Council and councillors

To receive Report No. 120/2017 from the Director for People

Report No. 120/2017 was received from the Director for People.

Dr T O’Neill, Director for People, introduced the report the purpose of which was to present draft Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) and Inclusion Strategy and provide an update on the transformation programme and the work that was ongoing to ensure that children’s individual needs were central in providing the right support, in the right environment to ensure that the right outcomes are achieved for each child.  SEND and Inclusion services were subject to Peer Review which would take place in July 2017 and Ofsted and CQC inspections.

Mr K Quinn, Service Manager – Early Intervention and Inclusion, delivered a presentation to update Members on the SEND Inclusion Transformation a copy of which is appended to these minutes.

 During discussion the following points were noted:

i)     Part of the strategy would be to invest funds currently spent on expensive specialist school settings to enable some children to be supported in main stream school settings.  Miss Waller was concerned that schools did not currently have the resources to manage special educational needs requirements within the classroom setting and that it would be paramount to involve schools in expressing what they would need to make this possible;

ii)    Mr Quinn confirmed that Schools would be fully involved in the consultation on any changes;

iii)   Mr Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Lifelong Learning, highlighted that good communication between schools and academy’s and the local authority to ensure that any issues are dealt with effectively and efficiently;

iv)   Early Intervention for children requiring educational support was very important, but Mr Quinn explained that before putting children through lengthy assessment programmes it was important to have some evidence regarding the specific additional needs, so that there was a referral to correct service;

v)    Health Services were also involved in early identification with Health Visitors obliged to notify the Local Authority should any concerns arise at the 2 year check;

vi)   Feedback had been received that Primary Schools had concerns about children moving from the smaller and more intimate primary school setting to larger setting at secondary school and this was the reason that more referrals were being seen at year 6.  These referrals could often be received quite late as moving on plans were not being developed, in spite of issues being known about for some time;

vii)Re-direction of funding to schools would mean that schools would need to adapt and demonstrate that outcomes are being met and there is sufficient information in Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) to ensure that all aspects are being catered for;

viii)                The increase in EHCP’s was a national trend which made early intervention more critical, but it was important to apply the right type of intervention which may mean taking the time to consider the most appropriate support, rather than rushing into a plan which would be in place until the age of 25;

ix)   Diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorders were on the increase and it was hope that the current pathway, last reviewed in 2013, would be reviewed, this would be discussed at the next Children’s Trust meeting;

x)    Mr Callaghan asked for information regarding the costs of sending children to specialist units compared to the cost of providing appropriate resources and staff training to schools to keep children in an inclusive setting;

xi)   Miss Waller stated that extra resources and training alone may not be sufficient and that work on changing the culture concerning behavioural expectations in schools was also very important;

xii)Mrs Stephenson highlighted the importance of Educational Psychologists and the value of having their input in the classroom in order to learn techniques and best practice;

xiii)                Mrs Little confirmed that there was additional focus on early intervention in Health with early screening; additional funding for the designated nurse to facilitate training for support for practitioners in writing outcome based plans; development and improvement of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services through the Future in Mind Programme and provision of an online counselling service; and improving on liaising across county boundaries;

xiv)   Transport were also working closely with SEND in order to ensure that increased demand can be met with appropriate provision.  Sometimes use of the public bus service was most appropriate and also taught important life skills.  Hopefully the availability of wheel chair accessible taxis in Rutland will increase in the future.  Voluntary Action Rutland were always willing to help where they had capacity;

xv)Miss Waller felt that the Website and the Strategy could be improved so that it was clearer to parents what help they were entitled to and how to access it.  Mr Quinn agreed that this should be looked at and that parents should be engaged in that improvement;

xvi)   There was no evidence to suggest there was a problem with attendance at special education setting and many of these were in fact residential settings;

xvii)  There should be additional analysis on the strategy itself so that there can be a better assessment of what is required going forward; and

xviii)Dr O’Neill confirmed that the comments provided at the panel would inform the refresh of the strategy and congratulated the officers that were working towards the SEND transformation;

AGREED

The Panel commented on the draft Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) and Inclusion Strategy and NOTED the update on the SEND transformation actions.