SEND

Service Design Project exploring Special Educational Needs and Disability provision in Newcastle & Gateshead

In 2016 Roots & Wings was commissioned to produce a service design report looking at how young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can be better supported when preparing for adulthood, with a focus specifically on the areas of Independent Living and Inclusion in Society.

After a long but hugely edifying period of workshops with young people with SEND, as well as a lengthy consultation process with parents, carers and professionals, we managed to pull together the following report containing a thorough assessment of current service provisions in the aforementioned areas, what works and what doesn’t, and how it could be improved. Whilst Roots & Wings’ power to actually implement these recommendations ends with this report, the council spoke very highly of our process and they definitely made all the right noises when we presented them our findings, so obviously we live in hope that it will go on to have a positive impact on the shape of Newcastle-Gateshead SEND provision, and on the lives of all the inspiring young people we met whilst working on it!

All of the recommendations in the report are based directly on what we learned through talking to the young people themselves, albeit tempered by what we learned from service providers and professionals, and further shaped by the iterative nature of the suggestion-and-feedback process. In other words, there’s nothing in the report that we do not believe is realistic and achievable, and within the remit of the partners of this service re-design process.

To read our SEND REVIEW 2016, click here!