Somerset County Council, NHS Somerset and Somerset Parent Carer Forum are inviting families as well as school leads, education, and health professionals to join a webinar this October to help shape the future of Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND) in Somerset.
The partnership is currently in the process of developing a Somerset SEND strategy for the next three years. This will outline the focus areas and action points that will inform us to develop our services.
The partnership has identified five ‘working themes’, each has been informed by feedback from families:
- Listening, hearing, and responding
- Working together and co-ordinating
- Getting help as early as possible
- Accessing to the right support and provision
- Preparing for the future
The webinars are on the following dates and there is no need to book in advance, just follow the link to join:
Friday 7 October 2022 11am to join Click here
Monday 10 October 2022 at 4pm to join Click here
You will only need to join one webinar as they are all the same. During the webinar, leaders from the partnership will introduce each theme in detail, provide you plenty of time for questions and invite feedback from participants.
Cllr Tessa Munt, Somerset County Council’s Executive Lead for Children’s Services said: “We want to ensure the SEND services we have in place suit the users who access them. To make sure we get this right, we want to listen to families, parents and young people who use our services and ask them to help shape future services.
By joining the webinar, you can hear about our vision and tell us your ideas about changing and improving SEND services in Somerset.”
Ruth Hobbs CEO Somerset Parent Carer Forum CIC: “The SEND strategy is an essential piece of work which will shape the areas of focus over the next few years. It is really important for people to get involved and have their views heard to make sure it reflects what is important to them.”
Shelagh Meldrum, Chief Nursing Officer, NHS Somerset said: “Ensuring the development of key SEND services truly reflects the needs of families, children and young people across Somerset is crucial.”
“Without feedback and input from people working in and experiencing SEND provision, the focus of our strategy and vision for the future may not best fit the needs of our children and young people.”
It is important that as many people as possible get involved now, so we can hear from a wide range of views. This will help us to consolidate our focus, so we develop a strategy which really makes a difference for all.”