Ways to get involved

Overview

In South Tyneside we are dedicated to working in partnership with children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and their families to develop the services they use.

We want to build on best practice and make improvements where needed so children and young people with SEND can be the very best they can.

These pages tell you more about the different ways you can get involved.

Information about events, surveys and consultations will be published on this page.

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Please keep checking this website for more information, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates.

Our SEND Participation and Engagement Officer

Our SEND Participation and Engagement Officer will work with you to help us shape services for SEND children and young people.

Contact:

Gemma D'Ambrosie
Participation and Engagement Officer (SEND)
Work Tel: 0191 424 6370
Email: Gemma.D'Ambrosie@southtyneside.gov.uk

Surveys

Throughout the year, we will ask you to complete surveys on topics we would like to find out your views on.

These surveys give us a lot of information about your experiences of SEND services and help us find out what is going well and what we need to work on.

 

 

Engagement events

A number of events take place throughout the year on a variety of topics.

Question and answer sessions

Question and answer sessions normally take place with professionals who are responsible for managing a service.

They give you an opportunity to ask questions and get updates about what developments have been made.

Information sessions

If you need to know more about a specific topic, information sessions can provide you with all you need to know.

Previous topics have covered:

Listening events

Listening events are a good opportunity to share your experience on a specific topic.

This helps us to find out more about what works well and understand how we can work together to improve things.

 

SEND Improvement Forum

If you have a little extra time, and you want to be involved in the development of SEND Services, you can get involved in our SEND Improvement Forum.

This group meets each term (sometimes more often) to work on a specific project.

Last year they worked on 'SEND A Message', a communications promise.

They developed this work from start to finish in partnership with the Participation & Engagement Officer (SEND), Area SENCO and School Improvement Officer (SEND) on all aspects of the project.

Contact us to find out more:

Email: sendlocaloffer@southtyneside.gov.uk

Phone: 0191 424 6730

Making sure information is easy to read (Parent Carer READ)

We want to make sure that the information we share is easy to understand, not full of jargon, and gives you the information you need.

If you see the 'Approved by Parents' stamp on a document, you know that parents / carers have approved it.

If you want to be involved but aren't able to attend any meetings, you can get involved in our reading group, Parent Carer Read, Edit, Approve, Distribute.

Contact us to find out more:

Email: sendlocaloffer@southtyneside.gov.uk

Phone: 0191 424 6730

Consultations

When we are making improvements to services, or designing / developing new services, you can be involved through consultations.

This might involve:

  • sharing your experiences
  • listening to ideas and telling us which you prefer
  • sharing your own ideas

Each consultation will work differently, depending on what is being looked at.

Past consultations include

  • Guidance for Education Health and Care Plan needs assessments and Annual Reviews
  • All About Me forms with children and young people

Giving your feedback

In South Tyneside, we want to make sure that children and young people with SEND and their families get the best possible support and help when they need it.

The 'SEND Local Offer' means the information that is available on this website, and the support and services that are available to you and your family.

We need to review both regularly to make sure that we provide the right support and services at the right time.

The SEND Local Offer is owned by all and we welcome your views about it.

Giving your feedback on this website

If you think information on this website is missing, or needs to be added or updated, you can:

If you were looking for something and couldn't find it today, please let us know so that we can help you to find the information you need and find out if there is a gap that we need to fill.

Recent changes to the SEND Local Offer

If you would like to find out more about what changes have been made to the SEND Local Offer over the last year, you can read our SEND Local Offer Annual Report.

Giving feedback on education, health and care services

There are also different processes for giving your feedback in education, health and care services: