Agenda item

Report by Executive Director Childrens, Adults, Families, Health and Education, and Director of Education and Skills.

A review and update of the objectives of the SEND Strategy 2016-19, including the proposal to develop additional SSCs, in order to educate children with SEND locally, therefore reducing out of county placements.

The Committee is asked to consider the issues raised in the report, to consider the need to develop SSCs in order to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND locally, and to support the proposal.

35.1   The Committee considered a report by the Executive Director Children, Adults, Families, Health and Education, and the Director of Education and Skills. The report was introduced by Helen Johns, Head of Inclusion, who explained the proposal to develop additional Special Support Centres (SSCs), in order to enable children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to attend school locally. The Committee heard the following key points:

·         With an increasing number of high needs children, West Sussex County Council (WSCC) are seeking to educate these children as locally as possible, as opposed to placing them in costly out of county provision.

·         There are currently 32 SSCs in the county, focussed on varying areas of need.  Increasing this number would allow more children with progressively complex needs to access specialist provision closer to home, whilst experiencing mainstream schooling.

·         Schools with SSCs would be able to provide suitable opportunities for SEND children to integrate, which would in turn provide better outcomes for them, for example, access to college and work.

·         Phase 1 of the project would deliver 4 SSCs; 2 in maintained nurseries in Chichester and Horsham, and 2 in primary schools.

35.2   Members of the Committee welcomed the proposal to increase the number of SSCs in mainstream schools. The following points were considered by the Committee, with responses from The Head of Inclusion and Paul Wagstaff, Director of Education and Skills:

·         Members considered whether the objectives in the SEND strategy could be adequately met given the funding challenges faced by WSCC. The Head of Inclusion advised that currently the local authority was forced to place SEND children in high cost provision. The SSCs proposal seeks an investment to save by placing children locally and not in the private sector.

·         Members noted the increasing population and rising demand for SEND provision and agreed the proposal was future-proofing in line with the SEND strategy.

·         Members of the Committee were concerned that larger secondary schools might not be the most appropriate setting for SSCs. Other members of the Committee considered that all schools should be able to offer an inclusive culture.

·         The Head of Inclusion explained that the proposal would start with early years, however conversations were being held with secondary schools. The proposal aims to provide a graduated response, eventually developing expertise in all schools. Members agreed it was crucial to identify needs at the earliest opportunity, and therefore understood using early years as a starting point. Members also noted the importance of therapeutic practices in early years settings.

·         Members of the Committee questioned whether the service had considered parents of non-SEND children in mainstream education who might consider the proposal detrimental to their learning. The Director of Education and Skills advised that Headteachers would need to be supported to establish and promote an inclusive culture in schools. He added that some schools were anxious about their ability to meet the high needs of these children, and other schools were concerned about the impact a SSC might have upon their results outturn. The School Effectiveness Strategy 2018-2022 would assist in brokering support from one school to another in order to identify effective practice and share this across the county.

·         The Director of Education and Skills advised that the new education inspection framework from Ofsted removes judgement on outcomes of exam results, and gives an overall focus to areas such as inclusivity and its effectiveness. No school would receive a judgement of Outstanding if it cannot demonstrate it meets the needs of a wide profile of students.

·         Members asked if children in out of county specialist placements would be required to come back and use the local provision. The Head of Inclusion advised no child currently placed out of county would be forced to come back to the county to a maintained placement. The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills added the SSCs would be ready for future children, and over time WSCC would see gradually fewer children needing to be placed in the independent and non-maintained sector.

35.3   Resolved that the committee supports the proposal to develop additional specialist support centres attached to mainstream schools in order to educate children with SEND locally in mainstream education and reduce out of county placements. The Committee further recommends:

1.   that the service investigates therapeutic training available, such as Anna Freud and Thrive, and work with Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) networks in order to help support the objectives for West Sussex.

2.   that once further work has been undertaken concerning need and provision, that measured localised and granular data is brought back to the committee.

3.   that it can support and assist with the SEND strategy objectives where appropriate, and asks how it can help with the enablement of schools to become inclusive.

4.   that, at an appropriate time, the Committee has an update on expected outcomes of SSCs.

5.   that, when developed, the business case comes back to the Committee.