SEND and Inclusion Strategy 2025 to 2030

Words from our young person and partners.

This strategy has been made with the SEND young people of Buckinghamshire at its heart. Shout Out for SEND is a county-run youth project that aims to give SEND young people a voice. In this case, it’s given me an opportunity to write this foreword. But as a group, we also had several meetings focusing on the strategy and many of the statements written in the workstreams have come directly from us, in our own words.

Still, when I read this for the first time, I was emotional to see such a strong youth voice present. We live in a world that isn’t built for those with SEND and many of us work through daily challenges that we feel totally alone in facing. This leads to a lot of us feeling like we do not matter and aren’t respected.

But the statements are centred around individuals for a reason, because the work you do impacts us directly. Behind every statement is a SEND young person’s lived experience, and it matters.

Pippa
Shout Out of SEND (Young People's Participation Group)

Buckinghamshire’s Local Area Partnership is pleased to present this Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Inclusion Strategy 2025 to 2030.

This strategy demonstrates the commitment of partners to improve services for children and young people with SEND in Buckinghamshire, working collaboratively to drive change. It is this shared commitment that has enabled the Local Area to make progress in improving services and outcomes for children and young people with SEND since the Local Area SEND Inspection in March 2022.

This strategy has been developed with a wide range of stakeholders across the Local Area and we strongly believe that our culture of coproduction will enable us to deliver against it.

The strategy has high aspirations and aims to narrow the achievement gap by providing the right support at the right time. It has a focus on early support, reflecting a needs-based approach to supporting children and young people with SEND.

Our shared ambition is for every child and young person with SEND to feel included and supported when they access education and be able to take part in meaningful opportunities within the community as they transition into adulthood.

We will review the strategy and associated action plan on an annual basis to ensure that we remain focused on the right things and continue to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND in Buckinghamshire.

We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the development of this strategy.

Adekunle Osibogun
Cabinet Member for Education and Children's Services

Matthew Tait
Chief Delivery Officer
Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board