Local Area Networking for SEN

1. Local Area Networking for SEN Review of Access and Inclusion ServicesSpecialist Teaching Service April 2006

2. Nearly 400 staff are employed in these services: Student Support Service Educational Psychology Service Special Educational Needs Assessment Specialist Teaching Service Access and Welfare Parent Partnership Service The review will consider: what services need to provided centrally in line with the LAs role how other services can be delivered on a local area basis, aligned with our five SEN areas whether some services would be better located in other parts of the new departmental structure The review will take part in three stages: Stage 1: Consultation on models of future service delivery, staffing structures and action plans (completed by July 2006) Stage 2: Appointments to new structure (completed in the Autumn, 2006) Stage 3: Phased implementation of new structure (Completed by March 2007) A meeting of managers in the group was held on 16th March, to prepare a cabinet paper for 4th April which will begin the process. The cabinet paper will be made available to staff and professional associations on 28th March. Shortly after 4th April, detailed plans will be published for consultation. Cabinet approval will be sought for the final plans after the consultation period. This is likely to be in July 06 The review will impact on individual services in different ways. The first stage of the review will clarify how different services will be affected. Review of Access and Inclusion Services: Summary

3. Why Change? • Clearer definition of LA/school responsibilities: • Schools: Provision and extended services, 92p in the pound of available resources • LA: standards, monitoring, support for failing/under performing schools • Good to great: • Lack of performance/outcomes/impact orientation • Poor communication of overall strategy • Silo structure inhibiting flexibility and creating duplication • A foundation for ECM: CAF, lead professional, multi-disciplinary teams, 5 outcomes, information sharing, single point of access... • Building school capacity: • Multi-disciplinary teams to focus on school systems rather than pupils • Shared pathways of care more important than diagnosis by individual services • Difficulties with trading in current system: • Differential access for pupils • Complex financial planning • No Service Level Agreement

4. Continuities • Children first • High quality provision in schools • High quality casework • Maintaining professional development • Maintaining expertise in SEN

5. Scope of the Review • To summarise resources currently available within Access and Inclusion Services and complete an equalities impact assessment • To identify functions to be managed centrally, related to monitoring and reporting, provision standards, and support for failing schools, and policy consultation and development • To recommend a future model of service delivery aligning support services with with local area delivery, and the new departmental structure • To make recommendations on staffing structures, roles and responsibilities

6. Phases of the Review • Phase 1- Summer 2006 • Publication of service model, staffing structure and action plans • Consultation with stakeholders • Revision of plans • Phase 2- Autumn 2006 • Appointments to new structure • Phase 3- Spring 2007 • Phased implementation of new arrangements

7. Key elements: A unified central SEN service Multi-professional local area teams With a role to: Monitor central SEN budgets Establish monitoring system based on SEN SEF Establish an SLA with schools for SEN support Commission service via second SLA or directly employ staff Set policy, strategy and standards, including Prof Dev for specialist staff Manage LAA, APA, JAR, CYPP, LSPs, BVPIs, CPA, etc Lead complex case panels in specialist areas of need Handle queries and complaints Support Perf Man for staff with specialist skills Casework, small group and class teaching Agree annual support plan with each school, based on SEN SEF discussion Deploy support to schools Commission lead SENCOs etc in area to support work Deliver support to children, schools and families, including training, project casework Support area, neighbourhood and school Multi-disciplinary Teams Develop secondment arrangements for local staff to service for 2-3 terms Undertake monitoring work to central specification Overall Shape of New Services

8. LA has an SLA with special schools to deliver a support service to mainstream schools in the area. Central team has a role to manage complex case panels, standards and monitoring and planning Strengths Fits area special school model Local responsiveness to need Strong political support for the programme Approach called for by OFSTED (2005) Weaknesses Will advice be independent? Changes professional team relations: new shared identity as area team on top of professional identity Model: Commissioned Service from Area Special Schools • “LEAs should:... • · consider, wherever possible, delegating the funding for support services to suitable special schools within a region in order that they can deliver the service to mainstream schools on an outreach basis”

9. Problems Small teams tied to arbitrary boundaries that risk being inflexible to shifts in the distribution of low incidence needs. The areas of expertise currently located in area special schools does not reflect the skills and strategies required to meet the wide ranging SEN of mainstream children and young people, many of whom will not experience cognitive difficulties. Unavoidable duplication of resources Potential difficulties in defining the respective roles of local and central management. No impartial professional view creating potential for dispute and/or conflicts of interest between professionals, local and central interests. Poor co-ordination of activities and resources across the County leading to potential for inequitable provision. A continuing requirement for centralised technical support and a possibility of distancing this support from the work directly undertaken with children. Duplication of administrative tasks and/or additional pressure on administrative resources in host schools. Accommodation. No single point of contact for referrals within or outside Children’s Services with regard to SEN. Fragmented knowledge base Unclear funding streams for work not directly associated with schools, e.g. EYSENIT, VI and HI home teaching programmes, EarlyBird and Autism Outreach (Early Years) provision. Weakened opportunities for dispute resolution around individual cases. No impartial professional view creating potential for dispute/ conflicts of interest between professionals, local and central interests. Solutions Boundaries link to school groupings- flexibility between area teams Agreed: these teams would extend the expertise of area special schools There is duplication now and no coherent whole school focus Agreed- clear boundaries and roles are needed Complex case panels could do this Again, via complex case panels and central standards No data currently available on equity from service- will be done by area teams Will need centralised elements eg hearing tests and equipment- pupils have to travel now Admin support will need to be located with teams Can be included in design specification for future buildings Schools complain now that there is not a single point of contact Central team will ensure coherent knowledge base applied to schools Service level agreement will clarify what is being commissioned Complex case panels will do this work Strong argument for central complex case panels to ensure equity across county Service Model : Commissioned Service from Area Special Schools- detail

10. Area special school as a single point of contact- centre of a network of support Less admin/travel- more contact with children A new identity as a member of a local area multi-professional team- building on your professional identity Delivering a support service with special schools outreach and mainstream school staff Exploration of 3by3: one third casework, one third individual/small group teaching, one third class teaching (remodelling) Exploration of new approaches to casework, starting from negotiated outcomes Exploration of support teaching as a secondment training opportunity for school staff Small central team with a focus on standards, monitoring and strategy Specialist Teaching Service:Possible Changes: Professional Issues

11. Change of base: 5 area special schools? New team leader roles in each area Central expertise to support professional development reviews and training Admin posts in each area, and central teams, where there will be a need for more finance expertise Continued use of specialist facilities at Rothley House Continued use of Rothley House, possibly for central team Continued use of Rothley House where area special schools not yet established Possible early pilot in Hinckley with the new Dorothy Goodman school Learning from developments in other LAs Less jobs? Not clear until final plans agreed. Specialist Teaching Service:Possible Changes: Practical Issues

12. Good feedback I wanted to share with you my experience of having a child with special needs in a main steam school. My son James is now 6 years old and attends Meadowdale Primary School in Market Harborough. We noticed behavioural problems when James was about 18 months old. After a long painful process and accusations of bad parenting, we were at our wits end. The Head Teacher at Meadowdale, Mrs. Hunnings, identified traits of Autism in my son and after taking a letter from her to our GP, we once again began a long process of hospital appointments. All through the long process, we have found the school to be incredibly supportive and knowledgeable, something I didn’t expect having friends who also have children on the Autistic Spectrum who have to fight with their LEAs and schools for the smallest amount of help for their children. Mrs Hunnings has spent a lot of time with James when it was not appropriate for him to be in the classroom and has helped him to complete work that would otherwise have gone unfinished. She has also helped to put strategies in place for James to help him cope with the busy hall at lunchtime, and through not pushing him to eat in the hall, but providing him a quiet area to eat away from the hustle and bustle, he is now ready to rejoin his peers which he previously found incredibly stressful. My son also struggles in the playground, so lunchtimes are used to provide quiet social interaction with one child as he struggles in this area. James’ teacher this year has been amazing. She doesn’t shout which is something that makes him “switch off”. She has found ways to deal with James’ behaviour through positive rewards rather than punishments which he is responding well to. Both the Teaching Assistant in the classroom, and also James’ TA employed for him are both wonderful people who are incredibly caring and seem to know exactly how to handle James. James is very happy at school. There appears to be no bullying which is unusual for a child on the Autistic Spectrum and I feel my son is flourishing in main stream. Lots of children speak of my son positively and he has even been invited to tea by a couple of children for the first time. I put this down to the way in which the Teacher explains James’ behaviour to the other children and how James’ rewards for good behaviour benefit the whole class, so they help him to stay calm and behave in class rather than winding him up. So many things have been put into place to help my son achieve that I cannot write them all here. Mrs. Hunnings has always had an open door, and whenever I have felt upset or stressed, I have known I can visit her to discuss not just James, but both my children, after all, the effects of Special Needs affects both children, not just the one with Autism. What I am trying to say is that I am very impressed with Meadowdale School and also with the Head Teacher, James’ teacher Mrs. Bennett, his Teaching Assistant Miss Arnold, and the Class TA Mrs. Brown. The amount of effort they have put into James’ learning is outstanding. Having so many friends across the country who constantly complain that they come up against brick walls every step of the way, I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful school for my son and I wanted you to know what wonderful people you have working for you. Yours sincerely, Samantha Gibbs Parent to James Gibbs DOB 13/6/99