Toolkits

IROs, CP chairs and direct workers and carers in statutory Children's Services
Other specialist workers including those in:
- SEND services
- Advocacy services
- Young Carers' support services
- Edge of Care and Care leaver services
- Adoption services
Social workers and therapeutic working with traumatised young people in local authorities and in voluntary organisations including Action For Children in the UK and ISPCC in Ireland.
Senior managers and councillors with responsibility for using Voice of Young People data to evaluate their services and to inform planning and decision making.

Viewpoint's range of Apps - the Web Browser, MyView, InfoHub, PicSAT, MyStory and Mood Diary Apps are used:

For self-assessment in social workers and carers day to day practice in supporting young people and in their own professional supervision
To inform assessment and planning and to amplify young people's voice in statutory processes including:
- Children in care reviews
- Child Protection/safeguarding conferences
- local offer EHC planning

As Viewpoint Apps are used, young people's direct feedback is automatically captured in a form that is measurable against standards and wellbeing indices. Senior managers and policy makers are then able to use Viewpoint's unique online reporting tools to generate evidence-led management reporting e.g. for corporate parenting panels, local safeguarding boards and strategic management teams.

Viewpoint Apps are designed with young people themselves and with social care workers and carers to be:

Engaging and Easy to use by young people and those supporting them
Accessible: Viewpoint's software and content is made accessible through the use of speech, symbols (including emojis) and easy-read text.
Convenient: Young people and professionals can access their own Viewpoint app from wherever they are and when it suits them. This is particularly relevant to professionals providing an increased range of remote support alongside in person working and related activities.
Adaptable to the different needs, priorities and abilities of specific young people, families and the services supporting them.
Up to date: Age and ability related content and functionality is continuously updated by practitioners and managers with the involvement and influence of young people and families themselves. One size does not fit all.

Viewpoint for youth

Viewpoint’s online, interactive communication tools have been developed with and for Youth Justice workers, volunteers, and managers working with children and young people aged 8 to 18 years old, their parents and families.

More recently, versions of Viewpoint’s MyView and InfoHUB apps, have now been developed for parents and carers, and also for young people with communication difficulties (including SEND), and a Mood Diary to help young people self-assess and report on their psychological wellbeing.

The Viewpoint apps can be accessed by young people and professionals from wherever they are and whenever it suits them, including via Microsoft Teams.

Youth Justice workers, youth workers, YOT officers, seconded police and education officers, and volunteers use Viewpoint in their direct work with young people, including to support AssetPlus self-assessment with young people on statutory orders.

Referral panels use self-assessment data from young people to inform planning and decision making,

Workers involved in specialist teams use Viewpoint self-assessment and planning tools in relation to:

Preventative work
Substance Misuse prevention and referral for treatment
ETE (Education, training and employment) advice and support
Gangs and Youth Violence programmes e.g. Knife Crime Prevention and domestic violence projects
Youth Justice Health Visitor service evaluation
Accommodation Pathway guidance and support
Victim Support and Restorative Justice programmes

Specialist therapeutic and psychology professionals attached to Youth Justice teams use Viewpoint self-assessment tools in their work with:

Girls and young women in Youth Justice programmes
Young people referred for sexual harmful behaviour
Trauma Informed programmes including psychological input

As young people’s views and experiences are collected and recorded via the Viewpoint Apps, Youth Justice workers/officers can immediately view this information - measurable against standards and wellbeing indices - and produce graphical Child’s Journey reports showing responses over time against factors such as:

Family, home, and relationships
Health and how I feel
School, college, and work
Offending
My future
Working with the YOT, and
Preferred Learning Styles

Operational managers, senior practitioners and information/performance managers can use Viewpoint in important processes including:

Ongoing professional supervision
As evidence in practice and service improvement processes.

Youth Justice managers and Board members can use Viewpoint’s unique online reporting tools to generate evidence-led management reporting to evaluate their service including impact on outcomes. Reports can be generated locally for:

Quarterly and other reporting to local Boards, and
Audit and inspection processes.

Viewpoint for Youth Justice and YEH Apps are designed to be easily accessible, engaging and user friendly so that YOTs can:

Easily set up and update young people’s access to Viewpoint in one simple process
Provide content that is engaging and easy to use by young people and those supporting them
Access and adapt YJ and YEH content and functionality
Access all new content that’s routinely added to Viewpoint’s online questionnaire library
Reach out to young people with communication difficulties using speech, symbols (emojis, PicSAT symbols), and easy-read text
Access live data in the form of Viewpoint’s unique distanced-travelled or Child’s Journey reports.

Viewpoint for schools

Viewpoint's online, interactive communication tools to capture the Pupil's Voice have been developed through our work with schools - from foundation through to Key stage 5/Year 13, with FE colleges, special schools, and PRUs.

This has involved extensive consultation with teachers and heads, educational psychologists, learning improvement teams, and carers so that their design reflects the needs of professionals directly working with children and young people, their parents and families, and those managing mainstream and special educational establishments.

Versions of Viewpoint have been designed with content and functionality specific to children and young people's age, ability levels, and preferred first languages.

Most recently versions of Viewpoint's MyView and InfoHUB apps are now available for parents and carers to support pre-school assessment, and for those supporting young people with communication difficulties, including SEND.

Education professionals and carers use Viewpoint to capture Pupils' Voices.
Viewpoint allows their direct involvement in self-assessment, informing teachers about their learning needs, wellbeing, resilience, and relationships - leading to significant benefits to their attainment and overall experience at school. Pupils access their Viewpoint easily and securely on any school device - PC, MAC, tablet, smartphone - and anywhere there is internet access. Examples of how pupils can use Viewpoint include:

- Personal Education planning - pupils can easily access their PEP online in school, at home or in other settings.
- SELFIE (Social and Emotional Learning for Improvements Elsewhere)
  A version of Viewpoint developed with University of Sussex and the Vale of Glamorgan Council learning improvement team, SELFIE helps teachers, schools and learning improvement teams to identify specific wellbeing issues such as low resilience, physical and psychological health, the quality of peer and class relationships, and how this correlates with young people's attainment and attendance.Pupils can access three feedback tools by using a unique login:
  - My Feelings - measuring positive social experience, negative social experience, negative emotions at school, unkindness to self and unkindness to others
  - Resilience - pupils self-assess their resilience by responding to eight questions, and
  - My Class - pupils answer two questions on class members they like and don't like to spend time with. From this very brief process, teachers can generate class sociograms which can be used to encourage friendships through seating plans and group activities.
  As pupils work through their questionnaire their feedback is stored, and relevant staff members can monitor any issues live via Viewpoint's unique online reporting tool. Education professionals are able to show progress related to the interventions they have put in place at an individual pupil level as well as by class, school, key stage, and year group.
  SELFIE data is also available to report on issues across councils by pupils' circumstances, e.g: age, gender, ethnicity, disability, FSM, children in care etc.
- Wellbeing Check In - a version of Viewpoint's Mood Diary originally designed with Action for Children, adapted for use in schools by Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils.
- Preferred Learning Styles - a short, easy to use online tool for pupils in key stage 3 and 4 based on an original development with Education Leeds. Once completed, a graphical chart shows findings to pupils and their teachers.

To support assessment and planning for children and young people receiving statutory services.
For example:

Designated teachers can arrange for children in care to complete their online pre-review consultation, care leavers their Viewpoint pathway planning consultation, and young people with child protection plans their pre-conference consultation. As young people complete their consultation a report of their responses is automatically available to relevant IROs, Child Protection chairs, and other relevant social care professionals directly involved in planning and review processes.
Young people receiving other services such as Youth Justice, YEH and young carers support services are also able to access their relevant Viewpoint tool in schools if that is considered the best option for them.
EHC planning - Viewpoint has developed an online tool for young people to review their Education Health and Care plan annually in schools, residential and foster placements, and in their homes. This review tool makes use of symbols, speech enabled, easy read text and other functionality to enable young people to feed back their views as independently as possible whether or not they are supported by an adult to do this.

Viewpoint as an eSurvey tool
Here, participating children and young people will access Viewpoint in a school or college setting. There many examples in UK and abroad where young people from foundation through to Year 13 have participated, during and outside formal class time, in large scale local, regional and national eSurveys. Examples of eSurveys using Viewpoint to capture young people self-reported feelings, experiences and proposed solutions include:

UNICEF using Viewpoint as their eSurvey tool for their Child Friendly Cities programmes.
Biannual council-wide, multi theme 'Super eSurveys' of young people aged 6 to 25 enabling their direct feedback as evidence for local policy and decision makers.
Understanding bullying/peer abuse and rating relevant policies
Self reporting on health issues including diet, fitness, accessing GP and Dentist services; and sexual health advice and support.
Accessibility and quality of local leisure services
Identifying community safety issues, effectiveness of police and community based support services.
Safeguarding research - gaining young people's direct experience related to:
- internet safety
- substance misuse (young people's experiences and behaviours; quality and availability of advice and support services)
- Evaluating school based programmes related to child sexual exploitation e.g. Greater Manchester's - It's Not OK! - outreach workshops in schools.

Viewpoint for Schools InfoHUBs and MyView Apps are designed to be easily accessible, engaging and user friendly so that schools and colleges can:

Easily set up all young people they work with to access their Viewpoint in one easy process, then update records as and when required.
Offer Pupil Voice tools designed to be engaging and easy to use by young people and those supporting them - this is borne out from ongoing research.
Access and adapt Viewpoint in Schools content and functionality that is continuously updated though our work with teachers and those managing schools and pupil reference groups.
Access all new content routinely added to Viewpoint's online library.
Reach out to young people using Viewpoint's software and content that is accessible with speech, symbols - including emojis, PicSAT - and easy-read text.
Offer Viewpoint and its education apps to young people and professionals from wherever they are. This is particularly relevant to professionals wanting to enable participation of young people not physically attending schools e.g. young carers requiring temporary virtual learning options, pupils suspended or excluded, home-schooled young people, children and young people in a lockdown environment.
Access Viewpoint in Schools' unique online Management Centre at any time using their login to access Pupil's Voice data and generate reports that are:
- live and up to date.
- Show change/distanced travelled and well as one-off, snapshot reporting by employing measurable, weighted responses alongside pupils typed responses.
- accessible for different audiences though use of graphics as well as pupils' direct quotes.
- suited to comparative reporting using Viewpoint's Management Centre filtering functionality.

Head teachers use their school's participation in Viewpoint eSurveys as evidence of their commitment to their meaningful pupil participation - a key assessment standard in OFSTED and ESTYN frameworks.

Viewpoint for communities

Viewpoint’s online, interactive eSurvey tools for community consultations, are designed to capture the Voice of Young People. They have been developed through our work with councils, schools, health boards, and organisations such as UNICEF, HM Inspectorate of Probation, the Children’s Commissioner Office (Cymru), and VOYPIC NI.

Like Viewpoint’s self-assessment and evaluation tools that are used in social care, education, and youth justice services, Viewpoint’s eSurveys employ graphical environments (including symbols), speech, and easy-read text content to maximise children and young people’s participation.

Viewpoint eSurveys can be used by children and young people aged 6 to 25 years and parents/carers, on phones or PCs.

Viewpoint’s eSurvey tools to capture the Voice of Young People in communities

Typically, young people and families will access an eSurvey anonymously via a Viewpoint InfoHUB app.

Respondents will often participate in their schools, colleges, in their homes and placements, in community centres or at events.

Content for Viewpoint eSurveys is designed with organisations and reference groups (including young people themselves) to ensure information captured reflects their interests, needs and priorities.

As they participate, their feedback is captured as live data enabling commissioning organisations to monitor activity and report findings at any stage and for any time period by using Viewpoint’s unique Management Centre reporting app.

Participants feedback is securely stored and immediately available in a form enabling local managers to produce relevant and engaging reporting to a broad range of intended audiences.