north yorkshire local area send self-evaluation · 2020-05-06 · north yorkshire local area send...
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North Yorkshire Local Area SEND Self-Evaluation: The local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of disabled
children and young people and those who have special educational needs.
Version 7 March 2016
Introduction
1. This self-assessment for the North Yorkshire Local Area has been completed and
updated over a period of time with the input and assistance of a wide range of
partners, both within the local authority and across the local area. The assessment
was started by the Authority’s Inclusion Service based on the Ofsted local area
Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) consultation document1 published
in October 2015, and then through a series of meetings and correspondence with
partners, the document has been expanded to give a more holistic view of SEND in
the local area. Partners involved with the self-assessment include local parent
groups, schools, special schools and colleges as well as specialist support services
within the Local Authority. It will be updated when the inspection framework is
released in spring 2016.
2. In North Yorkshire support for children and young people with special educational
needs and disabilities is co-ordination through “Young and Yorkshire”, the strategic
plan for all children, young people and their families in North Yorkshire. The plan is
laid out in three priorities, ensuring education is our greatest liberator, helping all
children enjoy a happy family life and ensuring a healthy start to life. Amongst these
three priorities are a number of supporting outcomes, listed below, that ensure the
needs of children and young people with SEND, plus their families, are met.
Life chances for children are improved through better educational outcomes in
early years, primary and secondary education, including those of more
vulnerable children
Vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils are helped to close the attainment gap
between themselves and others
A high proportion of young people continue to participate in education,
training and employment
Children and families in challenging circumstances receive effective early help
to become self-reliant
Children and young people enjoy good emotional and mental health
Looked after children and children with disabilities or learning needs have
improved health and well-being outcomes
1 Local Area SEND Consultation: The inspection of local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the
needs of disabled children and young people and those who have special educational needs. Consultation Document. Ofsted. 2015. Ref No: 150134
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Information about the local area
3. North Yorkshire, at 8,654 square kilometres is England’s largest county, with a
population of 135,000 0 to 19 year olds and 173,000 0-25 year olds. For many
children and young people their upbringing will essentially be a rural one. There are
some larger conurbations with over a quarter of our 0-19 year olds living in the
Harrogate district and nearly a fifth live around Scarborough or along the coast. North
Yorkshire also features the country’s largest military garrison at Catterick, which at
any one time is home to 13,000 military and civilian personnel plus their dependants.
4. The local authority geography is shared with 6 Clinical Commissioning Groups
(CCGs):
NHS Harrogate and Rural District CCG
NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby CCG
NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG
NHS Vale of York CCG
NHS Cumbria CCG
NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG
5. The first 4 North Yorkshire CCGs listed above commission the NHS Partnership
Commissioning Unit (PCU) to undertake specific commissioning functions on their
behalf. This includes specialist children’s services e.g. therapies, paediatrics / child
development centres, child and adolescent mental health services and autism
diagnostic services.
6. The main health service providers within the county include:
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust
South Tees NHS Foundation Trust
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust
Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust HB. Suggest AWC and NHS
Cumbria have opportunity to contribute/review to this section
Need to add description of how other partners operate in the area
Including Emma Thomas re other health commissioning
EHE Moved to below as part of this description of services
7. The Local Authority has two duties with regard to Elective Home Educated (EHE):
a. to provide support for home educating families (at a level decided by local
authorities themselves), and if families wish it;
b. to intervene with families if the local authority is given reason to believe that a
child is not receiving a suitable education
The EHE responsibility sits with the Prevention Service, with involvement of the
Inclusive Education Service, where there is a child or young person who has SEND.
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This is a new way of working from September 2015, which will be monitored by the
Prevention Service, with involvement of other CYPS service areas.
8. In 2015, North Yorkshire had a school population of 88,970 pupils of which 12.4%
(8181 pupils) were identified as having special educational needs (10.2% SEN
Support and 2.2% Statements/EHC Plans). This is lower than the national average of
15.4% (12.6% SEN Support and 2.8% Statements/EHC Plans. However, there has
been a slight increase (0.2%) in the number of pupils with EHC Plans since 2014
which is a higher trend than national as illustrated in the graph below.
9. The reason fewer children with SEND are being identified locally than may be
expected looking at national rates, may be because an empowerment approach
using the Enhanced Mainstream School (EMS) model is employed. This model has
up-skilled teachers and enabled them to address the learning needs of children, so
that only those with more complex needs are being highlighted. Do we have a higher
threshold? or are we not as effective at early identification? If we have a higher
threshold does that make it more difficult for us to close the gaps?
10. The number of children in school at SEN Support has decreased by 2.6% from 2014
which is comparable to the national and statistical neighbour trend. Again, this may
because the up-skilling of teachers by the specialist has meant that they are more
able to meet the needs of children with specific difficulties than they were using the
previous Learning Support pull-out model.
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AC: If schools don’t get financial support for SEN support when they did for SA+ will it
be recorded as accurately as it used to be? Have recording arrangements for SA /
SA+ changed with introduction of SEN support?
11. In 2015 the percentage of children in primary schools with statements of SEND /
Plans remains constant at 1% in comparison to 1.4% for England and 1.5% for
statistical neighbours. The number of primary children with SEN but without
statements is 10.9%, a reduction of 1.5% from 2014 (England 2.2% and Statistical
Neighbours 2.19%)
12. In 2015 the number of children in secondary
schools with statements / Plans has increased by
0.2% to 1.5% of the school population. In 2015, 9%
of secondary SEN pupils did not have statements,
which is a reduction of 3.6%. 12% of SEN
secondary pupils in England do not have
statements of SEN.
13. Data from the annual SEN2 return to the DfE shows the overall decline in the number
of children with a statement or plan over the last ten years; this reflects the intensive
work with the former, School Action and School Action Plus level to ameliorate the
need to apply for an EHC plan, and an increased emphasis on accountability for the
spending of SEND funding. In 2005 there were 2,272 pupils with a statement of SEN
but by 2015 this had fallen by almost 25% to 1,728, although it is worth noting the
total figure has been increasing slightly over the past 4 years despite the overall
downwards trend. Traditionally approximately 1/3rd of these statements and plans are
for children in primary school and 2/3rd in secondary school.
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14. The 1,782 children with a statement or a plan in 2015 were in the following provision:
Provision Quantity
Registered early years education settings 3 0.2%
Resourced provision in maintained mainstream schools 6 0.3%
SEN units in maintained mainstream schools 19 1.1%
Maintained mainstream schools (including foundation schools) 786 45.5%
Maintained special schools (including foundation schools) 628 36.3%
Non-maintained special schools 24 1.4%
Independent special schools 40 2.3%
Other independent schools 34 2.0%
Pupil referral units 10 0.6%
Academies 95 5.5%
Special academies 60 3.5%
AP academies 1 0.1%
Special free schools 7 0.4%
Educated other than at school 15 0.9%
Total 1728 100.0%
15. Of the 1,728, 1,660 (96%) had a statement and 68 (4%) had an EHCP, the majority
of which were in maintained schools (including maintained special schools).
Is it worth looking at the numbers, primary need areas and when we get requests for
EHC Plans – and mapping this alongside the shifts in the data.
16. The primary needs of pupils with a statement, EHCP or section 139a assessment
over the past 3 years in North Yorkshire primary and secondary schools are shown
below.
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17. The largest primary need2 is Autism which
in January 2016 accounted for 25% of
primary and 23% of secondary statements
and plans. This is followed by MLD (17%)
and SLCN (15%) in primary schools and
BESD (21%) and MLD (18%) in
secondary schools.
18. The charts show the proportion of primary needs in both primary and secondary
schools has remained fairly consistent over the last 3 years.
19. When looking at all children and young people with a statement, EHCP or section
139a assessment as at 4th January 2016, (not just those in primary and secondary
edcuation) the primary needs look very similar to the above.
Primary Need
Statement EHCP Sect 139a Total Percentage
ASD 239 224 42 505 24.3%
BESD 200 143 15 358 17.2%
HI 41 20 12 73 3.5%
MLD 180 147 39 366 17.6%
2 See Annex A for SEN Type abbreviations
Primary School
ASD 25%
MLD 17%
SLCN 15%
Secondary School
ASD 23%
BESD 21%
MLD 18%
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MSI 2 0 0 2 0.1%
PD 125 79 11 215 10.3%
PMLD 14 39 4 57 2.7%
SLCN 142 86 18 246 11.8%
SLD 79 90 15 184 8.9%
SPLD 13 11 6 30 1.4%
VI 24 14 5 43 2.1%
20. The age profile of all children aged 0 to 25 with a statement, EHCP or Section 139a
assessment can be seen below.
Under 5 2%
5 to 10 29%
11 to 15 38%
16 to 19 27%
20 to 25 5%
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21. The school census in January 2015 identified that 55 of the pupils with a statement,
plan or receiving SEN support were travellers, 316 were children from service
families and 345 spoke English as an additional language which although not a
special educational need in the traditional meaning of the phrase, is an additional
drain on resources that schools have to absorb.
Travellers Service Child
EAL Looked After
Children
Young Offenders
EHCP 1 20 16
SEN Support 54 263 294
Statement 33 35
Total 55 316 345
Need to add LAC and Young Offenders to Vulnerable groups.
22. There are 1,232 children in North Yorkshire aged under 18 years who are considered
to have a disability, as identified from the Disabled Children’s Register. 41% have
autism, 23% a physical disability and 12% a sensory impairment.
23. There are a further 555 young people aged 19 to 25 on the Disabled Children’s
Register, of which 32% have a primary need of autism, 25% a specific learning
difficulty and 14% communication difficulties. The figure of 555, based on the age
spread of young people, appears proportional and therefore accurate, however the
percentage distribution when compared to the 0 to 18 cohort appears slightly
different, for example 41% of under 18s on the register were so under autistic
spectrum compared to only 32% of the 19 to 25 year olds; part of this variation may
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be due to the differing data sources, with different categories used in further
education, and this combined with an element of self-declaration by the learner may
account for the variations.
24. How many children placed in out of county placement and nature of them % of
children with SEND in Good or better schools?
25. During the 2014/15 Academic Year there were 12,636 students in Education Funding
Agency (EFA) funded provision in North Yorkshire; 57% were in Further Education
colleges and 43% in school sixth forms and academies. Of these 12,636 students,
2,025 considered themselves to have a learning difficulty and / or disability and / or a
health problem, 34 had an EHCP, 236 had been at “school action” whilst at school
and 116 at “school action plus”, 61 had a statement of SEN and 284 a section 139A
learning difficulty assessment.3 LA: The majority of this section covers children with
statements or EHCP, these represent only 2% of the SEND population, so there is a
need to balance this with the money and energy that is being invested in supporting
CYP at the former SA and SA+ phase.
26. Transport from home to school/college is offered in line with legislation and DfE
guidance. The needs of individual pupils are taken into account to ensure that the
transport is appropriate and risk assessments are produced where necessary. A
travel training service is offered to give young people the skills and confidence to
travel independently. Rachel Conyers to provide more information
3 EFA Residency Report Dec 2015. These numbers are for North Yorkshire providers so will include students
from out of county who come to North Yorkshire to study, but will not include North Yorkshire residents with SEND who travel out of county to study.
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27. Autism Diagnostic Services. HB. You might wish to get NHS Cumbria and AWC
contributions to this section too.
28. Since 2011/2012, 0-19 autism diagnostic services for children are commissioned
across the county by the CCGs. For the 4 North Yorkshire CCGs there are 3
providers
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (Hambleton, Richmondshire
and Whitby locality and Harrogate locality)
York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Scarborough locality and
York locality (under 5s only)
Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust
29. Previous to this there were gaps in provision across the county. This meant that
some children were not able to access assessment services, and where those
children could, there were often long waiting lists. The CCGs have viewed autism
diagnostic services as a priority and there has been additional investment into some
local services or through waiting list initiatives with other providers outside of the
area. This is starting to have an impact on the average waiting time for an
assessment; however the number of referrals continues to be a challenge and
service activity is monitored on a regular basis by the PCU.
30. During the period 2014/2015 there was 389 referrals for autism diagnostic
assessment across the 4 North Yorkshire CCGs. As at December 2015 there have
been 354 referrals. In 2014/2015 there were a total of 408 first appointments
commissioned, and the trajectory for 2015/ 2016 is 506.
31. As at the end of March 2014 for those that had completed the assessment process
there was a diagnosis rate of 69%. As at the end of quarter 3 2015/2016 the rate is
65%.
32. The waiting list has reduced from 240 children still waiting at the end of March 2015
to 213 at the end of quarter 3 2015/2016. The average wait from referral to first
appointment has reduced from an average of 35 weeks in March 2015 to 26 at the
end of December 2015.
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How effectively does the local area identify disabled children and young
people and those who have special educational needs?
How are social care needs identified?
Prevention
C&F / CSC
DSF
How are social care needs addressed through EHCP?
School input re SENCo network
Special heads input?
33. There are a wide range of processes in place to ensure that children with special
educational needs and / or disabilities are identified as soon as possible.
Early Years
Identification of complex needs by health?
Health notifications to education not working satisfactorily
34. Starting with early years, health visitors undertake integrated 2 year old checks in
Children’s Centres and the Children’s Centre Leads, co-ordinate bi-annual
vulnerability audits to measure the progress of children with SEND; all of which helps
identify children with additional needs at an early age. What do they do with audits?
Could we add a case study to show partnership approach to notification? LA: I am
currently collating this information on behalf of the Early Years Team.
35. The Inclusive Education Service is currently working on highlighting those children ‘at
risk’ of developing an additional need, that are flagged up through Health Visitor
checks i.e. those born prematurely, those with a family history of X etc. The Early
Years Objective 4 entitled ‘Information Sharing and High Quality Transition’ is
focused on developing systems whereby vulnerable children can be flagged early
and information shared between partners to make this process more efficient. The
service is also lowering the age at which specialist staff based at the EMS address
children needs, lowering this to cover foundation stages 1 and 2 (from 4 years of age)
so that needs can be identified and supported early.
36. Early identification for pre-school children is also supported by countywide targeting
by Speech and Language Therapists (S<), how? this is a strategic group! the Early
Years Strategic Leadership Forum (EYSLF) that aids early identification in nurseries
and there are also early year’s improvement partnerships, all of which result in
effective identification to the Local Authority. Not sure this makes sense? Is there
information available to parents/carers? Do providers and health professionals inform
parents/carers of the Local Offer? HB. Probably not at this point but PCU needs raise
the awareness of the local offer with providers and to incorporate hyperlinks into
relevant leaflets and waiting room displays etc. Will add this to my provider checklist!
37. All of these processes are supported by termly training for Special Educational Needs
Co-ordinators (SENCos) in private, voluntary or independent (PVI) nurseries that will
identify children who are not accessing Local Authority provision directly.
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38. Feedback from 365 delegates who
attended tier one training and 54 who
attended tier two training of the Early Years
courses on making sense of autism showed
that 87% thought the course was
worthwhile (86% tier 1 and 93% tier 2), 99%
felt the training was high quality (99% tier 1
and 100% tier 2), and 99% felt they were
now able to promote understanding of
autism issues for children (99.7% tier 1 and
94% tier 2).
39. Do the PVIs etc. have SEN Information reports to provide further information for
parents/carers? (Jane has the data made available for DfE Charlie Palmer visit)
40. Speech and Language Drop-in Sessions are available throughout the County and are
run by Speech and Language Therapists for children under 5 years of age. HB.
Could we utilise some of the mapping from the joint commissioning project here?
We are approaching providers for story board areas and suggest this might be
something to promote as a strength where it is working well.
41. A Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) pathway has been
developed in Children’s Centres from 0 – 5 years. A training package has been
developed by the SLCN Consultant which trains practitioners to be confident in the
delivery of several parent programmes which make up the pathway. The SLT
Service signposts into these groups which maximises targeting the appropriate
children for each course. Every Children Centre Practitioner has the opportunity to
attend speech and language therapy training and this training is delivered by the
SLCN Consultant as and when it is needed.
42. Two of the speech and language courses for parents of children aged 12 months to
24 months (Small Talk) and 24 months to 36 months (Building Blocks for Language),
have been adapted and offered to Early Years Settings and schools after a course of
training from the SLCN Consultant.
43. Specialist SLCN Training to Level 3 has also been offered and delivered to early
years settings in the form of ELKLAN. This training is available on request.
44. The Communication and Interaction Lead and the SLCN Consultant also deliver
training to the SENCO networks to up-skill the practitioners in speech, language and
communication and the identification of needs.
•Thought training was worthwhile 87%
•Thought the training was of a high quality 99%
•Felt they were better able to promote autism issues 99%
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Gaps
I think we will be able to write a more succinct section when we have all the info
Simon. I think we need to strengthen the partnership approach to identifying need
across LA and Health
Info on customer resolution service and prevention service?
Portage?
Education and Skills?
Public health nurses?
Local Offer – info for parents and carers to refer if have concerns?
Completeness of Local Offer re range of providers, support groups etc.
Statutory School Age
Collaborative panels reducing exclusion (Amber)
Health?
45. When children go to school there are a number of processes in place to ensure
needs are identified. All schools have a SENCo and 6 SENCo network meetings are
held each term and an induction for new SENCOs is held annually, furthermore the
Inclusive Education Service is now providing regular input to the SENCo forums in
order to up skill staff in aspects of legislation, school responsibility, and interventions
to support learning needs. A SENCo confidences questionnaire will be undertaken
during the Spring term SENCo network meetings and analysis of the results will need
to be undertaken afterwards. (Compliance with statutory requirements). Add info re
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% undertaken training on new reforms etc. and % that feel confident in identifying
children with SEND. On-going training and support from the LA to further develop the
knowledge and capacity of SENCos in identifying children with SEND. Examples and
impact
LA: Differentiate between SENCo Networks and Bespoke Traded provision
46. In March 2015 the Education and Skills service undertook a survey of mainstream
schools using Survey Monkey to confirm if the SENCo was fully experienced and or
qualified, (at least one year of experience on appointment or undertaking NASENCo
qualification); there were 252 school level responses of which 239 (95%) confirmed
the SENCo was fully experienced or qualified. With 40 to 50 new SENCos each year,
it is important to keep on top of the training and maintain an oversight of how many
are qualified or experienced.
47. The percentage of schools that have an SEN Information Report is increasing. This
report provides information and guidance to parents/carers on how the school
supports the identification of children with SEND and what to do if a parents/carer is
concerned about their child. Another trawl of school websites is needed to see if
there is greater compliance following intensive raising of awareness at SENCo
networks, primary and secondary forums and regional Personalised Learning
Networks (PLN). This will also be followed up by a letter from the Assistant Director
of the Inclusive Education Service to schools.
48. Audit of use of the SEN Support and support plans in schools –to add Christine
Noyes KPIs from EMSs and EMS leads would give information. CN has no
information about an audit of SEN support or use support plans.
49. Advisors in Education and Skills have been informed about their role to monitor /
highlight children with additional needs who are not making appropriate progress.
They have received a spread sheet containing compliance information for all schools
and actively engage with schools to raise their awareness of the need for
compliance.
50. Relationship between services to share concerns/work collaboratively to identify need
51. How do we ensure that parents/carers and fully engaged in identification of children
with SEND? Work of SENDIASS to assist early identification of children?
52. The LA has reviewed its information from annual reviews, complaints, tribunals,
mediation and has …………………
53. Action by the LA if they have concerns about the identification of children with SEND
by early years, school or college setting?
54. Services for those with special educational needs or a disability (SEND) are provided
by the Local Authority’s Inclusive Education Service. This service employs specialist
staff who work together to provide advice and support to schools and settings to
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enable them to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with
SEND. Some specialist staff are centrally based and some are based in enhanced
mainstream schools. The Inclusive Education Service consists of specialists in the
areas of:
Educational psychology
Early years SEND / SEND EYFS Adviser
SEND Adviser
Communication and interaction (autism and speech, language and
communication needs)
Cognition and learning (e.g. specific learning difficulties, dyslexia, dyscalculia,
dyspraxia and dysgraphia, and those with Complex Learning Difficulties );
Sensory, physical and medical (hearing impairment, visual impairment,
physical and medical needs), and
Social, emotional and mental health
55. The Inclusive Education Service provides training on all areas of SEND ranging from
early identification through awareness raising in addition to more targeted and
specialist training for specific areas of need. EMS staff have provided cluster training
to SENCOs to help them obtain the tools and skills to identify specific learning needs.
All training is linked to learning and providing the right support to ensure children and
young people secure better outcomes. NYCC are an Autism Education Trust training
hub and offer a three tiered training programme to support the identification and
development of appropriate strategies for CYP with autism. There are national
evaluations of the training programme and CAH should have data on the number of
schools that have accessed each tier of training and there will be information on the
impact on staff confidence locally.
56. EMS are also actively involved in local school partnerships to promote SEND and
provide advice and support for whole school provision, including at universal level,
which also contributes to effective early identification.
57. As well as training and support, the Inclusive Education Service have also created
and distributed information and guidance to aid parents and support staff / teachers,
such as the motor co-ordination file, guidance on dyslexia and sensory processing
position statement and booklets.
Education, Health and Care Plans
58. The POET Survey4 identified that half of practitioners in North Yorkshire reported that
nearly all of the children they worked with had an EHCP, a higher proportion than
practitioners from other areas of England (26%). A slightly lower proportion of
practitioners in North Yorkshire reported that none of the children they worked with
had an EHCP.
4 The POET Survey. North Yorkshire County Council Data Report. February 2016
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59. Information regarding statutory assessments for special educational needs is located
on the Local Offer website and on Fronter for Schools ……. Front line staff have
received training to raise awareness of advice and guidance to parents/carers re
SEND –have they, evidence? Have front line staff received this training?
60. Support is available for parents/carers via SENDIASS and Independent Supporters –
Melanie to add
61. Up to November 2015 the local authority received 370 requests for statutory
assessment of which 253 were progressed (68%). THIS NEEDS LOOKING AT
LA: Can we identify how many children are supported by specialists who are not
applying for statutory assessments
We could use data from the SPA panel to indicate the range of needs of those that
are being supported at school, reducing the escalation of need to ECHP applications
62. Need to add something in here re the robustness of the Panel process re statutory
assessment and that cases are referred back to school as SEN Support?
LA: Link to the CANDo, this is unique to the authority, but based on an international
framework.
Reference needs to be made to the fact that this tool will, in the future, represent
social care and health, this will be a unique RAS
63. Add info re the EHC process and engagement with partners and parents/carers and
children etc. to ensure all are involved in identification of need. Needs some stats
also about engagement levels of health, care etc.
64. Add comments re POET and what that is telling us and also any quotes from
parents/carers re the process
65. Further evidence can be seen in the timely
completion of Education, Health and Care
Plans (EHCPs); in 2014 93% of new
EHCPs were issued within 20 weeks
(excluding exceptions) which was
significantly better than the national,
regional and statistical neighbours
averages. Including exceptions the figure
falls to 80% however this is still
significantly better than the national,
regional and statistical neighbour’s averages. What is current trend?
66. Info on monitoring of children with SEND via annual review? What do we do if
progress not being made against outcomes
67. Lessons learnt against tribunals etc. LA: Do we ever stop and think what can we
learn from these, or do we bounce from one crisis to another?
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68. From 1st September 2014 to 1st December 2015 there have been 546 transfers from
a statement of SEN to an EHCP. Does this comply with transfer timetable?
Performance against timescales – 14 and now 20 week? To be updated 21/01/16
LA: We need to demonstrate that we can or should track all CYP with EHC plans
across the years, identifying key outcomes to show value for money, we currently do
not do this.
69. Need to add something in here re identification of overall needs of children – aligning
the assessment processes
LA: Again this section is heavily biased towards the 2% of children with an EHCplan
rather than the remaining 13% of children with SEND who don’t!
Post 16
“No Wrong Door” screening SLCN
70. In Further Education (FE), special educational needs and disabilities are self-
declared making it harder to monitor and identify need although the colleges do now
have a statutory responsibility to record SEND. Can we add some of the actions that
post 16 sector have put in place to identify need, encourage young people to come
forward etc.
We could put something in here about the FE network and the achievement for all
programme
Insert section here on work done with Young Offenders to ensure they know of their
right to request SA etc. – Michael Cotton
LA: Link to YJ projects, SALT and Fi Wilkins role
71. The Single Point of Access (SPA) has been developed to provide a more effective
route for accessing the Inclusive Education Service, the main aims being to ensure
that:
a. The service is more responsive and timely.
b. The needs of the child or young person take precedence over diagnosis and
absence of a formal diagnosis does not become a barrier to accessing
support.
c. There is a clear route to accessing specialist educational support, based on
transparent eligibility criteria, which is applied equitably.
72. The SPA process is closely aligned to that of the Prevention Service to ensure a
coordinated approach.
73. There are strong examples of transforming services DCS personal budgets for social
care project should be included across the local area to support the early
identification and support for children with SEND; for example, cross services
working with SEND Advisors, Virtual head for LAC, DCS. There have also been
appointments into key posts such as Specialist Teachers for SEND within the Youth
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Justice Service and the “No Wrong Door” project with Children’s Social Care, plus the
establishment of the Active Personal Budget Team. I might be being thick - who are
the “active personal budget team ?” Does it mean DPSS ? In which case needs to
specify that relates to Direct Payments only. The SLCN work across the county,
targeting provision through “Readiness to Write” and the speech and language
support work of the Autism Champions with “Better Communications.” The Local
Authority is currently developing a training pathway for all staff working with children
and young people who have autism and their families. A number of autism
champions have been identified across the Children and Families Service to
champion the needs of CYP with autism and their families within local teams. All
selected autism champions have received a two day autism training package and
have committed to participating in three enhanced modules of learning each year.
The focus of the enhanced sessions will be determined by the needs of local families
identified through the type of referrals being received. Kate Race should have some
data on numbers and impact etc.
74. The process for populating the Disabled Children’s Register has recently been
revised and improved to make better use of information already held by the Local
Authority. This will enable a more comprehensive list to be maintained and
consultation has already begun with the voluntary sector and a parent representative
to discuss how to use the information held to best effect. Information held on the
Disabled Children’s Register comes from a number of management information
systems used across the Children and Young People’s Service, covering education,
children’s social care and early help. This information is compiled into a single
source, where duplicates are removed, and the definitions used are standardised, to
give a comprehensive, all age list of children and young people with disabilities in
North Yorkshire. It is felt the process used is far more effective than a process of
“self-registration.”
75. Despite all this work to effectively identify children and young people with special,
educational needs or disabilities more needs to be done to ensure all children and
young people with SEND are identified in as timely a manner as possible and that
this information is more effectively used to plan provision. LA: What more needs to
be done?
We have systems in place which are not fully described in this document.
Very little information has been provided regarding school-based practice ie
encouraging Inclusion Quality mark
NYCC Dyslexia Quality Mark
Creation of training materials to support school-based staff which includes CD-Rom,
videos etc. This will require work to improve the quality of data held on numerous
management information systems within the Children and Young People’s Service.
76. Work is also needed to further develop the effectiveness of partnership working. The
Single Point of Access (SPA) needs to be improved to join with a singular point of
access for health and care settings and more clarity is needed regarding the process
for “medical referrals”, also further work is needed to ensure the code of practice
used by the local authority is adopted by partners as well as improvements in the
joint commissioning of the Education, Health and Care Assessment Request
19
(EHCAR) process and S<. Further work is also needed in terms of Direct
Payments to further develop partnership working in order to reduce the amount of
paperwork and monitoring for families potentially running 3 direct payments instead
of one (in line with SEN CoP).
77. The POET5 survey showed that the proportion of practitioners working within each
age group were higher in North Yorkshire than in other parts of England, with North
Yorkshire practitioners being significantly more likely to work in secondary school and
in a post 16 setting.
78. Every two years the Local Authority undertakes a significant survey within the
majority of the county’s schools. This survey called the “Growing up in North
Yorkshire Survey” (GuNY) was last undertaken in 2014, and the introductory
questions enable us to separate out the responses from pupils with SEN and
compare their responses with those of other pupils. The survey provides a wealth of
data about how children and young people with SEN feel about a wide range of
issues and their lifestyle and choices, with many of the responses being less
favourable than for other pupils. A few of the key figures for SEN pupils in years 8
and 10 with North Yorkshire figures in brackets, are summarised below:
4% (1%) of pupils spend part of their school week learning at another school
or centre
15% (7%) of pupils responded that they get free school meals or vouchers for
free meals
7% (3%) of pupils responded that they are a ‘young carer’
40% (58%) of pupils responded that they intend to apply for University in the
future
31% (25%) of pupils responded that they have been pushed/hit for no reason
in the last month
9% (5%) of pupils had a low score on the “Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental
Wellbeing Scale”
42% (31%) of pupils had a low measure of resilience
50% (48%) of pupils responded that they are asked for their opinions about
how they learn in school
28% (23%) of pupils responded that they have smoked in the past or smoke
now
79. The survey is due to take place again in the next few months, with the 2016 data
being available towards the end of this calendar year.
Other areas for development include:
QA EHC Process
Strengthened monitoring of children with SEND Support. Build school’s capacity to
meet a variety of needs at SEN support and develop supportive materials?
Add: Innovative Practice: what we have developed in NYCC to support CYP with
SEND, some of these have been reported nationally and internationally ie
5 The POET Survey. North Yorkshire County Council Data Report. February 2016
20
Supporting Children and Young People with Co-ordination Difficulties
See http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cch.12128/pdf
CANDo
Totally Maths: Early Years Programme
Sensory Processing Position Statement and Practice
Specific Learning Difficulties Guidance
Should there be something in post-16 about the local transition groups – identifying
young people from other areas of C&FS etc who may be eligible for service as an
adult etc
LTG also tracks young people through PfA process to ensure all needs are identified
– both on individual and strategic/commissioning level
21
How effectively does the local area meet the needs and improve the outcomes
of disabled children and young people and those who have special
educational needs?
Prevention offer?
Time take from identification to implementation? PC
Age profile of requests for EHCPs (Peaks at transition periods? will identify if they are
being flagged early)
PLPs Colleges can’t provide adequate provision without PLP. Skipton Craven feel as
if the goal posts are moving
80. Opening paragraph about what children, young people and their families with SEND
are telling us …. E.g. from Young and Yorkshire, feedback etc. and overview of what
outcomes are measured etc. Autism strategy consultation information also available
for use - CAH has this.
81. Softer measures of outcomes include pupil voice questionnaires being universally
adopted across the SpLD service (of which there are many good examples), and the
service has been asked to present information regarding this process and how it is
used at an International conference in London in April. A SNAP survey for
stakeholders accessing IES to receive feedback on improving the service has just
been introduced. This will provide more feedback and be reported on annually.
82. Information on outcomes re preparation for independence – independent living,
independent travel (Development of KPIs for independent travel training and direct
payments taken through from childhood to adulthood) , EET, voluntary work etc. –
Stephen, Karl Development of KPI for PfA – fredesign of the spreadsheet to monitor
83. Information re quality of EHC plans (How personal budgets and direct payments are
recorded in section J relating to outcomes - not sure how robustly this is applied).
with emphasis on outcomes etc. Monitoring processes for children with SEND in
schools and out of county. DCS – plans and review and outcomes etc. LA: We need
some good examples of an EHC plan and how this is monitored
84. Ofsted ratings for schools, CRCs etc. –
85. The Inclusive Education Service has developed eligibility criteria for accessing
services and determining whether or not they fall within the core or traded remit. This
has provided greater confidence in schools/settings in understanding the role of
services and knowing how and when to access them. SENCo networks are used to
provided information and to receive feedback and these have shaped process and
practice. Service level agreements for commissioning EMS and special outreach
provision have been greatly improved through working with service providers and
service users. This has resulted in greater consistency and clearer expectations
regarding what has been commissioned. The relationship between the LA and
schools / settings, is done through a variety of routes including JDP, schools forum,
22
SINs and remains positive. These provide a good forum for two way support and
challenge.
86. Across the local area there is a wide range of provision that is augmented by
particular projects to fill any potential gaps. Provision menus in Early Years are used
to specify the interventions that are available for early years (12-18 months) and the
portage service is rated as a five star service.
87. Work within compulsory education has focussed on evidence based interventions
using the “What Works” database. Include research autism website. Particular
evidence based projects include work with the Education Endowment Foundation,
the NELI pilot with York University at Allerton and Malton schools, the Stokesley
Handwriting Project, and DCs using targeted intervention around parenting (Cygnet
and ASCEND parenting programmes, evidence of impact nationally), behaviour and
sleep plus the use of evidence and strength based approaches to help families of
children with SEND. LA: Can these be contextualised within the relevant section ie
Early Years, School based provision etc rather than an add on, it looks as through
these projects are running in parallel to key delivery
88. There is now increased representation
of SEND issues within the Strategic
Leaders Forum (SLF) and SENCo
networks and the rate of SEN appeals
in 2013-14 per 10,000 pupils at 2.36
was significantly lower than the national
rate (4.83) and lower than the Regional
(2.9) and statistical neighbours (2.9)
rates; North Yorkshire is ranked 22nd
(top quartile) for this indicator.
89. Outcomes for children and
young people with SEND in
North Yorkshire are getting
better. At Key Stage 1 and 2 the
SEN / Non SEN gap has got
smaller for reading, writing and
maths between 2014 and 2015
as have the gaps for achieving
level 4+ and level 5+ at Key
Stage 2. Furthermore in 2014
3% of pupils with a statement
achieved the English
Baccalaureate which is better than the national (2%) and regional rates (2.4%) but
slightly below the rate for our statistical neighbours (3.2%).
90. Despite the improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND and some
of the gaps closing, the chart below shows that some of the gaps from the early years
foundation stage through to KS4 for the past 3 years are still significant, but it is worth
• Lower rate (2.36) than Nationally (4.83)
• Ranked 22nd Nationally (Top Quartile)
Rate of SEN Appeals
KS1 SEN Gap for reading, writing and maths closing
KS2 SEN Gap for reading, writing and maths closing
KS4 A higher percentage of young people with SEN achieve the English Baccalaureate locally than nationally
23
noting that by the time young people complete compulsory education the SEN gap is
closing.
Levels of Progress? DfE Stat Release this month
91. Further work could be done to encourage continued
participation in education and training post 16. Only
47% of Year 10 pupils with SEN intended to stay in full
time education after Year 11 compared to 61% of all
pupils, and only 40% of pupils in Years 8 and 10 with
SEND intend to apply for a university place in the future
compared to 58% of all pupils in that age group.
92. Post 16 participation for young people with special
educational needs in North Yorkshire is good; in 2014
88% of the previous year’s Key Stage 4 cohort was in
Education, Employment or Training at the age of 17. This is an improvement of 5ppt
24
on the previous year and better than the national (85%), regional (84%) and
statistical neighbours (86.7%) averages. This is just outside top quartile performance.
These post 16 destination measures refer to sustained destinations6 of the previous
year’s year 11 cohort and the actual destinations can be seen in the chart below.
93. As a result of good participation 19% of 19 year olds
with a statement were qualified to level 2 including
English and Maths, this is top quartile performance
(Ranked 16th) and better than the national (13%) and
regional (13%) averages, but below that of our
statistical neighbours (19.6%). 18% of 19 year olds
with a statement were qualified to level 3, this is top
quartile performance (Ranked 24th) and better than
the national (14%) and regional (12%) averages, but
again, below that of our statistical neighbours
(19.1%).
94. Partnership work with health colleagues has been particularly effective in developing
work with hearing impairments and improving the management of specialist
equipment for children and young people with physical disabilities. Joint training and
6 The post 16 destination measures look at sustained destinations of the previous year’s year 11 cohort.
Level 2 including English and Maths
Level 3 including English and Maths
Top Quartile
25
working to introduce and develop conductive education in special schools (MOVE)
has resulted in two schools already becoming ‘Centres of Excellence,’ and there has
been joint working with health, parents and other stakeholders to review the medical
guidance given to schools. There is now a fast response to diagnosis through the
new-born hearing screening programme as well as direct access to services through
ophthalmology and audiology. The Authority also employs health professionals in
IES, Occupational Therapy, S< and PT roles. Do you want a section on the
improving picture around autism diagnosis here from the PCU?
95. In addition to the provision mentioned above, there are also a number of established
individual projects and programmes targeted at a particular need such as the Healthy
Child Programme, the local SLEEP (Scotland) programme that provides counselling
for parents and carers of young people with additional needs, use of the Personal
Outcomes Evaluation Tool (POET), peer mentoring for Flying High and parenting
programmes such as Cygnet7, ASCEND, Early Bird and seminars for families. In
addition to these established projects there are other projects planned such as the
project with Connecting Youth Culture to develop short videos by young people for
young people and by parents for parents to raise awareness relating to different
SEND and the proposed Future in Mind project. IMPACT ? Emma Thomas will have
further information on the intended outcomes for the Future in Mind project.
96. The POET survey8 helped identify the impact of EHCPs locally with well over half of
the practitioners from North Yorkshire (61%) saying that EHCPs had always or
mostly helped them work in partnership with parents/carers. More than half of
practitioners said that EHCPs had helped them always or mostly in their work over
the last year in all of the seven areas explored by the survey. A significant minority
(20% or more) of practitioners said that Education Health and Care Plans had never
or rarely helped them in three of the seven areas of work asked about:
providing a timely response to the needs of children (23%),
putting children at the centre of their planning (22%) and
working in partnership with colleagues from other professions (22%).
97. The survey also gathered parents’ views and
these showed that Parents in North Yorkshire
were more likely to report the involvement of
family (80%) in the EHCP process than other
areas of England (52%). They were also more
likely to have their views fully included in the
plan (82% compared to 74% in other parts of
the country, and 59% of parents felt the views
of their child had been included in the
development of the plan, similar to the picture
elsewhere at 60%.
7 Cygnet Health Care is a commercial provider of mental health services which operates 17 centres across
England 8 The POET Survey. North Yorkshire County Council Data Report. February 2016
North Yorkshire 80%
Parents Involved in
EHCP process
Other parts of the country 52%
26
98. Services are also enhanced by the provision of some specialist posts such as three
Educational Psychologists with a parenting specialism and a new post to support
Direct Payments and Personal Budgets. If this is my post it does not convey the
temporary nature of the post JC
99. There may be gaps in the provision of information advice and guidance as the
Specialist Careers Officers form part of a fully traded service that is only open to
schools that purchase it, so as it is not a universal service, only limited information
can be disseminated through the Local Offer and PfA (?) leaflets / website. Whilst a
small number of mainstream schools access the specialist career officer information,
advice and guidance (IAG) provision, many are not aware of the role of the team
despite promotion through SENCO networks. In theory the Assessment and
Reviewing Officer (ARO) team is monitoring the provision of IAG in mainstream
schools but in practice this is not really possible because of limitations on attendance
at EHCP reviews. Mainstream schools have their own careers advisers and are less
likely to be prepared to buy into a traded service. At present there is very limited
involvement with specialist colleges, Independent Specialist Providers (ISPs), or out
of county special schools because they would be required to purchase the service.
Needs to be turned into a strength
We can add something in here about support planners and their ability to attend ISP
reviews to support transitions back in county
27
How effective are local area arrangements to identify disabled children and
young people and those who have special educational needs; and to meet
their needs and improve their outcomes?
100. The Local Authority has clear strategic plans and leadership in place through the
Council’s 2020 plan and “Young and Yorkshire,” the 2014-17 strategic plan for all
children and young people in the county. These plans, the service plan and the
progress against targets is all closely monitored through leadership teams at service
area, directorate and council levels, including multi-agency groups such as the
children’s trust, the SEND strategy group, and the Pre-School Learning Alliance
steering group, as well as by elected members through scrutiny groups. However,
there is an element of confusion amongst officers as to what information should go to
each group. LA: There is a need for a more strategic overview, as work remains
fragmented, for example the Learning Disability Strategy was launched with no
reference to work with children and young people, there should be an overt link
across areas and ages so that we present as having a seamless service
101. The strategic plans are implemented through a series of effective policies,
procedures and groups. Work has been undertaken on the SEND mainstream
guidance and support documents to ensure they are used to address the
expectations of education providers as part of their universal and targeted offer, and
there has been work to develop the Single Point of Access to ensure there is no
barrier to support and services. LA: Is there a need to refer to existing strategies,
which went through considerable public consultation to guide its contents ie SpLD
strategy 2014-2017?
102. Groups overseeing this work include the Strategic Leaders Forum and an effective
Early Years SENCo network as well as other groups such as Ryedale Special
Families, Scarborough Special Families, the Coast and Vale Group, the Selective
Mutism Parent Group and the Autism Strategy Development Group. There will also
be a series of parent participation open events in 2016 across the county to continue
to encourage the participation of children and young people plus their parents or
carers in local and strategic decision making.
103. Work with partners includes the effective joint commissioning of various projects such
as tackling Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN), work with the
Youth Justice Service, the National Health Service and Clinical Commissioning
Groups as well as the North Yorkshire Communication Aids Partnership (NYCAP).
However most partners are also facing the same budget pressures as the local
authority and it is felt there should be more joint commissioning and potentially more
pooled budgets to make best use of the limited resources that are available.
104. The voice of the child and their
parents / guardians as well as
the views of other interested
bodies features heavily
throughout the provision, there
•The percentage of pupils with SEND in Yrs 8 and 10 who said adults at school talked to them and about how to improve their work has increased from 52% in 2012 to 67% in 2014
28
are numerous examples of groups that are involved in all aspects of designing,
delivering and evaluating the provision, particularly the North Yorkshire Parent and
Carer Forum (NYPACT), and “Flying High” a group of volunteers aged 16 to 25 with
disabilities or extra support needs, who support the participation of all young people
with disabilities and special educational needs. There are also good examples of
activities used to collect the views of children and young people such as the “Growing
up in North Yorkshire” survey which takes place every 2 years in national curriculum
years 2, 6, 8 and 10, and from which the results of those pupils with SEND can be
extracted and analysed, plus the use of Pupil Voice Questionnaires to determine the
aspirations of children and young people. The 2014 GuNY survey showed 67% of
pupils with SEND in Years 8 and 10 said that adults at school talked to them about
how to improve their work, this is a significant increase from 2012 when only 52%
said that was the case and the figure now is the same as for all pupils in Years 8 and
10.
105. The Local Offer was drawn up in consultation with representation from a number of
key groups including young people (Flying High), parents / carers and other
interested agencies including the voluntary sector and is available through a website
which includes a young person’s version. Further work is being project managed
through the Technology and Change Service to make the website more interactive,
more accessible and to ensure it is written in plain English. At present the Local Offer
is not sufficiently publicised and is not easily accessible to all parties and further work
is needed in this area, including making the Offer available in other formats and
ensuring it is compliant with the requirement. That said from January to September
2015 there were 5,062 unique page views of the Local Offer home page.
106. Policies and procedures regarding Personal Budgets (Policy with legal / procedures
on my “to do “ list) are in place and are felt to be having an effect. An Integrated
Direct Payment Support Service (Should this clarify that integrated means CYPS and
HAS ?
107. The POET survey9 asked questions of
parents who had a personal budget as
part of their EHCP. The results
showed that parents from North
Yorkshire (33%) were slightly less
likely to report the local authority
holding the personal budget than
parents from other parts of England
(37%) and more likely to report they
knew the amount of money allocated
to the personal budget (50%)
compared to parents from other parts
of England (37%). A half (50%) of
parents from North Yorkshire said they
could fully or partially decide how the
9 The POET Survey. North Yorkshire County Council Data Report. February 2016
North Yorkshire 50%
Parents who know how much
money is allocated to the Personal Budget
Other parts of England 37%
29
personal budget was spent, compared to just over half of parents (54%) from other
parts of England.
108. The Survey also reports on how parents feel about the support their child has
received and the results show that slightly over three quarters of parents from North
Yorkshire (76%) said the quality of support was good or very good compared to just
under three quarters of parents from other parts of England (72%). More than a half
of parents from North Yorkshire (58%) said the amount of support available to their
child was good or very good, similar to parents from other parts of England (57%).
Well over one third (40%) of parents from North Yorkshire reported that the degree of
choice and control over support was good or very good, compared to under half of
parents from other parts of England (46%).
109. Pilot for DP’s for transport ) has been set up to support families and young people
and this is underpinned by comprehensive data and monitoring systems; however,
although it is felt direct payments for social care are well established the same can’t
be said for payments for transport and education, (including Further Education).
Local Offer web site hits?
Data re decisions appealed, does it ident areas that are gaps / gaps in
knowledge?
Complaints & Commendations?
Tribunal Outcomes (1 ombudsman Case re thresholds between CSC and
DCS)
SENDIASS
Conclusion
110. Include our vision for the future, rationale and examples
Summary of Key Strengths and Areas in Need of Further Improvement
NB: Many added in partners workshop that aren’t mentioned in main body of
text so they need adding
111. Strengths
PLP PfA
Rationalisation more effective structures
Conversion to EHCPs
EMS provision/ links with schools etc
2500+ attended training on SEND reforms
Continuing to provide discretionary short breaks
Increased NYPACT membership
Embedding of reforms
1 of 4 partners in practice
Supporting more locally (in County)
18+ remaining in DCS from Summer
30
Local transition groups
Vol sector involvement and development (new groups) “stronger
communities”
EHCP supported in mainstream Ed
112. Areas in Need of Further Improvement
The Local Offer needs further work to publicise it and make it more
accessible.
Further work is needed to encourage Direct Payments for transport and
education.
Strengthen partnership working
Work with young people with SEND in Further Education
Independent Travel Training to be realigned etc.
Increased ownership of plans by YP
EHCP emphasises “need” rather than what provision they want
When schools can’t meet need, independent evaluation, timeliness of follow
on intervention,
Disconnect between EMS / special schools?
Strengths
•The Local Offer needs further work to publicise it and make it more accessible.
•Further work is needed to encourage Direct Payments for transport and education.
•Strengthen partnership working
•Work with young people with SEND in Further Education
Areas in need of
improvement
31
Annex A
SEN Types / Abbreviations:
Pupil SEN Type
ASD Autistic Spectrum Disorder
HI Hearing Impairment
MLD Moderate Learning Difficulty
MSI Multi-Sensory Impairment
NSA SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need
OTH Other Difficulty/Disability
PD Physical Disability
PMLD Profound & Multiple Learning Difficulty
SEMH Social, Emotional and Mental Health
SLCN Speech, Language and Communication Needs
SLD Severe Learning Difficulty
SPLD Specific Learning Difficulty
VI Visual Impairment