south tyneside’s stronger together strategy€¦ · councillor joan atkinson lead member...

Hello TomorrowChange is Happening

South Tyneside’s Stronger Together Strategy

2018-2021

Contents

Introduction 4

Our ambition 5

The Best Start in Life Vision 6

National context 7

Local Context 8

What have young people and families told us? 9

Landscape of SEND Need in South Tyneside 10

Early Years 11

Primary 11

Secondary 12

Post-16 12

Training and Support 13

South Tyneside’s Local Offer 14

How are we improving our processes and provision? 15

Identified areas for development 16

How will we measure our success? 19

Governance 20

Glossary 21

SEND Strategy Group Membership 22

best start in life www.southtyneside.gov.uk/beststart2 3

Introduction

We want South Tyneside’s children and families to get the best start in life, remain healthy and aspire to a bright and prosperous future. To ensure everyone reaches their full potential, we will work together to provide the best possible learning and recreation opportunities, with targeted protection, care and support for those in greatest need.

Our vision for our children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is for all young people aged 0-25 to have high aspirations, and that they achieve well at school and college and lead fulfilling, happy lives.

This Strategy document has been co-produced by the local authority, Head Teachers, Health partners, and our Parent Carer Forum (Stronger Together South Tyneside).

Our Strategy is about removing barriers to support, rather than creating them. Rather than looking at individual age ranges, we want to look at children and young people across their education milestones. The Strategy document was subject to consultation throughout November and December 2017, and feedback and comments received have been incorporated throughout this Strategy and our accompanying delivery plan.

A glossary is provided on page 19 to assist with terminology used in the strategy. Supporting this Strategy is a range of performance information, which can be found online on our SEND portal at http://ictinschools.org/other-curriculum-resources/

The Minister of State for Children and Families recognised South Tyneside as an area of good practice at a national Parent Carer Forum held in 2017, highlighting the integrated models of working between the Local Authority and Parent Carer Forum. This is central to how we plan to support our children and young people with SEND, providing them all with the best start in life.


Councillor Joan Atkinson

Lead Member Children, Young People and Families

John Pearce

Corporate Director Children, Adults and Health, South Tyneside Council

Our ambition

The South Tyneside Best Start in Life Strategy 2017-2020 outlines our shared vision for all children and young people to get the best start in life, through the delivery of the Partnership’s shared vision. The Strategy sets out plans to build safer and stronger families, improve enterprise learning and skills opportunities, and develop healthier communities.

One ‘obsession’ contained within the Best Start in Life Strategy is the support for children and young people with SEND.

We want every child and young person with SEND to have the opportunity to achieve their full potential, find employment and have choice and control over the provision and support they need.

Through the delivery of our Strategy, we will improve service provision for children and young people with SEND, focussing on improved outcomes and providing the best start in life through our 4 strategic priorities.

These are:

1 Identify need at the earliest stage to ensure the right children are in the right placement with the right support

2 Improving local provision so that our young people can be educated in their communities

3 Increasing achievement and opportunities for children and young people with SEND

4 Embedding excellent training and outreach to help with stronger inclusion

The Best Start in Life vision

We want South Tyneside’s children and families to get the best start in life remain healthy and aspire to a bright and prosperous future. To ensure everyone reaches their full potential, we will work together to provide the best possible learning and recreation opportunities, with targeted protection, care and support for those in greatest need.

National context

The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced major reforms to the way local authorities should support children

and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Included in this Act is the introduction of a Code of

Practice covering the 0-25 age range.

The code of practice can be found at http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25

Included in the Children and Families Act 2014 were strengthened and additional responsibilities around the following:

• The strengthening of the SEND Code of Practice for children and young people aged 0-25 to include support for disability as well as SEN.

• A clear focus on participation of children and families in decision making

• Joint planning and commissioning of services between education, health and social care

• More detailed guidance on the publication of a ‘Local Offer’ of support for children and families

• The introduction of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) to replace statements and learning and difficulty assessments.

When a young person is identified as being in need of additional support, it may be necessary for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) to be provided. Parents are involved in the development of these plans, and they are used to specify the specific educational requirements for a child. Where appropriate, additional elements may be included that relate to health and social care, however these are not included in all EHCPs.

Healthier Communities

Protecting health

Promoting healthy lifestyles

Reducing risk taking behaviour

Enterprise Learning and Skills

Provide a choice of high quality early years settings, schools and

post-16 providers

Providing a range of high quality training and employment

opportunities

Providing support for those with special educational needs and/or

disabilities

Safer and Stronger Families

Building stronger families through early help and support

Protecting children and young people at risk

Giving our looked after children the best start in life

OBSESSIONS

Safely manage the proportion of looked after children

Support for families suffering from domestic abuse

OBSESSIONS

Develop support offer for those young people with SEND

Continue to develop world class education offer

OBSESSIONS

Reduce number of mothers smoking during pregnancy

Reduce childhood excess weight

Improved emotional health and wellbeing of all children and young people


Our story so far…

In 2017, the SEND Service undertook a self-evaluation of the service to analyse current service provision and identify areas for development.

Areas for improvement

• Collection, recording and analysis of data around SEND.

• ICT systems required updating and aligning with other relevant systems

• Compliance with the requirements of the SEND Code of Practice (2014) with respect to completion of EHCPs and in respect of updating and amending Annual Reviews.

• Use of SEND panels and effective criteria for the allocation of High Needs funding.

• The need for high quality EHCP Plans and simplified paperwork

• Sufficiency of specialist places to meet more complex need

• Training for Head Teachers, SENCOs and Governors on SEND

Progress made

• Timescale established for data retrieval and analysis

• Short term strategy in place to achieve consistency in the recording of data

• Data is now available on completion rates and gaps/reasons have been identified. Increased capacity to manage assessment demands

• A SEND panel structure in place for September 2017 involving schools and services. An Early Years SEND panel to be established in the Autumn term (2017)

• SEND Ranges under consultation with schools

• An electronic provision map is currently under development

• New paperwork sent out to schools and simplified documentation now being written

• Ongoing intensive work on placements for September

• Training in place for SENCOs and Head Teachers with excellent feedback and full attendance by schools and services.

• Our Parent Carer Forum is re-writing the SEND Ranges to make them accessible and understandable for parents

What have young people and families told us?


The three things that matter the most to us are:

1. Quality of SEN support in mainstream schools

2. Transition planning and process

3. Quality of EHC Plans

Parents want more information on the EHC plans on the voice of the young person

“No decision about me without me”

We want professionals to come to the EHC plan meetings more frequently

The ADHD and ASD Support groups are helpful however there is not a support group for children who have not got this diagnosis and do not have SEND.

Parents would find it useful to have specialist training for those who are supporting them via the direct payments scheme

Sometimes some professionals can be unapproachable and hard to communicate with

School staff must listen to parents more as they know their children the best

Young people with SEND want to work and plan for the future

They want to learn new skills and gain carried work experience

Young people want work experience that reflects their interests – learning more about designing computer games and placements in games shops

They want support around life skills, travel, training, job hunting on line, sex education and internet safety

They want statutory services i.e. council, health, fire and police to offer work experience and real employment opportunities

They want parents and carers to be less protective

They want places to go at night

They want more information on sport and leisure facilities across South Tyneside

Transition needs to be improved between schools / settings as well as signposting to various services

Schools need to be more welcoming to those children with sensory processing difficulties and to have a higher level of awareness when things are going wrong

Holiday activities are great but they are very hard to book as the places go very quickly and if you are not on email you don’t have a chance!

27 Of the 57 permanent exclusions in the 2016/17 academic year, 27 had SEN support (47.4%)

15 of these pupils had SEMH as a primary support reason

Out of 4,498 The three most common needs are:

• Speech Language and Communication: 18.0%• Social, Emotional and Mental Health: 14.8%• Specific Learning Difficulties: 14.5%

Average school attendancePrimary School

94.75%

Secondary Schools

92.26%

Special Schools

91.38%

Early Years

Only 5 children in nursery (0.3%) have a statement or EHC Plan and 130 (7.92%) have SEN support. This suggests that SEN is spotted further in education in South Tyneside. Nationally, pupils with a statement or EHC Plan (0.8%) and SEN support (12.8%) are significantly higher than South Tyneside.

The most common need identified amongst children in Early Years settings is SLCN, which is prevalent in 64.44% of all nursery children.

South Tyneside performs below the England average for children with a statement or EHCP, above average for those with SEN but no statement and in line for those children with SEN. In 2016, there were 36 pupils with a statement or EHCP.

There were 70 referrals for PVIs and Children’s Centres received during 2016/17, with SLCN identified as the primary need in 75% of referrals.

The Portage Home Visiting Service received 65 referrals from September 2016 – July 2017, with Developmental Delay accounting for 43% of these referrals.

In 2015/16, there were a significant number of permanent exclusions at Early Years / Reception key stages. This dropped significantly in 2016/17.

What are we going to do?

• SLCN support to be prioritised through outreach support in our children’s centres.

• Implementing support for challenging behaviours through specialist provision at one of our nursery schools

• Integrate portage and preschool within our children’s centres in the areas of greatest need to increase knowledge and capacity.

Primary

A total of 2,381 pupils at primary school have SEN needs. Of these, 26.5% have SLCN.

The highest need is that of ASC with 48.0% of pupils having this as their primary need and SLCN at 9%. Nationally, the most common primary need is ASC at 27.8% and SLCN at 24.7%.

In 2016, South Tyneside pupils without SEN performed better than the England, North East and Statistical Neighbours with 70% of non-SEN pupils meeting expected standards in reading, writing and maths. Conversely, no pupils with a statement or EHCP in South Tyneside met these standards compared with England (7%), North East (7%) and Statistical Neighbours (7.3%).

Those children who are identified as having SEN but have no statement or EHCP perform slightly better with 20% meeting the expected standard compared to England (16%), North East (19%) and Statistical Neighbours (19.3%).

In 2016, there were 47 pupils with a statement or EHCP, 314 with SEN but no statement and 1,173 without SEN.


• ASC support and training for staff is required to support children progressing from Early Years to Primary mainstream settings.

• A Primary Behaviour Strategy is in development, which will tackle ASC and SEMH at its core.

• Develop training with lead professionals regarding EHCP processes.


Landscape of SEND Need in South Tyneside

22,079 pupilsWe have 22,079 pupils in nursery, primary and secondary school in South Tyneside, with nearly 24%

identified as having SEND

Nursery 135

Primary 2,381

Secondary 1,456

Special 476

PRU 50

TOTAL 4,498

Nursery schools

0.3% of nursery children have a statement or EHC

Plan and 7.92% have SEN Support

Primary schools

1.3% of students in primary school have a statement or EHC Plan and 19.4% have

SEN Support

Secondary schools

1.7% of students in secondary school have a

statement or EHC Plan and 15.6% have SEN

Support

Special schools99.3% of students at

Special Schools have an EHCP or Statement. 0.63% have been identified to have

SEN and should be soon changed into EHCP

Post 16

174 are in education or employment

18 are not in education employment or training

3 are unknown

Secondary

Of the 1,456 SEN pupils at secondary school, 28.4% have SPLD as a primary need. There are 141 pupils placed at secondary school with a statement or EHCP (1.7%), which matches the national profile.

The most common primary need for SEN support is SPLD (30.65%).

In 2015/16, The Attainment 8 score for children with SEN statements or EHCPs was 12.5 for South Tyneside pupils compared with 17 for England, 14 for the North East and 13 for statistical neighbours. Similarly, pupils with a statement or EHC plan in South Tyneside perform below regional and national averages and statistical neighbours when looking at Progress 8 measures.

In 2016/17, there were 10 permanent exclusions in Year 10, with only 2 in Year 11. All exclusions were for young people with SEN support, and no permanent exclusions occurred for young people with EHCPs or statements.


• SPLD is a significant and increasing need, and we will need to look at increasing our support for this area to help schools with their interventions.

Special Schools

There are currently 4 special schools operating within South Tyneside. Out of the 473 pupils currently based at these schools, 32% of children have MLD as a primary need. The figure for MLD nationally is 14.5% with ASC at 26.9%. The second and third most common primary needs at special schools are SLD (16.7%) and then SEMH (14.8%).

Currently, where children display challenging behaviours, a number of these are placed in out of authority placements due to current capacity within our own special schools and resource bases.


• We will work closely with special schools and resource bases to increase capacity, ensuring the designation of school is right for each child.

• Look at increasing local capacity locally and reviewing provision for challenging behaviours, or those who do not engage in education, to reduce the reliance on out of authority placements.

Post-16

Of the 195 students with EHCP or Statements who are tracked, 18 are not in education, employment or training and 3 are unknown. Additionally, there is a clear pattern in the reduction of tracked individuals as they progress through year groups.

Young people aged 16-25 with SEN require support in their transition and preparation for adulthood, and it is the responsibility of the local authority to engage and consult with key stakeholders to ensure the right levels of support are made available to all young people in this vulnerable cohort.

Further support is required around preparation for adulthood, for example helping with independent travel training.


• Improved tracking mechanisms are needed to ensure all young people with SEN are tracked and supported up to age 25.

• Work with further education providers to better understand and shape the support offered and transition to work for young people aged 16-25.

• Look at how to utilise the Apprenticeship Levy to support employment opportunities across the Partnership, including in Schools where appropriate.

Training and support

Our local SENDIASS has worked closely with our SEND Team and the Parent Carer Forum (Stronger Together South Tyneside) around the development of a comprehensive training offer. This is currently being rolled-out to local schools, with high levels of engagement from Head Teachers, SENCOs and Governors. The Training programme has been designed to provide those working and engaging with children and young people with SEN to provide the support our local intelligence tells us is required in South Tyneside.

Wherever possible, we will aim to deliver training jointly with our partners, which includes our Parent Carer Forum and professionals such as Clinical Psychologists or School Nurses.


SENDIASS

SEND TEAm

STrONgEr TOgETHEr

SOuTH TyNESIDE

South Tyneside’s Local Offer

Our local offer has recently been refreshed and relaunched, with input from our Parent Carer Forum, Stronger Together South Tyneside. The Local Offer aims to help us make sure that we are providing the sort of services that families have told us they need.

In preparing the refreshed Local Offer, consultation took place with parents and carers. Based on feedback received, some of the improvements made to the Local Offer include:

• Separating different sections to make navigation easier

• Information on money and benefits and transport is more easily accessible

• Relevant information on disability support is included in a more prominent area on the Local Offer webpage.

The Local Offer has been subject to peer review prior to being re-launched.

Our Local Offer can be accessed online via our Best Start in Life website, (www.southtyneside.gov.uk/BestStart) or directly at:

https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/ 37862/SEN-and-Disabilities

To further improve our Local Offer, we will continue to consult with Stronger Together South Tyneside, via our Local Offer Steering Group. As new services are developed and shaped, the site will be continually updated.

Our plans include:

• An improved interface with streamlined contact details

• More prominent information on local activities and support groups

• Information on our complaints and compliments procedures more easily accessible

• Incorporate learning from training events to further develop our Local Offer

How are we improving our processes and provision?

We are developing effective working practices, building relationships, and beginning to share best practice. This has resulted in improved working in a number of ways, including:

• Working closely with parent groups and forums to help shape our provision. Parents are on our multi-disciplinary SEND Strategy Group

• Our Local Offer is comprehensive and engaging and we have been part of the LA regional peer review group.

• There are examples of outstanding inclusive practice in our schools, settings and in our services with staff being committed to providing the highest quality of provision

• There are examples of very effective joined-up working between education and health in the Early Years. Excellent links with specialist Health Visitor and Consultant Paediatrician though regular meetings and clinics

• We have put a plan together to increase the number of training sessions for SENCO’s 0-25, our first two sessions have been highly successful with over 80 staff attending each whole day SEND event

• We have recognised the importance of pupils’ emotional wellbeing and we have a small team working with primary schools building up emotional resilience

• Head Teachers are kept informed through ‘catch up’ and through regular Head Teacher forums

• The SEND Ranges have been written and shared with SENCO’s and specialist services and schools. This will support schools and the Council in more accurately identifying need and ensuring that all take on their responsibilities.

• The CAMHS Strategy Group is very active, Education Health and Care regularly meet to plan and evaluate pupils and young people’s emotional wellbeing with a strong focus on ASC

• We are realigning our Early Years Team so that a better co-ordinated approach to services can be developed. We are establishing an Early Years Panel in the Autumn Term and ensuring that there are greater links between Early Help and SEND.

• There is a high-quality provision in our special schools and our additional resource bases

• We have responded to the short fall in provision for pupils with SEMH in the Early Years by establishing a small intensive provision in a local Nursery school – Sue Hedley Nursery

• The Educational Psychology Service has a range of skills and expertise in vulnerable children and those with Autism. Feedback from schools and settings is positive.

• We have undertaken consultations with young people (100 Voices) who are preparing for adulthood and are developing supported internships to increase opportunities

• Our High Needs Panel meets regularly with regard to those pupils with highly complex needs and who require intensive support.

• A SEND joint needs assessment has being completed.

• A newly formed effective SEND Panel includes schools and services, and is now fully operational.

• We have a large number of Children’s Centres and are planning to align Portage and Pre School services with Children’s Centres alongside special schools in the areas of greatest need/deprivation

• Excellent model of working with one special school, where therapy is integrated into the educational day.


Achieving our vision

To achieve sustained improvements across the four strategic priority areas above, we have identified the below areas for improvement.

Identify need at the earliest stage to ensure the right children are in the right placement with the right support

• Review the designation of all special schools to ensure that we are catering for the right pupils.

• Have in place a full range of choice at secondary provision for pupils and young people with SEMH, who are not accessing education and who require high quality alternative provision

• All schools and settings to embed the SEND Ranges into their practice and to ensure that provision maps are detailed, costed and demonstrate the impact of interventions of pupil outcomes

• Ensure that the Council meets all statutory requirements with regard to the SEND Code of Practice and the Children’s and Families Act 2014.

• Improve our EHCP to ensure that there is a consistent approach across South Tyneside and that the outcomes are clear, measurable and achievable.

• Further develop the positive work with parents, carers and families in ensuring that our provision for our most vulnerable groups is of the highest quality.

• More effective communication between Health and Social Care services to provide a co-ordinated approach to care planning.

• Peer support training in mainstream schools to raise awareness amongst all age-groups

Improving local provision so that our young people can be educated in their communities

• Address the attendance and behaviour issues highlighted for our pupils with SEMH

• Ensure that we monitor and track the outcomes of pupils who are in out of authority provision with a view to bringing them back to their local community where high quality provision will be available.

• Establish a clear pathway and effective transition arrangements 14-25 for all young people with SEND with a wide range of opportunities and choice particularly focusing on work, employment and leisure activities, and preparing for adult life

• Develop a wide range of everyday leisure and social activities for all pupils and young people with SEND to enable them to take part in their local community. The LA to use the ‘Heat Map’ and identify those areas where many of the pupils with SEND live to develop those initial community services

• Further development of our Early years provision with closer partnership working with Early Help and other LA services including school Improvement.

• Joint commissioning arrangements to provide increased capacity for support within the borough.

• Further development of leisure groups operating in South Tyneside.


Identified areas for development

In order to achieve our vision of improved outcomes for all children and young people with special educational needs, we have identified the below areas for development.

Delivery of these will be monitored by a supporting action plan with progress scrutinised and reviewed by the Children and Families Board.

Identify need at the earliest

stage to ensure the right children are

in the right placement with the right

support.

Embedding excellent training

and outreach to help stronger inclusion.

Increasing achievement

and opportunities for children and young people

with SEND.

Improving local provision

so that our young people can be educated

in their communities.

Embedding excellent training and outreach to help with stronger inclusion

• Develop additional resourced bases in primary and secondary schools for pupils with ASC/SEMH

• Ensure that our special school and specialist settings have a clear remit for outreach, training and support across the LA.

• Develop greater capacity in our mainstream settings to meet the needs of vulnerable children, on SEN support, and those who have SEND. This will be through coaching, mentoring, training, action research and the sharing of Best Practice

• Further develop and co-ordinate outreach support services from special schools and services to support mainstream schools and settings particularly at primary and early years across the full range of SEN needs.

• Develop a co-ordinated approach to meeting the needs of pupils and young people with mental health issues and needs. This will include developing greater capacity in mainstream settings to meet these needs.

• Further develop an effective training programme across all settings, schools, colleges, work-based training providers and multi-disciplinary stakeholders

Increasing achievement and opportunities for young people with SEND

• Address the under performance in educational achievement, progress, and outcomes for pupils and young people with SEND across the Key Stages through targeted intervention, training and effective Quality assurance and monitoring

• The LA to analyse more effectively the outcomes of specific groups of pupils with SEND and to regularly monitor their progress.

• Develop in partnership with the Health Service and CCG a full range of therapeutic services in particular SALT, OT (sensory integration) and Clinical Psychology and approaches to working with the full range of children with SEND, those on SEN support and school/setting staff from Early years through to Post 16.

• Implement and embed a Quality Assurance Framework across the local authority and all EHCPs to ensure high quality plans for all children and young people, with sustained service improvement.

• Support independent travel training as part of preparations for adulthood.

How will we measure our success?

In order to monitor service delivery, and measure the successful delivery of our Strategy, a number of success criteria have been developed, which will allow us to evidence and evaluate the impact on children, young people and their families.

• Families and young people are highly satisfied with the provision and services that are provided

• Pupils and young people make at least good if not outstanding progress in all that they do

• Improved educational outcomes across the key stages for pupils who have EHC Plans and are on SEN Support

• Reduction in fixed term and permanent exclusions for those pupils on SEN support and who have EHCPs

• Improved capacity in special schools in meeting the more complex needs of pupils

• Improved capacity in mainstream settings 0-25 in meeting the needs of pupils with SEND and who are vulnerable

• Improved range of opportunities including work place and employment for young people with SEND Post 16

• Reduction of out of borough placements

• Increase in the range and quality of support services to schools and settings

• Increase in the range of leisure and social activities for young people with SEND in their local community

• The impact of training and quality support can be measured in terms of pupils’ outcomes and the ability of schools and settings to meet pupils’ needs

Our SEND strategy and associated action plan will be reviewed annually by the SEND Strategy Group.


Glossary

ADD Attention Deficit Disorder

ASC Autism Spectrum Condition

DD Developmental Delay

EHCP Education Health and Care Plan

HI Hearing impairment

JSNAA Joint Strategic Needs and Assets Assessment

MLD Moderate Learning Difficulty

MSI Multi-sensory impairment

NSA SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need

OTH Other

PD Physical Difficulties

PMLD Profound and multiple learning difficulties

PVI Private, Voluntary and Independent Settings

SEMH Social, Emotional and Mental Health

SEND Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities

SLCN Speech and Language Communication Needs

SLD Severe Learning Difficulties

SPLD Specific Learning Difficulties

VI Visual impairment

Links

The Best Start in Life: www.southtyneside.gov.uk/beststart

South Tyneside’s Local Offer https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/37862/SEN-and-Disabilities

South Tyneside’s SEND Online Resource Portal http://ictinschools.org/other-curriculum-resources/


Governance

A multi-disciplinary SEND Strategy Group was established in 2017, which meets on a monthly basis.

Activity from this group, and as such oversight of the delivery of this Strategy is overseen by the Children and Families Board, as illustrated in the below governance chart.

South Tyneside Partnership Shaping our Future Board

South Tyneside Children and Families Board

SEND Strategy Group

Primary Behaviour Strategy Group

Provision Review Panel

SEND PanelEarly Years

SEND Forum

SEND Strategy Group Membership

Our SEND Strategy Group Membership comprises:

Corporate Director Children, Adults and Health (Chair) South Tyneside Council

Head of Children and Families Social Care South Tyneside Council

Head of Learning and Early Help South Tyneside Council

Head Teacher Bamburgh School

Head Teacher Hedworth Lane Primary School

Head Teacher Keelman’s Way School

Head Teacher Sue Hedley Nursery

Head Teacher Valley View and Hedworthfield Primary

Parent Carer Forum Chair Stronger Together South Tyneside

Performance and Information Systems Manager South Tyneside Council

SENCO and Post-11 Autistic Centre Leader Jarrow School

SEND Consultant South Tyneside Council

SENDIASS Officer South Tyneside Council

Service Manager Access and Inclusion South Tyneside Council

Service Manager Safeguarding Learning Disabilities and Mental Health

South Tyneside Council

Specialist Health Visitor South Tyneside Foundation Trust

Strategic Commissioning Lead South Tyneside Council and CCG


south tyneside’s stronger together strategy€¦ · councillor joan atkinson lead member...

Documents