Working Together in Warwickshire’s SEND Programme

By Laura Musgrave, Co-production Officer, Warwickshire County Council

I work for Warwickshire's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) programme. The programme brings people together to work on improving SEND services for ages 0 - 25 across the county. It was created in 2014 to make sure the national SEND reforms were put into action in Warwickshire.

The SEND Programme includes people from Education, Health and Social Care, service providers, children, young people, parents and carers. It brings together families’ skills and lived experience with professionals’ skills and experience. This valuable partnership means that professionals can better understand families’ experiences with services.

Co-production in the SEND Programme happens at different levels. Here are just a few examples:

● Individual: a child or young person with an Education, Health and Care plan will work with professionals to develop their plan

● Strategic: Warwickshire Parent Carer Forum reps sit on the SEND working groups, project groups and the SEND Programme Board, where decisions are made. Children and young people work with the groups and SEND Board through the Warwickshire Working Together Network (WWTN).

The WWTN was developed through work with local children and young people over about a year. The network approach means we’re able to meet people wherever they are (online and/or in person), which makes it easier for us to work together. That work happens in a space young people are already comfortable in, where they’re developing friendships and skills.

In a recent project group, parents and nurseries worked together to create a new 0 – 5 SEND quality award. This award shows that early years schools and childminders welcome children with SEND. Other projects have included parents working on Education, Health and Care Plan surveys, post-16 plans, and looking at increasing specialist school places in Warwickshire.

We also have the SEND Voice newsletter, which I’m proud to oversee with my co-editor, Jo Eburne, from Warwickshire Parent Carer Forum. SEND Voice shares information and news from different people involved in the SEND Programme. It goes out across Warwickshire in print and online. You can see our past newsletters on the What We’ve Done page of Warwickshire’s SEND Local Offer website.

We now have a growing email list for SEND news updates and stories, plus Facebook and Twitter pages. These tools help us share what we’ve done together, and open conversations with new people who might be interested in working together too.

You can see our SEND Local Offer website at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/send

And if you’re on Twitter or Facebook, please follow us at:

Twitter      @WarksCoPro

Facebook   @WarksCoPro