What accounts do young people give of their experience of person-centred annual review meetings?

They’re helpful Because it tells you about About all the stuff you need to work on And what stuff you are good at already (Nick aged 10) Following recent reform in special educational needs (SEN) education in England, schools and settings are expected to include children with SEN in statutory meetings about their progress. In the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH), a model of ‘person-centred annual review’ meetings has been developed. The meeting centres on the young person and includes discussion of strengths, difficulties and future plans. Information is presented in accessible language and using visual representations. Children are encouraged to participate fully in the meeting. This idiographic and exploratory study sought the perspectives of six young people about their experience of these meetings. All the children had SEN and attended a single primary school in LBTH. Narrative interviews were conducted: children were asked to describe and draw the review. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and a narrative analysis was conducted incorporating psychodynamic concepts. Interviews were converted into ‘rough verse’; a condensed way of presenting the children’s words and interviewer’s prompts. Children presented a largely positive view of their experience of such meetings; all children described their own strengths and positive characteristics, most described difficulties and what they were working on, all described changes that they attributed to the meeting. The children’s accounts support the view that the meeting was an ‘intervention’, in that these children felt the meeting changed aspects of their experience of school, including practical benefits and feeling better understood and supported. Implications for educational settings are outlined, and the value of meaningful pupil participation in reviews is considered.