Engagement
See the key activity since January 2025 information. Also:
Community engagement
The SEND Local Offer team attend and hold community events to:
- gain feedback about the experiences of SEND families so this can be fed back to management
- raise awareness of the SEND Local Offer
- answer questions and provide advice and guidance about SEND services and processes
- advise on how people can keep up to date with news and developments via the e-newsletter and our social media channels
A key element of our community engagement activities are our monthly SEND Surgeries. To further strengthen face to face advise and support for families, we ran our first Southend SEND Information Day in November 2025, attended by over 150 people.
We also deliver Your Local Offer, Your Way sessions and attend SEND parent carer sessions in the community.
In July 2025, we embarked on a co-production project with a group of SAVS Parent Voice Ambassadors. The Early Years SEND Support Team are key collaborators on this project. So far, it has resulted in a number of developments to the SEND Local Offer pages, particularly the Early Years section, with a plan for filming video question and answer podcasts.
Children and young people engagement
Southend City Youth Council launched a SEND Youth Forum in October 2024. This was the main channel within Southend-on-Sea City Council for SEND Youth Voice activity. The SEND Local Offer Team supported the induction of the lead officer working on the project and made introductions to tutors and a group of SEND students at South Essex Colleges Group. This resulted in the officer giving a number of the students a tour of the Council Chamber, and some of the students joining the SEND Forum.
The Youth Council developed a Neurodivergent Support Pack. We helped promote this by sharing on the Local Offer, on social media and in the SEND Newsletter to help widen the reach of this great resource.
We also promoted a summer holidays Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) offer which the Youth Council had developed with young people.
We also worked collaboratively with the Southend Multi Schools Council (MSC) lead who gave a presentation about the work of the MSC to the Southend SEND Network to raise awareness of local SEND youth engagement opportunities.
Both the SEND Youth Forum and the Southend Multi-Schools Council are members of the Southend SEND Network.
We also promoted engagement opportunities for both children and young people and parent carers for development of the Preparing for Adulthood Strategy.
Events attended/delivered by the SEND Local Offer Team in 2025
A total of 43 engagement events were attended or delivered (excluding SEND surgeries and Your Local Offer Your Way sessions).
- SSIF coffee mornings – 9
- SEND parent carer sessions/open events at schools – 5
- Other parent carer sessions - 8
- Play and development sessions – 6
- Other engagement/coproduction sessions – 4
- Networking events – 1
- SENCo sessions – 3
- Youth engagement sessions – 3
- Stall holder at a professionals' conference – 3
- SEND Information Day - 1
The Southend SEND Network
The Southend SEND Network was launched in October 2023. It is a collaboration between SSIF and the SEND Local Offer Team on behalf of the Southend SEND Area Partnership.
The primary purpose of the network is to reach and engage more families, so that the local community is better informed, opportunities for co-production are strengthened, and the voice of local families, groups and stakeholders are captured, fed back, and heard across the Partnership.
Local organisations, groups and charities that support children and young people with SEND and/or their families in Southend-on-Sea can become members, as can Individual parent carers.
At the end of 2025, 50 organisations and 22 parent carers were members of the network. 49 organisations have nominated a SEND Champion to act as their key link person. 3 network meetings were held in 2025. Meetings provided networking and update opportunities for organisation members, developing improved local knowledge of what is available in the local area for families. Input was provided by SENDIASS on duties on schools. Updates were also provided on the Specialist Teaching Service and Capital Investment in education and resource bases.
57 email comms were sent out to network members, news from the SEND Network remained a standing item in the SEND Newsletter and 20 network members hosted a stall at the SEND Information Day.