All about special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Herefordshire has been selected to take part in the SEND and AP Change Programme as part of the West Midlands Region. Telford and Wrekin have been selected as the lead local authority for the West Midlands Region, working alongside Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire.

All local authorities in the West Midlands Region will work with the Department for Education (DfE) to pilot the SEND and AP Change Programme, sharing practice and learning from the other 8 regional areas nationally.

This is a two-year programme.

Overview

The SEND Change Programme is a national programme to test some of the changes the government wants to make to the system for supporting children and young people with SEND. The government's proposed reforms to the SEND system are set out in the SEND and alternative provision plan.

Aims

• To ensure that the voices of all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision and their families are effectively heard and no group is disadvantaged in securing timely access to the right provision - irrespective of place, disadvantage, race, or gender
• Through the testing and evaluation of the DfE's policy reforms, they will assess the extent to which they are enabling this ambition and refine plans accordingly
• By intervening earlier in a child or young person's life, this will help us in realising our ambition for a system that is genuinely focused on early identification and intervention

Key areas of development

• A national system underpinned by national standards
• Successful transitions and preparation for adulthood
• A skilled workforce and excellent leadership
• Strengthened accountabilities and clear routes of redress
• A financially sustainable system delivering improved outcomes
• Improving mainstream provision through high quality teaching and SEND training
• Standardise and digitise EHCPs

The reforms

The Change Programme is testing a package of reforms that focus on critical elements of how SEND and AP services operate in local areas. The DfE need to know about how each reform works and what it takes to implement it, but also how they interact and work together to influence outcomes in local systems.

The areas of focus are:

• Local area inclusion plan
• SEND and AP inclusion dashboard
• EHCP standardisation
• Multi-agency panels
• Strengthened approaches to SEND mediation
• Alternative provision reform - three-tier model
• Framework for national standards
• Bands and tariffs
• Advisory tailored lists
• Early language and support for every child (ELSEC) (Herefordshire has not been asked to test this area)

Through testing the SEND and AP reforms, local areas will be able to evidence which interventions are working and parts of the system that need further development, helping the DfE to understand what it will take to ensure more sustainable change in the SEND system.

SEND and AP Change Programme update

The SEND and AP Change Programme is advancing plans to enhance SEND and alternative provision in Herefordshire. The following key updates will give a brief insight into the most recent work that has been happening in Herefordshire:

Local Area Inclusion Plan (LAIP)

The Local Area Inclusion Plan (LAIP) will unify existing documents to create a single local area inclusion plan that summarises SEND and alternative provision across Herefordshire, written on a new national template:

• The Herefordshire LAIP has been drafted using the new national template
• The LAIP has been presented to the SENDAP Partnership Group in draft format and is awaiting sign-off from the DfE

EHCP standardisation

The DfE has produced a new, standardised template for EHCPs. The EHCP template is designed to improve the consistency and quality of EHCPs:

• We have now tested over 150 new, standardised EHCP templates, which aim to improve consistency and quality of EHCPs
• EHCP feedback workshops have just taken place in order to gain valuable views from settings and parent carer on the new template. These views will now be shared with the DfE.

Alternative provision (AP)

The SEND and AP Improvement Plan is a 3-tier model for alternative provision and mainstream settings based on earlier identification of need and targeted support in mainstream schools to address needs early and reduce preventable exclusion:

• Planning for an Alternative Provision Implementation Plan (APIP) for Herefordshire is in process. This plan will be supported by DfE funding to develop the processes needed to support our children and young people in Herefordshire.

Multi agency panels

This reform seeks to implement minimum standards for multi agency panels with the aim of improving family experiences and confidence in SEND support and EHCP processes:

• The panel has been observed by an external body (REACh) and positive feedback was received
• A Multi Agency Panel Improvement Plan has been develop with support from REACh partners

National standards and inclusive provision

Work on national standards is being planned with a view to setting clear national expectations for what 'good' looks like in identifying and supporting the four areas of special educational needs:

• Planning for an Inclusive Provision Improvement Plan (IPIP) for Herefordshire is in process. This is supported by DfE funding to develop the processes needed to support our children and young people in Herefordshire

How you can get involved

Please look out for updates and invites for opportunities to contribute to the reform testing. These will be sent out from Herefordshire Council or PCV Herefordshire, your local parent carer forum.

What's next?

We will be sending out regular updates about the Change Programme in our SEND newsletters and via our local parent carer forum, Parent Carer Voice (PCV). This will include dates of any upcoming workshops and engagement events to allow for professionals across health and education settings, as well as young people and their parents and carers to come and have their say and to give their feedback on the reforms.