Support for families with SEND, Gloucestershire’s Local Offer
Introducing Dan and his role supporting development of our Local Offer.
Hi, I’m Dan Furmage and I’m the new SEND Information Development Officer, overseeing Support for families with SEND – Gloucestershire’s Local Offer, as part of the Glosfamilies Directory. First of all, I wanted to say it’s a great be able to introduce myself in an issue of Families In Partnership.
I’ve worked in a variety of different teams within the council, having recently moved from working with young people with Special Education Needs & Disabilities accessing Supported Internships as part of the Forwards Education Team. This involved helping young people alongside parent carers and their support network, with taking their first step into employment in their last year of education.
My new role is all about supporting and building on the development of the Local Offer, now called Support for families with SEND – Gloucestershire’s Local Offer. You might have already heard of Local Offer – it’s basically a directory of Information and services for parents and carers of children/young people with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities), located alongside the Glosfamilies Directory.
The whole Glosfamilies Directory, which includes Support for families with SEND – Gloucestershire’s Local Offer, Future Me, the Young Persons Local Offer and Information for Families, is going through a big redevelopment.
The focus is on making the site more accessible and intuitive, modern and interactive, and most importantly more co-productive. This involves working closely with parent carer support organisations, like the Parent Carer Forum and Gloucestershire Carers Hub, alongside young people from schools & colleges to make sure the Local Offer and directory work right for the people who will use it. Updating content in co-production is ongoing. The IT elements of the improvements to the platform will be delivered in May/June 2023.
Visit Glosfamilies Directory.
If you would like to share your views about the Local Offer, you can email me directly on Daniel.furmage@gloucestershire.gov.uk, or via Gloucestershire’s Local Offer, LocalOffer@gloucestershire.gov.uk.
I’m also involved with developing the Families Matter Newsletter which is produced 3 times per year and shares information, advice and activities with parents signed up to the disability register for children and young people, called The Key.