What we will do

We know that we need to have good leadership. We have listened to feedback and know how important it is to make sure our governance is effective.

Our parents and carers have said:

“Strategic leaders need to be accountable. Partners need to work together recognising joint ownership. As well as the local authority and NHS organisations, schools, parents, carers,  children and young people need to feel empowered and engaged in strategic SEND governance”.

Our actions to deliver this are to:

• build stronger relationships across all the SEND partners, ensuring the effective use of data;
• develop a new governance framework for the delivery of the SEND Improvements;
• implement a new quality assurance framework across the SEND system;
• improve culture and ownership across the system, all agencies and schools contribute towards improvement and engage in workstreams;
• develop and implement a new SEND strategy and vision.

What will be different

You will see improved leadership of the service, with ongoing improvements, working with you to ensure we are learning from you and respecting your views.

Progress to date

A new SEND Improvement Board is now in place with a clear remit and good engagement from all key partners. School leaders are reporting positivity in the progress made during January to March and welcome the improvements being made. Whilst it is early days, Parent Carers Together (PCT) and Parent Carer Foundation (PCF) are recognising the improvements being made at leadership level and have acknowledged that delays for children and young people in the local authority statutory processes are being addressed albeit with the recognition of further work required due to ongoing significant delays for some children in the last year. It is accepted that there is much more to do.

Interim senior management SEND specialists have been appointed to the local authority’s education service to increase the skills set of the management team. These roles cover school inclusion, quality assurance and transformation. There has been the development of a dedicated SEND health forum to actively support health-related SEND improvement activities

Return to the How we are improving SEND services page.