| going to meetings |
Going to meetings The law says that both young people and their parents have the right to have a say in decisions about their education. One of the ways that parents or young people can have a say is by going to meetings with their teachers, professionals and anyone else who helps to support your child at school. Meetings can be a one-to-one chat with a teacher or can involve lots of people.
Going to a meeting can be a daunting prospect but:
• It’s your chance to talk about how your child is getting on and whether they’re getting the right support at school.
• It will help you find out what’s happening and what decisions are being made and why.
• You have the right to be heard and going to meetings is one of the best ways to do this.
Planning for a meeting:
• Find out who’s in charge of the meeting, usually the Support Co-ordinator in the school.
• Ask what the meeting will be about, who will be there and how you can be part of it
• Think about what you would like to say at the meeting
• You should be able to get someone to help you with this if you want. You can get help from a friend or advocate. They can help you to talk through what you want to say and write it down for you. They can also come to meetings with you.
• Ask time and place of the meeting that suits you.
During the Meeting:
• Listen to others and feel free to ask questions (for example if someone says something you don’t understand).
• Give yourself and others time to think before speaking
• If you find it hard to express what you are feeling, write what you want to say on paper to help
• At any time, if you feel you need time out, to calm down or collect your thoughts, ask
• Ask how you will be kept informed in between meetings
• Don’t feel you have to wait for the next meeting to ask questions. Pick up the phone, or call into school and ask to speak to someone.
After the meeting:
• Think about what was said and what decisions were made. Are you happy about what happened or is there still a problem that needs to be sorted our?
• If you want to, you can talk to someone about how the meeting went for you
• If you feel there was something you meant to say during the meeting but didn’t then you should let someone know
• If there were notes from the meeting (called ‘minutes’), you should be sent a copy. Check the minutes of the meeting to make sure they say what happened at the meeting.
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Going to Meetings: Donnie Macleod, a local parent explains what its like to attend review meetings: view video clip. Multi-Agency Working 2 case studys where parents describe the experience of having other agencies such as Speech and Language Therapy, Social Services, Health, to meet the additional support needs of their children: view video clip. |
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