Working together with parents
Last updated: 1 December 2023
Together with parents, we're improving, reviewing, and redesigning our service. Throughout the year, we asked you for your feedback through interviews, workshops, and newsletters.
Your feedback
We're pleased to show you all the improvements and changes we're making based on your suggestions and conversations we've had with you.
We continue to gather your feedback about our website to keep improving the look, tone and content of the information and we can tell you what we are doing with this information.
This feedback is confidential and you don’t have to leave your contact details. However, we would encourage you to. We will not share this with anyone else but if we are able to contact you, we can get in touch with you directly to let you know what we have done with your comments and views or to ask for more information.
| You told us | Next steps |
|---|---|
| You can't contact us. | The SEND enquiries hub has been created to help with questions about support, assessments, placements and education health and care (EHC) plans or put you in touch with the right caseworker if needed. |
| There are no activities on our local directory near you. | Our SEND Partnership and Engagement Team are regularly attending networking events and roadshow events, to make sure that a wide range of support services, groups and activities are listed on the local offer directory, and to highlight the information and support available to families with SEND. We attended a neurodiversity event on the Isle of Sheppey in May, to help inform and empower families around the wide range of information, advice and guidance available online. If you know of any activities or support groups that you would like to see on the local offer directory, email yourvoice2@kent.gov.uk. |
| There are a few broken links. | We will fix a broken link within the same or next working day. If the link is for an external website, our website team will contact them directly. |
| You find it easier to seek information. | We try to respond to any feedback you leave by the next working day, so that we can help users find what information they are looking for. Our website team are regularly updating our search function to make sure it is easier for you to find what you are looking for. |
| You agree that the information you see is up to date. | We are constantly reviewing and updating the information on the website to make sure it is compliant with the SEND Code of Practice and reflects current processes and support available. |
| You felt confident the information on the SEND information hub can help you. | We are always checking with the professionals and families we come into contact with, that the SEND information hub meets their needs. If you have any queries or suggestions around the information on the website, email yourvoice2@kent.gov.uk. |
Our EHC needs assessment form provides parents and young people with the option to leave feedback for any suggestions they may have to make the form easier.
| You told us | Next steps |
|---|---|
| You could not find the school you were looking for on the online form. | If any schools were missing, or a parent was unsure how to find their school, our website team contacted them back the same or next working day to speak to them directly. |
Together with schools and Kent Parent Carers Together (PACT), we're improving educational outcomes and inclusion in Kent.
Our inclusion survey allows us to find out more about your and your child's typical education experience. Your feedback helps us to identify trends and improvements for education settings in Kent.
| You told us | Next steps |
|---|---|
| There is not enough knowledge in schools about specific need types. | We've created a 'types of special educational needs' section which has dedicated pages on the most prevalent need types in Kent. These include information on understanding these need types, and support for families who have children and young people with these additional needs. |
The SEND Partnership and Engagement Team have attended a range of events at education settings, SEND specific events organised by local charities and forums.
| You told us | Next steps |
|---|---|
| You were not aware of the SEND information hub. | To promote the SEND information hub, we are going to events across the county. We work closely with social care, early help and health professionals to signpost families to the website. |
| You were happy to hear about local directory. | As part of our outreach efforts, we attend network events and provide a wide range of activities, events, and support services for the communities across Kent. |
| To keep the information shared on the presentations simple. | Presenters have been given tips to make slides less text heavy and content lighter. We hope this will make future roadshow presentations easier to understand. |
| More breaks are needed. | We'll be reviewing our running orders for each event. We want to make sure you have enough time to explore the marketplace stalls and a break. We are considering more breaks to keep your engagement high. |
| You want to ask us questions after our presentations. | We will discuss in our internal roadshow meetings how we can improve taking and answering questions at future events. We hope this will give you better opportunities to ask questions about the topics being discussed. |
| You want more communications about activities and services for children with SEND. | We will look at how to promote our SEND newsletter more widely with you each term. We have also added a link to the SEND newsletter in our email signatures. We hope you will see this each time we contact you about our roadshows. |
Have your say
It's easy to let us know your thoughts, you can:
- complete a survey about your visit to the SEND information hub
- let us know your views on inclusive education in Kent
- email yourvoice2@kent.gov.uk
- leave feedback via the smiley faces at the bottom of our website.
Read how your comments before 2023 have shaped where we are today.