Oversight and future
In March 2023 the Southend-on-Sea Local Area Partnership was subject to a focussed Area SEND inspection from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The inspection found that “The local area partnership's arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The local area partnership must work jointly to make improvements.”
The inspection outcome followed the extensive work completed on the development of the priorities in the Southend SEND strategy which was approved at Cabinet in February 2023.
The Southend SEND Partnership commits to ensuring that children and young people with SEND achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes, such as being able to live independently, secure meaningful employment and be well prepared for their adult lives. The area has produced a single SEND strategic action plan which sets out the local area's plans to jointly deliver its priorities and improvements. Recommendation 6 in the plan includes actions relating to the SEND Local Offer and the work of the SEND Local Offer team.
The implementation of the strategic action plan is monitored by the Department for Education (DfE) and at a local level by the Southend Health and Well Being Board (HWBB). Activity and progress against the plan are monitored at 4 monthly intervals and reported through the Southend SEND and Alternative Provision (SEND&AP) Operations Group, and onto the Southend SEND Strategic Partnership Board.
Plans for 2025
In addition to continuing with business-as-usual work, the SEND Local Offer team will be working on the following actions in the coming year:
- more visible promotion of the SEND Local Offer and SEND Surgeries in public areas through banners displayed at parks across the City, and the development of videos to promote SEND Surgeries
- implementation of the SEND Area Partnership Communications Plan
- continued implementation of the Local Offer Communications Plan
- continuing to develop SEND routemaps for processes, developing an overarching routemap for the SEND system and getting feedback on the routemaps from parent carers and professionals
- developing more impact and feedback mechanisms for the Local Offer and support and advice given to families
- developing our Your Say Southend platform to include SEND routemaps and a link to the SEND Surgeries page
- developing an online Hub for Southend SEND Network members, increasing membership of the Network and providing training for SEND Champions