How to use Your Rights

Callan is 14-years-old and goes to a mainstream school. He has ADHD and is also a young carer for his mum. He finds it very difficult to talk to the staff at school and gets into trouble for getting angry and running away.

Callan’s mum is unwell and too anxious to speak to his teachers about how Callan is feeling. Even though things at school weren’t going very well for Callan, he still had the right to an education.

The school then asked My Rights, My Say to find out what Callan felt the school could do differently to support him. Callan agreed to meet with a My Rights, My Say worker on an online video call. They spent time talking about his school day and Callan shared that he struggles in school because he can’t sit still. He also said he’s worried about his mum when he’s at school which distracts him.

By talking through his ideas about how the school could better support him with his learning, Callan and his school were able to put some things in place to help him. This included more time with an advocacy worker who helped Callan to support his relationship with the school. He also asked for the school to find out if he and his mum could get more help in the house as Callan felt overwhelmed looking after his mum.

This is just one example of how My Rights, My Say can help pupils aged 12-15 exercise their rights to be involved in decisions about their support in school. You can find out if they can help you on their website.

Kirsty is 12-years-old and in P7. She is deaf and uses British Sign Language (BSL) to communicate at school. Last year she wrote a letter to all the teachers to tell them about how she feels coming to school without her implant to help her hear. In her letter, she shared how difficult it can be at school and how she feels when she can’t hear what’s going on.

She then went onto explain how good BSL is and how it can improve relationships between hearing and non-hearing people. The headteacher of her school had a discussion with her about how they could include BSL in more of school life. Kirsty is helping to lead on this and has created lists of signs to teach the whole school each week during assembly and has prepared a Deaf Awareness presentation for the classes.

By listening and taking seriously Kirsty’s views and opinions about her additional support need, the school helped her to use her rights. This has in turn helped make her school more inclusive and has supported Kirsty with her learning.

If, like Kirsty, you want something to change at your school, a good first step is to try talking to your teacher.