This page explains the work of the Parent Voice Team and how families in Bristol can share their experiences. It shows how your feedback helps improve services across education, health, and social care. You can share your views by contacting us here or completing our short surveys.
Talking with and listening to families is at the heart of everything we do. We create opportunities for families in Bristol to share their experiences of education, health and social care services, to help decision-makers at Bristol city council or within health services, understand what’s working well for fmailies and where improvements are needed.
We want every family to feel able to have their voice heard. We offer translation and interpretation support and welcome ideas on new ways to reach and involve families.
We plan part of our work to help deliver the aims set out in the area SEND strategy. This plan was created by Bristol City Council, local health services, families, schools, voluntary and community sector organisations, to help children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) get the support they need.
We also work with commissioners at Bristol City Council and in local health services. Commissioners are the people who plan, pay for, and check services to make sure families get the right support at the right time. We help them make sure that new services, or services that are being updated, meet the needs of families in Bristol.
Families’ feedback tells the people who plan and pay for services what works well, what needs to change, and how services can work together to better suport families.
Each term, we focus on important topics to collect feedback from families. These are called our termly themes. We use themes so that we can make sure we hear from families about all areas of SEND in a structured way, and so that feedback can be focused, meaningful, and useful for improving services.
You can complete any of the short surveys below, or you can share your views by contacting us here.
Tell us about the times your child has moved between schools, year groups, or different services (including from children’s to adult services).
Tell us about the health services your child uses, like GPs, dentists, hospitals, assessments, therapists, or mental health support, and how easy they are to access.
Tell us about the social care support your child, siblings, or your family receives, including short breaks, home help, time you have apart from your child and other family support.
Tell us about your child’s experiences at school, how included they feel, and whether they are supported to take part in lessons and activities.
Tell us about your own experiences as a parent or carer, including support you get to manage everyday life, your wellbeing, and balancing family responsibilities.
Tell us about your experiences with EHCPs, including assessments, reviews, and appeals. We also want to hear about home-to-school transport and whether it works for your family.
We listen carefully to what families tell us and take it seriously.
We look for patterns in what people say. This helps us understand what is working well and what needs to change.
We share these messages with education, health, and social care services, without naming families. We explain what families are experiencing and what they need to be different.
We ask questions, challenge things that are not working, and keep raising issues until changes are made or clear answers are given.
When you share your views, you help make things better – not just for your family, but for others too
When parent carers share their views with us, those experiences do not sit on a shelf.
Families across Bristol tell us what is working well and what is not. We bring these shared experiences together to build a clear picture of families’ needs and priorities.
We work with education, health, and social care teams, using parent carers’ feedback to inform discussions, raise questions, and support improvements in how support is planned and delivered.
Because families share their views, services have better information, a stronger understanding of real-life experiences, and clearer insight into what families need to see change.
This is how individual voices become collective impact.
We know that sharing your experiences can feel personal. We take this seriously and do everything we can to keep your information safe.
You can choose what you share with us. You never have to give names or details that could identify you or your child unless you want to.
We store information securely and only use it to understand what is working well and what needs to improve for families. We do not share personal details without permission.
When we talk to services about what families have told us, we do this in a general way. This means we focus on patterns and themes, not individual stories.
Our role is to listen, protect your voice, and make sure families are heard safely and respectfully.
If you ever have questions or worries about how your information is used, you can ask us at any time.
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