Kent improvement plan for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Area of weakness

A widely held concern of parents that the local area is not able, or in some cases not willing, to meet their child's needs.

What we are doing

• We are working with families and local groups to agree how we can make sure their voices, and those of their children and young people, can help shape the services we provide and the way we work.
• We have recruited and are still recruiting more staff to our casework and educational psychology teams.
• We are actively reducing the backlog of annual reviews, complaints and requests for education, health and care (EHC) plans. This will take some time to do as we review each case in detail, so that our responses and plans meet the needs of individual children and young people.
• We are making sure staff are well-trained and communicate better with parents when they contact us.
• We are continuing to promote the wide range of information, advice and support available to families and sharing where we are making a positive difference to them.
• We are working with the people whose job it is to support families to make sure everyone has the right information, advice and guidance when they need it.

The difference we will make

Parents will feel more confident that KCC, NHS Kent and Medway, and schools and education settings will meet their child’s educational, health and care needs in the right place at the right time.

Area of weakness

A variable quality of provision and commitment to inclusion in schools, and the lack of willingness of some schools to accommodate children and young people with SEND.

What we are doing

• We are making changes that will make moving to a new school or post-16 setting a better experience for children and young people to help them settle in more quickly with the right support in place.
• We are providing better information to young people from Year 9 onwards to help them prepare for becoming an adult.
• Most children and young people with SEND will have their needs met in mainstream schools and settings, so we are training teachers and school leaders to make mainstream schools more inclusive to help provide the right support for pupils with different needs.
• We are working with schools that are very inclusive to understand what’s working well for their children and young people, and share this with families and other schools.
• We are consulting with parents and schools on the way we spend the money that schools and colleges apply for to help them support children and young people (called High Needs Funding) to make it go further and have more impact for more children.
• Our early years services across Kent are looking at the number of places needed for children in the future, children’s readiness for school and funding for more specialist support.
• We are also reviewing special schools, looking at the:
  • number of places needed in the future as more children and young people with SEND are taught in mainstream schools
  • criteria for accepting children and young people in a special school
  • funding
  • role special schools have in supporting children and young people with SEND in mainstream schools.

The difference we will make

Children and young people with SEND feel they belong, are respected, valued, and supported to make progress, achieving their ambitions and aspirations.

Area of weakness

That parents and carers have a limited role in reviewing and designing services for children and young people with SEND.

What we are doing

• We have parent and carer representatives from Kent PACT, who represent the voice of parents and carers at meetings to oversee the improvement plan.
• We are using feedback from parents and young people to improve the quality and timeliness of communications we send out. This includes being clearer about the decisions we make, and the support that can be put in place within the resources available for children and young people to support their educational needs.
• We are working with young people through our youth forums to understand more about the things that are important to them.
• We are continuing to promote the different ways parents and young people can give us feedback, for example through surveys, existing groups and forums and at our SEND roadshows.

The difference we will make

The voices of young people and their families, their views and experiences will influence the SEND policies, strategies and decisions that affect children, young people and their families.

Area of weakness

An inability of current joint commissioning arrangements to address known gaps and eliminate long-standing weaknesses in the service for children and young people with SEND.

What we are doing

• We are working with NHS Kent and Medway to make sure children and young people who need additional support can get it.
• We are developing a way to make sure families are involved in the design and delivery of services that are funded by KCC and NHS Kent and Medway.

The difference we will make

Children and young people can access additional services and support at the right time.

Area of weakness

Poor standards achieved, and progress made, by too many children and young people with SEND.

What we are doing

• We are supporting schools to make the changes recommended by the Department for Education that will improve school attendance for children with an education, health and care (EHC) plan.
• We are making sure children and young people in pupil referral units continue to have the specialist support they need.
• We are checking that the right support is in place for children and young people travelling to school who have complex health needs.
• We are reviewing and improving how early years services and special schools are provided across Kent.
• We are providing better information about local choices that are available to young people from Year 9 onwards to help them prepare for becoming an adult.

The difference we will make

Children and young people with SEND make good progress at school, achieve good educational outcomes and have a clear and supported pathway to adulthood.

Area of weakness

The inconsistent quality of the education, health and care (EHC):

• process
• a lack of up-to-date assessments and limited contributions from health and care professionals
• poor processes to check and review the quality of EHC plans.

What we are doing

• We are making sure the views and aspirations of children and young people are considered fully when we make decisions about them. This includes explaining our decisions and the support that can be put in place within the resources available to support their educational needs.
• We have recruited and are still recruiting more staff to our casework and educational psychology teams.
• We are actively reducing the backlog of annual reviews, complaints and requests for EHC plans, reviewing each case in detail and ceasing plans in consultation with parents when they are no longer needed.
• We are making sure staff are well-trained and communicate better with parents when they contact us.
• We are adding a universal health offer to each EHC plan.
• We are continuing to check the quality of EHC plans before they are issued and when they are reviewed annually.

The difference we will make

Children and young people with more complex needs have good quality EHC plans that are reviewed annually and parents have a better experience of the EHC process.

Area of weakness

Weak governance of SEND arrangements across the education, care and health (EHC) system at strategic and operational levels and an absence of robust action plans to address known weaknesses.

What we are doing

• We have introduced new leadership and are continuing to make changes and improvement as quickly as possible. Our progress is overseen by the Strategic Improvement and Assurance Board, the SEND Scrutiny Sub-Committee and by the Department for Education and NHS England.
• We have published our improvement plan and will be reporting evidence that shows how we are making a difference to children and young people.
• We are updating our strategies for children and young people with SEND which will be shaped by their views and those of their families.

The difference we will make

The improvements undertaken have a positive, long-term impact on children, young people, and their families.

Area of weakness

Unacceptable waiting times for children and young people to be seen by some health services, particularly tier 2 services:

• speech, language and communication needs (SLCN)
• wheelchair services
• neurodevelopmental services including attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism assessment and review.

What we are doing

• We are actively managing waiting lists for children and young people who are neurodiverse and making sure parents have information on where to get support during the wait.
• We are actively managing the waiting lists for specialist equipment such as wheelchairs and improving the timeliness and communication to sure parents.
• We will spot health issues earlier by encouraging online school health assessments and annual checks for young people aged 14 and over with learning disabilities.
• We are improving and increasing access to speech and language therapies across Kent.
• We are making changes to the way we work so that children and young people with ADHD can access services that meet guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
• We are providing better information to families about emotional wellbeing and mental health.

The difference we will make

Children and young people will experience reduced waiting times and more support to manage their needs if waiting.

Area of weakness

A lack of effective systems to review and improve outcomes for those children and young people whose progress to date has been limited by weakness in provision.

What we are doing

• We are providing tuition to children and young people affected by a lack of or poor-quality support.
• We are building better support for children and young people who are avoiding school because of emotional, mental health or wellbeing issues. We will use our new annual review process to spot these issues and make sure we put in place the support needed.

The difference we will make

Children and young people affected by previous weaknesses in SEND provision will be supported to catch up and have better outcomes.