Issue - meetings

The item was introduced by Chris Baird, who reminded members that an inspection of SEND provision across the whole of Warwickshire – not just in schools and education settings – had been undertaken last year. Weaknesses had been identified in a number of areas, so a written Statement of Action outlining how these would be addressed was required to be produced. The draft statement had been signed off by Ofsted and the CQC, which recognised the action plan that had been developed and how services would be developed over the course of several years. Monitoring meetings had been taking place with the Department for Education and NHS England, the most recent of which had been on 17 May. At this meeting the positive progress that had been made, and the pace at which it had occurred, had been noted.

Rachel Barnes said there had been good levels of input into the Written Statement of Action from parents and carers, including those from the newly relaunched Parent Carer Forum. Rachel Barnes reminded members there had been five areas of significant weakness that had been identified. The first of these was in relation to waiting times for autism diagnosis. Rachel Barnes said waiting times were reducing, and there had been increased staffing capacity to make diagnoses. There had been improvements to the self-help offer, including a conference that had been well attended. An e-booklet was due to be launched soon. A new model of assessment to streamline current processes was being piloted.

The second area of weakness related to communication with parents and carers. A new monthly SEND newsletter had been launched, as had a Facebook page specific to the SEND Local Offer, which had more than 500 followers. The main website on the Local Offer contained a section titled ‘You Said, We Did’ to show what progress had been made. Additionally a series of webinars and online workshops had taken place, which had been well attended and good feedback had been generated. Nearly 100 members of staff had received training in restorative practice, which was aimed at building trusting relationships with families and schools.

Areas three and four were closely linked to each other, regarding inclusion and workforce development in schools. Rachel Barnes said ‘change champions’ had been allocated within each school consortium to lead on this and help develop an inclusion charter. A new inclusion framework aimed at providing earlier interventions was being trialled within 17 schools in Rugby. Another trial regarding children with behavioural challenges was taking place within a further five schools, based on the work of Dr Ross Greene. Rachel Barnes said feedback on this had been positive and it was intended to roll this out to another 25 schools this year. The fifth area of weakness related to the Local Offer webpages. Rachel Barnes told the Committee these had been relaunched and traffic to them had increased by 50 per cent. Additionally literature had been provided to schools, children and family centres, libraries, and also GP  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5