OVERVIEW OF THE CHANGES TO SPECIAL NEEDS Brian Lamb

Background to the New Approach

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Government Aims• To support better life outcomes for young people• A new single assessment process and ‘Education, Health

and Care Plan’• To give parents confidence by giving them more Control

through a Personal buget• To transfer power to professionals on the front line and to

local communities• Local authorities and other services will set out a local

offer of all services available• Reduce Conflict From Support and Aspiration 2011

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What's in the Bill?

• New Plan to replace the statement covering Education, Health and Social Care

• School Action and School Action plus disappear to be replaced by new school based category

• Local Offer for Parents• Mediation-but not going to be compulsory• New Code of Practice• Personal Budgets for those with a plan

EDUCATION, HEALTH AND CARE PLANHow Statements are being replaced

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Education Health and Care Plan

• Replacing SEN statements and Learning Difficulty Assessments (for 16- to 25-year-olds) with a single, simpler 0-25 assessment process and Education, Health and Care Plan from 2014.

• Threshold for triggering a plan does not change-but already worrying signs that some Local Authorities are interpreting more narrowly

• Rights for triggering a plan remain the same, there will be timescales and others can also trigger a plan and it will have to be reviewed

• EHC plans extend statutory rights into the further education and training sector for the first time

• Section 139 assessments finish. • New duties in relation to health but not social care in relation to the

plan • Duty to jointly commission services

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THE LOCAL OFFER Addressing confidence in the SEN system?

What do parents want? • Appropriate and timely recognition of a child’s needs by

professionals • Knowledge and understanding of staff about a child’s

difficulties and needs the willingness of the service/school to listen to their views and respond flexibly.

• Parental beliefs and views are important for their confidence in a professional’s approach to concerns about a child.

• Access to specialist services and someone who understands “my child” crucial. Parents look up the system until they find the support their child needs.

• Decisions are transparent and information about entitlements and what is available is crucial to making informed decision and “choice”.

Local OfferInquiry-”the core offer developed through Aiming High for Disabled Children is extended to provide a set of principles for engagement by schools and children’s services with parents of children with SEN.”Support and Aspiration “We propose to ensure that local authorities set out a local offer of the support that is available for children with SEN or who are disabled and their families, and from whom. In order to achieve this we intend to change the existing regulations covering what the local authority is required to publish and describing how authorities work with parents, local schools and colleges, and other local services including those on the Health and Wellbeing Board, to develop the offer.”

Governments View

Edward Timpson SEN Minister Jan 7th

“The local offer would enable families to see readily what they can expect from mainstream services across education, health and social care; how to access more specialist support; how decisions are made including eligibility criteria for accessing services, where appropriate; and how to complain or appeal.

Local authorities would be required to involve local children, young people and families in developing their local offer to take account of their needs and aspirations.”

Government Bill-Local Offer• Parents, children and young people must be involved developing the local

offer• It must set out what families can expect from local services and where they

have eligibility criteria and/or thresholds for accessing services, • What services are available to support those without Education, Health and

Care Plans, including what children, young people and parents can expect schools and colleges, to provide from their delegated funds

• What specialist support is available and how to access it and to give details of where parents and young people can go for information, advice and support.

• Each service will be accountable for delivering what is set out in the local offer and if families are unhappy with what they receive or what is available they will be able to take this up with those services.

• The local offer will give details of how to complain about provision and about rights of appeal.

• It must be reviewed

Accountability

“A local authority must from time to time publish.

(a) comments about its local offer it has received from or on behalf of children and young people with special educational needs, and the parents of children with special educational needs, and

(b) the authority's response to those comments."

Good Parental Involvement? • Planning-Parental engagement must be planned for and

embedded in a whole school or service strategy. • Leadership-Effective leadership of parental engagement is

essential to the success of programmes and strategies. • Collaboration and engagement-Parental engagement requires

active collaboration with parents and should be pro-active rather than reactive. It should be sensitive to the circumstances of all families, recognise the contributions parents can make, and aim to empower parents.

• Sustained improvement-A parental engagement strategy should be the subject of on-going support, monitoring and development.

Goodhall, J. and Vorhaus. J. (2011) Review of Best Practice in Parental Engagement. London. DfE.

SCHOOL BASED CATEGORY What replaces school action and school action plus?

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“THE CULTURE OF SCHOOLS IS STILL TO FOCUS THE BEST TEACHERS ON THE THOSE CHILDREN WITH HIGHEST ABILITIES… HOWEVER WE ALSO NEED THE BEST TEACHERS AND BETTER TARGETED RESOURCES TO THOSE MOST IN NEED”

Lamb Inquiry

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School Based Category? • School Action and School Action Plus to go• Concerns that EHC Plan will apply to less pupils• School based category posses the question of what the

school offer should look like to achieve better outcomes• New Funding guidelines-Schools responsible for provision

up to £10,000 • Currently different models of intervention-what is the

evidence base for different approach's• A number of models look to develop teacher based

expertise supported by specialist provision-this is what the New Code now expects

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New Categories for the School Based Offer1. Communication and interaction;

2. Cognition and learning;

3. Emotional, social and behavioural development;

4. Sensory and/or physical.

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Early Identification-New Code • Consider their core teaching and adapt that to meet needs of the cohort as a

whole;• Ensure that parents of children are fully engaged, consulted and informed and

agreement is reached on how the child’s needs will be met;• Ensure that the child or young person is fully engaged, consulted and

informed and agreement is reached on how their needs will be met;• There should be a plan that focuses on what outcomes are expected and the

support that the school, college and any relevant agencies will provide;• Reviews of progress should be held at least once a term;• Where relevant, external services and providers should work with settings to

meet the needs of children and young people with SEN; and• Settings should review the effectiveness of what is happening and consider

the need for a further assessment and any whether there should be changes to the support provided;

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New Code Admissions • The School Admissions Code of Practice requires children

and young people with SEN to be treated as fairly as others. Admissions authorities:

• must consider applications from parents of children who have SEN who do not have an EHC plan on the basis of the school’s published admissions criteria as part of normal admissions procedures

• must not refuse to admit a child who has SEN but does not have an EHC plan because they do not feel able to cater for those needs

• cannot refuse to admit a child on the grounds that they do not have an Education, Health and Plan

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School Information 1. Information about the school's policies for the identification, assessment and provision for pupils with special educational needs, whether or not pupils have EHC Plans, including how the school evaluates the effectiveness of its provision for such pupils.

2.The school’s arrangements for assessing the progress of pupils with special educational needs

3.The name and contact details of the SEN co-ordinator.

4.Information about the expertise and training of staff in relation to children and young people with special educational needs and about how specialist expertise will be secured.

5.Information about how equipment and facilities to support children and young people with special educational needs will be secured.

6.The role played by the parents of pupils with special educational needs.

7.Any arrangements made by the governing body or the proprietor relating to the treatment of complaints from parents of pupils with special educational needs concerning the provision made at the school.

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Other Measures

• Offering mediation for disputes • Pilots on young people having the right to appeal to

the Tribunal in their own right not through their parents

• Extends the current right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal to young people aged up to 25 and, in the case of young people in school, transfers the right from the parent to the young person.

• New OFSTED framework expects to see progression for all pupils-greater focus on SEN

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Challenges

• What does a good school offer look like-how do parents know?

• What expectations should we have of classroom teachers and what is the role of professional support-when should it be deployed?

• How is expertise accessed within the schools context?

• What is the evidence for different approaches?

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“We know that the educational achievement for children with SEN is to low and the gap with their peers to wide. This is a hangover of a system, and a society, which did not place enough value on achieving good outcomes for disabled children and children with SEN” Lamb Inquiry.

OUTCOMES

“PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN THE FORM OF ‘AT-HOME GOOD PARENTING’ HAS A SIGNIFICANT POSITIVE EFFECT ON CHILDREN’S ACHIEVEMENT AND ADJUSTMENT EVEN AFTER ALL OTHER FACTORS SHAPING ATTAINMENT HAVE BEEN TAKEN OUT OF THE EQUATION.”(Desforges 2003).

THE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE SHOWSTHAT PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IS ONE OF THE KEY FACTORS IN SECURING HIGHER STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTAND SUSTAINED SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

(Harris 2006).

Achievement for All - 4 elements

• Element 1 Leadership: to ensure schools maintain a sharp focus on the achievement, access and aspirations of the 20% vulnerable learners and those with SEND.

• Element 2 High quality teaching and learning: leading to improved progress for all pupils (assessment and target setting).

• Element 3 Structured conversations with parents/carers: to improve parents’/carers’ engagement with school and their involvement in their child’s learning and achievement.

• Element 4 Wider outcomes: to support the participation, enjoyment and achievement of children in all elements of school life.

Important Links • http://

www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/sen/a0075339/sengreenpaper

• http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/s/support%20and%20aspiration%20a%20new%20approach%20to%20special%20educational%20needs%20and%20disability%20%20%20progress%20and%20next%20steps.pdf

• http://www.afa3as.org.uk/ • http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20091207163458/dcsf.gov.uk/lambi

nquiry/

• http://www.education.gov.uk/complexneeds/ • http://www.sendpathfinder.co.uk/ • http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/pupilsupport/sen/a00209601/send-

materials-advanced• http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm84/8438/8438.pdf• https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-

RR248.pdf • http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/pupilsupport/sen/a00209601/send-

materials-advanced

CONTACT DETAILS Brian.publicaffairs@gmail.com