Southend-on-Sea takes home a National SEND Award 2026!

Your Voice. Your Experiences. Southend's SEND Future. Southend's SEND Area Partnership is refreshing its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Strategy for 2027–2029 , and parent carers have an important opportunity to help shape what happens next. At SSIF , we want to encourage as many parent carers as possible to get involved and share their experiences, views and ideas. Your voice matters, and this is an opportunity to help influence local SEND priorities for the coming years. What is the SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy? The SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy sets out the priorities and direction for how local services and organisations work together to support children and young people with SEND in Southend. As the strategy is refreshed for 2027–2029, the Southend SEND Area Partnership is inviting families, children and young people, professionals and local organisations to share their views. This is an opportunity to think about what is working well, what needs to improve and what should be prioritised over the next few years. Parent carers have first-hand experience of navigating SEND services and support. Your knowledge and experiences are essential in helping ensure the strategy reflects what really matters to local families. How can you have your say? There are several ways to get involved, including face-to-face engagement sessions, online meetings and opportunities to share feedback in writing. In-person engagement opportunities The first opportunity to share your views in person will be at our SSIF Coffee & Chat , where local authority representatives will be joining us to listen to and gather parent carer feedback. Tuesday 10 November – SSIF Coffee & Chat 10am–11.30am SAVS, 29–31 Alexandra Street, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1BW Come along for a cuppa, a chat and the opportunity to share what matters most to you and your family. Tuesday 17 November – SEND Strategy Drop-in 9.30am–11.30am The Forum, Elmer Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1NS Wednesday 25 November – SEND Surgery 9am–11am Blenheim Primary School, School Way, Leigh-on-Sea, SS9 4HX Friday 27 November – SEND Information Day 10am–2pm Southend Civic Centre, Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, SS2 6ER Monday 30 November – SEND Strategy Drop-in 9.30am–11.30am Shoeburyness Youth and Community Centre, 204 Delaware Road, Shoeburyness, SS3 9NS No booking is needed for the two SEND Strategy drop-in events on 17 and 30 November. SSIF will be attending these engagement opportunities, encouraging parent carer participation and listening to the experiences and priorities of local families. Online engagement sessions If you would prefer to take part online, two engagement sessions are being held via Microsoft Teams. Advance booking is required through Eventbrite. Thursday 12 November 7pm–8.30pm Book your place on Eventbrite Tuesday 17 November 12.30pm–2pm Book your place on Eventbrite Engagement for Southend SEND Network members An additional engagement session is available exclusively for organisation members of the Southend SEND Network. Friday 20 November 12pm–2pm Southend-on-Sea Civic Centre, Committee Room 4 Share your views anonymously through the SSIF Padlet We know that attending meetings isn't always possible, and not everyone feels comfortable sharing their experiences in a group. That's why SSIF has created a Padlet , providing another way for parent carers to share their thoughts, experiences and ideas anonymously. We'd love to hear: What's working well for your family? What challenges are you experiencing? What needs to change or improve? What should be a priority for SEND in Southend over the next few years? You can share as much or as little as you like. Even one comment can highlight something important. Share your views on the SSIF SEND Strategy Padlet SSIF will use the feedback gathered to help identify the experiences, concerns and priorities that parent carers want represented in discussions about the strategy. Please avoid including names or identifying details about children, families or professionals in your comments. Complete the Southend SEND Partnership surveys The Southend SEND Partnership is also inviting feedback through two online surveys. Parent carers, professionals and other stakeholders The stakeholder survey is open to anyone who would like to share their views, including parent carers, professionals and local support organisations. Complete the SEND Strategy Stakeholder Survey Children and young people There is also a dedicated survey to ensure children and young people have the opportunity to share their views. Complete the Children and Young People's SEND Strategy Survey Find out more on the Southend SEND Local Offer The Southend SEND Local Offer website is the main source of information about the strategy refresh and the engagement opportunities being organised by the Southend SEND Area Partnership. For the latest information and full details, please visit: Refreshing Southend's SEND Strategy 2027–2029 – Southend SEND Local Offer Your Voice. Your Experiences. Southend's SEND Future. This is an important opportunity to help shape the priorities for SEND in Southend over the next few years. Whether your experiences have been positive, challenging or somewhere in between, your views deserve to be heard. You don't need to have all the answers. You don't need to attend every meeting. And you don't need to write pages of feedback. What matters is sharing your experiences and what you believe needs to change. Please get involved in whichever way works best for you, and help us spread the word to other Southend parent carers.  The more families who have their say, the stronger the parent carer voice can be.

Friday 27 November 2026, 10am–2pm Southend Civic Centre, Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, SS2 6ER Southend SEND Independent Forum (SSIF) and the Southend SEND Local Offer Team are excited to co-host the third Southend SEND Information Day on Friday 27 November 2026. This Information Day will have a particular focus on Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing. Following positive feedback for our previous Information Days, we’re looking forward to bringing the community together again. Why come along? We know that navigating services and support can sometimes feel overwhelming. The SEND Information Day is an opportunity for parents and carers of children and young people with SEND, and professionals to find out about local services, organisations and support. You’ll be able to meet services, ask questions, gather information and potentially discover support you didn’t know about. Whether you have particular questions, or just want to come along and explore, we hope you will join us. Mental Health and Wellbeing Marketplace At the event, you’ll be able to visit stalls hosted by a range of services. Mental health and wellbeing support can take many different forms, and children, young people and families may need different types of support at different points. This can range from activities and community-based support that promote wellbeing, confidence and resilience, through to more targeted support and one-to-one therapeutic services. Support does not have to begin at a point of crisis. The Marketplace is an opportunity to find out about the different options and routes to support that may be available at different stages of a child or young person’s journey. Participating services will be listed on the SEND Information Day webpage, so keep an eye on this in the run-up to the event: www.livewellsouthend.com/SENDInformationDay Mental Health and Wellbeing SEND Surgery For this Information Day, instead of our usual Topic Talks, we will have a Mental Health and Wellbeing SEND Surgery . At the surgery, parents and carers will be able to book a 15-minute slot to speak directly with some of the participating services about their child or young person’s needs. This is intended to create an opportunity for more direct conversations to help families understand where they may be able to access further information and support. Please be aware that Surgery slots will be available on a first come, first served basis and will be bookable on the day. Each service participating in the Surgery will also have a stall at the event, so if you are unable to speak to them at the surgery, you will still be able to visit them in the marketplace. The Surgery will be available between 10.30am and 1.30pm. Pre-register for the event If you plan to come to the SEND Information Day, we invite you to pre-register. Doing this speeds up the signing-in process on the day and allows us to email you information in advance to help you plan your day (subject to your permission). Pre-register here: Registration form - 27 November 2026 SEND Information Additional information for parents and carers Please be aware that the Southend SEND Information Day is an information event aimed at parents and carers and is not an event for children and young people . There will be no crèche or childcare facilities available at the event, so please take this into consideration when planning your visit. Getting to Southend Civic Centre Southend Civic Centre is close to Southend Victoria station and local bus routes. Parking spaces at the Civic Centre are limited and the area can be busy, so we advise allowing extra time for your journey if you are travelling by car. Alternative parking is available at The Beecroft Car Park (a short walk from the civic centre) and in the town centre car parks. On-street parking on surrounding roads is very limited. Parking charges apply to Southend car parks. Please remember to check local parking signs and restrictions before leaving your car. About the event hosts SSIF and the Southend SEND Local Offer Team work closely to co-host the SEND Information Day , bringing together two important parts of the SEND community: the experiences and voices of parent carers, and the information, services and support available to children, young people and families across Southend. As Southend’s independent parent carer forum, Southend SEND Independent Forum (SSIF) works to ensure that the experiences and views of families of children and young people with SEND are heard and help to inform the development of local services. Co-hosting events such as the Southend SEND Information Day is one of the ways we can help bring parent carers and professionals together, create opportunities for conversations and make it easier for families to find out about the support available locally. It is also an important opportunity for us to listen to you . The conversations we have with parent carers help SSIF to understand families’ experiences, what is working well and where there may be challenges or gaps. If you are coming to the Information Day, please come and find the SSIF team and say hello . Whether you would like to find out more about what we do, share your experiences and views, or simply have a chat, we would love to meet you. The Southend SEND Local Offer on the Livewell Southend website ( www.livewellsouthend.com/SEND ) provides information about local services and support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and their families, in Southend. The Information Day enables families to meet some of the services who are featured on the Local Offer. The Local Offer is not just for when you need a particular service or are facing a difficulty. It is a useful place to explore what is available locally, discover activities and opportunities, and find information that may be helpful at different stages of your child or young person’s SEND journey. Come and meet the SEND Local Offer team at the event. They will be able to tell you about the Local Offer and show you how to find information relevant to you and your family.

A little space just for you Caring for a child or young person with SEND can sometimes feel like a world of its own. Our monthly coffee morning is a chance to spend some time with other parent carers who understand that world – no explanations needed. Come along for a cuppa (and a very good choice of cake!), have a chat, share experiences if you want to, and get to know other parent carers. Whether you’re looking to build your own network of people who get it, have a question you’d like to ask, or simply fancy getting out of the house for an hour or two, you’ll be very welcome. First and foremost, it’s a parent carer space. There’s no agenda and no expectation to talk about anything you don’t want to. We also know how useful it can be to speak to the right person when you do have a question. We’ll have professionals joining us who can offer information, answer questions and help signpost you to further support – they’re there if you need them, but they’re not the focus of the morning. Hot and cold drinks are available, there’s always LOTS of cake , and you’re welcome to stay for as much or as little of the morning as works for you. And because this really is meant to be a little bit of time just for you, our coffee mornings are just for parent carers – no children this time, please. Come and find your people, have a cuppa and build your parent carer network. Our 2026–2027 coffee morning dates are here - we'd love to see you at one soon!