A focus on Inclusion in Schools

Inclusion is at the heart of the SEND Strategy. What do we mean by Inclusion?

By increasing ‘Inclusion’ in schools we are increasing participation for all children and adults through schools becoming more responsive to the diversity of children’s backgrounds, interests, experience, knowledge, skills and fostering high achievement for all. Recent activities supporting this are:

• 65 schools are rolling out the ‘Index for Inclusion’ to enhance and improve inclusive practice across the county; 
• We are finalising a West Sussex definition of inclusion to ensure we all have a common understanding of what it means;
• We are developing an Inclusion Framework which will enable us to evaluate schools against an agreed list of principles and indicators, which would then enable them to be accredited as an ‘Inclusive School’.

Our new Head of Inclusion, Helen Johns, started last month. Helen’s role is focused on supporting and challenging schools to develop inclusive policies and practice, to enable all children and young people to fully participate in education locally. This will involve working closely with colleagues in education, health and social care and with school leaders to ensure there is a shared understanding of what makes an Inclusive School. 

SENCO Training and Development

The SEND strategy emphasises the need to ensure that SENCOs in West Sussex receive appropriate support and training. The SENCO conference in November was a great success with 140 attending. Those present were particularly interested in the input about developmental trauma and the possibility of offering follow up training on this subject is being investigated.

The STAGE special school teaching alliance has been commissioned to produce a SENCO Leadership Development Programme. This year long programme of professional development will enable SENCOs to build and develop their professional skills and knowledge as well as provide an opportunity to work alongside colleagues and to develop a SENCO network. The priority for places will be for schools which are Ofsted graded ‘Requires Improvement’.

Any SENCO interested should contact Helen Ball, head@st-ants.org with their name and the name of their school.

Transferring Statements to Education Health & Care Plans (EHCPs)

Staff within the SEN Assessment Team have been working to transfer statements of SEN to EHCPs. These all need to be completed by the end of March 2018. The Department for Education is asking us to report on a monthly basis on our progress. We still have several hundred to complete and have identified some additional resources to help us achieve that target. We are working with all the remaining families about their child’s transfer. 

SEND Inspection Reminder

Inspectors from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission will be in our area for one week. They will visit education settings and meet with children, parents, teachers, leaders and governors.

There will also be focus groups and we are briefing those who may be involved in these. The phone call giving us five days’ notice of the inspection could arrive any Monday during term time and we believe it is likely that the inspection will take place this term as most other areas in the South-East have already been inspected. We have recently re-circulated guidance for education settings, health staff and other partners and that can be found here. If your setting is to be visited we will contact you to give you further information as soon as we know.

The focus of the inspection is on how effectively we identify, meet the needs and improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND and it will look at how the local area as a whole meets its responsibilities.

This will include children & young people who are at SEN Support, as well as those with Education Health & Care Plans. We have developed a self-evaluation framework to ensure we will have a good understanding of our effectiveness and an improvement plan which identifies areas where we need to do further work. 

WSCC points of contact for questions relating to SEND

Each school setting has an allocated Locality Link (Education) Adviser in addition to an Integrated Prevention and Earliest Help Service (IPEH) Representative. All schools have a contact Educational Psychologist and will receive at least one annual planning meeting in addition to the fortnightly bookable telephone consultation slots which are available from the Service. 

Requests for support can also be made to the Autism and Social Communication Team (ASCT) and the Learning and Behaviour Advisory Team (LBAT). Support for children and young people with a sensory impairment is provided by the Sensory Support Team (SST). Each child or young person with an EHCP or undergoing an EHC Needs Assessment will have an allocated Planning Co-Ordinator within the SEN Assessment Team.

The West Sussex Local Offer helps you find information about local services, support and events for children and young people aged 0-25 years who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). If you would prefer to speak to someone in person, please give the West Sussex Local Offer team a call on 0330 222 8555, asking for “Local Offer”, or email localoffer@westsussex.gov.uk.

If you would like more information about any of the above items, contact Jon Philpot, Principal Manager (SEN & Inclusion) jon.philpot@westsussex.gov.uk.