|
Welcome
Welcome to your first issue of Sheffield Special Educational Needs News - a new briefing about changes and developments in SEND in Sheffield.
The briefing is for professionals, parents, carers and anyone with an interest in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). We welcome ideas and contributions so please get in touch if you have feedback or thoughts about what information would be helpful.
Please also encourage other professionals and families to sign up to receive Sheffield Special Educational Needs News.
|
|
SEND action plan
OFSTED and the CQC recently approved our SEND action plan which sets out the improvements we will make by October 2020.
It was developed after a local inspection last year found weaknesses in Sheffield around how children and young people’s needs are being identified, assessed and met.
The plan is a joint council and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) led action plan and was produced working with school leaders, Learn Sheffield, the Sheffield Parent Carer forum and other partners.
You can read a one page summary and the full SEND action plan online.
|
|
New SEND Strategy
We are going to produce a new SEND strategy to help us prioritise work over the next five years to best meet the needs of our children and young people.
The feedback people have already given us, and other organisations including Sheffield’s Parent Carer Forum, will be used to help develop the strategy. We will particularly be using the recent SEND State of Sheffield survey and report published by the Parent Carer Forum as it gives us a clear view on what parents and carers in the city feel are the priorities.
The strategy will be co-produced between council and health services with young people and their families. We particularly want to listen to more children, young people, families and professionals and will soon publicise opportunities to do this.
|
|
More SEND education provision
As well as looking at how we can improve support in our mainstream schools, we are looking to create more integrated resource and special school places:
- Integrated resources: we had positive feedback to our consultation in spring around the idea of developing and growing places in integrated resources. We are now working with professionals, looking at what we heard so we can take proposals to a next level of detail. That will then be part of further engagement in the Autumn.
- A new special school is being built close to the city centre on the former Norfolk Park site and is planned to open in 2021. It will have 80 places for children aged 8 to 16 with complex needs linked to autism and social, emotional and mental health.
- Plans for a second new school, also with 80 places, have also been approved at the first stage by central government. We are carrying out further work to take this forward.We will provide future updates on this work as it progresses.
|
|
New information about SEND in Sheffield
People have told us the SEND system in Sheffield is confusing and they need clear information. We are listening and have produced:
This information is available on the Local Offer (documents linked above).
To support schools in accessing all useful documents in one place, all resources have also been added to the Learn Sheffield website - click on the Guidance Tab.
|
|
Useful links
We have provided these links as a source of support for families. Each issue we will provide new links to current information and other support.
|
|
Contact us
Please let us know if you have any feedback about this newsletter, or ideas about what you would like to see in future.
Look out for our next Sheffield Special Educational Needs and Disabilities News in September.
|
|
|
|