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ITEM EX7

EXECUTIVE - 14 JANUARY 2004

OXFORDSHIRE’S STRATEGY FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

Report by Director for Learning & Culture

1. At the Executive meeting on 14 October 2003, Members approved a draft strategy for children with special educational needs for formal consultation with schools, parents and other partners. The draft strategy was produced as a result of the work of an independently chaired Member panel on special educational needs and received widespread support during the informal consultation phase.

Process

2. The draft strategy for special educational needs was sent to all schools (a copy for the Headteacher, SENCO and Chair of Governors), to support services and colleagues and partners in Social & Health Care and Health. The strategy was also circulated to the Parents Advisory Group for Children with SEN for feedback. People were invited to feedback their comments directly or via their representative on the SEN Partnership (see Annex 1 for membership). The SEN Partnership met to discuss the SEN strategy on 2 December 2003.

Feedback

3. A total of 56 responses to the consultation were received. The breakdown of respondents was as follows:

Head	Chair of Governors/ Governor	Head/SENCO (Joint Response)	SENCO	Support Staff	Other
25	4	3	19	3	2

Summary of Responses

4. Respondents were asked to give their view of the strategy overall. The responses were as follows:

Very Poor	Poor	Satisfactory	Good	Very Good
0 (0%)	4 (7%)	8 (14%)	35 (63%)	6 (11%)

3 respondents (5%) gave no view.

5. Respondents were also asked for detailed comments about the strategy.
   
   

1. Positive Comments

6. Respondents commented positively on the following aspects of the strategy:

- the level of consultation and involvement in the development of the strategy;

- the clarity of the strategy overall and the aims and objectives;

- the development of community special schools;

- the vision for inclusion;

- strategies for early intervention;

- strategies to strengthen support in mainstream schools;

- joint work across agencies;

- commitment to strengthen support for pupil behaviour;

- commitment to reduce SEN bureaucracy;

- Oxfordshire’s low use of out-county placements and commitment to developing in-county provision to meet needs;

- inclusion of comparative data on SEN;

- recognition of the importance of children’s views;

- proposal to strengthen support for parents;

- proposal to ringfence SEN budgets;

- commitment to professional development;

- proposal to delegate the statementing budget;

- greater transparency for admission arrangements;

- support for greater use of ICT systems;

- provision of outreach support by special schools;

- review of moderation process;

- review of SEN panels.

(b) Concerns

7. People were encouraged to feedback any concerns. The following issues were highlighted:

- concern about whether sufficient resources will be available to implement the strategy;

- the need to develop broader measures of the achievement of children with SEN;

- the need to continue to reduce the bureaucracy associated with the SEN process;

- the need for adequate therapy support for children with SEN;

- the need for an increase in SEN services to meet increasing needs, particularly in relation to autism and behaviour difficulties;

- the need for more explicit reference to how SENCOs/TAs will be supported in doing their job;

- the need for greater transparency in relation to admissions to special schools;

- the need to develop strategies to address bullying;

- the need for adequate staffing in outreach services;

- concerns about the possible closure of special schools;

- concerns about the delegation of statementing funding; and the need to ensure that budgets are ringfenced, that individual needs are safeguarded and that there is some contingency funding;

- concern that the needs of all children are met;

- concerns about continuity of support staff and frequency of support staff visits;

- the need to support pupils who develop problems later on as well as early intervention;

- support for transition from Y6 to secondary;

- capacity of PRUIS to support pupils at risk of exclusion;

- the need to improve support for children in care.

(c) Improvement Suggestions

8. The following improvement suggestions were identified:

- the need to enhance support, including in-school support and special school provision, for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties;

- the need for an increase in child and adolescent mental health services;

- the need to extend SEN funding to all nursery and early years settings;

- a reduction in the bureaucracy associated with the SEN process;

- the need for more support for disabled children with challenging behaviour who are at risk of exclusion from special schools or who cannot access education because of complex health needs;

- the need for increased resources which are more directly available to schools to provide support, including improved funding at School Action Plus;

- more support with writing Individual Education Plans;

- the need to clarify the strategies for monitoring pupil achievement;

- a role similar to that of Pre School Teacher Counsellors developed for the primary sector;

- improved provision for gifted and talented pupils;

- need to recognise the importance of effective leadership and management in SEN, e.g. role of head, SENCO and governors;

- need to consider the needs of pupils from ethnic minorities with SEN;

- improved professional development in relation to EBD;

- increased support from the Autism and Speech and Language outreach Services;

- need to recognise the important role of teaching assistants;

- need for greater clarity about the role for community special schools;

- greater clarity about the respective funding responsibilities of schools and the LEA;

- need for more detail in the section on effective use of resources, e.g. include targets and success criteria for this section too;

- need for more detail on developments in relation to post 16 SEN provision;

- greater clarity of officer roles, especially the Inclusion Consultants;

- increased professional development for staff and consultation with SENCOs about appropriate INSET training;

- funding to establish within school opportunity classes and nurture classes in areas of high need;

- increased budget for EBD outreach;

- further opportunities to develop SEN provision on a school partnership basis;

- improved feedback from SEN panels;

- review of the future role and function of all countywide special schools as a result of falling rolls and the development of community special schools;

- more specific detail on the financial strategy underpinning the SEN strategy.

Implementing the Strategy

9. The SEN strategy has been amended in the light of the feedback received through the consultation process (see Annex 2) (download as .rtf file). Progress in implementing the strategy will be overseen by the SEN Partnership, with an annual report to Executive Members, commencing in July 2004.
10. As has been highlighted throughout the consultation process, implementing the SEN strategy has significant resource implications, in particular in relation to:

- extending the SEN Index to nurseries and early years settings;

- the development of community special schools;

- the development of in-school learning provision;

- strengthening support for pupils with behaviour difficulties.

11. These resource implications will be considered as part of the Council’s policy and budget planning process for 2004/05 and for future years.

RECOMMENDATIONS

12. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

1. approve the new SEN Strategy for Children with Special Educational Needs;
2. request officers to report regularly to the SEN Partnership on progress in implementing the strategy and to produce an annual report on progress to the appropriate Executive Members, commencing in July 2004.