Co-production with parents
Developing a SEND parent carer involvement policy.
Co-production means working together as equal partners. Everyone’s voice matters and everyone helps shape and create projects. We each bring different skills, knowledge, and experience, which helps us make better decisions together.
West Sussex has taken an exciting step by launching a new co-production charter. Local government staff, Young Voices, the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum and NHS colleagues worked together to create it.
The charter shows a strong, shared commitment to true partnership. It sets out clear principles and expectations for co-production, making sure children, young people and families don’t just share their views - they help shape the decisions and services that affect their lives.
The impact of working co-productively with parent carers as part of the Autism in Schools Project
One of the main goals of the Autism in Schools Project is to help schools build strong relationships with parent carers of children on the SEND register. This supports genuine co-production to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
At the start of the project, the team worked with a group of parent carers in one area to create a SEND parent carer involvement policy. As the policy developed, more parent carers joined in, led by the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum.
In 2023, schools in the project uploaded the policy and adapted it to fit their own settings. The team then gathered final feedback from parent carers, acted on it, and presented the updated policy to the Together for Change panel in Summer 2025. The panel approved the policy documents.
All West Sussex County Council schools can now adapt and use this policy for the 2025 to 2026 academic year. There are four versions:
” We know that when school staff are able to engage with parent carers, recognising them as partners in their child's education and wellbeing, positive relationships develop and enhance parents’ abilities to work with schools and influence their child’s development. Developing our own West Sussex SEND Parent Carer Involvement Policy has clearly shown how positive relationships with parent carers can be enhanced with transparent sharing of information and working together for best outcomes for children with SEND.”
“We greatly appreciate the work of the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum in working with our Autism in Schools project team to produce this policy which clearly sets out how parent carers can work with schools at every stage of the graduated approach to SEND support in our West Sussex schools. Sharing the policy with all our schools is just one positive legacy we will have from the Autism in Schools Project.”
Case study on the impact of working co-productively to review policies, as part of the Autism in Schools Project
West Hoathly Primary School joined the Autism in Schools Project in early 2024. The school quickly saw the benefits of working closely with parent carers of pupils on the SEND register. One of the project’s main aims is to help schools build strong relationships with parent carers to support children and young people with SEND through genuine co-production.
Each school in the project works with the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum to set up a mini forum. These forums share information about SEND support and help build peer support networks.
Although West Hoathly is a small village school, it holds regular information sessions for parent carers of pupils with SEND. At the end of the last academic year, the school began working with parent carers to review its SEND policy.
“Working with the parent carers of our SEND pupils to shape our SEND policy has been an extremely positive experience. Not only has it helped improve understanding of what support we are able to offer in school but has also ensured that our policy is completely accessible to this key target audience.”
“I was fortunate to attend the first session with this group of parent carers. We know that being a parent carer of a child with SEND can often feel quite isolating. This inclusive practice of working with parent carers from the start of the school’s SEND policy development clearly had a positive impact on the parent carers involved.”
For more information on the policy or any other aspect of the Autism in Schools Project, contact the project lead at jane.crawford@westsussex.gov.uk.