Agenda item

Emma Ferrey, SEND Review Project Manager presented a report which consulted on the final draft of the High Needs Strategy 2017-2022 and which requested members note the findings of the High Needs Review.

Consultation had been carried out with a range of stakeholders, including parents and carers of children with high needs, clinical commissioning group staff and staff from children’s and adults’ services in the local authority.  The Review was undertaken to evaluate the delivery of support and the provision for children and young people with high needs across all partners providing children’s services.  A study into the provision in early years, schools, alternative provision and post-16 provision, highlighted a large gap between what high need children achieve against their peers.

Members discussed the proposed changes which would take effect from April 2018, as detailed in the report.  Concern was expressed regarding the different routes for a child with needs to be admitted to a particular school i.e. via a managed move, Special Educational Needs Panel or via the In-Year Fair Access Panel. 

Further concern was raised regarding the need for staff to receive the appropriate training to support a child with particular needs and to ensure that the environment were enabled, however the financial package of support usually came after a child had been admitted to a school.  The need for high needs to be distributed across schools was identified, as eventually a saturation point would be met and the standard of provision would decline.   There was also a need for headteachers to challenge one another. 

Trevor Cook advised that joint briefing sessions would be held in the new year on the legal framework of the Fair Access Protocol, Special Educational Needs and Admissions, and advice on how these teams work together.  . 

A proposed change in the strategy was to re-designate special schools, as appropriate and to reduce the number of pupils with moderate learning difficulties who attend special schools and enable special schools to support the growing numbers of children with more complex needs.  It was explained that this would be addressed by increasing the amount of Alternative Resource Provisions (ARPs).  The strategy and its review acknowledged the strain on accommodation and aimed to ensure continuity of greater parity across the borough and supported schools to challenge their peers.  The positive recognition of daily strains on school accommodation was welcomed by members.

The need to reduce the process time for putting an educational healthcare plan in place was highlighted and concern was raised regarding the difficulties providers experience in sourcing an educational psychologist/Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) for Early Years and Key Stage 1 to assess a child, especially with a significant decrease in the number of area SENCOs in the Private, Voluntary and Independent Sector.  It was explained that the strategy recognises that area SENCOs were not at full capacity, but this would change. 

Members enquired why training had not been fully costed into the strategy. Emma explained that the cost for the first year would be met within existing training budgets via the CAD Service. It is expected that there will be clear savings in following years, from the reducing number of children and young people going out of borough for their education. Further budgets will be drawn up for subsequent years.

The final draft strategy would be consulted upon and the deadline for comments was the 19th December 2017. The strategy would be signed off by Executive Decision in January 2018 and the strategy and review would be published and available on the Local Offer from February 2018.

Resolved:

That the review on the Strategy, be noted and feedback be provided.