You Said, We Did

What is ‘You said, we did’?

‘You Said, We Did’ is what Suffolk County Council use to show examples of changes made to children and young people’s support services in Suffolk, based on feedback from children and young people.

It’s important young people (like you) are listened to by the county council to ensure that the services created are co-produced with children and young people in mind. Young people work hard to tell us what’s good, what’s not so good, and what could be done better. Below are examples of how the council has listened and used feedback from young people to improve support in Suffolk.

View or download previous You Said We Did document here.

I statement’s

Young people said: For us (CYP),” the SEND strategy needs to address the things that are important to us”. These things have been made into ‘I’ Statements to sit alongside and within the SEND Strategy 2020 – 2023‘I’ Statements are included in the SEND Strategy 2020-23.

We did: How the service has responded: The ‘I’ Statements have been divided up into the 4 Priority areas that they relate to and included in each of their action plans. They are reviewed at each Priority meeting and actions agreed against them. The outcomes framework for SEND services is written to the ‘I’ Statements.

Feedback- what difference will you see or feel?

• Actions on the ‘I’ Statements are fed back to young people via the Engagement Hub and the SEND Young Person’s Network. – Representatives from the Engagement Hub attend all Priority meetings.
• Young people will see that the things that are important to them are given due consideration and acted on.
• Young people are co-producing the 2024 vision statement through the Young Persons network.
• Young people will see the changes they want to happen.
• The I statements have provided the basis for the co-production of the SEND strategy with young people in schools and colleges across the county for 2024.

Safe and Supported project

Young people said: “I want to be able to go out into the community where I live and feel safe and supported, just like everyone else” (CYP from the SEND YP network.

We did: How the service has responded: Young people have been rating places where they feel safe and supported in their communities.
“Anyone is welcome map” – a map of welcoming places across Suffolk and a developed a “top tips” list to help businesses and venues become more welcoming to those YP with SEND. Young people also made a presentation around how to support autistic young people. This is being used in the all-age autism strategy and

Feedback to young people- what difference will you see or feel?

• Young people can access the Map and see where other young people have felt safe in their community.
• They can also rate their own places and support other young people.
• Since September 2022 the local offer map has had over 1300 views. Safe and Supported Campaign

Employment Opportunities

Young people said: “We would like access to supported part time jobs.” This has been a top priority for you people in the last 3 SEND surveys.

We did: How the service has responded: We have worked with the icanbea… website and young people have been co-producing parts of their website to make it more accessible. This will be promoted on the source website. 3-year supportive internships steering group has now been developed to provide more internships to young people with SEND. Top tips for careers advisors have also been developed by young people during a session with careers advisors and young people from the END YP network.

Feedback to young people– what difference will you see or feel?

• Young people will be able to find vacancies on the icanbea… website easily and can see those vacancies where the employer has a disability confident mark.
• They are talking directly to potential employers in the employers’ forums and sharing their lived experiences to support this work.

https://www.icanbea.org.uk/

Bullying

Young people said: Bully and discrimination overall in schools is something we (CYP) feel really needs addressing as it is affecting our mental health and wellbeing.

We did: How the service has responded: A survey and a report have been presented to the head teachers at the schools who took part. Posters have been created to signpost young people to relevant wellbeing services within school. This report will be shared more widely with the support of Jane Stannard (PSHE portal) and Adrian Ore.

Feedback to young people – what difference will you see or feel?

• Young people will know how to access Mental Health services within their schools.
• Young people know their voices have been heard and that the school leaders have seen this report.

Life skills

You said: Young people told us that they wanted to develop a consistent approach to life skills training as this was different across the county

We did: This was fed back to leaving care strategic board and funding was secured to develop a new consistent life skills programme for life skills. This will be co-produced with young people.

Feedback to young people– what difference will you see or feel?

• Young people will know what the offer is for life skills and how to access this.
• Young people will shape the programme so that it is tailored to their individual needs.
• A life skills project lead is now in post .
• Young people have shaped this service .
• For example we know from the recent LC survey that housing was concern for lots of our young people .
• A new housing module has been added to the programme created by young people called housing and me , where they can come along to a workshop to learn various skills and learn about all aspects of housing.

Youth Fair

Young people said: Young people in the rural West Suffolk area told us that there was a lack of activities for teens in their area and therefore their presence was being seen as anti-social.

We did: How the service has responded: We organised a local youth fair with these young people where activity providers and support providers for young people could showcase their offer. Young people’s views were collected by a West Suffolk MYP and presented to Newmarket town council and the Youth Action Group.

Feedback to young people– what difference will you see or feel?

• Young people were able to come along try activities and gather information from activity/support providers that they were previously unaware of.
• This has prompted the renewal of Newmarket’s youth action group.