Priority 3 - inclusive education and early support
Improve the consistency of children and young peoples expereince in mainstream education by supporting leaders to understand and implement area partnership Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and inclusive practice within and across settings in line with national reforms.
3.1) Where we are now: There needs to be stronger partnership engagement with school leaders to drive improvement.
What we will do: Increase collective knowledge, collaboration and partner responsibility by strengthening leadership engagement with commissioning and intervention forums.
Outcomes:
- Trust and setting leaders understand the specific drivers in their setting, and in the wider southend community landscape that are impacting on children and peoples experience of inclusion and SEND
- setting leaders have improved access to citywide data that can improve understanding of the factors impacting mainstream inclusion
- Trusts, schools and settings working as a collective with shared gaols to improve arrangements for children and young peoples experiences and implement reforms
Success measures:
- Trusts and Settings have Strategic inclusion plans, school self-evaluation and school-based provision that accurately reflect an understanding of patterns of need across the local area as well as within their own settings
- increasing the number of clusters working together to improve early intervention and arrangements for children and young people, including proactive planning for alternative provision and developing interventions that reduce the number of children experiencing fragmentation in their learning
3.2) Where we are now: There is inconsisitent inclusion and SEND standards experienced in settings city-wide.
What we will do:
- strengthen strategic leadership for SEND and Inclusion across education settings
- implement agreed inclusion and SEND standards across the city to improve consistency in children and young people's experiences
Outcomes:
- there are agreed Inclusion standards implemented citywide in settings with increased opportunities for collaborations across schools to improve arrangements for children and young peoples experiences
- leaders are able to evaluate the effectiveness of their provision against agreed inclusion standards
- outcomes for SEND and Inclusion are held to account by system leaders through the Education Strategy Group (ESG) and other forums
Success measures: Arrangements meeting inclusion standards are developed to positively meet needs, before escalation, through school, Expert at Hand and community interventions.
3.3) Where we are now: There is variability in the confidence and capability of practitioners to accurately identify and understand additional needs, which can result in inconsistent support, implementation of inclusive practice, and outcomes for children and young people.
What we will do: Build workforce capability and confidence across the education system.
Outcomes:
- education settings consistently implement an inclusive graduated approach that enables children and young people with SEND to succeed in their local community
- Teachers and practitioners are able to access timely advice
- Practitioners are confident in delivering evidence-informed SEND support and adapting provision to meet individual needs
- a knowledgeable and confident workforce that is able to identify, understand and respond to a range of additional needs, leading to consistent practice
- schools successfully implementing inclusive teaching approaches
Success measures:
- more pracitioners access area SEND advice in Best Start Family Hubs and early years settings
- more practitioners have knowledge and skills to address emerging needs and understand how they can prevent escalation to specialist services through timely interventions
- increased use of advice platforms
- children receive timely support through the graduated response, with escalation to statutory assessment occurring when appropriate and evidenced by need
3.4) Where we are now: Early identification, assessment and intervention arrangements are not sufficiently consistent across the partnership, resulting in variation in how needs are identified, recorded and responded to, delaying access to appropriate support and increasing the risk of needs escalating.
What we will do: Develop a shared approach to identifying and recording SEND needs to improve the accuracy of SEND profiles and enable earlier, more effective support.
Outcomes:
- children and young people receive timely, appropriate support because practitioners consistently identify, understand and respond to need using evidence-informed approaches
- education, health and care partners work together effectively to support early identification and coordinated intervention, so that children and young people access the right support at the right time
Success measures:
- reduction in the over-identification of Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) where other underlying needs are present
- greater consistency in the identification and recording of SEND across education settings
- reduced variation between settings in SEND identification patterns and profiles
3.5) Where we are now: Inclusive practice is not consistently embedded across all education settings, resulting in variability in how children and young people with SEND experience participation, belonging and achievement.
What we will do:
- provide whole-school school consultations to support schools with their mainstream send inclusion strategies, identifiying and supporting areas for development
- launch a co-produced audit tool to support mainstream schools with effective use of the Experts at Hand offer and strategic planning based on the 7 pillars of inclusion
- facilitate the sharing of successful approaches from high-performing settings across the partnership
- convene school clusters to strengthen practice and inclusion across the community with a focus to strengthen belonging and participation
Outcomes:
- education settings consistently identify, understand and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND through inclusive practice, reducing inequalities in attendance, participation and educational outcomes
- children and young people have their needs identified and understood at the earliest opportunity and receive timely, effective support that is regularly reviewed and adapted to achieve positive outcomes
Success measures:
- narrowing of the attendance and exclusion gap between children with SEND and their peers
- improved participation of children and young people with SEND in school life and learning opportunities
- children and young people with SEND report increased feelings of belonging, participation and inclusion within their education setting
- reduction in variation between settings in experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND
- increased confidence amongst schools in meeting needs at SEND Support without escalation to statutory assessment where appropriate