Thank you to all of our partners and stakeholders, including our children, young people, parents and carers, who have invested time and effort to create the Medway Local Area SEND Strategy 2022 to 2025.
We'll continue to work in partnership with everyone to deliver on our commitments to children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).
Read the Medway Local Area SEND Strategy 2022 to 2025.
Summary of the strategy
The aims and ambitions of the Medway Local Area SEND Strategy build on a vision for the future of services. These are set out across several related strategies and policies.
Specifically, the Medway People Strategy 2021 to 2025 sets out the following priorities:
- children in Medway will have the best start in life
- children and young people in Medway will develop well
- children and young people in Medway will live independent and fulfilled lives into an active older age
- children and young people in Medway contribute to their community and have a meaningful say in decisions and services that shape their lives.
Our Child-friendly Medway strategy focuses on ensuring Medway is a place where young people's voices are recognised. It ensures they feel safe, valued and included.
It also reinforces our drive to provide the best start in life for children and young people. Our aim is to help them aim high, reach their goals and pursue their hopes and dreams for the future.
Core to achieving these goals is ensuring there is a robust understanding and focus on safeguarding.
For many children and young people with SEND, there will be many professionals across health, education and social care involved with them throughout their lives.
The Medway Local Area SEND Strategy brings together the key partners involved in the lives of children and young people. This is to ensure that the vulnerabilities of children and young people with SEND are understood and appropriately supported, keeping them safe, healthy and happy.
Ambitions for 2022 to 2025
Medway continues to be ambitious for its children and young people with SEND, with inclusion, partnership and participation at the heart of the SEND strategy.
Our ambitions for 2022 to 2025 are:
- achieving the best outcomes, through inclusion and participation
- children and young people with SEND recover from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
- access to the right support, at the right time, in the right place
- preparing for a successful future at the earliest opportunity
- working together with children and young people with SEND and their families.
Following our previous strategy, children and young people with SEND continue to be recognised as unique and individual, and not defined by their needs.
We aim to spark curiosity and encourage them to be all that they can be whilst working towards their potential.
Their desire is to become independent and successful in their chosen future, and to the greatest extent possible, the author of their own life story.
Children have the right to:
- access opportunities without discrimination or prejudice
- access the right support in their local communities, with their friends and families
- attend their local school and receive the support that enables them to access appropriate learning experiences
- additional and differentiated support from a range of professionals in their local area, which enables them to reach their full potential.
Parents and carers are crucial to understanding and informing the care and support that children and young people need.
We're determined to ensure that the system is fair and easily accessible, and that families are provided with additional support when required.
Putting the strategy into action
We'll show the progress of our priorities in our Medway Local Area SEND Strategy Action Plan.
The action plan will be co-produced and monitored at SEND Partnership Board and SEND Operational Board.
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