Thousands of children and young people with SEND, their families, and the professionals who work with them are being asked to share their views in a new survey launched on 7th February 2022.
The wide-ranging survey has been put together by Norfolk County Council working in partnership with parents, parent carer groups, and a range of professionals.
It has been designed to be as easy as possible and asks questions about support, education, health, EHCPs and social care. There are separate sets of questions for each of these three groups: children and young people aged 11 to 25; parents and carers; and professionals. The survey can be completed anonymously and should only take around 15 minutes.
Cllr John Fisher, cabinet member for Children’s Services, said: “We’ve worked in partnership with lots of different people to put this survey together to make sure we ask a wide range of questions and give everyone the chance to be heard on the issues which matter most to them.
“We want to hear about what’s going well and what still needs improvement. We are listening, it’s really important to us to hear from as many people as possible. We will use the feedback to make our plans for the rest of 2022 and beyond.”
Tracey Sismey, Chair of Family Voice Norfolk, the parent carer forum representing parent carers of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities in Norfolk (SEND), said: “We have been part of the working party putting the survey together, making sure that families get the chance to say what works and doesn’t work for them. We would encourage all families with SEND to fill in the survey. It is a real chance to make sure your voices are heard. We will also be working in the coming months to keep your views at the heart of priorities for improvement.”
Niamh Keane, Norfolk SENDIASS interim manager said: “We are pleased to have worked in partnership with different services, organisations and individuals to help develop this survey.
“This is a great opportunity for parent, carers, young people and professionals to have a say and use their voice to inform and influence improvements within SEND across education, health and social care in Norfolk.”
The survey aims to capture responses from across different parts of the county and relating to a wide range of different needs. It will be the first time in a number of years that children and families and professionals have all had the opportunity to feed back to Norfolk County Council and NHS Norfolk and Waveney CCG, which are jointly responsible for SEND in the county. The information gathered will be used to inform the partnership’s Norfolk Area SEND Strategy, which is refreshed every year and completely reviewed every four years.
The survey can be found at https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/SENDsurvey2022/. An Easy Read version for children and young people is available. The survey is open from Monday 7 February until 5pm on Monday 7 March.