 Welcome to the Children, Young People and Learning (CYPL) SEND & Inclusion newsletter. This is a dedicated publication for professionals and parent carers who are champions of SEND in West Sussex.
Please share this newsletter with colleagues and parent carers. If you know of anyone who would like to be added to the distribution list, you can subscribe here.
Contents
Updates
- SEND Reform Plan
- SEND Leadership in a transforming world: West Sussex County Council SENCO Conference, 18 June 2026, Crowne Plaza, Crawley
- Introducing the Specialist Education Advice and Outreach Service (SEAOS)
- Specialist Education Advice and Outreach Service (SEAOS) Phone Consultation Offer
- Educational Psychology Service (EPS) Learning Library
Working with our partners
- West Sussex Parent Carer Forum
- Reaching Families - Neurodevelopmental (ND) Navigation Service
Spotlight
- NHS Surrey and Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB)
Developing our SEND Reform Plan
We want to share an important update about the work currently underway to develop our SEND Reform Plan, which all local authorities have been asked by the Department for Education (DfE) to create and submit by 19 June 2026. An initial version of the plan will be shared with our DfE advisor by 15 May 2026.
This plan is a significant piece of work for our area. It will set out how we will strengthen support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), working closely with families, schools, early years settings, colleges, health partners, and the voluntary sector. Co‑production is central to this work, ensuring the plan reflects lived experiences and focuses on what matters most to children, young people and their families. To help with this, the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum is running a survey to gather views that will inform the plan, see their article below for further details.
Why the SEND Reform Plan matters
The SEND Reform Plan must meet national DfE requirements and clearly demonstrate how we will improve outcomes, inclusion and sustainability across our SEND system. If the plan is approved by the Secretary of State for Education, it will unlock £182 million of High Needs Stability Grant funding for our local area.
This funding is critical. It would cover 90% of the accumulated high needs Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficit up to the end of the 2025–26 financial year, helping to stabilise the system and protect services for children and young people with SEND.
Without an approved plan, this level of financial support would not be available.
What happens next
The DfE has indicated that payments for approved plans will be released in autumn 2026. Securing this investment gives us a vital opportunity to build a more inclusive, sustainable and effective SEND system for the future.
We will continue to share updates on the development of the SEND Reform Plan and how partners, families and young people can be involved as this work progresses.
|
We are delighted to confirm the programme for this year’s West Sussex County Council SENCO Conference, SEND Leadership in a transforming world.
The focus of the day is how the SENCO role will evolve in light of the SEND reforms. We’ve asked Whole Education to run three sessions which will be delivered to the whole conference (there will be no breakout workshops this year):
SEND leadership in a transforming world - Gary Aubin from Whole Education
A chance to reflect on the challenge and the beauty of working as a SENCO in a school, considering key aspects of change including the Curriculum and Assessment review, inspection framework and how these are reflected within the White Paper
Using evidence for impact - Gary Aubin from Whole Education
How data can be used strategically by SENCOs to plan for progress
SENCOs as the linchpin in area planning - Bart Shaw from Whole Education
Contextual reflections to SEND reform: the SENCO role in local area groups to achieve a strong inclusion partnership
There will be two further sessions, one around Inclusion and the Ofsted Framework, and one around working with parents, learning from the Autism in Schools project.
Tickets are priced at £120 to include lunch and refreshments for the day and can be purchased via Services for Education.
We’re delighted so many SENCOs have already booked and look forward to what will be an inspiring and thought-provoking conference.
 A developing partnership to strengthen SEN support across West Sussex
West Sussex County Council is pleased to share an important update on the continued development of the Specialist Education Advice and Outreach Service (SEAOS). This service has been established in partnership with maintained special schools across the county to enhance the support available to mainstream schools in meeting the needs of pupils with special educational needs (SEN), working alongside the Specialist Advisory Teachers (SATs).
Initially launched as a pilot through the Delivering Better Value (DBV) programme in 2024/25, SEAOS was extended through 2025/26, and we are delighted to confirm that funding has now been agreed for 2026/27. This demonstrates ongoing commitment to strengthening inclusive practice and improving outcomes for children and young people with SEN.
A Coaching and Mentoring Approach
At the heart of SEAOS is a commitment to a coaching and mentoring model. The service aims to foster:
- Non‑judgemental, supportive professional dialogue
- Shared problem solving‑ with a focus on practical classroom impact
- Strong, positive relationships between special school outreach teams and mainstream staff
- Increased confidence and capacity within school teams
SEAOS complements the existing SATS service by providing additional specialist expertise drawn directly from the day-to‑day experience of working in West Sussex special schools.
For further information as well as contact details for the hub leads, please see the attached poster.
We warmly encourage headteachers and SENCOs to make use of this growing service and to help shape its continued development through feedback and engagement.
SEAOS are delighted to be piloting a phone consultation offer in the Summer term 2026.
This provides an opportunity for any mainstream member of staff to book a time slot for a professional conversation with an experienced SEN Outreach teacher who can help with many areas of need, drawing on their expertise, experience and knowledge from working in a Special School setting.
Mainstream staff can book a 20 minute Microsoft Teams call with an experienced SEN Outreach teacher, having notified either the SENCO or a member of the Senior Leadership from their mainstream school prior to the phone call taking place. This phone call will be recorded and triaged to one of the following pathways:
- During the 20 minute Phone/Microsoft Teams call - offer advice, signpost to resources and handouts - coaching
- During the 20 minute Phone/Microsoft Teams call - offer a school visit and then provide a visit report. This will be followed up with a phone call a month later to ‘check in’.
Suggestions of areas we can support with (but not limited to these):
- Curriculum related queries -setting up/adapting a curriculum for pupils with SEN
- How to break the EHCP targets into smaller steps
- How to effectively measure progress/small steps
- Supporting pupils in an enhanced provision
- Offer visits to a special school to share ideas and good practice
- Early Communication/responding to echolalia/scripting to support communication
- Supporting independence
- Co-regulation strategies
- Developing focus and attention
For further information including the QR codes and links to the booking pages, please see the SEAOS leaflet.
|
The West Sussex EPS Learning Library contains webinars produced by the West Sussex Educational Psychology Service. You can access the page here.
What is the Learning Library?
The library's webinars aim to inform and support the practice of adults working with children and young people in educational settings. Alongside the webinars, the Educational Psychology Service has produced fact sheets to support understanding key concepts or strategies that education psychologists or other professionals may recommend.
What webinars are currently available?
- Adaptive teaching parts 1-4
- Backward chaining
- Circle of Friends
- Cognitive load theory
- Executive Functioning parts 1&2
- Intensive Interaction
- Selective Mutism parts 1-4
- Target Monitoring
- Toileting skills and Neurodivergent children parts 1-3
- Totally attuned teachers and TAs
Who can access the Learning Library?
All staff who support children and young people in schools and settings may benefit from accessing the information in the learning library, including those who specialise in working with children with additional needs as well as those who support whole classes. This can be to support meeting the needs of a particular child or young person in your setting, or it may be used to further continuous professional development.
|
 |
|
Keep up to date with all this work by becoming a professional member!
Join our growing community of professionals who are helping shape SEND services. We will continue to keep you updated with our work, along with any events or services you can share with the families you support - sign up here
|
SEND Reform in West Sussex
West Sussex County Council is already planning what SEND Reform will look like locally over the coming years. These plans are being developed now for West Sussex.
If families don’t speak up at this stage, decisions risk being made without truly understanding real life experiences of SEND in West Sussex.
By completing this survey, parent carers are telling West Sussex County Council:
- What is working well for their child and family,
- What is not working and causes stress or delay,
- And what MUST change to improve support in the future.
This feedback will be used directly to inform local SEND Reform planning happening now in West Sussex.
Why is this important?
These parent carer voices help shape priorities, funding decisions, and the focus of future SEND support. If decision makers don’t clearly hear from parent carers now, they may assume the system is working better than it is. This is your opportunity to make sure lived experience drives local change.
Please encourage parent carers to have their say now, as every response strengthens the collective voice: SEND Reform Parent Carer Survey – Fill out form
This also links directly to our summer Have Your Voice Heard (HYVH) event on 8 May 2026, where parent carer views on SEND Reform will be discussed and strengthened further. Have Your Voice Heard - Education - West Sussex Parent Carer Forum
SEND Reform - National White Paper Consultation
Families are telling us they feel anxious, exhausted and uncertain about what the proposed SEND reforms could mean for their children. Across the country, parent carers are describing a system that already feels fragile, and a consultation that raises as many questions as it answers, particularly about legal rights, accountability and what might be lost, not just what is being proposed. We hear those concerns clearly. We are parent carers too, and we share the same worries about what these changes could mean for children, young people and families now and in the future.
Many families are especially concerned about issues that do not sit clearly within the consultation questions at all, such as enforceable protections, access to EHCPs, routes of challenge, and what happens if support in mainstream settings does not materialise. These concerns are coming up again and again in conversations between families and Parent Carer Forums across England.
That’s why we’ve created a dedicated webpage to make it easier for West Sussex SEND families to share what really matters to them, in ways that feel manageable and meaningful.
Our website offers three clear routes for these families to have their say:
-
Take part in the SEND consultation, focusing only on the questions that matter most to them
- Add their voice to wider campaigns, particularly where key issues fall outside the consultation itself
-
Share their views with us, so we can bring together themes and evidence and represent families’ experiences on their behalf, locally, regionally and nationally
By bringing individual voices together, Parent Carer Forums help turn lived experience into collective insight that decision-makers cannot ignore.
You can also see how Parent Carer Forums across Sussex are working together, strengthening representation and ensuring that families’ voices are fed into the National Network of Parent Carer Forums, where they directly inform national discussions with government.
This is a critical moment. Nothing has changed yet, and how families, and those who support them, engage now will influence what happens next.
|
 After years of struggling with her mental health, Ellie was diagnosed as autistic in her late twenties, followed by an ADHD diagnosis a few years later.
Now, as a lived experience trainer and mother to two autistic teenagers, Ellie will share her journey, explaining: What Masking looks like - The impact it has on daily life - Practical tips on what can help
Join us online via Microsoft Teams for an insightful and supportive session that will empower you with the knowledge and tools to better understand and support your child's/young person's unique needs.
Book here - Find it Out: Masking Monday 11 May 2026, 7:30pm - 8:30pm
 We have five Chat & Chill sessions coming up where parent carers can drop in, relax and share experiences, all whilst enjoying a hot drink. Click the dates below for more info:
Please feel free to share our events with your families - we will be releasing more to all our members shortly, so watch this space! For more information, you can of course see our website or email us directly at: office@wspcf.org.uk
The Reaching Families ND Navigation Service provides information, training and support to parent-carers of children and young people waiting on, undergoing or completed an assessment for ADHD, Autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions.
The project consists of the following elements:
- Initial telephone support to establish the needs of families accessing the service
- Information and resources on your child's condition and needs
- Training workshops and courses on neurodiversity
- Access to a specially trained parent-carer befriender with a similar lived experience
- Access and support in attending one of our Umbrellas, parent-carer support groups
- Access to other Reaching Families services
- Signposting to other relevant projects and services
In order to meet parents face to face in their local area we now deliver a ND Navigation Roadshow at venues across West Sussex. If you would be interested in a face to face appointment with one of our workers please see the accompanying flyer.
|
 
On 1 April 2026 NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB and NHS Sussex ICB formally merged to form a new organisation – NHS Surrey and Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB). The new ICB also incorporates the Surrey Heath, Farnham and Ash areas of Surrey which were previously part of the Frimley health and care system.
 Wider NHS reform
The change is part of wider NHS reform announced by the government in March 2025 - aimed at strengthening roles and responsibilities across the wider NHS and reducing duplication, so more funding can be directed to frontline care.
These changes signal a leaner way of working, where every part of the NHS is clear on their purpose, what they are accountable for, and to whom, and will help support delivery of the national NHS 10 Year Health Plan to improve outcomes for patients and communities.
As part of this NHS reform, ICBs were asked to significantly reduce their operating costs (by approximately 50%) and focus on their critical role as strategic commissioners – working to improve population health, reduce inequalities and improve access to more consistent high-quality care. After careful consideration, the Boards of NHS Surrey Heartlands and NHS Sussex agreed to pursue plans to collaborate and create a new organisation spanning the two counties.
This change includes a significant reduction of the overall ICB workforce and a new operating model and internal structures. Some functions currently delivered by the ICB are expected to move, over time, to other NHS providers. These include medicines optimisation, continuing healthcare, elements of safeguarding and special educational needs, alongside consolidation of areas such as digital, data and intelligence (expected to be delivered over a wider ICB footprint, covering Surrey, Sussex and Kent) and elements of specialised commissioning.
The ICB as strategic commissioner
As a strategic commissioner, the ICB is responsible for setting a clear strategy for improving the health of the population, based on the needs of local people, and making sure that the way money is spent has a direct impact on improving people’s health and in reducing the inequalities we know exist in how some people access and receive care and treatment.
The ICB’s unique role is to coordinate the allocation of resources, getting the best use of the population’s health budget by aligning funding and resources strategically with long-term population health outcomes. Importantly they have a responsibility to use their understanding of the local context to make sure that every pound spent is improving outcomes, tackling inequalities, delivering best value and building long-term health resilience for local communities, including the left shift (from treatment to prevention; from hospital to community; from analogue to digital) set out in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.
In short, the ICB’s ambition is to improve health outcomes, reduce health inequalities and secure the best value for money from NHS services for the people and communities living in Surrey and Sussex in line with the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan.
More information can be found on the ICB’s new website.
The Local Offer website is our gateway to SEND information for families and young people (0-25). Whether you have a diagnosis or not, visit the Local Offer website for:
- A directory of services, community groups and activities
- The SEND support you can expect from childcare and education settings
- Information about NHS SEND services, including assessments and support while you wait
- Signposting to financial support, including grants and benefits
- Help with navigating Education, Health and Care Assessments, Plans and Reviews
- Support for preparing for adulthood, employment, and transitioning to adult social care
Tools for School is where you will find resources and information to support the inclusion of all West Sussex children and young people in early years, schools, post 16 and other education settings.
-
SEND Toolkit, for SEND resources, strategies and information, classroom guide to ‘Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice’
-
Child's Journey, for Transition, child voice, person centred planning, parent views and home school partnership, preparation for adulthood
-
Inclusion, for Examples of best practice, the Inclusion framework and support for creating inclusive education
-
Advice and Support, for advice and support around meeting the needs of children and young people in school or education settings
The Family Information Service (FIS) is provided by West Sussex County Council. We offer free, impartial, up-to-date information to all families on childcare, as well as activities and services for 0-25 year olds.
As a council we are working together with our partners across education, health and social care, and importantly our families, to secure the best possible outcomes for all our children and young people. Here you will find more information about how we plan to improve our SEND services.
West Sussex SENDIAS, provides impartial information, advice and support to children and young people who have SEND (special educational needs and/ or disabilities) for those aged 0-25 and their parent carers.
Thriving in Education is where you will find support and information for children and young people's mental health and emotional wellbeing.
 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.
|
