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Information Document
Restructure of SEND Specialist
Advice & Support Service
November 2019
Integrated Services for Learning
Hertfordshire County Council
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CONTENTS
Section:
Page:
1. Introduction
3
2. Context of Restructure
4
3. 4.
Current Structure
Stakeholder Engagement & Informal Consultation
5
5
5.
6.
Objectives & Outcomes
Proposals
6
6
7.
Principles
8
8. Implementation Timetable
8
9. Proposed New Structure
8
10. Equalities Impact Assessment
8
11. Consultation Feedback 9
Appendix 1:
Appendix 2:
Appendix 3:
Current Structure Chart
Proposed Structure Charts
Proposed Structure Charts - Key
10
11
18
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1. INTRODUCTION
This document sets out proposals for a new leadership structure for the SEND
Specialist Advice and Support Service (SEND SAS) from 20th April 2020.
SEND SAS is a team of Specialist Advisory Teachers and Specialist Support Staff
that provides advice and support to educational settings across Hertfordshire to meet
the needs of children and young people with SEND. The Service works across a
range of schools and settings including Early Years settings, Primary and Secondary
schools and Post 16 settings. The purpose of the SEND SAS Service is to improve
outcomes for children and young people (0-25) by supporting their access to
education and their participation in learning. The SEND SAS team also works closely
with families, other professionals in Hertfordshire County Council and other agencies
and partners, such as Health and Herts for Learning.
SEND SAS sits within the department of Integrated Services for Learning (ISL). ISL
is a multi-professional service made up of teams that provide statutory and targeted
services for children and young people aged 0-25 with special educational needs
and disabilities (SEND) and/or additional needs. ISL is part of the ‘Services for
Children and Young People’ portfolio within the Children’s Services Department in
Hertfordshire County Council.
Advisory services within the SEND SAS Team include, Early Years, Communication
and Autism, Specific Learning Difficulties, Physical and Neurological Impairment
(PNI), Hearing Impairment (HI), Visual Impairment (VI) and Multi-Sensory
Impairment (MSI). Until recently, the Education Support for Medical Absence Service
(ESMA) was also part of the SEND SAS Team; however, this service now sits within
the wider ISL organisation under the management of the County Lead for Access
and Inclusion. Although the ESMA Service is no longer part of SEND SAS, changes
to the leadership structure of this team are also being consulted on as part of the
SEND SAS Consultation to ensure changes to the leadership structure align across
all Advisory Teaching Services.
In the wider ISL organisation, changes to the leadership of the teams currently
managed by the County Lead for Access and Inclusion, together with the addition of
the ESMA Service to this team, have resulted in the need to increase leadership
capacity within the Access and Inclusion Team. As part of this consultation, there is
a proposal to create an ‘Access Lead’ post to work under the line management of the
County Lead for Access and Inclusion to oversee the work of the teams in the
‘Access’ portfolio. The organisation of this increase in leadership capacity has been
designed to align with the proposed leadership model across all the Advisory
Teaching Services in the SEND SAS Service.
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2. CONTEXT OF RESTRUCTURE
In response to feedback from stakeholders, ISL recently commissioned a review of
The SEND SAS Service. The purpose of the review was to evaluate the impact of
changes to the service made following a wider restructure of ISL services in
September 2017. The review provided an opportunity for all stakeholders, including
staff working in the SEND SAS Service, schools, settings, parents and carers, to
share their views about what was working in the service and areas that could be
improved. The completed review highlighted key themes and made
recommendations about improvements that could be made, including reducing the
complexity of the current leadership structure and ensuring the elements of an
effective ‘specialist’ service were maintained by structuring the service according to
specialisms. In response to these recommendations, a restructure of the SEND SAS
Service was instructed.
In addition to the review of the SEND SAS Service, an ISL Early Years review was
also commissioned by the Head of ISL in 2019 and recommendations from this
review are a key contributing factor to proposals in this consultation in relation to the
Early Years Service within the team. Pivotal recommendations from the ISL Early
Years Review that have contributed to the proposals in this consultation are:
➢ To appoint a strong, strategic leader to oversee Early Years SEND ➢ To build capacity and remove barriers to service delivery by combining Early
Years support staff roles enabling staff to work across Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI) settings, maintained settings and in home settings as required
➢ To enable Early Years support staff to develop a ‘specialism’ within the area of Early Years SEND, allowing them to upskill and advise colleagues on this particular aspect, develop a bank of resources for others to access and run groups to support children with particular areas of need.
Due to historic funding differences, those employed as Specialist Inclusion Workers
in the Early Years Service are currently only able to provide support for children
attending Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI) settings, whilst those employed
as Early Years Autism Specialists are able to support in PVI and maintained Early
Years settings and support children in the home. This discrepancy has had an
impact on cohesion of service delivery, particularly when children transition from one
type of setting to another. The ISL Early Years Review made a recommendation to
align these roles to remove barriers to service delivery and enable all support staff to
work across PVI and maintained settings and in the home setting as required. In line
with this recommendation, one of the proposals in this consultation is to align the
roles of Early Years Autism Specialist and Specialist Inclusion Worker to create the
post of Early Years Inclusion Specialist with a remit to support children across all
types of Early Years setting.
The Local Delivery Network strand of the Transforming SEND Programme is a
further underpinning principle of the proposals in the SEND SAS Consultation. The
Transforming SEND Programme is intended to transform SEND Services across
HCC to ensure the needs of children and young people with SEND can be met more
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locally. The Transformation Programme is also focusing on changing services so
that they provide the right support at the right time, offer more opportunities for
young people to access education, training and employment and create a system
that supports the young person as a whole. The Local Delivery Networks strand of
the programme is focused on reviewing the flexibility of services to work more
locally, to provide seamless support to families across home and school boundaries.
3. CURRENT STRUCTURE
Leadership of the SEND SAS Service in each of the four geographic areas of the
County currently comprises an Area Lead (0-25) with responsibility for line managing
a Lead Practitioner (0-5) and a Lead Practitioner (5-25). The two Lead Practitioners
in each area line manage a team of multi-disciplinary Specialist Teachers and
Support Staff. In addition to leadership posts in the four areas, the current structure
incorporates Specialist Lead Practitioners with designated responsibility for areas of
specialism across County but no line management of specialist staff or leadership
responsibilities within each geographical area.
See Appendix 1 for current structure chart.
4. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT & INFORMAL CONSULTATION
Following the recommendations from the SEND SAS Service review, the initial stage
of the restructure project began. This first stage involved engagement with a range of
stakeholders to develop the proposals, including SEND SAS staff, ISL and wider
HCC colleagues, schools, settings, parents and carers. Local and national
organisations relating to SEND were also given an opportunity to contribute at this
stage. Following this early engagement work, a period of informal consultation on the
initial proposals took place in order to provide an opportunity for the Project Team to
check understanding of the ideas submitted during the initial stage of the process
and to enable stakeholders to provide feedback and help to shape the final
proposals in preparation for the formal consultation. The proposals outlined in this
document are based on recommendations from the SEND SAS Review, the ISL
Early Years Review, information gathered throughout the initial stakeholder
engagement phase of the project and further information and views ascertained
during the informal consultation period.
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5. OBJECTIVES & OUTCOMES
The restructure of the service is the first step towards improving the service for
children/young people, families, schools and settings. Once the restructure is
complete, Service Leaders will continue to drive improvements in line with priorities
identified though the SEND SAS and ISL Early Years Reviews. The principles of the
Transforming SEND Programme will also continue to underpin future service
developments.
The restructure of the SEND SAS Service is expected to achieve the following
objectives:
➢ Create a simplified leadership structure which enables more effective methods of
operation and greater efficiency in the delivery of services
➢ Develop a structure based on specialism in order to ensure all members of staff
have the expertise, supervision and professional development opportunities to
provide a specialist service to schools and settings in line with the needs of
children and young people in Hertfordshire.
The impact of service improvements for children/young people, families, schools and
settings will include:
➢ Clear, easily accessible information regarding support available from the SEND SAS Service and how to access this
➢ Support that is easier to access- simplified referral process with less bureaucracy
➢ Quicker response to requests for support ➢ Cohesive support for children/young people and collaboration between
professionals to ensure needs are identified and met ➢ Practical support and advice in relation to strategies and approaches to meet the
needs of children/young people with SEND- Advisory Staff providing resources, modelling and coaching for staff in schools and settings.
6. PROPOSALS The following proposals have been developed taking into consideration the
recommendations of the SEND SAS and ISL Early Years Reviews, the initial
stakeholder engagement stage of the project and the subsequent informal
consultation period:
➢ Create Specialism Lead posts with overall responsibility for specialism planning and development, strategic work across the County and overall responsibility for the line management, Continued Professional Development (CPD) and supervision of staff teams, with specialist staff remaining linked to their existing local areas
➢ Ensure the structure includes a Specialism Lead for Early Years to provide strategic leadership and direction across this element of the service
➢ Create designated leadership in the areas of Physical and Neurological Impairment (PNI) and Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) to ensure strategic work in these specialisms continues, links with other services and provision are maintained and these specialisms are represented at a county-wide strategic level
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➢ Create an ‘Access Lead’ post to work under the line management of the County Lead for Access and Inclusion to oversee the work of the teams in the ‘Access’ portfolio, including the work of the ESMA Advisory Teaching Service
➢ Create Lead Teachers for each area of specialism to be responsible for the day-to-day line management and supervision of Specialist Advisory Teachers working within the specialism. Support the principles of Local Delivery by delegating responsibility for the allocation of work to Specialist Advisory Teachers and Support Staff to Lead Teachers in the four geographical areas under the guidance of Specialism Leads and in collaboration with ISL colleagues via the ‘triage system’ that was introduced in September 2019. Continue to use the triage system to facilitate a collaborative and cohesive multi-disciplinary approach to support across ISL services
➢ Create Early Years Inclusion Specialist post by aligning current Early Years Autism Specialist and Specialist Inclusion Worker roles. This will enable all Early Years staff to provide support across PVI and maintained Early Years settings and in the home setting as required. Early Years Inclusion Specialists will continue to have individual areas of specialism e.g. Speech, Language and Communication; Social and Emotional Wellbeing; Physical and Neurological Impairment, Autism and Social Communication; Family Support Services; Early Years Specialist Development Centres (EYSDC)
➢ Revise the job description for the Early Years Inclusion Development Officer role to enable those employed in these posts to work across PVI and maintained Early Years settings and to provide support relating to individual children and families as the need arises to enable cohesive service delivery. Inclusion Development Officers will be able to develop individual areas of specialism e.g. Speech, Language and Communication; Social and Emotional Wellbeing; Physical and Neurological Impairment, Autism and Social Communication; Family Support Services; Early Years Specialist Development Centres (EYSDC)
➢ Update the job description for Specialist Advisory Teachers to ensure clear expectations regarding how they can meet the Teachers’ Standards by focusing more time on direct support for children and settings (setting up resources, modelling strategies/coaching staff, following-up/reviewing impact of support). Include a clear outline of responsibilities relating to teachers paid on the Upper Pay Scale (UPS). UPS responsibilities will include becoming a ‘Champion’ for a particular aspect within the specialism or local area (ensuring colleagues have up-to-date knowledge and training in this area, promoting this particular aspect of the service, acting as a point of guidance/advice for colleagues across the service in relation to this aspect). The focus for Champion roles will be agreed and co-ordinated by the Specialism Leads
➢ Ensure the responsibilities of Specific Learning Difficulties Specialist Advisory Teachers reflect the continuum of learning needs with which they support. This will enable them to work with a wider range of children and young people within the continuum of Specific Learning Difficulties to maximise the use of their expertise and prevent barriers to service delivery
➢ Broaden the remit of the Education Support for Medical Absence (ESMA) Specialist Advisory Teachers to provide education for children with medical and other needs that impact on school attendance. This will create the opportunity to make best use of their expertise, reduce the amount spent on agency tutoring and enable ISL to quality assure this provision more effectively.
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7. PRINCIPLES The stakeholder engagement stage of the project and the informal consultation
period have been underpinned by the following principles:
➢ Take an honest and transparent approach ➢ Listen to and consider the views of all stakeholders ➢ Build on existing good practice within the service ➢ Work collaboratively to find solutions to challenges ➢ Be clear about the rationale for decisions that have been made ➢ Strive for equity and transparency across the service for staff and service users ➢ Remain reflective and open to feedback and professional challenge.
Throughout the Formal Consultation and in subsequent stages of the restructure
project, the Project Team will continue to strive to uphold these principles.
8. IMPLEMENTATION TIMETABLE
The key dates for implementation are as follow:
Dates Key actions
07/11/19 • Pre-meeting with Trade Unions
Week Commencing
11/11/19 • Circulation of consultation document to all stakeholders
11/12/19 • Consultation closes
11/12/19 – 10/01/20 • Collation of information and feedback
13/01/20 • Response to consultation published, proposals
finalised and consideration of further consultation (if
required)
20/04/20 • New structure goes ‘live’
9. PROPOSED NEW STRUCTURE
Structure charts are available in Appendix 2.
10. EQUALITIES IMPACT ASSESSMENT
A full equalities impact assessment has been completed.
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11. CONSULTATION FEEDBACK
The formal consultation period runs from 11th November 2019 until 11th December
2019.
During this period, all interested parties are encouraged to consider the proposals
outlined in this information document. Feedback regarding the proposals can be
provided by emailing the Project Team at the following address:
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Appendix 1: Current Structure Chart
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Appendix 2: Proposed Structure Charts
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Appendix 3: Proposed Structure Charts - Key
Abbreviation on Chart Meaning
CAS Curriculum Access Specialist (Visual Impairment Support Staff)
East East Herts & Welwyn Hatfield (one of the four ISL geographical areas)
ESMA Education Support for Medical Absence
EY Early Years
HI Hearing Impairment
MSI Multi-Sensory Impairment
NH&S North Herts & Stevenage (one of the four ISL geographical areas)
PNI Physical & Neurological Impairment
SAT Specialist Advisory Teacher
StA&D St Albans & Dacorum (one of the four ISL geographical areas)
SLCN Speech, Language & Communication Needs
SpLD Specific Learning Difficulties
TA Teaching Assistant
VI Visual Impairment
WTR&H Watford, Three Rivers & Hertsmere (one of the four ISL geographical areas)
