Turning lived experience into better services
We speak up for all Newham parent carers at once. We can't take on individual cases, but we take the problems families share with us straight to the people who can fix them - and together those voices carry real weight.
- Speaking up at meetings - our parents attend the meetings where Newham plans its SEND services, so families are never left off the agenda
- Working groups - we join the smaller groups rewriting documents, changing how diagnosis works and fixing processes that frustrate families
- Surveys - we ask parents what they think, then take the answers to the people who can act on them
- Plain English - we help services write information families can actually understand
- Meetings with managers - raising the issues our members tell us about
- Listening events - finding out what worries parents most, and what is and isn't working
- Getting out and about - conferences, school events and community meetings, so more families know we exist
- Training & wellbeing events - practical sessions that support you in your caring role and reduce isolation
The meetings we attend on your behalf
Turning up once changes very little. Turning up regularly changes things. Here is where Newham parents are represented, and how often - and when the council needs parents involved in a piece of work, they come to us.
Newham Senior Managers' Fortnightly
Newham Parent Carer Forum reps attend Newham senior managers (SEND) meeting fortnightly where issues and concerns around SEND matters from our families are raised, and then we feedback the responses with our SEND families.
Regional Cluster Group
We meet forums from across our region four times a year to swap ideas, hear what has worked elsewhere, and find out what's happening nationally.
Network meetings
We meet other local voluntary groups and parent carer forums, regionally and nationally, so Newham families benefit from what is working elsewhere.
National conferences
We attend national meetings with the NNPCF, Contact and the Council for Disabled Children, so we can see the bigger picture and bring the best of it back to Newham.
Department for Education
We attend meetings with the DfE to feed back directly on what SEND families in Newham are experiencing.
National surveys
We contribute to national surveys that build a picture of what families are dealing with in Newham - and how that compares across England.
What we're asking families
We want to know what you'd like us to focus on over the next six months. You can simply receive information and answer the odd survey, or get more involved - both help. And tell us your biggest issues with the council, so we can keep putting them in front of the right people.
Part of a national movement
Funded by the DfE
Forums are supported by an annual grant from the Department for Education, keeping us independent of the council while working in partnership with it.
Supported by Contact
Contact - the charity for families with disabled children - is the DfE's delivery partner supporting parent carer forums across England with guidance and training.
Visit contact.org.uk →
NNPCF members
Through the National Network of Parent Carer Forums, Newham families' experiences influence national SEND policy and reform consultations.
Visit nnpcf.org.uk →