‘Experts by experience’ to influence special education services in Hertfordshire

The four young people – who all have experience of the county’s SEND (Special educational needs and disabilities) services – will each spend eight days working for the SEND partnership.

They will take the lead in engaging with other young people in order to support the improvement of SEND services in the county.

And they will feed back to the directors of the SEND partnership, which includes county council and NHS bosses.

CJ Ezeife, Ellis Walker, Dom Harvey and Katie Madsen have been appointed to the roles until June 2025.

CJ, aged 24, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he wants to help give young people a better experience of living with a special educational need.

“I want to help give young people and children a much better experience of living with a special educational need as I strongly feel it is not something that should never hold you back in life,” he said.

“I want to give them the opportunity to be heard and connect and learn from other people.”

CJ says the appointment of the four ‘experts by experience’ is a “good idea” because it will enable them to help others with similar disabilities

Already the ‘experts’ have fed back that young people may prefer to be communicated with by email, rather than phone – giving them longer to process the message and form a response.

They have pushed the need for sensory breaks when young people with SEND receive medical treatment, such as occupational therapy.

And over the next 12 months their focus will include a review of the ‘local offer’ and the use of social media, as well as looking at ways to improve the involvement of children and young people in the EHCP (Education, Health and Care plan) process.

The appointments come just months after an inspection of the SEND partnership found there were ‘systemic failings’ that led to ‘significant concerns’ about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND.

And head of improvement and transformation Samantha Rostom says the involvement of the young experts is part of the “improvement journey”.

“It’s really really important,” she said. “It’s mission critical to engage this community of service users.”

She also highlights the council’s investment of £7m in SEND services, as part of the drive to building capacity, capability and improvement.

In addition to the four ‘experts by experience’ there is a network of Young People’s Councils, who feed in their views.

And there is a newly created ‘Voices of Hertfordshire’ which has been set up to enable children and young people in Hertfordshire special schools to influence change.