In Scotland, children have the right to be involved in decisions about their support at school. A lot of the time, children are supported by parents, carers or adults at school to take part in these conversations. But sometimes, it can be hard for children to speak up if they feel they aren’t being heard or getting the support they need.
My Rights, My Say advocacy support helps children with additional support needs aged 12 – 15 share their views and speak up about what’s important to them at school.
Find out how My Rights, My Say advocacy helped Mhairi, Charlie and Rehan.
Not all children will want to or be able to use their right to an advocate. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be involved in decisions. The My Rights, My Say Children’s Views service can help with this.
The Children’s View’s service provides independent support to help make sure children’s views are heard in formal processes, like assessments, planning or sorting out disagreements. The Children’s Views service will provide a written report of a child’s views in response to key questions or issues. We can also support children to attend meetings to share their views as well.
We provide support to help a child share their views that is separate from the school, the local authority and their family. This can be important as it gives a child space separate from others involved in the decision making process to think about what they want to say.
My Rights, My Say also provide help to resolve disagreements. Find out more in the section on Solving problems.
What children say about My Rights, My Say support…..
“The teachers were listening. It’s much better now. I feel better. I can speak in meetings” Pupil
“Thanks for all the help. You’ve changed my life for the better.” Pupil
“You are a star- thanks so much for coming to my meeting. It was a real help.” Pupil
“Advocacy really helped me when I was struggling with a lot of things at home and school. It helped easy my stress having someone to talk to when I was worried.” Pupil
“I wouldn’t have spoken to the school myself. My advocy worker let school know about my needs, the year head met me and told me if there was anything I needed I could talk to him.” Pupil
“Knowing I have other people that can help me when I am stressed. It (advocacy) has opened doors that I wouldn’t have had before, it has really helped me” Pupil