beyond to improve services on offer locally in Somerset.

We also support a young person’s forum called ‘Unstoppables’. The Unstoppables meet regularly to provide advice, input and ideas for change to a range of different projects, events, policies and activities. Meetings are online and face-to-face (when appropriate) and are a mixture of work, learning and socialising. They are driven by the issues the Unstoppables want to tackle as well as things other people ask us to explore.

To look at what the team were involved in between 2023 and 2024 please see our annual report: Engagement and Participation Annual Report 2023-2024

Type of provision

Targeted - This is for people with special educational needs and disabilities and their families