The first meeting of the renewed Richmond SEND Partnership Board was held last week on Thursday - with a great turnout from all those with responsibilities for supporting children with SEND across the borough. Leadership of the Board rests with the statutory services so the Board is Chaired by Richmond Council's Director of Children's Services, James Thomas, and the Vice-Chair is Richmond CCG's Managing Director, Tonia Michaelides; with strong support around the table from parent representatives, voluntary sector representatives, Achieving for Children, health providers, headteachers from special, primary and secondary schools, adult services, public health and elected members.
The Board will meet every two months to drive the improvement of services for children and young people. The main focus of this first meeting was to agree upon the values and vision underpinning our shared partnership approach, and to agree upon how partners will work together. The Board began its meeting with a presentation of what children and young people have said about the support they receive, and this will be the starting point for each meeting of the Board.
- All partners made a commitment to ensuring that the Board makes a positive difference for children and young people.
- All partners made a commitment to work together as a joined up system, facing challenges together in an honest and collaborative way.
- We agreed both to build upon existing strengths and to learn lessons from past mistakes.
- The Board's next task is to establish a shared understanding of local need and how well needs are currently being met, as the basis for shared priorities where we will make measurable improvements for children and young people.
James Thomas
Director of Children's Services
Chair of Richmond SEND Partnership Board