Our progress so far

Co-production

Outcomes: 

• health, education, and social care practitioners have a clear understanding of co-production, informed by the views of children, young people, and their families
• service leaders engage with children, young people, parents, and carers
• co-production is embedded across the system and used regularly within social care, health, and education services

The information below shows the progress so far and what we will be doing in the next term. This information will be updated every term.

Position in November 2019

We had:

• not yet launched/embedded the Co-Production Charter, which had been co-produced with SEND Champions and SNAP Parent Carer Forum 
• inconsistent evidence of co-production across the local area in shaping and designing systems, processes, policy and strategy for SEND
• limited evidence to indicate consistent co-production with children and young people

Position as of June 2022

Health, education, and social care practitioners have a clear understanding of co-production, informed by the views of children, young people, and their families

What we have done

We have:

• invested more money into the SNAP Parent Carer Forum (SNAP PCF) to support our engagement with parents
• SNAP PCF has facilitated coproduction with its members by holding parent panels on the education, health, and care plan (EHCP) process and Schools for the Future programme, supporting parents to inform the new services that they use
• worked more closely with our partners, including the SNAP PCF, to develop a number of co-production events including workshops for parents, carers, children and young people with SEND
• developed a co-production charter in partnership with the SNAP PCF and the SEND Champions pilot group, having facilitated workshops and events with stakeholder groups to further develop the charter
• through a series of individualised workshops, facilitated by schools and settings, worked with children and young people with SEND who created their own strapline of Together is Better to explain their view of co-production
• produced a Top Tips for professionals document as an outcome from the workshops, developed from the wishes and feelings of the participants
• developed a  communications plan, which was approved by SEND Partnership Board in December 2021, to provide improved coordination and consistency in the way that professionals communicate with practitioners and families
• improved our partnership working with schools to strengthen co-production as part of the SEND improvement programme
• worked with headteachers from special and mainstream schools, and SENCOs, to shape and design our SEND systems and processes
• developed the new virtual ‘Talk for All’ course, informed by the views of parents and carers, to supporting parents of children with speech, language, and communication needs
• delivered further on communication activities outlined in the written statement of action, including workshops for young people which took place in February and March
• launched the updated co-production definition and charter on the Local Offer and more widely
• incorporated co-production training into our Children’s Services induction for new staff
• co-produced and published the Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) position statement and the Parent Pledge, two examples of co-production activity with SNAP PCF and parents, leading to change for the benefit of local children, young people, and families
• designed and launched an online training course on co-production for practitioners working directly with children and young people with SEND and their families
• produced a video, with The Chiltern School, to support the Top Tips document
• developed a podcast around co-production to be added to the Local Offer

By the end of the summer term we will have:

• completed consultation activity on the draft SEND strategy, which will include the voice of the child and young people

Service leaders engage with children, young people, parents, and carers.

What we have done

We have:

• facilitated a number of sessions to listen to the views of local area SEND parents and carers on our approach to co-production, feeding back to the SEND Partnership Board
• frequently attended sessions with the SNAP PCF steering group members and wider membership through a range of forums, including the SNAP PCF coffee morning sessions
• facilitated ‘Meet the Director’ sessions for the benefit of parents and carers to strengthen co-production and engagement activity, with the views of parents feeding into a number of improvement processes, such as the independent review of EHCPs
• identified further areas for co-production
• facilitated further engagement sessions and activity with SEND young people
• identified additional areas for co-production across the local area where there may be the need for further engagement and co-production activity to take place in response to local needs
• introduced a programme of themed focus groups with parents/carers, aligned with the written statement of action
• surveyed parents/carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities to understand their recent experiences and identify further areas for improvement
• Held co-production workshops with parent/carers, and professionals on the draft SEND Strategy

By the end of the summer term 2022 we will have:

• developed a SEND champion model in partnership with schools and settings to engage and run workshops with children and young people with SEND. The SEND champion model will enable children and young people to be able to share their experiences in a safe and open way
• continued to make progress on the identification and engagement activity with ethnic minority groups

Co-production is embedded across the system and used regularly within social care, health, and education services

What we have done

We have:

• designed an online training course for professionals working directly with children and young people with SEND and service leads, in response to their feedback
• planned and communicated key changes to the speech and language therapy model
• provided training to speech and language therapists and nine SENCOs / specialist teachers, who are now ‘speech and language champions
• this was in response to the views of local parents and carers and will help identify speech and language needs of children and young people earlier
• developed, built, and tested additional e-learning training modules such as Talk for All
• continued updating our processes and terms of reference to reflect recommendations from parent and practitioners, with any changes published on our Local Offer
• provided further communications on the impact that co-production is having on the way we work, through the SEND bulletin and the Local Offer Facebook page
• co-produced the NDD post-diagnosis resource pack, following comments raised through SNAP PCF, hosted by community health services
• agreed the new short breaks statement
• incorporated the strapline of “Together is Better” into new documentation across the local area
• completed a review into parental engagement with the aim of strengthening local area activity