THE Bath & North East Somerset Youth forum have been working on a campaign to help make mainstream schools more accessible to neurodivergent pupils over the last nine months.

Supported by wellbeing charity Off The Record, the youth forum is a group for young people aged 11-18 in the B&NES area (or up to 25 with additional needs) who are passionate about getting young people’s voices heard, and making positive change. Neurodivergency means that people may be autistic, dyslexic, have ADHD, etc. In schools this is often referred to as ‘Special Educational Needs’ (SEN). Around one in five primary and secondary school pupils in England are neurodivergent. Almost all of them go to a mainstream school. The youth forum participants - many of whom identify as neurodivergent - came up with the campaign and decided to create a survey for their peers across the county. The survey asked neurodivergent eight-19 year-olds what challenges they have faced in school, and what they think schools could do to improve the situation. Their research suggests that neurodivergent pupils find the following aspects most difficult about school:

  • Too much noise
  • Teachers not understanding their neurodivergence
  • Crowds of people
  • Making friends

The Youth Forum’s report made some recommendations based on these findings:

  • More neurodiversity training for school staff
  • Not punishing neurodivergent pupils for things that are very difficult for them
  • Quiet places to go to between lessons, and during lessons if needed
  • Neurodiversity education for all pupils

The youth forum then wrote a toolkit for schools, with guidance on how to make the four recommendations a reality. The full report and toolkit are available at: https://bit.ly/neurodivergent-pupils.

Ivy, 14, leads the youth forum campaign, and said: “All children should have equal access to education. We really hope that Bath and North East Somerset mainstream primary and secondary schools will act on our achievable, evidence-based recommendations, to improve neurodivergent pupils’ experience of school.

“Even just making one of the four changes should help to reduce absences and increase engagement in lessons. If you go to school in Bath and North East Somerset, please share it with your teachers.” The youth forum has sent the report and toolkit to all mainstream schools in Bath and North East Somerset, and to a wide range of services who work with neurodivergent young people.

They emphasised to headteachers and SENCOs (Special Educational Needs Coordinators) that the changes should help to improve pupil’s attendance, engagement in lessons, attainment, and wellbeing.

The response from schools so far has been very positive, with some schools pledging to implement one or more of the recommendations. The Youth Forum will begin evaluating the impact of these changes with schools in the Autumn Term.

Off the Record say: “You can help us to maximise the impact by encouraging any teachers you know in B&NES to read the report and toolkit and to share them with their SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator).”

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