Recommendation 1 update
Recommendation 1:
Leaders in education, health and social care are empowered to drive forward improvements at pace so that the Southend SEND Partnership strategy impacts positively on the experiences and outcomes of all children and young and people with SEND.
What we wanted:
Health commissioners and provider services understand their joint responsibility for SEND improvement.
What we did:
- ensured greater alignment between the local authority and the ICB, enabling more effective joint planning, evaluation, and service development for the SEND community
- increased collaboration across education, health, and social care through the creation of a Joint Commissioning Group
- introduced outcome measurements through health commissioned services and contracts
- held a system wide transformation summit on a needs led approach to neurodivergent assessment and diagnosis
- included pathway improvement for children with SEND (therapies, neurodivergence) with Contractual Service Development Improvement Plans
- Routine Governance reporting tracks progress, the delivery of milestones, and identifies and mitigate risks, for all the improvement workstreams
- ensured evidence of improvement activity is annually reported to the Health and Wellbeing Board and Peoples Scrutiny Committee
- provided significant investment into support services for schools to improved access to specialist advice and support available for settings, schools and families
- ensured stakeholders were continually updated on change and improvement work (via the SEND Partnership newsletter / SEND Network and the Parent Carer Forum)
- engaged the SEND Headteachers Forum and Educational Strategy Group in shaping services
The difference it made:
- the SEND Area Partnership provides effective strategic and operational accountability
- lines of accountability and resource responsibilities in place across MSE ICB
- the Partnership's hard work and progress, “demonstrates tangible improvements in the experiences of children and young people in Southend.” as acknowledged by DFE monitoring in 2025
Priorities for 2025-26:
- leaders in health, education and social care will be responsive to challenges ahead, adapt and be agile to the changes within the Integrated Care Service, Local Government Reorganisation and SEND Reforms
- update the area Self Evaluation Form (SEF) to reflect the progress made to date with refocused priorities and resources
- strengthen leadership in the community collaborative