• create a safe place to share views
• be reassuring, there are no wrong answers
• value their opinion and listen fully, do not dismiss what may seem ‘silly’
• stay positive

Try facilitating a discussion, ask them questions to uncover:

• their thoughts and feelings towards school, home, and any other concerns they may have, for example, do they have a medical condition and require frequent appointments, etc.
• how well they feel they are doing at the moment
• their friends and relationships with people in and out of school
• what they find helpful at school, what helps them learn, what support they think they need to make further progress

An important thing to remember is to remain positive, we want our children or young people to feel safe when opening up, we want to empower not discourage. Focus on their strengths! For a full picture we need to touch on some not so nice aspects, we need to know where they struggle so we can help but try always end your work with a CYP on a positive note.

Whilst you have a discussion try keep a record of the conversation and make notes of what they child or young person tells you, so you have all the information written down and you don’t have to rely on recalling things after the discussion, it is important we don’t miss any details.

Below are some prompts to aid your discussion, and questions to consider, there is no particular order to this simply pick or adapt what you feel will help your chat with the child and young person. You know them best.

Here are some prompts:

• what can you do to make tomorrow a good day?
• what is something you do to feel calm?
• how do you help yourself face your fears?
• what is one thing you are proud of?
• what do you enjoy about school?
• what are your worries about coming to school?
• what makes a good day at school?
• what lessons do you enjoy most?
• how do you like to be helped in lessons?
• what do you do if you are stuck or don’t understand?
• do you prefer to work in a group or on your own?
• what doesn’t help you learn?
• what do you think you are good at?
• what do you think other people would say you are good at?
• what would you like to get better at?
• do you feel listened to?

Try use open ended questions that are age appropriate to facilitate further discussion…

• ‘tell me what that’s like…’
• ‘what do you like about…’
• ‘how does that make you feel…’

But, if a child or young person finds it hard to express themselves you should be prepared to use closed questions with forced alternatives too…

• ‘do you like to read things yourself or have someone read it to you?’
• ‘do you find it easy to write in class or is this something you find tricky?’
• it is useful to then follow these with another discussion prompt to open it back up and allow the child/young person to express themselves if they feel they can

For these children a trusted key worker should be on hand to help them go through pupil voice activities and will likely be responsible for recording their responses. It is important to note that these are suggestions not concrete recommendations. The suitability of tools will depend on the individual needs of the C/YP and their preferred communication method. 

If a child or young person struggles to verbally express their views you could try scaling and ranking tools to enable them to answer. 

• for example, on a scale of 1-10 how much do you enjoy school? It may help them if you provide examples on the scales too; 1 = I don’t want to come to school, 10 = I am really happy at school and love coming here
• provide pictures/statements for them to rank what they enjoy the most and least at school. examples include different subjects, or times of the day such as breaktime
• card sorting activities can be easily adapted and made for your cohort of children, ask them to sort statements (with or without pictures) into different categories along the lines of “Yes, that sounds like me”, “No, that doesn’t sound like me”, and a “Not Sure” pile

It could be that focused and informal observations are a better way to gain insights into a C/YP’s current situation.This could be led by familiar staff within school if needed and time allows. Valuable insights from observations could be:

• likes and dislikes. Personal interests and strengths
• situations that make a CYP feel safe and confident or make them feel anxious
• environmental factors that could be impacting their engagement and resilience

Observations should consider; body language, facial expressions, and sounds. Keeping a record of these notes can help planning further support for them and also be valuable in meetings with other professionals coming into your setting. 

Talking mats are a resource that can be adapted and used for Primary or Secondary aged pupils who are non-verbal or have SLT needs, their language understanding should be above a 3 key word level to access this approach. 

For this you need two or three headings, for example, ‘No Problem’, ‘Little Problem’, ‘Big Problem’, you can change these according to how you feel a pupil will best respond and understand. You then need a set of cards with pictures, symbols, photographs, or text, relating to things around school, their daily routine, lessons, etc. 

Before you start it is good to let the pupil practice with a couple less relevant cards, maybe foods. Then one by one give the pupil the cards or read them aloud to them, they then decide which headings to place the cards under. 

It is important to remind the CYP that there are no right or wrong choices we just want to know their opinion. A photograph or record of the mat should be taken and used as evidence to share with parent or carers, inform school staff or key workers, and any future meetings.

When we move into Year 9, we need to ask questions that focus on preparing our children and young people for adulthood. The four areas outlined in the SEND Code of Practice are: Employment, Community Inclusion, Independent Living and Health.  Using the tools above, you can ask the CYP the following to which can then be used in the annual review meeting:

Employment or Further Education: what do you want to do when you leave post-16 education or training?

Things to think about: What are you good at? What do you like doing? What are your hobbies/interests? If you think you know what you would like to do, are you aware of what qualifications you might need? You can ask at your careers interview or ask for another one. Have you had your careers interview?

Independent living: what do you need to live as independently as you are able and what will this look like?

Things to think about: Where do you want to live? Who do you want to live with? What do you need to help you make decisions? What financial help is available? What are you like at cooking, shopping and managing your money? Do you need help with your personal care, like showering, eating and dressing?

Community inclusion: having friends, being part of the community and having relationships.

Things to think about: What leisure activities do you like doing? Do you need help to see your friends? Can you get out and about on your own?

Health: what do you need to keep healthy and who can help?

Things to think about: Do they know about your disability/needs at your doctors? Do you have an annual health check?

There are also a wealth of person-centred planning tools that you can use creatively with CYP at: Preparing for Adulthood: All Tools & Resources - NDTi