Find details on co-production work we've completed or work we're currently doing in Nottinghamshire in the SEND Local Offer.
On this page
- Young People's Zone
- Keyworking Service development
- Neurodiverse website for children and young people
- SEND Improvement Parent and Carer Group
- Help us develop SEND services
Young People's Zone
What is the name of the project or co-production group?
Developing the online information website for young people with SEND called Young People’s Zone (ASK Us Nottinghamshire)
Who is involved?
The student forum at Portland College, Nottinghamshire and the Nottinghamshire Pioneers Youth Forum.
What work are you doing together?
Young people and The Futures organisation which have a contract with the Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire Council to develop and produce the zone. Review, design and add content to the Young People’s Zone pages.
Young People's Zone is part of the information and advice support service site Ask Us Nottinghamshire
The aim is for the zone to be fully co-produced with young people to ensure it is meeting their needs and aspirations.
What has been achieved so far?
- We have designed and developed web pages dedicated to young people with disabilities, called the Young People’s Zone (Ask Us Nottinghamshire)
- Young people have helped to design, print and distribute a poster and a leaflet promoting the zone. Download the Young People's Zone leaflet [PDF]
- The ‘What it’s like to be me’ section has interviews with several Portland College students about their conditions.
Can anyone join this group?
This group is for young people (age 0 to 25 years) with SEND in Nottinghamshire. To get involved, email Local.offer@nottscc.gov.uk
How often does the group meet?
Since 2021, meetings have been held with students at Portland College every two months. We also joined the Nottinghamshire Pioneers Youth Forum at their Saturday club meeting in summer 2022
Keyworking Service development
Who is involved?
Children and young people who had received a service from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and social care.
Also involved were Rainbows parent carer forum for families of children with disabilities and Tu Vida, a carer support service.
What work are you doing together?
Developing the new service providing autism and learning disability keyworkers to children, young people and families to help avoid unnecessary admissions to mental health hospitals.
We wanted to understand children and young people’s experiences and find out what was important to them in developing the new keyworking service in Nottinghamshire.
What has been achieved so far?
- We joined Rainbows Parents Carers Forum to get them involved in developing the vision of what a ‘good’ keyworker would be, using the themes and attributes that the young people came up with.
- We worked with parent carer groups at Rainbows and TuVida to develop the keyworking model of intervention, job advertisement, person specifications and job descriptions. We co-produced our interview questions with a parent/carer and a different parent joined the interview panel.
- The service has co-produced a conference with parents and carers, for parents and carers. We used surveys to explore what the conference should offer for workshop topics and ideas for speakers.
Can anyone join this group?
Yes this group is open to anyone.
The co-production and peer support team is made up of individuals who are experts by experience ad have many years of personal and professional lived experience of autism, learning disabilities and mental health struggles.
We also aim to set up a group for young people and parent carers to be involved in ongoing co-production.
For more information or to receive regular updates about activities and events, contact the keyworking service by email at KeyworkingService@nottscc.gov.uk
Neurodiverse website for children and young people
Who is involved?
Children and young people with neurodivergent lived experience and their parents and carers, along with colleagues from The Integrated Care Board, the keyworking service and others including:
- Specialist nurses
- Department of Works & Pensions
- Education services
- Speech and language therapists
- CAMHS
- Neurodevelopment Pathway Service Leads from Nottingham City, Nottinghamshire County and Bassetlaw
- Community paediatricians
- Autistic Nottingham
- Mid Mercia Citizens advice
- The university neurodevelopmental network leads
- Transition service leads
- Integrated Children’s Disability Service
What work are you doing together?
Developing a website to support finding early support and assessment services for neurodiverse children and young people. The site will equip children, young people, parents and carers with clear information about the local services for neurodiversity, along with signposting on to support services.
Engagement showed that parents often must find their own way through a confusing maze of services and forms. Parents and carers sense they need to learn the system and then fight to get their children the preventative support they need.
Providing information early can help people get the right support and help them understand what will happen, when and how.
What has been achieved so far?
We have begun identifying ‘what does good look like’ for initial ideas and suggestions for the look, feel and content of the website. Next session will be to discuss feedback in more detail and listen to any further ideas and suggestions. The draft website structure will then be reviewed.
Can anyone join this group?
Yes absolutely! Please email Debbie Bickley at debbie.bickley@nhs.net
How often do you meet?
We meet monthly on Teams
SEND Improvement Parent and Carer Group
Who is involved?
Strategic leaders from SEND across Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board and parents and carers who have children and young people with SEND.
What work are you doing to together?
Following the Ofsted/CQC inspection the local area partnership have been working to establish a group of parents and carer to a voice with the SEND Improvement Programme. Although we work in partnership with the Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum, we recognise the need to hear and engage with families
The group is being devised to ensure that parents and carers have a voice within the SEND Improvement programme for the Local Area and have oversight of improvement activity in regard to priority actions 1 & 2 and to contribute to their development.
The purpose of these meetings is to share families’ experiences, highlight the priorities for families to make changes to improve the SEND system in Nottinghamshire.
What has been achieved so far?
The first meetings are to be held in November 2023, more meeting dates to be planned for 2024.
Can anyone join this group?
Yes, to receive updates of next meetings, please fill in the form on Get involved! (Nottinghamshire County Council)
Help us to develop SEND services
Nottinghamshire County Council are committed to co-producing SEND services with children, young people and their families. We'd love to hear from you.
View the co-production work we are doing here, then get in touch with your suggestions or ideas for co-production.
Get involved! Have a say in developing SEND services (Nottinghamshire County Council)