New youth-led podcast

The National Children’s Bureau have been a strong advocate for youth voice. They currently host FLARE, the Department for Education’s national young SEND advisory group. FLARE, which stands for Friendship, Learning, Achieve, Reach and Empower, is a diverse group of young people up to the age of 25 with SEND from across England who work together to share their views and experiences with the Department for Education and other organisations. They aim to help these groups understand how children and young people with SEND want to receive the support and services they need. FLARE members regularly write blogs on issues that matter to them.

In developing this advocacy they have produced a youth-led podcast programme “Our Turn To Talk”. The new initiative launched in February 2022 and is aiming to produce one podcast per month. The topics are chosen and hosted by Young people and include Ending Child Poverty and Accessing Mental Health Services as a Young Person. This gives a unique opportunity to listen to young people air their concerns with key people in organisations working on their behalf.