A few weeks ago I met the wonderful Woldingham SEND Parent Support Group – local parents of children with special educational needs who wanted to talk to me about their experience with Surrey County Council’s SEND services.

They had specific concerns about the quality of communication coming from SCC and the time it was taking to get support plans in place for their children.

I arranged a meeting with Cllr Clare Curran and Liz Mills, who have responsibility for education and children’s services in Surrey. We had a very open and honest discussion about the pressures on Surrey’s SEND department over the past couple of years, and what Surrey are doing to improve outcomes for children and their families.

With more SEND caseworkers coming on board in the coming weeks and a plan to improve communication between SCC and parents, I hope we’ll start to see improvements and better results for our most vulnerable children.

They also pointed me in the direction of Family Voice Surrey, who speak up for the families of children with additional needs in Surrey. If this sounds like something you might find useful, you can find more info here: https://www.familyvoicesurrey.org/