Since the release of the inspection report in September 2021, positive actions have been taken to improve the delivery of services provided for children and young people with SEND in Warwickshire.
Warwickshire County Council and Coventry and Warwickshire CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group) remain committed to improving services for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), several months on from the release of a joint Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) report inspection of the Local Area provision for SEND.
The inspection report, released on 23 September 2021, looked closely at services provided by schools, health providers and the local authority, to children and young adults with SEND. Whilst several areas were commended, including the commitment of area leaders to improve the outcomes of children and young people with SEND, the report also highlighted weaknesses that the local area needed to address, particularly waiting times for autism assessments and the quality of the online local offer.
Since the release of the report several positive actions have been taken to improve the delivery of services provided, with partners working together with the support of Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice, our local Parent Carer Forum. These include:
- Improving autism assessment waiting times and support for families - Additional clinical staff are now in post and more assessments are being carried out. A new model of assessment is also being tested to improve the process of assessment and diagnosis, and information and advice for families is being improved.
- Improving communications and engagement with parent carers – the local offer webpages have been revamped with feedback from parent carers and Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice.
- A programme of engagement activities including Webinars, a new look Warwickshire SEND newsletter, and new Local Offer Facebook page, are in place. A Live Feedback Form has also been developed to capture feedback, positive and negative, and hear from parents, carers and young people to help us continue to improve services.
- A Young People’s forum has been set up to capture the voice of children and young people with SEND. Register your interest for the Young People's Forum for SEND here.
- An Inclusion Framework for Schools trial is going well in 17 schools in Rugby. Staff have carried out SEND reviews with peer-to-peer support, to identify training needs. Learning from the trial will be used to roll out an inclusion framework across all mainstream schools with the support of 'change champions'.
- Workforce development - A multi-agency working group is reviewing current training and developing a programme of support to improve the knowledge, skills and understanding of staff in schools, with the aim of increasing parental confidence and improving outcomes for children and young people. This includes a pilot in 30 schools on a new approach called Collaborative and Proactive Solutions with Dr Ross Greene from USA, to support young people with behavioural challenges which can lead to exclusions. Parental and school confidence in the implementation of this pilot has been extremely positive to date.
Talking about the progress, Councillor Penny-Anne O’Donnell, Cabinet Support for the Portfolio Holder for Education and Children’s Services said:
“Working together with our partners and parent carers we are starting to see real progress being made to help improve the outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in Warwickshire. Waiting times for autism assessments are reducing, community support services are being redesigned, clearer information is being provided for families and a huge programme of work is being progressed to improve communications and support workforce development.
“We know that there are still significant challenges ahead and we know and understand that we can’t change the services we deliver overnight, but by working together with our partners, parent carers and children and young people we are making a difference and remain committed to doing so.”
Dr Sarah Raistrick, local GP and Chair of Coventry and Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group said:
“Ensuring that all children and young people in Coventry and Warwickshire with SEND can access the support they need remains a priority for the CCG. We recognise the need to improve services across the region and plans are in place to help us deliver better care, whether providing additional support for those waiting for a diagnosis, or those receiving support already.
“We remain committed to working in partnership with Warwickshire County Council and other key stakeholders to implement these plans and ensure we provide the best possible SEND services for local children, young people, and their families.”
Elaine Lambe from Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice said:
“We are pleased that progress is being made on the Written Statement of Action and the impact Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice has had on that progress. There is still a lot to do to ensure the voice of families is consistently heard and we will continue to work collaboratively with the local authority and the Clinical Commissioning Group to ensure that we improve outcomes for children, young people and their families."
For more information on Warwickshire’s Local Offer, please visit the Local Offer webpages or the Local Offer Facebook page.