Hackney Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Inclusion 3 Year Strategy

We have agreed, as a local area partnership, to use the following definition to drive our work/focus on inclusion and enable a collaborative approach in Hackney. 

‘Inclusion means identifying and supporting the full range of needs through flexible, personalised support. This starts with a strong universal offer, with an emphasis on welcoming all children, young people and families and creating a culture of belonging in Hackney communities.’

Through the co-production process, five overarching priorities have been identified for the strategy. These are [in alphabetical order]:

• Emotional Wellbeing and Belonging
• Inclusive Environments (Spaces, Services, and Attitudes) and Belonging
• Transitions and Future Pathways
• Waiting times and equitable access to support
• Workforce Development, Training & Resources

We have also drawn up the following collective vision statement:

'Our vision is for a borough where every child and young person with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is empowered to thrive, achieve their full potential, and live lives that are as independent, healthy, and fulfilling as possible.

To achieve this, we will develop a collaborative, transparent, and equitable system that is driven by the voices of children, young people, and their families. This system will support our schools and settings to identify needs early and provide efficient, sustainable, and high-quality provision, in the right place, at the right time.'  

We will deliver this as a local area partnership made up of the local authority, local health services, education providers, Hackney SEND Parent Carer Forum, working in co-production with children and young people with SEND. 

The updated SEND and Inclusion strategy has been co-produced by Hackney families, professionals and practitioners. It draws on the lived experience and knowledge of children and young people with SEND and those who care for them, as well as that of the local authority and NHS services, settings, providers, and voluntary and community organisations who form our local area partnership. 

Workshops, discussions, targeted questionnaires, and surveys have been carried out since April 2025, through a variety of in-person and online formats. Our core stakeholder groups throughout have been:

• Children and young people
• Parents and carers
• Teachers/ SENCOs/ school governors
• Professionals and practitioners 

In addition, the SENDAP partnership board has been updated regularly, and feedback on our approach taken on board. 

Our co-production cycle followed three key phases:

Phase 1 (April-May 2025)

• More than 200 children, young people, parents, carers, and professionals engaged in online and in-person workshops and discussions. They talked about the key issues and challenges they wanted to address in the new SEND and Inclusion Strategy. This has underpinned the development of the priorities that form this strategy.

Phase 2 (June-July 2025)

• 128 children, young people, parents, carers, and professionals shared their views about how we should prioritise the biggest issues and challenges and the solutions and outcomes that we should work towards to address them. This helped us to refine the priorities, draft the vision statement, and define the outcomes you want to see.

Phase 3 (current phase)

• Children, young people, parents, carers, and professionals are invited to provide feedback on the priorities proposed for the strategy. Your input will be incorporated into a refined final version. 

To ensure we have heard from a reflective range of the diverse voices of children and young people with SEND, and their families, we have been assisted by Hackney SEND Parent Carer Forum, Interlink, Chinuch UK, Children Ahead, iNDEPth (Young People’s Neurodivergent Panel), the Huddleston Centre and Immediate Theatre, and The Boxing Academy. 

Ongoing dialogue with, and input from, our colleagues across the health, social care and education sectors is ensuring that this is a holistic strategy supported across our Local Area Partnership.

This strategy sets the priorities and outcomes we want to see over the next three years and we will agree on ambitious, but realistic, actions and initiatives to achieve them through an annual planning process. 

Each year, the SENDAP Partnership Board will agree to an Annual Delivery Plan, where individuals, organisations, and service providers across the partnership will commit to specific actions, to be delivered against our five priorities that coming year. The Board will evaluate the delivery of the previous year’s Delivery Plan and publish a report.