Agenda item

Richard Hanks and Vikki Jervis made the following comments during their presentation:

·       There were 5 key areas under which the Inspection process operated

·       Key partners in health were involved, including team leaders, staff in school settings and parent/teacher representatives

·       The inspection report had been published at the end of November 2022

·       Progress had been made in 4 areas with 1 not sufficient (the fractured relationships with parents and carers, a lack of co-production and variable engagement and collaboration.

·       Area 1 Progress Made – “A lack of accountability of leaders at all levels including school leaders” – There had been previous difficulties with engagement due to the pandemic. The culture of professionals and collaboration was much better with better support for young people. The support systems were now better but not all young people yet obtained the support they needed. It was acknowledged that it will take some time to ensure there was a positive experience for parents and carers and co-production still needed to be fully established

·       Area 2 Progress Made – “Inconsistencies in timeliness and effectiveness of local area arrangements and assessment of CYP with SEND” – It was acknowledged that there was a more consistent approach to helping CYP with SEND and that training was being provided to help people understand and to implement this work. However, parents and carers remain worried that schools do not provide support to SEND children

·       Area 3 Progress Made – “The dysfunctional EHC plan process and inadequate quality of EHC” – The assessment process had led to an improvement in the quality of plans and a recognition that CYP was placed at the centre of the process. However, children were still waiting too long and there needed to eb further work carried out to help families during the waiting period

·       Area 4 Progress Made – “A lack of achievement of inclusion of CYP with SEND including high rates if persistent absenteeism and fixed-term exclusions” – there had been an improvement in work carried out to reduce the inclusion of Young People which was still above the national average in Bristol. However, it was noted that some schools need to do more to welcome children with SEND and therefore more consistency was required

·       Area 5 Fractured Relationships Insufficient Progress Made – there was amore mixed view in this area. Whilst it was acknowledged that there was a commitment to achieve this, further work was required to ensure that formal structures were put in place to deliver it. It was planned to re-establish a formal body to deal with this

·       An APP (Accelerated Progress Plan) needed to be submitted by 1^st February 2023 and work would continue on the draft SEND Partnership Plan (SPP). Once the SPP was in place, improvement work would further develop including the development of the final Written Statement of Action (WSOA)

·       The DFE would be visiting to check on progress with the SPP

In response to Board members’ questions, they made the following points:

·       Some families had been in the SEND system for a long time and had experienced a much less positive experiences than those who had started more recently. Therefore, there was a significant amount of repair and restoration work that needed to be carried out to address these long-standing issues

·       There was a community of groups to obtain carer representatives. In addition, a forum was broadening the range of groups that officers interacted with. There were currently 22 different community groups and discussions were taking place with a wide range of individuals. In addition to careful partnership work at strategic levels, there were now carer representatives on the Board. It was hoped that discussions with the Genuine Partnership group would lead to the effective delivery of partner links

·       It was acknowledged that there continued to be overrepresentation of certain groups and that workforce development was important. It was therefore important to raise the expectations of pupils’ achievements in certain areas of the city such as South Bristol. Work was taking place to provide training and development of SENCOs. Once the needs had been identified, specific pieces of work could be provided as required.

·       It would be extremely helpful to work with the Locality Partnerships to identify where work could support young people with SEND and children with autism, together with carers and refugees as part of the Children’s Voice Partnership across the city

ACTION: a further update report to come to a future HWBB meeting to advise on feedback to BCC’s Accelerated Progress Plan (APP) and SEND Partnership Plan (SPP) - Richard Hanks/Vikki Jervis/Mark Allen (to schedule in Forward Plan)