Blackburn with Darwen - Open Objects Software Ltd · Blackburn with Darwen Strategy for children and young people with Special Educational Needs . and those who need Alternative Provision

Blackburn with DarwenStrategy for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and those who need Alternative Provision 2014 – 2017

Strategy to improve outcomes, opportunities and life chances for children and young people with Special Educational Needs, and those who need Alternative Provision.

Strategy 2014 – 2017

Contents

1. Foreword

2. Executive Summary

3. Introduction 3.1 Background 3.2 Vision and Principles 3.3 Who is the strategy for? 3.4 Summary of Needs 3.5 Financial and Policy Context

4. The Priorities

Priority 1. Increase participationPriority 2. Increase achievementPriority 3. Ensure good learner progressPriority 4. Improve identificationPriority 5. Improve governancePriority 6. Develop strategic commissioningPriority 7. Develop provisionPriority 8. Work together to meet families’ needs

5. Conclusion

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Foreword

All children and young people deserve to have access to the very best learning opportunities to ensure that they maximise their potential and grow up to be happy, healthy and economically active.

This strategy demonstrates the commitment of the Council and of our partners to ensure that those children and young people with Special Educational Needs, and those who need Alternative Provision are supported to aspire, access learning and achieve.

It outlines how we intend to respond to the national policy drivers including the Children and Families Bill, and ensure that the legislation translates into real improvements for vulnerable learners and their families, putting them at the heart of decision making.

Our strategy cannot be delivered by any one party alone. Only through effective partnership working can we deliver our shared vision by creating an environment that ensures that all children and young people have the support and opportunities that inspire them and enable them to achieve their very best.


Councillor Dave HarlingExecutive Member for Schools and Education

Lisa BibbyDirector Schools and Education

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2. Executive Summary

Our StrategyThe purpose of this strategy is to set out our shared vision for education for children and young people who have Special Educational Needs (SEN), and for those who may benefit from Alternative Provision.

This strategy links with our...

1. Health and Well-Being Strategy2. Strategy to improve outcomes, opportunities and life chances for children and young people with

complex needs. 3. Early Help Strategy

Our VisionAiming higher for all our children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision: to ensure that all our children and young people have opportunities and support which inspire and enable them to achieve their very best, and maximise their potential as citizens in the future.

Who is the strategy for?This strategy is for the estimated 12,000 children and young people in Blackburn with Darwen who have Special Educational Needs (SEN) and those who need Alternative Provision.

Definitions:Special Educational Needs (SEN): A child or young person has Special Educational Needs if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child of compulsory school age or young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:

a. have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; orb. have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of facilities of a kind generally

provided for others of the same age in mainstream educational settings.

Alternative Provision (AP): Education arranged by local authorities or schools for children and young people, who, because of behaviour, illness or other reasons, would not otherwise receive suitable education.

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Our principles

Children First: we want our children and young people to be at the heart of the system.

Inclusion: we want our children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision to be fully included in education (ideally in local schools).

Partnerships: we will build strong relationships between all learning providers and partners, to enable the best support for children and young people in their setting.

Quality First Teaching: our aim is to ensure that we meet the entitlement of all of our pupils to ‘Quality First Teaching’ which engages and inspires them to be their very best.

High Quality Provision: we want all our children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision to have placements which are deemed to be good or better.

Value for Money: we will ensure that all placements and services for children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision will be value for money, quality assured and meet their needs and aspirations.

Early Help: we will ensure that the right people at the right time provide the right support to our children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision.

Family Support: we want to ensure increased choice and opportunity for parents and young people, and to ensure that they have local access to the range of services they need.

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Our Priorities

Priority 1. Increase participation of children, young people and their families in the design and delivery of services.

Priority 2. Increase achievement

Priority 3. Ensure good learner progress

Priority 4. Improve identification

Priority 5. Improve governance

Priority 6. Ensure that we have the right educational provision and services available to meet need

Priority 7. Develop provision

Priority 8. Work together to meet families’ needs: develop integrated service delivery

In this strategy we have set out our vision for children and young people with SEN, and their families, as well as of those who need Alternative Provision.

We will work with all our partners, schools, early years settings, further and higher education establishments, voluntary sector and independent sector colleagues to develop a detailed implementation plan to take forward this strategy.

For further information or a copy of the full strategy, please contact:

Jessica Byrne, Head of Service Education Excellence, Children’s Services and Education Department, Blackburn with Darwen Council, Duke Street, Blackburn, BB2 1DH Tel: (01254) 666432

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1’Still Running II and Still Running III, the Children’s Society’

3: Introduction

3.1 Background: The purpose of this strategy is to set out our shared vision for education for children and young people who have Special Educational Needs (SEN), and for those vulnerable learners who may benefit from Alternative Provision. In partnership with local providers, we want to be aspirational and ambitious on their behalf. This strategy will contribute towards the development of our ‘Local Offer’ and fulfil our statutory duty to set out our special and alternative education provision in both specialist and mainstream settings, and related support and services. It will also set out how Education, Social Care and Health partners will work together, in partnership with our children, young people with SEN and their families, to meet their needs and enhance their opportunities.

a. National Drivers:

This strategy will take forward our response to the Children and Families Bill (2013) which is a main national driver and is the outcome of the Green Paper ‘Support and Aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability‘(2012) which set out the reform programme for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN), including those who are disabled. The intention is to raise aspirations by putting children, young people and parents at the centre of decisions; giving them greater choice and control over their support so that they can achieve at school and college and make a successful transition to adult life. Consequently, we will have duties to develop a single and integrated system from birth to 25 for all children and young people with SEN and their families, which will include simplified assessment, improved collaboration between Education, Health and Social Care, and giving parents and young people greater choice and control over their support. Assessment will be a more streamlined process:

• Statements and learning difficulty assessments will be replaced with a new birth to 25 Education, Health and Care Plan, which will co-ordinate the support for children and young people in a way that focuses on desired outcomes including, as they get older, preparation for adulthood;

• Families and young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan will be offered a personal budget, extending choice and control over their support.

• Education, Health and Care Plans will have a wider age remit than statements, and will include very young children (0-2 years old) and ‘young people’ (over school age to 25 providing they are in further education or training but not in Higher Education).

We also have a duty under the Children and Families Bill towards children and young people who need Alternative Provision, who, because of behaviour, health or other reasons are unable to attend school. We will have a duty to publish a clear and transparent ‘local offer’ of services to support children and young people with SEN, and those who need Alternative Provision, and their families. These changes will be supported by the duties that we already have towards disabled people under the Equality Act 2010.

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There have been a number of reports which have contributed towards the Green Paper and the consequent Children and Families Bill, and have also had significant national impact in their own right:

• The special educational needs and disability review: a statement is not enough (Ofsted, 2010) highlighted the necessity of quality teaching, smart, targeted and time limited interventions and access to multi-agency support to tackle under-achievement. Specialist skills and training were found to have the best impact to meet the more complex needs of children and young people with SEN.

• The conclusion of The Lamb Inquiry- special educational needs and parental confidence (DCSF, 2009) was that the system needs to be more ambitious for children and young people, and that parents need to be listened to more to improve children’s life chances.

• The Bercow review of services for children and young people (0-19) with speech, language and communication needs (2008)1, found that a significant proportion of children and young people in primary and secondary schools have Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) as their primary need whereas secondary SLCN are associated with other difficulties. The conclusion was that without early intervention, there are multiple risks for children and young people including: lower educational attainment, behavioural problems, emotional and psychological difficulties, poorer employment prospects, and risk of mental health issues or criminal behaviour.

• Identifying and Teaching Children and Young People with Dyslexia and Literacy Difficulties (Sir Jim Rose, 2009) found that good teaching and learning for all children and young people, early identification and intervention (by trained staff) and support to parents are crucial in enabling children and young people to succeed.

• The Ofsted report on Progression post-16 for learners with learning difficulties and /or disabilities (2011) highlighted the lack of effective arrangements for transition from school to post-16 settings The conclusion was that :‘Too few young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities progress from school to completed programmes of learning in post-16 settings which develop greater independence; lead to further study, supported or open employment; or provide skills for independent living’.

Recent national reports on Alternative Provision will be taken on board in our approach to commissioning:

• The Ofsted survey of Alternative Provision (AP) in June 20112 highlighted concerns over the fact that Alternative Provision is unregulated and uninspected and it is often used as a ‘last resort’ for those young people with challenging behaviour. Pupils spend a significant amount of time there but progress is not monitored. Successful placements are based on a clear rationale for placement, with criteria set for successful outcomes, where learning of core subjects at school is carefully planned to fit around time at the Alternative Provision. The report recommended that in the absence of government regulations, local authorities should quality assure such provision.

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1Better Communication: a review of services for children and young people 0-19 with speech, language and communication needs (John Bercow, DCSF 2008)2Alternative Provision, Ofsted June 2011

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• Charlie Taylors’ report ‘Improving Alternative Provision’3 (AP) was critical of the commissioning role played by many schools, PRUs, alternative providers and local authorities: ‘but most of all it is critical of a flawed system that fails to provide suitable education and proper accountability for some of the most vulnerable children in the country’. This report pointed out that many children and young people who are referred to PRUs and AP come from the most deprived backgrounds and are twice as likely to qualify for free school meals. The report identified characteristics of quality Alternative Provision:

- Good understanding of different local needs - Demonstration of good outcomes and positive impact, along with an appropriate curriculum; - Good arrangements for relevant services to work in partnership, - Rigour at individual placement level, and ongoing monitoring, - Specific focus on literacy and numeracy; - A goal of reintegration into mainstream when the child or young person is ready.

Also of importance to our strategy is the 2010 White Paper The Importance of Teaching and the subsequent 2011 Education Act, paving the way for schools to become more autonomous, and the role of the Local Authority to become less of a provider and more of a commissioner of services, and to be a champion of vulnerable learners.

a. Local Drivers

Almost three in ten children in Blackburn with Darwen live in poverty. Changes to the benefit system will impact on our families, especially as the borough is currently the 17th most deprived borough nationally (based on the 2011 Index of Multiple Deprivation)4. We know that poverty is a barrier to positive outcomes for children and families. Our child health and well-being data shows that we are ‘significantly worse’ than the England average in relation to outcomes for the proportion of children:

• Achieving a good level of development at the age of 5• Not in Education, Employment and training (NEET-age 16-18)

We also know that life chances for the approximately two million children and young people in England who are identified as having a special educational need (SEN), or who are disabled, are disproportionately poor. National data shows that children and young people with SEN are more likely to have free schools meals than those without SEN5. We need to work towards mitigating the impact that living in poverty has on our families, and eliminating disadvantage for children and young people who are vulnerable (which includes those with SEN or in need of Alternative Provision). We have begun by setting our vision, principles and priorities in this strategy. These are aligned with our Health and Well-being Strategy, our Strategy to Improve Outcomes, Opportunities and Life Chances for Children and Young People with Complex Needs aged 0 - 25, our Early Help Strategy and with the Council’s Corporate Plan 2012 - 2015.

The emerging mix of academies, maintained schools and free schools poses challenges in relation to establishing clear and accountable routes for placement and support for children and young people who are vulnerable. The way forward here will be to establish robust partnerships, with clear leadership and vision underpinning strong governance arrangements.


3 Improving Alternative Provision, Charlie Taylor, DfE 20124 Blackburn with Darwen Schools and Education Business Plan 2013-145 Statistical First release 24,Children with Special educational needs: An Analysis, DfE 2012

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The need to develop our Local Offer and integrated service delivery for Education, Health and Care planning, in response to the Children and Families Bill, is added impetus to build on existing strengths and develop these further. The joint work between Education, Social Care and our Health partners for meeting the needs of our early years children, as well as our children and young people with complex needs will now become the foundation of our approach to meeting the needs of all our children and young people who have Special Educational Needs and those who need Alternative Provision.

The drive to become more joined up sits alongside the necessity for strategic planning, based on data, evidence and needs analysis, stakeholder consultation (where children, young people and their families are co-producers), and a focus on outcomes. This will not only be the basis of our commissioning arrangements, but will underpin the newly emerging relationship between Blackburn with Darwen as a Local Authority and schools as providers. This reflects the national pattern following legislative changes, in particular, the Education Act of 2011 which implemented the radical programme in the 2010 white paper The Importance of Teaching, which have given schools more autonomy. We will need to take forward our own approach, which is set out in this strategy.

In 2012, we commissioned a review of our existing services for Vulnerable Learners, based on best practice principles, to make recommendations for future development and the strategy for achieving this. Recommendations from our Vulnerable Learners’ Report included a number of recommendations that this strategy takes forward, including that a Partnership Board be established for the Local Authority and schools to work together.

To date, this strategy is informed by our consultation with children and young people with complex needs, and their families, who were involved in the pilot to integrate services. We know we need to widen this consultation so that children, young people and their families are co-producers with us.

We want to make sure our specialist services and support to mainstream schools and other settings match more closely current and future needs of our children and young people, so that they have the best opportunities to achieve positive outcomes. We also want to ensure that their families are appropriately supported. To achieve this, we will ensure we address children and young people’s health, family and educational needs by building on existing joint work between Education, Social Care and Health partners. This strategy will contribute to the development of our Local Offer and Education, Health and Care Plan, which are new statutory duties under the Children and Families Bill.

This strategy links in with our 1. Schools and Education Business Plan 2013-14.2. Joint Health and Well-Being Strategy, 3. Strategy to improve outcomes, opportunities and life chances for children and young people with

complex needs. See Appendix 2.4. Early Help Strategy 5. Education Excellence and Improvement Strategy

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3.2. Vision and Principles:

Our Vision:Aiming higher for all our children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision: We will create the environment that ensures that all our children and young people have the opportunities and support which inspire and enable them to achieve their very best, and maximise their potential as citizens in the future. We will achieve this by working in partnership with our children, young people and families, schools, other education providers, the voluntary and independent sectors, and employers, as well as Social Care and Health partners.

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The principles: We will promote the following principles to take forward our vision:

1. Children First: We want our children and young people to be at the heart of the system6. We aim to ensure that provision for all our children and young people fulfils their needs and aspirations, is high quality, appropriate, and value for money, enabling them to achieve positive outcomes. Our children and young people will have greater choice and control and be co-producers in plans for their futures. They will only move educational placements where the move is in their own interest, as stability and their needs are paramount.

2. Inclusion: We want our children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision to be fully included in education, making good progress as learners, accessing social and leisure activities and actively participating in decision-making, so that they are equipped for wider society and independent adulthood. 7We want more children and young people to have their Special Educational Needs met at local schools, so that they remain at home with their families, within their communities.

3. Partnerships: We want our alternative providers, local mainstream and special schools, independent providers, resourced provision and outreach support to be part of a flexible range of inclusive provision, building on strong relationships between local partners, including the voluntary sector, to enable the best support for children and young people in their setting as well as their seamless movement to the right placement where necessary8. We will ensure robust collaboration between Education, Social Care and Health so that well-co-ordinated support can be provided to children, young people and their families.

4. Quality First Teaching: Our aim is to ensure that we meet the entitlement of all of our pupils to ‘Quality First Teaching’ which engages and inspires them to be their very best.

5. High Quality Provision: We want our children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision to have placements which are deemed to be good or better.

6. Value for Money: We will ensure that all placements and services for children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision will be value for money, quality assured and based on meeting their needs and aspirations.

7. Early Help: We will ensure that the right people at the right time provide the right support to our children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision.

8. Family Support: We want to ensure increased choice, opportunity and control for parents and young people, and to ensure that they have local access to the range of services they need.

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6 Indicative Draft: The (0-25) Special Educational Needs Code of Practice DfE 2013.7 Special schools (in the maintained, non-maintained and independent sectors), special post-16 institutions and specialist colleges all have an important role in providing for children and young people with SEN and in developing and working collaboratively with mainstream and special settings to develop and share expertise Indicative Draft: The (0-25) Special Educational Needs Code of Practice DfE 2013.8As above.

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3.3 Who is the strategy for? This strategy is for Blackburn with Darwen’s children and young people9 who are vulnerable learners and their families, in particular, for those children and young people who have Special Educational Needs (‘SEN’) and those who need Alternative Provision.

a. Special educational needs includes a broad range of needs, some of which will have greater impact on family life than others.

Definitions:

Special Educational Needs:A child or young person has Special Educational Needs if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child of compulsory school age or young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:a. Have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; orb. Have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of facilities of a kind

generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.’10

Disability A person has a disability for the purposes of the Act if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.11

Special educational provision is additional or different from that which would normally be provided for children or young people of the same age in mainstream schools or colleges, maintained nursery schools and places at which relevant early years education is provided.12

In Blackburn with Darwen there are currently approximately 6000 school-aged children and young people (aged 5-19) who would be within one of these definitions. From the date of the enactment of the Children and Families Bill, this will include our 0-2year old child population with SEN and our 19-25 young people with SEN who are in education and training. There are currently 390 children and young people with statements and 485 with IPRAs (our local ‘Individual Pupil Resourcing Agreement’ which provides additional resources, like a statement, for children and young people with identified SEN, without the need to go through the lengthy statementing process) . However, ‘Special Educational Needs’ does not mean that the child/young person’s needs will necessarily be solely ‘educational’. Ensuring educational progress and opportunities to achieve successful outcomes might mean considering health and/or social care and family needs. Often, children and young people are vulnerable because of their family situation.

9A young person is a person who is over school leaving age and under 25 years old. Children and Families Bill. 10Draft legislation on provision for children and young people with special educational needs. 11SEN Code of Practice 2001 and proposed draft SEN Code of Practice 2013, and Equality Act 2010. 12The definition of SEN does not include pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL). This has been set out in the existing SEN Code of Practice but not repeated in the proposed draft as it is expected to be already established that EAL is not a ‘learning difficulty’. Neither would it be considered that those children and young people with EAL are ‘vulnerable’.

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Also, a robust pathway to identification of ‘Special Educational Needs’ will ensure that the child/young person has had the best possible offer, either in the classroom or in small groups, prior to being identified as having Special Educational Needs. In this sense, this strategy will benefit all children and young people as it will also focus on educational progress, achievement and quality of teaching and learning.

b. Those vulnerable learners who need Alternative Provision:

Definition:The DfE defines ‘vulnerable’ groups as ‘disadvantaged groups’ and Ofsted sees them as ‘children ‘whose needs, dispositions, aptitudes or circumstances require particularly perceptive and expert teaching, and in some cases, additional support’. Alternative Provision: ‘Education arranged by local authorities or schools for children and young people, who, because of behaviour, illness or other reasons, would not otherwise receive suitable education.(Children and Families Bill, 2013)

‘Education outside school, arranged by local authorities or schools. Something in which a young person participates as part of their regular timetable, away from the site of the school or the pupil referral unit and not led by school staff. Pupil referral units are themselves a form of Alternative Provision’.

Although it is recognised that the term ‘vulnerable learners’ covers a wider range of children and young people than those who need Alternative Provision, this strategy specifically deals with those who do require Alternative Provision and responds directly to the requirements of the Children and Families Bill.

13Alternative Provision, Ofsted, June 2011 and Improving Alternative Provision, Charlie Taylor Dfe 2011

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3.4 Summary of needsBlackburn with Darwen has a young population. 28.8% of the population is under the age of 20.The level of child poverty is worse than the England average with 26.2% of children under the age of 16 living in poverty. Our Health and Well-being Strategy points out that the combined impact of poor housing, low incomes and child poverty mean poor health outcomes for our children. Further evidence from the DfE shows that children and young people in England with SEN or a disability have disproportionately poor life chances. We are significantly worse than the England average in relation to our infant mortality rate, children achieving a good level of development at the age of 5, and young people who are NEET (Not in Employment, Education, or Training). Over 30% of all children and young people with SEN are eligible for free school meals, compared to 17% of those without SEN

A higher than average proportion of children and young people are placed at School Action and School Action Plus. (See Fig.114) . The high figure for School Action (and the low figure for children with statements of special educational need) is chiefly be explained by the use of Individual Pupil Resource Allocations (IPRA) for children in mainstream schools who would previously have received a statement. For official purposes, IPRAs are counted in the school action plus category and not counted as a statement for special educational need.

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14Data charts and tables by Robert Arrowsmith

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We have a lower proportion of children and young people with Moderate Learning Difficulties, Behavioural, Emotional and Social Needs and Autism (see Fig.2), although a higher number of those with Autism and Behavioural Needs are placed in independent schools in comparison with national and similar authority averages.

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Fig.2

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Blackburn with Darwen’s children and young people with SEN do comparatively well in terms of their educational outcomes. Progress in Maths is higher than the national average for transition from Key Stage 1 to 2, and from Key Stage 2 to GCSE. Progress in English is slightly below the national average. See Fig.3.

Absolute attainment levels in Key Stage 2 English and Maths are higher than the national average15, as they are for GCSE in both the main measures(see Fig. 4 below); and this is in spite of the overall performance for all children in the borough typically being at or just below the national average for all children at both the end of Primary and Secondary school.

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Fig.3

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15These figures however do not include those children and young people with IPRAs, and do include those at independent schools.

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3.5 Financial and Policy ContextIn the current economic climate, there is a clear need to ensure best value for money in how resources are utilised to provide support for children, young people and their families. In order to achieve this all local authorities have a responsibility to ensure that services are commissioned which have a positive impact in terms of improving outcomes.

Recent reforms to school funding have resulted in significant changes to how funding is allocated to local authorities and how that funding is then allocated within each Local Authority to meet the needs of children, young people and their families .

As part of the changes local authorities are required by government regulations to delegate additional funding to all schools to ensure that they have sufficient funding to meet the first £6,000 of any additional needs of each student. Likewise, colleges of Further Education are funded by the Education Funding Agency to provide the first £6,000 of support for each student.

For specialist settings such as special schools, resourced provisions and alternative provisions, funding is allocated through the new “place plus” approach whereby funding is split between place and top up funding for all schools. These changes give local authorities new responsibilities as commissioners of ‘High Needs’ funding, and schools new responsibilities as providers of education services. Blackburn with Darwen is now responsible for the allocation of additional funding for those children and young people up to the age of 25 years who require a top-up above £6000 per year.

In the Early Years, there is no delegated funding for SEN. Blackburn with Darwen is responsible for supporting children in the pre-school years with additional needs through funding which is retained centrally.

For 2013/14 financial year Blackburn with Darwen received £20.8m through the new High Needs Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant. As part of the changes £2.7m has been transferred to delegated schools budgets to ensure that they have sufficient funding to meet the first £6,000 of any additional needs of each student.

Of the remaining £18.1m:

• £3.6m is allocated to support pupils who attend mainstream schools ( including Academies )• £4.5m is allocated to support pupils who attend specialist provision within Blackburn with Darwen• £3.1m is allocated to support pupils who attend Alternative Provision within Blackburn with Darwen• £2.7m is allocated to support pupils who attend specialist provision outside Blackburn with Darwen

The pupil premium and other weighted factors within local funding formulae provide opportunities to ensure that schools are appropriately resourced where there are more children and young people who present as challenging and are vulnerable learners.

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From our review and consultation so far, we have identified the following priorities which will help us take forward our vision and principles:

Priority 1. Increase Participation: establish clear processes for the engagement of children, young people and their families in the design and delivery of specialist and Alternative Provision, support and services.

Priority 2. Increase Achievement: work together in partnership to drive up quality to improve children and young people’s achievement.

Priority 3. Ensure good learner progress: track, monitor, evaluate and respond to learning needs of children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision.

Priority 4. Improve Identification: develop a shared approach to the identification of children and young people’s Special Educational Needs and other vulnerabilities

Priority 5. Improve governance: establish accountability, transparency and governance in relation to support, services and planning for children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision.

Priority 6. Develop Strategic Commissioning: develop strategic commissioning processes informed by our Strategic Partnership Board for SEN and Alternative Provision.

Priority 7. Develop provision: develop an appropriate range of alternative and SEN provision to meet the graduated and diverse range of needs of current and future learners, based on comprehensive data analysis.

Priority 8. Work together to meet families’ needs: develop integrated service delivery to meet the holistic needs of children, young people and their families.

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4. The Priorities

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Priority 1. Increase Participation: Establish clear processes for the engagement of children, young people and their families in the design and delivery of specialist and Alternative Provision, support and services.

We recently implemented a pilot programme to integrate services to develop a single assessment process that better involves children, young people and their families. Parent feedback was positive. However, we have identified that we need to involve parents more closely in the planning stages and the decisions about what we would do with the plans once produced so that they are empowered, and genuinely involved, rather than consulted on professionally created plans whether in relation to their children or to the design and delivery of services.

Our consultation with parents in relation to the Children and Families Bill found they wanted clear accessible information, clear lines of communication, and involvement in meetings. This reflects the findings of the Lamb Inquiry: parents said they want good, honest and open communication, they need to be listened to more than they had been, and they valued face-to-face communication and equal partnership. Increased choice, opportunity and control for parents, children and young people is a theme which underpins the Green Paper ‘Support and Aspiration’ and the Indicative Draft SEN Code of Practice as set out in the Children and Families Bill. We recognise the importance of working in partnership with stakeholders, in particular, with children, young people and their families to develop services so they are engaged and confident in them. We also value the work of the voluntary sector in supporting parents.

Parent Voice:“My journey as a parent through the educational system has not been good and sadly I have not always felt confident in my son’s school and his learning journey. I have not always felt listened to. He has faced many challenges socially, emotionally and educationally. What made the difference? I listened with great interest to the presentation to parents which reflected passion and commitment to students. I heard words used such as ‘ individual’, ‘confidence’, ‘self-esteem’, and ‘achievements’. I walked out experiencing positive feelings and felt optimistic about my son and his future.”

What will be different?We will work together with parents, families, children and young people, so they are co-producers and engaged from the very beginning in the strategic design and delivery of services, and at an individual level, in personalised planning. For this we will take on board the good practice model, ‘the ladder of participation’. 16 See Appendix 1.

To do this:We will work with partners, including the voluntary sector, which has expertise in supporting children and young people with SEN and their families.

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16This is based on David Wilcox’s ‘The Guide to Effective Participation’ 1994, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which set a standard for participation, known as the ‘ladder of participation.’

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What made a difference: Parent Voice on support from the voluntary sector:“My boys and I received fantastic help... they really help my boys by getting them out into the community... to understand other people’s feelings and how to play nicely and to share. I have also passed my exams in Adult Literacy, Numeracy and IT. Without help and encouragement I would never have achieved this goal.”

We will set up collaborative ways of working,17 including parent carer and pupil forums, to take forward our new duties arising from the Children and Families Bill:

1. The development and review of our Local Offer. We have a new duty to set out and publish our services for children, young people (and their families) with SEN, how they will access them and who will be eligible for them.

2. Reviewing our Special Educational and Social Care provision—which is already underway through the development of our strategy for children and young people with complex needs.

3. Drawing up Education, Health and Care Plans, and reviewing them. This work will include making sure we have a family friendly approach to developing Education, Health and Care Plans for those children and young people with more severe levels of need.

We will make use of the work of the SEN and Disability (‘SEND’) pathfinders, who have been piloting some of the proposals, to inform our practice.

We will also develop our skills and processes for person-centred planning which aims to empower parents, children and young people so that they have more control over assessment and decision-making processes.

Parent Voice: What made a difference?“Through providing my son with a personalised plan, stability was put back into his life at school and at home. Keeping us well informed about his progress, working in partnership, really made a difference”.

“Being more involved in the development of my child’s school journey through attending multiagency meetings has helped. People have been approachable and they care.”

We will improve the language of our professional reports so that they are easy to understand and are also accessible in community languages and alternative forms of communication. We will work in partnership with parents, carers and young people to develop user-friendly communication.

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17We have parent representation on our Strategic Partnership Board for SEN and Alternative Provision.

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Priority 2. Increase achievement: work together in partnership to drive up quality to improve achievement for all children and young people, including those who have SEN or who require Alternative Provision.

We have identified that our children and young people with SEN achieve comparatively well in relation to local and national averages. However, we will need to continue to drive up standards. We are currently reviewing our system for data collection on vulnerable learners who access Alternative Provision, and work is in progress to ensure we can monitor their outcomes. We have a higher number of young people who are NEET than similar authorities and the national average. These young people might have benefitted from Alternative Provision or additional support.

We will have duties under the Children and Families Bill to ensure that there is ‘good quality teaching at every stage in a child and young person’s journey through early education, school, further education and training’. In our Local Offer, we will ensure we set out quality universal provision, which is accessed by children and young people with SEN and by other vulnerable learners.

What will be different?Tackle under-achievement as an educational issue:We will act as champion and advocate for Vulnerable Learners, including those who have SEN or who require Alternative Provision. (This is also a priority of our Schools and Education Business Plan). There will be collaborative partnership between the Local Authority and schools to ensure that delivery of the sector led model is promoted, whereby schools are responsible for self-improvement and share skills and expertise to increase achievement.

Through support and challenge, we will ensure there is good teaching and learning; high quality, evidenced interventions quickly put into place by trained staff; rigorous monitoring of progress, and a thorough evaluation of the impact of additional provision. We recognise that high aspirations and a focus on enabling children and young people to be as independent as possible leads most reliably to the best achievement18. We will work with partners to ensure there is high quality provision.

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18The special educational needs and disability review-a statement is not enough, Ofsted 2010

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Priority 3: Ensure good learner progress: Tracking, monitoring, evaluating and responding to learning needs of children and young people.

National research has shown that what works best for children and young people to achieve good outcomes is:• Good teaching and learning, close tracking, rigorous monitoring of progress with intervention quickly

put in place, and a thorough evaluation of the impact of additional provision.• High aspirations and a focus on enabling children and young people to be as independent as possible

led most reliably to the best achievement19.

Assessing and reviewing children’s progress towards outcomes is an essential part of improving outcomes and having high aspirations.

Ofsted’s report on Alternative Provision found that ‘few schools and units systematically monitored student progress, and where they did this was not used by the school to supplement its regular progress tracking’. 20This should be established in partnership work between schools and the providers.

Schools and other education settings are responsible for monitoring the impact of interventions on the learning of children and young people and where there is no or little progress to respond by increasing intensity or frequency of support, and possibly using the input of experts. Local authorities have duties to ensure a suitable education for vulnerable learners.

What will be different?Blackburn with Darwen Local Authority, schools and education settings will work in partnership to ensure that there is an aspirational culture, based on high expectations, and that this is implemented through robust tracking, monitoring and evaluation of learner progress. To do this, we will use teaching expertise within our schools, through school to school partnerships, including our established Education Improvement Partnership and any future Teaching School Alliance and other collaborative arrangements to take this forward.

We will also establish robust quality assurance with alternative providers and resourced provisions in mainstream schools. The progress and attainment of children and young people will be at the centre of judgement about the value for money of education provision.

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19The special educational needs and disability review-a statement is not enough, Ofsted 201020Alternative Provision, Ofsted 2012.

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a. Under-achievement and SEN

Our data tells us that we identify a higher proportion of children and young people with SEN compared to similar local authorities (our statistical neighbours) and the national average. 3% of this difference relates to those with less serious needs that can be met within schools’ own resources and are therefore at ‘School Action’.

Research at national level has found that there is variability in identification rates between local authorities, and a trend for over-identification of SEN: ‘There is compelling evidence that labels of SEN have perpetuated a culture of low expectation and have not led to the right support being put in place’ and ‘this can dilute the focus on overall school improvement and divert attention from those who do need a range of specialist support’21. Further research has shown that the reasons for over-identification are: lack of clear national guidance on identification of SEN, failure to tackle under-achievement in schools and lack of early interventions and support at lower levels of need22.

In relation to quality of teaching and learning, Blackburn with Darwen’s children and young people with SEN do comparatively well in terms of their educational outcomes, although attainment at GCSE (5A*-C including maths and English) for all young people is not as good as the England average, suggesting a need for school improvement and stepping up quality of teaching and learning.

We want our children and young people to have the best possible opportunities to make good progress as learners and also to achieve a wider range of positive outcomes. We also have a statutory duty to ensure that ‘children and young people who receive additional support have an identified SEN and that their progress has not been hampered’ by for example, poor attendance (Indicative Draft: The (0-25) SEN Code of Practice).

Therefore, in the light of national research, our high SEN identification rates, our aspirations for our children and young people, as well as our statutory duties, we will make sure we understand the causes of underachievement in order to improve opportunities for children and young people to make good progress.

What will be different? Recognition of children and young people’s wider needs: We will establish clear protocols to make sure we identify the causes of children and young people’s under-achievement and put in prompt and appropriate interventions or support:

“The right help, at the right time in the right place (our Early Help Strategy).

We will do this by taking account of children and young people’s wider needs through promoting a joined up approach to early identification and intervention through promoting the ‘Team Around the Child’ and

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21The special educational needs and disability review-a statement is not enough’ Ofsted 201022Support and Aspiration: a new approach to SEN and disability, DfE March 2011

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family model of working, and the use of e-CAF. This will encapsulate the child’s journey. We will work in partnership with education settings, children’s professionals and families to take this forward. By the time a child or young person is referred for higher level support for Special Educational Needs, we will ensure they would have had a holistic assessment and interventions through the CAF process which will be regarded in a positive light. This will also be an effective means of improving the monitoring and tracking of those children and young people who move between or leave settings, as well as supporting the early identification of those at risk of becoming missing from education (CME). This will also prepare us to develop a joined up single assessment process for Education, Health and Care Planning, in response to the Children and Families Bill. We will ensure that the needs of children and young people are considered together. Where a child or young person is a ‘Child in Need’, or ‘Looked After’, decision-making and any meetings or planning will be joined up between Education and Social Care with the child or young person’s voice at the centre.

Our Early Help Strategy recognises that all service responses must be directed at preventing vulnerability and meeting the needs identified at the lowest level of intervention. Early recognition, intervention and prevention are essential in order to achieve this and the use of escalation and de-escalation (or Step Up/Step Down) and ‘tiers of provision’ approach’:


Go straight to Level 4 as soon as risk of significant harm suspectedIf in doubt, consult the Advice and Consultation Social Worker in MASH

Childsafeguarding

and promoting welfareFamily & environmental factors

Parenting capacity

Child’s

deve

lopmen

t nee

ds

Advic

e & Guidance Advice & Guidance

Level 1No Unmet Needs &

Negligible Risk

Universal Service Provision

Level 2Evidence of Some Unmet Need(s) &

Low Risk

Single Agency Targeted Service Provision and Child and Family Plan

(CAF)

Level 3Higher Levels

of Unmet Needs & Medium Risk

Child in Need (CIN) - s.17Children’s Act (1989)

Level 4Significant

Unmet Needs & High Risk

Child Protection (CP) and Looked After Children (LAC)

Pre

Ass

essm

ent C

heck

list

Single Assessment Single Assessm

ent

Pre Assessment Checklist

Child and Family Plan (CAF)

CAF Lead Professional Social Care Lead Professional Social Care Lead Professional

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We recognise that early identification and intervention improve long term outcomes for children, young people and their families. ‘Evidence shows that giving children the best start in life improves their life chances.’ (Health and Well-Being Strategy). Early support is a main principle of our Health and Well-being Strategy and Early Help Strategy.

What made a difference: Parent voice. “Early intervention, having a statement in place when my son started school”

Our Health and Well-being Strategy recommends that giving children the best start in life with a focus on improved family support should drive development and delivery of care and support. Through these strategies we are promoting a holistic ‘Think family’ approach. By ensuring that families receive support at the right time, they are enabled to make positive decisions in their lives and this will benefit their children.

‘The ambition is to identify what help the child and family require to prevent needs escalating to a point where intervention would be needed via statutory services. Early Help is intervening early and as soon as possible… at any point in a child or young person’s life. The case for preventative services is clear... From the perspective of a child or young person, it is clearly best if they receive help before they have any, or have only minor, adverse experiences. (Early Help Strategy)

Early identification of needs enables early intervention by professionals with the most appropriate support for a child and their family. We recognise that for many children, their needs can be identified at birth or at an early age.

For other children and young people, some difficulties only become evident as they grow and develop and we would need to have established robust protocols for identification.

b. Recognition of educational needs: Understand the difference between under-achievement, and Special Educational Needs.

We will work with schools to develop a common approach to implementing the new statutory guidance for identification of children and young people’s SEN, as set out in the Indicative Draft SEN Code of Practice:

‘A clear approach to assessing SEN, known by all staff, including the use of effective tools and early assessment materials, as well as arrangements to draw on more specialised assessments from external agencies and professionals. This will be agreed and set out as part of our local offer’.

Blackburn with Darwen has skilled expertise within its schools and Inclusion Support and Educational Psychology Services (both have been supporting identification of children and young people’s higher level SEN.) We will utilise the full range of support, to ensure that schools understand the causes of underachievement and appropriately identify children and young people’s lower level SEN.

Taking forward the development of our protocol for Education, Health and Care Planning, will create greater service integration in relation to identification, assessment and planning.

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a. Partnership with schools:

Blackburn with Darwen as a Local Authority has core areas of activity in relation to its responsibilities: ensuring that vulnerable learners have appropriate access to the education they are entitled to receive, including children and young people with SEN; ensuring a sufficient supply of school places, based on analysing need; ensuring educational excellence and tackling under-performance; promoting regular attendance; and exercising responsibility over maintained schools and settings.

The emerging role of local authorities as strategic commissioners alongside the increasing autonomy of schools means that it is vitally important that there is clarity over their respective roles and responsibilities and their different relationships. This is particularly important as local authorities will have statutory responsibilities under the Children and Families Bill to set out their arrangements for provision for children and young people with SEN (and their families) in the Local Offer and make clear how this provision is accessed.

A principle underlying this duty is that:‘There is clarity of roles and responsibilities to ensure that collaboration goes hand in hand with accountability to fulfil duties. Just as local authorities are evolving in the context of a new education landscape, so too have schools been contending with how their role as system-leaders develops.’23

What will be different?We will establish strategic leadership and partnership work. Blackburn with Darwen LA together with schools will develop a new partnership relationship. The diversification of providers where they bring added value will be encouraged. School autonomy will be supported though the encouragement of school to school partnerships, including the development of Teaching School Alliances. There will be focus on the delivery of high quality services, whether statutory or not, and collaboratively deploying skills and knowledge across the borough.

This work has already begun through our Strategic Partnership Board for SEN and Alternative Provision, which will take forward our vision for all vulnerable learners as well as provide greater accountability. We will work together to develop an implementation plan for this strategy, and monitor the delivery of this plan to ensure we achieve our aims and objectives.

We will explore opportunities to develop and strengthen partnerships between Blackburn with Darwen LA and schools, as well as supporting school-to-school partnerships and other collaborative arrangements to encourage mutual sharing of skills and expertise by practitioners to improve outcomes for vulnerable learners.

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23Action Research into the Evolving Role of the Local Authority in Education. 2012 DfE Research Report

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b. Governance and accountability in relation to identification, assessment and provision planning:

There is currently a variety of panels to oversee provision for children and young people.

What will be different?We have identified the need to establish greater accountability and governance in this area. We will therefore review and develop our panel systems to respond to this, as well as to prepare to carry out our statutory responsibilities under the Children and Families Bill for Education, Health and Care planning. This will help towards building on existing joined up practice to develop more integrated working, and ensure the best outcomes for our children and young people.

c. Placement of children and young people:

Currently the movement of children and young people between schools, especially where they move because of presenting challenging behaviour, is not always subject to suitably appropriate governance or Local Authority involvement and this is indicative of the need for greater clarity and accountability, partnership working and strategic leadership. This was highlighted in Blackburn with Darwen’s Vulnerable Learners’ Report.

What will be different?We will work in partnership with schools to establish an accountable and coherent fair access protocol, which is clear to young people and parents or carers, and will enable better outcomes for children and young people. This will ensure that Blackburn with Darwen carries out its statutory responsibilities in relation to children and young people who are vulnerable learners, including those with SEN (whether they have statements/Education, Health and Care Plans, or not).

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Priority 6: Develop Strategic Commissioning: develop strategic commissioning processes informed by our Strategic Partnership Board for SEN and Alternative Provision.

In Blackburn with Darwen, more children and young people with SEN attend mainstream schools than in most other local authorities. Our performance data indicates that they achieve better than their peers in similar local authorities. However, the Vulnerable Learners Review (2012) and further discussion with schools has indicated that services could be improved, and that better value for money could be achieved, if there was a means for the Local Authority and schools to jointly decide what provision is required and how this should be funded. Consequently, we recently established our Strategic Partnership Board for SEN and Alternative Provision to facilitate and promote stronger collaborative working opportunities.

Blackburn with Darwen will have statutory duties, under the Children and Families Bill, to take a strategic commissioning role to develop a range of high quality education provision for children and young people with SEN and/or who need Alternative Provision and their families. This will enable them to have greater choice and control over services, and will support children and young people with SEN to achieve positive outcomes. Specifically, we will have duties to promote the well-being of children/young people and improve the quality of SEN provision.

As a champion of vulnerable learners, the Local Authority is committed to a more outcomes focussed and value for money approach to commissioning and assuring the impact and success of interventions and support for all vulnerable learners, wherever they receive the support and whoever provides it. Robust strategic commissioning, influenced by detailed needs analysis and appropriate management information, along with clear accountability and performance management will be critical to this approach.

We will also share a duty jointly with our health partners, the Clinical Commissioning Groups, through joint funding or pooled budgets, for ‘The education, health and care provision reasonably required by children and young people with SEN’; with and without Education, Health and Care Plans. This must include arrangements for access to Education, Health and Care assessments; the provision specified in EHC plans; and agreement on personal budgets, which will all need to be set out in our Local Offer:

‘A Local Authority and its partner Clinical Commissioning Groups must make arrangements to deliver the education, health and social care provision for 0-25 year old children and young people that the LA is responsible for who have SEN.’ (Indicative Draft SEN Code)

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What will be different? Blackburn with Darwen has been commissioning provision on an ad hoc basis for individual children and young people, but we will now be taking forward our new role as strategic commissioner through our newly established Strategic Partnership Board for SEN and Alternative Provision.

This Board will include representatives from education providers, the voluntary sector, health and social care. Its function will be to inform decision-making about how to allocate and target resources to best meet the needs of children and young people with SEN and those who need Alternative Provision. Quality data and intelligence about current and future need will be used to inform decision-making for commissioning. This will provide a forum to discuss ideas and opportunities to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEN or those who may benefit from Alternative Provision, achieve best value for money for them and identify provision gaps. The Board will oversee the development and monitoring of borough-wide strategic objectives and policy for children and young people with SEN or who may benefit from Alternative Provision, and in particular, this SEN strategy.

This new way of working in partnership will be particularly useful as the relationship between local authorities and schools has changed, schools now have delegated funding and with this, greater autonomy over how to best allocate resources to meet the needs of children and young people with SEN. The development of school-to-school partnerships, and the initiative to create other collaborative arrangements including Teaching School Alliances, comes at an opportune time for schools and the Local Authority to work together to make the best use of local expertise, skills and experience.

We will identify provision gaps as well as areas where provision needs to be realigned, and work with local providers as well as finding new ones to ensure best value for money for our children and young people. We believe we should support our local providers as well as encouraging market development and innovation within our school community. For this we will work in partnership to create sustainable local provision.

We will take on board the recommendations of Ofsted and Charlie Taylor for good quality commissioning.

These developments will be part of our Local Offer.

We will develop ways to extend our partnership with health colleagues to respond to the Children and Families Bill and to ensure positive outcomes for our children and young people. We have already established robust joint working with our health partners through our Complex Needs and Early Support Panels. We have also have successfully implemented a pilot programme to integrate Health, Education and Social Care Services for children and young people 0-25 (and their families) with complex needs.

We will develop the SEN and Commissioning service, taking forward appointments of a Lead Commissioner and Quality Effectiveness Advisor.

We will establish a fair access protocol and transparent governance over placements.

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Blackburn with Darwen will work in partnership with schools, school –to-school partnerships including the Education Improvement Partnership, and any future Teaching School Alliances or other collaboratives, to develop innovative ways to meet the needs of vulnerable learners.

In particular, we will explore how best to use our collective resources to develop a coherent and graduated range of support to meet the Social, Emotional and Behavioural Needs of children and young people. We also recognise that we need to develop strategies to support our children and young people with autism, as well as those with Speech, Language and Communication Needs.

Blackburn with Darwen believes that the future of school improvement is schools supporting schools, something which the Local Authority and schools have strongly believed in and promoted for a considerable period of time. A Teaching School Alliance would provide a framework for the development of a coherent partnership approach to school improvement—It has the potential to be the new local educational ‘middle tier’ and would ensure a Blackburn with Darwen identity for the future.

Strategically a Teaching School Alliance would bring coherence and an underpinning shared moral purpose, and would be efficient and effective in unifying the aims and objectives of a wide range of existing and emerging organisations and structures. It would also bring the direct involvement of our schools in the training and supply of new teachers.

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Priority 7. Develop provision: develop an appropriate range of alternative and SEN provision to meet the graduated and diverse range of needs of current and future learners, based on comprehensive data analysis.

It is important that comprehensive data analysis underpins strategic planning for provision development. There are over 6000 children and young people who have been identified as having Special Educational Needs, ranging from lower level of need at School Action (3,800 plus ), to those with need for specialist input (nearly 1,500) and those who have higher levels of SEN (390) some of whom would fall into the complex needs category and some would not. And also at this level would be those children and young people with IPRAs (485).

These numbers are not yet inclusive of those children and young people who will become eligible under the Children and Families Bill to have Education, Health and Care Plans:

• 0 to 2 year olds • Young people from 16 to 25 in further education and training (including apprenticeships).

It will be important to take this wider remit of children and young people into account when strategically planning provision.

This ‘gap analysis’ demonstrates that we need to review the capacity of our provision, support and services to meet the needs of those who have been placed ‘out of borough’, as far as is possible. What would make the difference so that more children and young people could have their Special Educational Needs met at a local school, and remain at home with their families, within their communities? How could we best work in partnership with the independent sector to ensure that our children and young people who attend independent school placements are part of coherent strategic placement planning and have full access to education, social care and health services to meet their needs in the same way that those in maintained provision would?

The principle that all children and young people with SEN have the right to a mainstream education will be being retained in the Children and Families Bill. There is recognition of the need for appropriate support to enable this to happen: ‘With the right training, strategies and support in place the majority of children and young people with SEN are already successfully included in mainstream education.’ There is also recognition of the importance of a range of settings, including specialist schools and colleges, to provide ‘for children and young people with SEN and in developing and working collaboratively to develop and share expertise and approaches. The right understanding can make a huge difference to the lives of our children, young people and their families:

Parent Voice: “I cried because my daughter’s teachers changed the school trip to a venue which she could go to and be included with her class mates.”

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What will be different?We will enable more children and young people with SEN to attend local schools, improving partnership working between families and professionals so that parents and carers feel confident that their child’s needs are being met. We also recognise that our specialist provision is not to be used as a ‘last resort’ but provides the best option for those children and young people who need it, so that overall the range of settings supports the diverse needs of our children and young people.

What has made a difference?

The young person’s voice: “I have ASD, sensory issues and ADHD; working… with small groups of pupils... in a calm environment with no distractions enables me to learn”

“People here help me with my learning and behaviour” (child dual registered at a mainstream school and PRU)

For those children and young people who have higher level Special Educational Needs and might be sent out of borough, we need to review our provision and identify where we can increase inclusive capacity.

a. Early Years Children who have SEN

There is a tradition of joined up work between Education, Health and Social Care to provide support to children in their early years. Personalised additional support for children with high needs is allocated through multi-agency Early Years Support Panels, using assessment criteria as set out in the New Foundation Stage Matters, and working with the Team Around the Child model. There is also the Portage service for children aged 0-2 with complex needs and their families, to support parents/carers and help their children to learn new skills at home through sharing fun and play activities. Early Years Advisory Teachers and Special Support Assistants work with children with high needs during their Foundation Stage and support their transition into Reception. There has been further work to improve the offer for Early Years children. The Early Years SEN group has reviewed and amended funding arrangements in response to government funding reform to ensure equity for children.

However, we have identified that we need to improve upon our number of children (the whole cohort of 5 year olds including all of those without identified additional needs) achieving a good level of development at the age of 5 and so we need to explore contributing factors, such as deprivation, health etc... 24This may also be useful in forecasting future cohorts of potentially vulnerable learners and contribute towards strategic development of provision and support.

What will be different?We will build on existing good practice in our Early Years offer to respond to the Children and Families Bill, in particular to develop Education, Health and Care planning in Early Years, and the new age group would

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24Blackburn with Darwen Child Health Profile March 2013 shows that we are ‘significantly worse ‘ than the England average for children achieving a good level of development at the age of 5.We also have a higher than average number of children with low birth weight, so this data needs further exploration.

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be specifically 0-2 year-olds. We will explore and respond to the reasons for low achievement in our 5 years old child population.

b. Post-16 Young People who have SEN or need Alternative Provision:

We want our young people to move into adulthood with choice and control over their lives and to be supported to achieve their aspirations. They will need access to a relevant curriculum which would give them opportunities for life-long positive outcomes, including independence, enabling them to become suitably equipped with life and work skills, and qualifications which will help them to find work.25

We have identified that we need to improve our offer to young people, as our data shows us that the number of young people who are Not in Employment, Education or Training is ‘significantly worse’ than the England average.26 8.3% of our 16 -18 year olds are NEET compared to 7.2% in similar local authorities, and the national average of 5.3%.

What will be different?For this we need to develop robust transition pathways at all phases from 0-25 and the right specialist and Alternative Provision to ensure our young people who are vulnerable do not become disaffected early on during primary or secondary schools, and do not become NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) when they are post-16. We will focus the resources, available through our Connexions Commission, to ensure young people and their parents/carers receive comprehensive Information, Advice and Guidance on post 16 learning opportunities and we will work with our learning providers to ensure that young people receive the levels of additional learning support necessary to succeed on their chosen pathway.

We will develop and make use of local specialist skills and placements to offer an inclusive curriculum and Alternative Provision, at all phases of education, and across the range of our settings - mainstream schools, special schools and post-16 providers. We will enhance post-16 provision and transition into adulthood by ensuring that there are pathways with relevant courses, work-experience and supported internships which lead to employment, as well as support to develop independent living skills for those young people with more complex needs. We will underpin this by robust planning with them for their future which includes sharing information, best practice and intervention strategies at transition phases to facilitate continued progression and achievement and provides a system that is seamless and coherent. We will develop a framework of approved providers for specialist and alternative education, and, in partnership with local providers, develop increased opportunities for training which leads to sustainable employment. For this we will ensure there are appropriate traineeships, apprenticeships, supported employment opportunities, and access to job coaching.

We will take forward development of life skills support for those young people with more complex needs, including support for finding accommodation and community participation by working more closely with our voluntary sector partners. We want to encourage them to access leisure and social activities, and influence local decision-making. Where they access Health and Social Care we want them to be able to have greater choice and control over this support.

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25Indicative Draft: The (0-25) Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. DfE 2013.26Blackburn with Darwen Child Health Profile March 2013.

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Blackburn with Darwen will have a duty under the Children and Families Bill to ensure the integration of Special Educational provision with Health and Social Care provision where ’this would promote the well-being of children and young people with SEN’. There is a shared responsibility with our Health partners to make arrangements to deliver Education, Health and Social Care provision for ‘0-25 year old children and young people that the Local Authority is responsible for who have SEN’.

The work of the SEND pathfinder pilots to look at integrated delivery of Education, Health and Social Care provision, indicates that there has been effective use of existing infrastructures, rather than service re-design. In a number of the pathfinders, there was already integrated working through multi-agency panels to support children and young people with the most complex needs, as well as Early Years Services which had already developed the role of the key worker and were multi-agency. What counted were good relationships between services at strategic level. Some pathfinders however have opted for service integration (e.g. Oldham and Southampton).

The pathfinders found that the voluntary sector was a significant resource in providing advice and support to families for the assessment process and this ensured that the relationship between families and professionals was more balanced. This encouraged a more family and young person centred approach.27

What will be different?We will develop the SEN and Education Commissioning Service to lead (on behalf of education) our response to the Children and Families Bill, in particular, the development of our Local Offer and Education, Health and Care Planning.

We will enhance and develop the role of the statutory assessment team to coordinate Education, Health and Care Planning, using models of good practice from the SEN Pathfinders and working with the voluntary sector to take this forward. We will establish transparent and clear routes for mutual working between Education, Social Care and Health partners to work to develop Education, Health and Care Planning.

We will take forward the initiative to develop the role of the key worker to support Education, Health and Care Planning, identifying capacity and training needs.

We will establish a clear protocol for information sharing between services.

We will establish governance and accountability around decision-making in terms of placements and provision on Education, Health and Care plans. We will use our experience of integrated working with children within Early Years and those with complex needs, as well as the findings of the SEND pathfinder pilots to help us to develop a way forward.

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27Evaluation of the SEND Pathfinder Programme DfE 2013.

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In this strategy we have set out our vision for children and young people with SEN, and their families, as well as of those who need Alternative Provision. We began our consultation with children, young people with complex needs, and their families, who were involved in the pilot to integrate services. We need to widen our consultation and engage children, young people and their families in developing this strategy, our Local Offer and Education, Health and Care Planning Pathway. We need to ensure the voice of children and young people is central, and that we capture the views of hard to reach families.

We have arrived at 8 priorities:

Priority 1. Increase Participation: establish clear processes for the engagement of children, young people and their families in the design and delivery of specialist and Alternative Provision, support and services.

Priority 2. Increase Achievement: work together in partnership to drive up quality to improve children and young people’s achievement.

Priority 3. Ensure good learner progress: track, monitor, evaluate and respond to learning needs of children and young people.



Priority 6. Develop Strategic Commissioning: develop strategic commissioning processes through the establishment of our Strategic Partnership Board for SEN and Alternative Provision.

Priority 7. Develop provision: develop an appropriate range of Alternative and SEN provision to meet the graduated and diverse range of needs of current and future learners, based on comprehensive data analysis.


This strategy will, along with our Schools and Education Business Plan, our Strategy for children and young people with complex needs, our Early Help Strategy, and our Health and Well-Being Strategy, form the basis of our response to the Children and Families Bill and the development of our Local Offer as well as our Education, Health and Care planning pathway.

We will be taking this strategy forward in partnership with children, young people and their families as well as colleagues in Social Care and our Health Partners. We want to make a difference. We know we have the talent, skills and resources in Blackburn with Darwen to do this.

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5. Conclusion

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Good practice model of participation:

A

Appendix 1

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The SEN and Alternative Provision strategy links in with our Strategy to improve outcomes, opportunities and life chances for children and young people 0-25 with complex needs, for those children and young people with multiple and complex disabilities (and their families and carers) who have ‘at least two different types of severe or profound impairment such that no one professional, agency or discipline has a monopoly of assessment and management’. There are approximately 350 children and young people in this category, of whom 153 (as of early 2013) had statements of SEN (just over 44% overlap). Evidence suggests that nationally about 75% of children with disabilities also have Special Educational Needs.

Although the SEN and Alternative Provision strategy has a wider remit than the strategy for children and young people with complex needs, they have a shared vision: -to ensure that children, young people and their families are at the heart of decision making, and the expectation that all services will work more closely together in partnership to meet their needs and improve outcomes through shared assessment and planning underpinned by strategic sign up across Health, Social Care and Education for joint delivery; aligning and strengthening joint commissioning and budgets where possible; knowing and understanding needs and improving communication and support for children, young people and their families.

Appendix 2

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Documents

Blackburn with Darwen - Open Objects Software Ltd · Blackburn with Darwen Strategy for children and young people with Special Educational Needs . and those who need Alternative Provision