Welcome to the first edition of the summer term!  We know this is a very busy time in schools, with exam season now upon us. You will also be preparing for children joining or leaving school.  I hope you also manage to pause and recharge your batteries over half term.

At WSCC, we are continuing on our SEND Improvement journey and have several projects and pilots in the pipeline.  More details are in Gemma's article below and we are looking forward to working closely with schools on these.  

There is also an interesting article from the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum, which explains how professionals can sign up to receive updates so that you can keep yourself up-to-date with the work of the Forum for your own professional development.

Finally, there are links to some interesting films within the articles on neurodevelopmental assessments and the Autism in Schools project. These are well worth watching and sharing with children and their families. They expertly explain the assessment process to support children understand the neurodevelopmental pathway.  

SEND and Inclusion Pilots

Below are details of pilots that are currently being planned, though additional trials may be announced in the coming months as we further define the SEND and AP improvement journey.

Those listed are scheduled to begin in the autumn term 2024. Locality areas and settings have been selected for various reasons, including presenting needs, data, and the variety of setting contexts. Consideration has also been given to avoiding cross-over between trial areas, which could impact the validity of outcomes.

If you are in a prospective pilot setting, please await further details which will be shared in due course by the relevant leads. Localities will be contacted with further details of the pilots as they develop.

1. L-IncS (Local Inclusion Solutions)

This is a prospective new way of working, in co-production with schools.  Professionals across Children Young People and Learning and partner services will offer a cohesive package of support.  The pilot will emphasise working at a child and whole school level jointly to meet the needs of children and develop inclusive practice within schools by building capacity and generating local solutions to meet the needs of children and schools. L-IncS will be trialled in the Shoreham and Lancing and East Grinstead areas.

2. PINS (Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools)

A national programme building on the successes of the Autism in Schools Project​ and Mental Health Support Teams in Schools. This trial is regional, including 40 mainstream primary schools across West Sussex, East Sussex, Brighton and Hove.​ 20 West Sussex primary schools who are currently supported by Thought-Full will be invited to submit an expression of interest.  The aims of PINS are to provide early interventions at a whole school level, ​upskill school staff and support strengthening of partnerships between schools and parent carers. PINS will involve 20 primary schools, from the Worthing and Crawley localities.

3. Early Years Single Point of Access (EY SPoA) and pilot of pathways for pre-school children to access support without the need for an EHCNA at statutory school age

Long term goal of the development of a trial of a single point of access to teams and services supporting EYFS providers, with a focus on ensuring the right support at the right time – right at the start. With a short-term goal of piloting pathways for children starting school to access support without requiring an EHCNA, children will be supported in mainstream schools seeing the foundation year R as an assessment year. Schools will be supported to enable children to access the full curriculum and thrive. This support will be provided by a funded transition support package. The pilot for pathways to access support without an EHCNA will be trialled in the Chichester area.

4. Outreach from Maintained Special Schools

Support available from maintained special schools to promote inclusion in mainstream settings, through training and support. This will involve advice around more specialist programmes such as PECS or Intensive Interaction (for example) so that they can be confidently implemented by mainstream providers. Outreach will be trialled in the Worthing Area.

5. Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice (OAIP) training and upskilling

Whole setting support to effectively embed the use of the OAIP to promote inclusion in mainstream settings. This could involve training, coaching and support to grow ordinarily available inclusive practice. OAIP upskilling will start in the Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill localities, though may be extended to additional localities pending an effective first phase pilot. During this trial, settings will work with us to feedback impact, which will be used to decide whether to scale up. Whilst yet to be fully defined, this will provide an exciting opportunity for setting-based practitioners to get involved through co-designing and co-delivering the model alongside the local authority. If you are interested in co-designing and facilitating training, please email Gemma Humphrey – Gemma.Humphrey@westsussex.gov.uk.

6. Alternative Provision Specialist Taskforce (APST)

A three-tier model for alternative provision that the DfE has been testing since 2021. Alternative provision specialist taskforces (publishing.service.gov.uk). This model involves partnership working and strategic planning, with innovation and the opportunity to test what works in local contexts. The APST is a co-located multi-disciplinary team, led by a taskforce manager, with an on-site presence so that services and specialists are responsive to young people’s needs. Tier 1 involves targeted support in mainstream schools, with tier 2 offering time-limited placements in the AP school before return to the mainstream school. Tier 3 will offer short term placements for pupils who need support to move on and access a new mainstream setting successfully. The APST will be trialled in the Crawley area, with further details to come.

Summary table of pilot areas

In June, there will be a SEND and Inclusion Roadshow for SENCOs.

Gemma Humphrey (SEND & Inclusion Adviser) will be visiting venues across the county to share information about WSCC’s work, so that SENCOs are well informed and know how they can get involved.

These roadshow events will include a workshop to consider our shared values and definitions of inclusion within the county. The events will open shortly for booking on West Sussex Services for Schools, though please see dates and venues below.

• Crawley, Maidenbower Infant School – 3^rd June (morning)
• Mid-Sussex, St Wilfrid’s Primary, Haywards Heath – 3^rd June (afternoon)
• Chichester, County Hall – 4^th June (morning)
• South, Upper Beeding Primary, Steyning – 5^th June (morning)

Tools for Schools is a website that was developed through the SEND & Inclusion Strategy.  Its aim is to provide schools and education settings with easier access to reliable and useful information to support children and young people with additional needs. 

It is currently an "off-shoot" of the Local Offer and the decision has been made to bring both websites in-house.  The content is being migrated to the WSCC corporate website this term and there is a re-direct system in place, so you should still be able to find Tools for Schools easily.  We hope to have all content migrated by the end of May.

Unfortunately, due to legal accessibility requirements for public sector bodies, documents will not initially be available for downloading.  We are working hard to fix this and key documents around the EHCNA process are already now available.  Other documents will be uploaded over the next few months.  In the meantime, please email the Tools for Schools inbox if you are unable to find what you are looking for and we will send out documents as required.  

WSCC, NHS Sussex, West Sussex Parent Carer Forum and Reaching families have jointly developed some useful animations for children, young people and families going through neurodevelopmental assessments.

Please watch and share!

Autism assessment video  

ADHD assessment video 

The Autism in Schools Project is an NHS funded project. 

It aims to transform the experiences of autistic pupils within schools, and to try and address the high number of exclusions for autistic pupils.  This was identified as a key part of the journey to crisis and admission to inpatient settings.    

West Sussex County Council, linked with the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum (WSPCF) as a key partner, has worked in co-production to transform school environments and ethos, up-skilling school staff to increase the capacity of schools to meet the needs of autistic students. ​This has included creating mini-parent carer forums in schools to create networks of support, hearing and acting upon the autistic pupil voice (and their families) throughout,  consistent transition support and a focus emotional and mental health wellbeing.

​There are three project focus areas:​

• To create autism affirming cultures within school​
• To develop positive relationships between schools and families of autistic children and young people to ensure positive and consistent support​
• To develop autistic children and young people’s self-awareness and ensure their voices are heard.​

The project started in 2021 and there have been 28 schools in total involved with this project as below:

YEAR 1 – 21 mainstream schools including primary and secondary schools in 4 localities​

​YEAR 2 – addition of a special school and an alternative provision​ setting

​YEAR 3 – addition of 5 more settings – 2 post-16 and 3 mainstream with a specific focus on all transitions​.

These films about the Autism in Schools Project show the impact the project is having on practice in schools as well as individual children and young people.  We hope you enjoy watching them.

• Autism in Schools film 
• Daisy 
• Meg 

​If you have any questions about the project, please do not hesitate to contact the project lead – Jane Crawford (Advisory Teacher – Autism and Social Communication Team) 

Please see our flyer for an overview of Reaching Families ‘one stop shop’ of services and the ways in which we can support parent-carers of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in West Sussex.  

For more information and access to our wide range of information resources please visit our website - Reaching Families or contact admin@reachingfamilies.org.uk

Did you know you can now become a member of the WSPCF as a professional?

Head over to our website and complete our short sign-up form. We can then keep you updated both for your professional development and you can see what we are offering the families you work with.

We often get inquiries from professionals seeking information and signposting on behalf of the families they work with, so please feel free to get in touch with us by emailing our office.

Would you like to learn more about working with Parent Carer Forums?

 The booklet Working with a Parent Carer Forum is aimed at NHS professionals working with a Parent Carer Forum, but is also useful to any professionals or providers who want to do more with WSPCF.

It covers what a parent carer forum is, what we are looking to achieve, and what we offer help with, as well as giving practical advice on how best to work alongside us and what some of the common barriers are.

Information to share with families

We hold a Parent carer coffee event every half term, moving around the county, with our next one coming up in Worthing in July, we also offer online chat and Talking heads’ Information sessions too!    They can also join us as a Parent Carer member to keep up to date with these sessions by heading over to our website. To stay updated on our work you can follow us on:

LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram or check out our website.

Person Centred approaches and co-production are integral to our work in the Educational Psychology Service. We have successfully developed our practice to use person centred approaches as the key assessment tool within our EHCNA assessments. The feedback from schools and families has been really positive.

What do we mean by Person Centred Approaches and what do they look like?

PATH, mini PATH and Person Centred Needs Assessments (PCNAs) are based on the values of co-production. Everyone is in the room together - with big paper, coloured pens, photos etc - and the EP facilitates a process where everyone shares their understanding of a young person’s strengths and needs. We use the meeting to co-construct a plan for what the CYP needs to stay strong as part of their EHCNA.

What makes it work well?

The school/setting providing a large enough room for the meeting and ensuring that staff are present throughout. The EPs are creative and we use smaller templates when space is an issue! The most important factor is protecting the time to all be together and think about the CYP. This is highlighted by our feedback from setting staff:

“It gives a unique opportunity for discussion to include all the people invested in the child. Staff would need to be released for these separate conversations in a normal assessment, so this was not over and above for us and was well worth the time invested. The resulting EP report is bespoke and personalised - the essence of what we hope to achieve for all children with SEND!”

“It was great to have the professionals in one place at one time. Each person knew the child so well but in so many different ways, which can be hard to represent sometimes.”

How do we know it works?

We have wonderful feedback from parents, school staff and other professionals 😊

“Just a huge thank you for the kindness and compassion shown. My child wasn’t made to feel like a statistic but a little boy, a human being. Which meant the world to us. Feeling more confident about the help and support” (parent)

“The PATH process captures the essence of a team around the child perfectly. The SENCO from his new school attended and was able to reassure that provision could be put in place to meet his needs and commented that she gathered so much more information than a paper report would have given her and had a real ‘feel of who child is’” (school staff)

“I valued how my views and opinions were heard and represented in the report. I liked how the information was collected on a colourful visual plan as it was easy to comprehend and made it less intimidating and more playful” (parent)

Where can I find out more?

Please see our person centred assessment guides on our Educational Psychology Service pages

With thanks to all the schools and settings that are working with us to facilitate our PATH and PCNA meetings.

There is still time to buy tickets for the SENCO Conference: Thriving, not just Surviving, on 3 July 2024 at Butlins.  Tickets available from West Sussex Services for Schools