You said, we did
We aim to work with children, young people and their families to develop a Local Offer that meets their needs. We're always open to feedback and we use it to improve our services.
Here is some of the feedback you've given us and what we've done in response.
2025
Not enough information about local activities
We created a new Events and activities page on our website to share details of regular and upcoming events and activities for children and young people with SEND, and their families.
Gather feedback from parents who cannot attend forums or have the confidence to respond
We go to coffee mornings at schools regularly, to engage with parents in an environment where they may feel more comfortable to give us feedback.
We do not feel like equal partners in planning our children’s care
We've started drop-in sessions with SEND officers, managers and services to answer your questions about SEND and inclusion in Camden. Parents and carers can go to our SEND Surgery to get support with understanding and being involved in their child’s care.
Our views are not always taken into consideration and documents are changed without our input
We've launched a training programme for our SEN and Inclusion team, with a focus on relational practice, which involves building strong and respectful relationships across our services.
We would prefer a transparent relationship with the service to provide ongoing feedback that does not rely on a tick box survey in preparation for annual review
We're running focus groups to understand your experiences of our processes and gather opinions to inform our improvements. We also have a feedback survey permanently on our website.
Schools need to be able to recognise SEND and respond accordingly
We've created a tool kit to help schools and other educational settings in developing their inclusive support offering and ability to meet predictable needs for pupils. The tool kit has been created with a working group of SEND professionals and it'll be put into practice in schools.
2023 to 2024
Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans need improvement
We launched a quality assurance platform in 2023 to help us assess the quality of EHC plans. We're continuing to develop our workforce and make improvements.
Lack of engagement between the SEND partnership and the Somali Community
We expanded the Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) team to provide more outreach support. As a result, SENDIASS have provided drop-in sessions in partnership with the Somali Community.
More job opportunities for young people
We hired a SEND employment officer and a pathway support officer to help young people with EHC plans to identify pathways into employment, including supported internships.
We launched a disability job hub with a specialist learning disability adviser and work-ready coach for residents known to Camden Learning Disability Service (CLDS).
We also co-funded the Head Start programme with Mencap to develop partnerships with local employers and help us understand young people’s needs. Head Start is run in schools by Mencap to make sure young people with SEND can start to learn about careers and work experience before being expected to find a job or join programmes like supported internships.
Listen effectively to parents and carers
We launched a new survey using a simpler format, based on feedback that our previous surveys were too long. We also now offer engagement sessions every two months for parents and carers to provide feedback on the priority areas of our SEND Strategy. This helps us get families' input on the strategy, encourages collaboration and makes us more transparent.
More support for children starting reception
We expanded our Early Years Inclusion Team to continue supporting children with identified SEND in nursery and into their first school placements.