West Sussex County Council sent this bulletin at 05-03-2018 12:05 PM GMT
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Local Area SEND inspection finished!
A message from Annie MacIver,
Director of Family Operations and Deborah Myers, Director of Education &
Skills
We received notification on Monday
19 February that a joint Ofsted and CQC Inspection of Special
Educational Needs and Disabilities services in West Sussex would take place
from Monday 26 February until Friday 2 March.
As well as meetings with a range of
managers, practitioners, parent carers and children & young people,
inspectors visited a range of teams and settings throughout West Sussex. This
included nurseries, schools, children’s centres and further education
providers. Despite the challenges with the
weather, all these visits went ahead as planned. This means that the inspection team were able
to conclude their evidence gathering and complete the inspection.
We know a large number of people
within the County Council, NHS, West Sussex Parent Carer Forum, schools &
settings and other partners contributed to the SEND inspection at some time or
other. Your flexibility in preparing
information at short notice and organising evidence, people and materials
afforded us the opportunity to demonstrate the strong partnership working and
clear drive to give our children and young people with SEND the best start in
life.
The
final letter reporting on findings will now be drafted, sent to us for a
factual check before being returned to Ofsted for final quality assurance. We expect the letter to be released for publication
within 33 working days. As soon as this happens we will send a copy to you.
If you have any queries in the meantime, please do not
hesitate to contact Jon Philpot(Principal Manager SEN & Inclusion) or Claire Holliss (Senior Project Officer).
Annie MacIver & Deborah Myers
Improving Services for
Children with SEN&D and their Families
This is being led through the implementation of the SEND Strategy and
this time we are focusing on the pilot of the Intensive Planning Team (IPT), a
joint initiative with the WSCC Lifelong Services plan.
The IPT is an
innovative project which is initially running for one year. We’ve set up a virtual team of highly skilled
managers and practitioners, from health, education, care and voluntary sector.
The team is focused on improving outcomes for children and young people with
complex needs that challenge their families and schools. It provides a creative
approach, pace and purpose and has a delegated authority to make funding
decisions when needed.
IPT
offers 3 levels of support:
Help to professionals and schools who are working
with families and ‘got stuck’; looking at the system, process or barrier that
is causing the problem and resolving it
Short term work with the family and professionals,
problem solving and creative planning.
Intensive work (alongside professionals) with a member
of the IPT involved.
Outcomes
we want to achieve:
The numbers of children and young people placed
out of county in high cost specialist placements away from their families and
communities is reduced
Positive whole family-centred outcomes
An increase in the numbers of young people
accessing their local mainstream School and reduce the numbers placed in
special school settings.
Community and social links are established for
families to build resilience
The use of flexible alternative provision
placements is developed
Over
100 young people have been introduced to the IPT in the last 6 months and data
has shown that the pilot has produced:
Significant cost avoidance – relating to 8 young
people
Prevention of family breakdown
Reduction in use of out of county placements
Evidence of life long plans being in place
Positive feedback from families and
professionals.
What was
different about the Intensive Planning Team?
Social Worker
“You really listened to the parents and asked them what would be helpful to
them as a family – not just for (young person). You also just got in and did
things, made things happen in a way that I’ve not seen in 20 years of social
work!”
Voluntary
Sector worker “I’ve really appreciated the range of skills and experience in
the IPT. It has felt much more about looking at the whole family and what would
make a difference, taking a real ‘outside the box’ approach.”
Parent Carer “We felt at this time there was no
other choice than boarding school as we had no help and were not coping. We are now hopeful for (young person)’s future. We have not seen (young person)
like this in a long time’
About the
school “IPT gave school the confidence to do things differently. School have
massively changed their attitude and in particular their policy to how they
respond.”
Transferring statements to Education Health & Care Plans (EHCPs)
Staff within the SEN Assessment Team
have been working to transfer all our statements of SEN to EHCPs by the end of
this month. We are on track to complete the vast majority of transfers by then,
but there will be a small number of complex cases which will require more
time.
We are working closely with all the
remaining families about their child’s transfer. It is important to note that
for any statement of SEN for which a transfer review has not been completed by
31 March 2018, the special educational provision and the placement described in
the statement will continue to remain in force until a transfer review has been
completed and a decision is made about future provision.
On 12 February, three representatives from the IPEH M8s SEND youth groups attended the ‘Making Participation Work’ youth conference in Birmingham. This was supported by Rachel Sadler, SEND Youth Participation Worker and Dan Sharpe from the SEND Commissioning Team.
The day before the conference the group stayed in a local hotel and had some team bonding time with bowling and pizza. The conference was run by Council for Disabled Children with the charity 'Kids' and was a fantastic opportunity for our young people from West Sussex to network with other young people from across the country and share ideas on how to get their voice heard as young people with Additional Needs.
Jennie, who is also an EPIC award winner 2017 said, "This is the first time I have stayed away from home by myself". Kathy, Jennie’s carer said "She enjoyed the Birmingham trip. It really showed how she has matured."
To find out more about youth voice and participation, take a look at our new team Wiki.
Bella The Bee
Congratulations to Phil Clarkson, Social
Worker who has had his first children’s book published!
He wrote Bella the Bee to help children explore their
individuality and encourage them to build their own self esteem. This is
available in #WestSussex bookshops or can be bought online.
Phil says, "It’s also being used in a primary school in
London to help children explore their goals and identity. Hopefully it will
gain further interest and be used as a tool to aid these discussions as more
teachers and caregivers use it."
Safer Sleeping
The Safer Sleeping month is taking place this year in March and
in order to share key messages around this topic with as many people as
possible, there will be 3 “Basic Awareness of Safer Sleeping Messages”
sessions.
These sessions will be delivered in partnership by a Named
Safeguarding Nurse and the Lullaby Trust. Each session will be 2 hours long and
are suitable for professionals who have not previously attended any similar
training. Foster carers are also welcome to attend.
These sessions will be taking place in Worthing Town Hall and a
choice of times are available. Click here for more information and to request
a place.
"Cards are a really good idea, great to have the information
of the birth on the front and the safety information on the back” - Cot Card
Feedback, from a new mum.
12
week programme for young people interested in construction, highways or
warehouse working.
This
will start on Monday 5 March 2018 for 16-24 year olds who are not in
Full Time Education, Training or Employment and can get to 'The Phoenix
Centre Bognor Regis' (travel expenses can be re-claimed).
Interested
young people will need to email Hilary
Hughes expressing an interest by Wednesday 21 February.
Young
People will then be invited to a Selection Day on Monday 26 February.
Did
you know that you can refer young people on an Early Help Plan to West Sussex
Scouts? In 2017, West Sussex Scouts and WSCC signed a new agreement to provide
funding for young people referred from IPEH, which follows on from previous
funding provided to the Scouts under Think Family.
Have
a young person you think would be suitable? Refer them to West Sussex
Scouts.
One
young person we have supported through the scheme has just achieved her
Chief Silver Scout Award!
Documents
including their leaflet and the application process/form can be viewed on request by asking Sarah Dimmock.
Some
of the services listed in this newsletter or on the Local Offer site are
provided by private service providers and not by West Sussex County
Council. These do not have a recommendation or endorsement from the local
authority. If you decide to use a service / provision, you should be aware that
you are responsible for doing your own checks to ensure they are suitable and
fit for purpose. West Sussex County Council will not be liable for any
damages or losses suffered by anyone who relies on the information in this
newsletter.