St Helens SEND Strategy 2021-2024 Survey

 
St Helens Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Strategy 2021 - 24 

We are seeking your views on the draft strategy for children and young people with SEND. The St Helens SEND Strategy 2021 - 24 has been co-produced with a wide range of partners in St Helens including Listen 4 Change Parent Carers Forum, children, and young people. The strategy sets out our vision, principles and strategic priorities and is intended to provide a framework for the work of the SEND Partnership over the next three years, 
operating within the national and local context for SEND services. 

Please use the link provided to feedback whether you agree with the areas for focus or whether you think there is anything missing.

Yours Sincerely


Professor Sarah O’Brien
Chair St Helens SEND Partnership Board
 

1. Our Vision is for “St Helens children and young people to have a life with equal chances to shape their future, be active members of their community, be healthy, to have choices and be able to make independent decisions”.

Please let us to what extent do you agree or disagree with our vision.

 

2. Principles: Partners have suggested the following as our principles which will define our way of working in St Helens:

· Do nothing about us without us

· High aspirations and expectations

· Can do attitude

· Celebrate success

· Trust, openness and honesty

· Be positive and constructive

· Value individuality and celebrate diversity

· Tell Us Once

Please let us to what extent do you agree or disagree with our principles:

 

3. Priority 1: Children’s needs are identified early, and they have access to high quality provision

It is crucial that children’s needs are identified at the earliest possible point and key to this that families and the people that support them across education, health and social care work effectively together. This starts in the early years with quality child development reviews, early notification of children with SEND and increased access to free early education for children. This should follow through

into schools with an effective graduated approach to meeting the needs of pupils with strategies to address specific presenting needs and behaviours and a wider family wrap around offer.

Please let us to what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposed priority

 

4. Priority 2: Children and young people with SEND experience positive mental health and wellbeing and are supported to build resilience and confidence.

The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people with SEND is paramount to their sense of wellbeing, achievement and progress in education, personal and social life. Good progress is being made to improve the offer and we need to continue this journey into a whole borough approach to social, emotional and mental health with early support and timely and appropriate access to the right provision. This will be delivered by providing training and support for educational settings to support pupils with SEMH in inclusive settings

Please let us to what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposed priority

 

5. Priority 3: Children with SEND experience smooth transitions and are successfully prepared for adulthood

Transition from childhood into adulthood involves establishing themselves as autonomous individuals with rights and responsibilities and having choice and control over how they live their lives. We know that any transition can be an extremely daunting process for young people with SEND and their families. Parents and carers in St Helens tell us that the transition to adulthood is one of the greatest challenges. Supporting children and young people with SEND to achieve a successful transition needs to drive and shape services from early years onwards with good quality information, help and co-ordinated support as they move to key points of transition. As young people approach adulthood more work needs be done to improve the education, employment and training opportunities available across the borough to provide more choice

Please let us to what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposed priority

 

6. Priority 4: Clear and consistent information, communication, participation and co-production with children, young people and their families.

We need to strengthen participation and co-production across all partners and stakeholders and ensure we can clearly evidence that children, young people and their families have been engaged in a genuine and meaningful co-production process. The St Helens Local Offer website needs to become a key point of information and communication for families, where information is in one accessible place, and families are signposted and supported within community settings to access to information, advice and support
Please let us to what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposed priority

 

7. Priority 5: Children with neurodevelopmental conditions receive timely assessments.

Earlier diagnosis is associated with better outcomes and lengthy waiting times for assessment may impact on access to effective support. To improve the quality and timeliness of support, assessment and decision making, the pathway needs to be supported by a strong partnership approach to manage local demand and effective delivery. The pathway needs to align to early help and the Graduated Approach with

strategies to address specific presenting needs and behaviours. The local area needs to ensure that communication with parents and carers as their pathway journey progresses is timely and effective.

Please let us to what extent do you agree or disagree with our proposed priority:

 

8. Do you have any other comments about our draft strategy?