To receive Report No.47/2021 from the Director of Children’s Services.

Report No. 47/2021 was received from the Director of Children’s Services. To introduce the report a presentation (appended to the minutes) was given by Bernadette Caffrey, Head of Service - Early Intervention, SEND and Inclusion and Louise Crookenden-Johnson, SEND Capital Programme Manager.

During the discussion, the following points were noted:

·         The Rutland context regarding SEND services and inclusion was outlined in which smart working and effective joint commissioning would be vital.

·         There was an increased demand for SEND Services

·         The service was dealing with more children with more complex needs

·         The impact of the Covid pandemic and the restrictions on families and services would need to be assessed and factored into future service developments and design.

·         SEND Case Officers had ‘getting to know you’ meetings with families, which was unique to Rutland and which supported the assessment process and the relationship with RCC

·         Commissioned services included Educational Psychology and ADHD Solutions.

·         Families were encouraged to support each other.

·         The High Needs allocation for 2021/2022 was £4.65m.  0.5% was transferred from the Schools Block to the High Needs Block.

·         The SEND Recovery Plan produced detailed the investment of £375k in a 5-year plan.

·         An Education Inclusion Partnership had been established, which worked with primary schools to assess children and identify the appropriate support package for each individual child to prevent cases from escalating.

·         An Education Inclusion Partnership would also be established to work with secondary schools.

·         The future SEND Services and Inclusion would require a collective change in behaviours by everyone involved.

·         Mr French stated that he had visited The Parks at Oakham Primary School and had been very impressed with the provision and the professionalism of the staff.

·         Councillor Razzell asked how the service was prepared for the support of children affected by the Covid pandemic. Ms Caffrey stated that the service had received an increase in the number of children experiencing anxiety during the pandemic mainly regarding family issues and the return to school.  The DfE’s Returning to School Wellbeing Project had been run in schools and training for school staff had been given by the Local Authority’s Educational Psychologists team.  There was a new initiative of Emotional Health and Wellbeing practitioners going into schools to provide help and support.  There had also been an increase in the number of children being electively home educated but there were no safeguarding concerns being identified regarding the children and/or the education provided.  Feedback from schools about pupils and their return to school had been positive.

·         Mrs Godfrey confirmed that the service had seen increased demand and was anticipating a further increase in demand as the pandemic eased.  However, reserves had been included in budgets to cover an increase in demand if required, and costs and budgets would be constantly monitored and reviewed. 

·         Councillor Begy commented on the current overspend on the high needs spending and queried what impact this would have on the Council’s overall budgets. Ms Godfrey stated that the funding for the high needs budget came from central government and that it sat separately from the Council’s budget

·         Ms Caffrey would send an updated breakdown of the tribunal data to attendees.

·         Councillor Razzell queried how outcomes were monitored and quality assured.  Mrs Crookenden-Johnson stated that the Co-ordinator produced a breakdown of outcomes for each individual child and for every intervention provided to that child. Quality assurance was built into contracts and feedback was gathered from children, families and partners on a regular basis.

·         Mrs Crookenden-Johnson confirmed that the primary Education Inclusion Partnership (EIP) had been paused in January 2021 to help manage priority cases due to increased demand and because the providers could not undertake face-to-face counselling with children due to the pandemic.  She stated that work with SENCOs and secondary schools was ongoing to establish the Secondary EIP by September 2021.

AGREED:

That the Committee:

1.    Notes the Rutland offer for children with special educational needs and disability, (SEND), and the performance and progress made by the SEND and Inclusion Service.

2.    Endorses the actions planned and/or completed in relation to addressing the priority areas for improvement and development.

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Ms. Caffrey, Mrs. Crookenden-Johnson and Ms. Chester left the meeting

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