Agenda item

[Brenda Wile, Deputy Director of Education, Helen Bakewell, Head of Inclusion and Empowerment  and Sarah Baker – Voice of Parents to present report]

Cllr Dr Mike Hardacre, Cabinet Member Education and Skills, gave a brief introduction to the report which gives details about the Ofsted/CQC inspection of the Local Area special education needs and disabilities (SEND) support and provision.

The Cabinet Member commented on the change in approach to the inspection of SEND services by over the years and the focus is now on having a dialogue with the local authority about any issues highlighted during their visit.  The Cabinet Member advised the panel that the Council was being assessed against the current inspection framework. A new SEND assessment framework will be issued in April 2022. The framework has been informed by the lessons learnt and experience of how the current framework works.

The findings from the inspection completed in September 2021 will report on areas that the Council is doing well and areas for improvement. The SEND report findings will be published in the early 2022 and the Council will have the opportunity to comment on the draft before publication.

The Chair invited Brenda Wile, Deputy Director of Education, to give the detailed presentation to the panel on progress made provide services for children, young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND). The Deputy Director advised the panel that the update on SEND provision would cover the SEND leisure offer provided during the Easter and summer programmes, an update on the Ofsted/ CQC inspection of the Local Area SEND support and provision, and comments from Councillors who visited Green Park School recently.

The Deputy Director of Education added that representatives from Voice for Parents who contributed to the development of the SEND holiday provision will also be sharing their experiences.

The Deputy Director of Education stated that the vision of the SEND policy was that families with children with special educational needs and disabilities have good quality, ordinary life and are supported to achieve their full potential.  The stated vision for SEND links to the priorities in the Relighting Our City plan to support people who need us most and create more opportunities for young people.

The Deputy Director of Education gave further details about the vision and priorities of the SEND strategy and the background to how it was developed and would be used to support the provision of services in the future. The Deputy Director of Education outlined the planned key actions for 2021 – 2022 for implementing the strategy and explained how the service will be focused on moving the service forward. The plan will be reviewed when the new SEND framework is published. The Deputy Director invited Sarah Barker, Voice for Parents, to brief the panel about their role in the development of the Easter activity sensory and wellbeing pack 2021.

Sarah Barker, Chair Voice for Parents, advised the panel that an application was made to the Council earlier in the year to fund the development of a sensory pack for families, who felt isolated and wanting opportunities for their children. At the same time Voice for Parents did a survey to find out what local families thought about the leisure offer for children, young people with SEND. The information from the survey will help to inform the wider offer in the future.

Sarah Baker, Voice for Parents, added that the activities had a positive impact of children and young people taking part, some of the children took part in horse riding, travelling on a narrow boat for the first time. Sarah Baker commented on positive benefits for families being able to meet other families in the same situation in terms of making new friends and getting support. Sarah Baker highlighted the positive impact on the siblings of children with SEND being able to meet other children and to take part in different leisure activities during the summer holidays.    

Jayne Evans, Voice for Parents, commented on the SEND offer to older children during the summer programme and welcomed the fact that they attended events. Jayne Evans, Voice for Parents, added that there is a recognition within the group that families struggle to find suitable activities. Jayne Evans, Voice for Parents, commented on the activities planned for the October half term holiday for families with SEND needs.

The Deputy Director thanked the speakers for their support in co-ordinating the summer holiday programme of activities.

The Deputy Director outlined the timetable of the SEND Local Area Inspection since they received the telephone call on 13 September 2021.  The Council received unofficial feedback from the inspectors on 24 September 2021. A letter of findings is expected at the end of October 2021. The inspectors looked at the quality of SEND provision for the provision for children, young people and how well the Council had implemented the reforms from 2014. The inspectors gathered evidence from key colleagues across the partnership and from families using different consultation methods to find out how they felt their children needs had been identified and met.

The Deputy Director gave a summary of some of the unofficial feedback from the inspectors on the final day of their visit.

The panel thanked the Deputy Director for the presentation and welcomed the support offered to families with children or young people with SEND and added that the service is making a huge difference to them.

The panel queried the provision of leisure activities for SEND children outside of the holiday periods, which had been highlighted as an issue during the inspection. The panel also queried the difficulties reported by some families in getting access to the sensory support services and that Brickkiln Community Centre and Sensory Room site is still closed.

The panel wanted more opportunities for parents to attend in the week, due to the cost of using the facilities at the weekend.

The Deputy Director commented that immediate changes were made to the provision of this service at Brickklin Community Centre and Sensory Room in response to some feedback from parents of young people about opening times offered. The Deputy Director advised the panel that service accepted the feedback and in response there is now provision of sensory support at The Way and the Centre for Children. The Deputy Director agreed to update the panel on the current situation as regards Brickkiln Street when known.

Andrew Wolverson, Head of Service, added that the new sensory room opened at The Way on 19 October 2021.

The Head of Service accepted that some parents felt that the current offer for young people was not appropriate and suggested that Carla Priddon, Chief Executive, The Way, would be happy to attend a future meeting to brief members on the offer.

The Head of Service added that some young people from Brickkiln Street are now attending The Way, however the number of COVID 19 restrictions has meant numbers who can access the facility is limited. The sensory room at Brickkiln Street would be required to be made Covid 19 secure before it can re-open properly. The Head of Service reassured the panel that this situation would be kept under constant review and the facility will be reopened as soon as possible, and parents will be informed.

The Deputy Director advised the panel that in terms of out of holiday SEND provision for young people it is expected that as providers get back to normal the situation is expected to improve. The Deputy Director added that the Council is committed to offering services at the weekend however the requirement to comply with Covid 19 will limit progress. The current high number of Covid 19 cases in the City is a cause of concern and schools are being asked to limit large groups gathering and to wear masks in communal areas.

The Executive Director added that feedback from families has highlighted the concern from families that the universal SEND offer is not enough. The panel were reassured that the continued work with members of Voice for Parents is an indication of the Council’s commitment to develop and broaden the universal SEND offer.

The panel commented on difficulties reported by parents when booking sessions at The Children's Village Strengthening Families Hub and would like to see improvements to address these concerns. The Deputy Director of Education accepted there were concerns from parents about the service and the website was not most user-friendly system. The current system is old and there are plans to replace it with a system which is more accessible and easier for parents. The Deputy of Director advised the panel that the review is being led by Head of Service who will be commissioning the new system.

The panel commented on the positive impact of children and young people without disabilities who volunteered to help during the summer programme and suggested other young people may also be interested.

The Deputy Director of Education endorsed the comment about the work of volunteers who supported the delivery of activities to young people during the summer programme. The Deputy Director of Education accepted the need to provide young people 16-18 with SEND with more activities for this age group. The Chair thanked the presenters for their presentation.

The Chair invited Cllrs Adam Collinge, Wendy Dalton and Stephanie Haynes who visited Green Park School to give feedback to the panel. 

The group who attended the school wanted to firstly express they’re thanks to the staff and pupils who were so friendly and welcoming during the tour. The group also wanted to praise the children they met who were both a credit to the school and their families.

The group were impressed by the range of facilities on offer and the level of positive engagement by children in the lessons they observed and with each other, which was inspiring to see. The group outlined the details about the school catchment area and the outdoor education facilities on offer. There are plans to further develop the outdoor spaces to provide more interactive learning and play spaces suitable for children with a range of needs.

The group were advised the school is focused on meeting the needs of children and young people with profound SEND. The school caters for children aged from early years to the age of 18 years. The school stayed open during the national lockdowns and continued to provide transport for children, in contrast to other similar school’s where transport service was suspended. The staff worked hard to protect children and vulnerable staff during the period and reported that only five Covid 19 cases were directly linked to the school.  The group welcomed the way that classes were organised based on need rather than age.

The group was advised that the school works closely with colleagues at The Gem Centre when assessing the needs of a child.  There was concern about difficulties in children from the school accessing dental services. The level of attendance by pupils has been good since the start of September.

The group commented on discussions during the visit which highlighted issues caused by the current allocation policy and the extent to which the school can best meet the needs of a specific child, whose needs may have changed since they were last assessed. The staffing and resourcing situation at the school was also affected by major changes in the profile of needs of children from one year to next, which added to the challenge of creating educational clusters of children with similar needs.

The situation was further complicated by the delays in completing Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), which can take up 20 weeks, during which time a child’s needs may have changed from the date of the original assessment.

The group advised the panel that the school was original designed to cater for 100 pupils. There are now 145 children attending the school which presents a challenge due to limited storage space available for equipment that is needed to support a child.

The group explained that several storage spaces areas in the school have been converted to either classrooms or informal breakout areas to meet the increased pupils’ numbers.

The group commented on the issue of the career options for young people leaving the school highlighted during the visit and need to offer suitable employment and training opportunities, which are limited.  The school wanted support from the Council to help young people during the period of transition from school to work.

The panel discussed the allocation policy and the specific issue raised by the group.

The EHC planning and assessment process should take no more than 20 weeks from the date of the request until the plan is issued. There was acceptance by the pane of the challenges facing the different partner agencies which has led to delays in completing assessments.

The Cabinet Member commented the Council is committed to completing assessments within the agreed target time and was this is seen as a priority for the service. However, the achievement of the target was as stated previously reliant both on other agencies involved completing their work and the constraints of the school calendar.

The group discussed whether the demand for places at Green Park School by parents was an indication of the quality of mainstream provision to meet the needs of children with SEND. The Executive Director of Families commented that recent visit by inspectors had highlighted the excellent quality of special school provision but identified there were some areas of provision across the City needing improvement.

The Executive Director of Families added there was further work to demonstrate to families with SEND children that mainstream school provision can be as good an experience for children with disabilities as that offered by special schools and reported that good progress was being made.

The panel welcomed the report and thanked the presenters.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to receive detailed findings of the SEND local area inspection to a future meeting for consideration and comment.