Views wanted on North Yorkshire SEND services
You can have your say about the support available to children and young people with special education needs and disabilities.
A series of online events are taking place to gather views on the support available to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in North Yorkshire.
A wide-ranging engagement on SEND services is taking place this year, which will take a holistic look at the services used by children and young people and their families, both inside and outside of school.
North Yorkshire County Council says feedback will be used to help develop an ambitious, joint SEND strategy for the county, which will cover how education, health and care services can work together now, and in the future, to cater for the needs of children and young people who need specialist education, to ensure the best possible outcomes for them.
It is being developed in partnership with the County Council, Parent Carer Voice and NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups covering North Yorkshire.
In order to develop the ambitious strategy, a wide range of views and experiences will be sought from children and young people, their parents and carers and the organisations which work with them.
Work will begin this month with the launch of online engagement events. North Yorkshire County Council has commissioned an independent organisation, the Council for Disabled Children, to host the sessions. The sessions will discuss individuals and organisations’ current experiences, what is working well in supporting children and young people with SEND, areas which require further development and key priorities for the future.
The online events are open to everybody and will take place between June 28 and July 15. Following the events, people will also be asked to fill in a questionnaire so their views can be taken into account before a proposed strategy is formally consulted on in the autumn.
To book a place on one of the afternoon or evening sessions, or to fill in the online survey, visit; https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/sendreview
Young people will also be asked for their views, through short, accessible surveys, focus groups, individual discussions and creative sessions run by North Yorkshire Voice.
Executive Member for Children and Young People’s Services, Cllr Janet Sanderson said:
“The strategy will touch upon a whole range of services used by children and young people, from the health and support services they use, to education and community resources.
“We would like to encourage as many people as possible to get involved in the engagement on SEND services in North Yorkshire and let us know what works well and how you would like to see services developed in the future.”