Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) strategy 2023-26
Our special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) strategy is the plan we have developed together to help us to know which children and young people need support for their SEND and how we can help make sure our children and young people with SEND are happy, as healthy as possible and successful.
We had a lot of help to create this plan from young people, their parents, people who work with you and help you in education, health and care, and people who have lots of information about what is happening in Herefordshire. We also asked people from outside Herefordshire to have a look at what we do and tell us what they thought was working well and what we needed to do better.
We have an important aim to improve the education, health (including mental health) for all of the children and young people in Herefordshire with SEND. We are determined to do better and help more.
We have written our SEND strategy to you, our children and young people, because you are the most important people for us to think about and help, and we want to help make your lives the best they can be.
Our five key priorities
- To find out as quickly as possible when a child or young person has special educational needs or disability (SEND), work out what help is needed and if you are that child or young person, make sure that help makes a real difference to you.
- To listen to what you and your families tell us about what works for you and what could be better and show you how what you tell us is making a difference to what we do.
- To make sure you get the right help at the right time.
- To make sure you are well prepared for your next steps in life and that you succeed.
- To make sure you feel valued, important and included.
View the strategy
View our friendly read SEND strategy
We are working with young people on how they would like us to present this for children and young people.
We are pleased to have co-produced a short video with children and young people, our parent carer forum and our health partners to share some of the work that is already underway to make our SEND strategy real and to improve the lived experiences of children and young people with SEND in Herefordshire.
Herefordshire SEND Self-evaluation
Herefordshire's SEND Partnership carried out a thorough self-evaluation to inform the SEND Strategy. As part of the self-evaluation, the partnership considered the following aspects of our work:
- How effectively does Herefordshire ensure children and young people's needs are identified accurately and assessed in a timely and effective way?
- How effectively do children, young people and their families participate in decision-making about their individual plans and support
- How effectively does Herefordshire ensure children and young people receive the right help at the right time?
- How effectively does Herefordshire ensure children and young people are well prepared for their next steps, and achieve strong outcomes?
- How effectively does Herefordshire ensure children and young people are valued, visible and included in their communities?
You can find out more about our progress in our self-evaluation framework update bulletin (summer 2023).
Monitoring progress
We have regular meetings with all of the people working together on this strategy. These meetings are to make sure that we are working on the right things and making a difference.
SEND Strategic Assurance Board
Our SEND Strategic Assurance Board meets regularly to oversee what is happening across the area. They make regular checks on what is working and what needs improvement for SEND across Herefordshire. The board ensures that there is enough challenge to make change quickly enough and that everyone is working together to make things better.
The SEND Strategic Assurance Board is chaired by an independent advisor and its membership includes senior leaders from health and Herefordshire local authority, school, college and early years professionals, families and young people and community support.