Agenda item

Report of the Strategic Director, Children’s Social Care and Lifelong Learning

The Committee received reports and a presentation on the local offer, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities tribunals and the inclusion in mainstream schools.

It was reported that 16.5% of children in Gateshead have some degree of SEND, 52% of Gateshead pupils with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) are taught within special schools, this compares to regional and national figure of 35%. There has been a 70.9% increase in the number of Gateshead EHCPs over the last eight years with a 117% increase in plans being issued for the first time.  It was reported that in January 2022, 15.9% of children in Gateshead had special needs and a quarter of those children had EHCPs.  It was noted that Gateshead is the highest in the region for the number of school age pupils with an EHCP, this is higher than the national average.

In terms of what is going well, over the last year SENDCo Networks and Cluster Meetings have been developed. Larger cluster meetings are now held for all SENDCos and half termly SENDCo Network Meetings. Training is provided and information shared by SEND teams to their schools to create a more inclusive environment. SENDCos also have access to the digital SENDCO handbook which provides clear information on services and guidance on completing paperwork. There is a dedicated SENDCO inbox which is triaged to ensure queries are directed to the correct place.

There are eight Additionally Resourced Mainstream Schools (ARMS) units in Gateshead with the main remit to look at integration into mainstream whilst providing specialist support. It was noted that there have been some positive success stories from the ARMS units with one EHCP being removed completely and the child returning to mainstream provision.  There has been the creation of an Inclusion Lead post which will oversee all teams involved with SEND, which will help to organise and streamline the systems.

In terms of the Local Offer, there has been a lot of work undertaken to make it more accessible and easier to travel through. In addition, the SENDCo handbook is not restricted so all parents and carers can access this.

In relation to SEND Tribunals it was noted that the service is working well with parents to resolve matters prior to actual appeal hearing. It was reported that of the 145 lodged, only 14 had gone to a final hearing.

The challenges remain that there are inconsistencies in approaches to inclusion in schools, with some schools feeling they do not have the knowledge, skills or capacity to be as inclusive as they need to be.  It was also noted that the places at ARMS are limited and additional provision is required which would alleviate the demand for places in special schools.  A further challenge is the increase in demands for statutory assessment, this places an enormous strain on the team and the Education Psychologist team is overwhelmed by referrals.

Further challenge around the Local Offer is maintaining the accuracy of information on the site with constant work to ensure it is kept up to date. Following discussion with young people there is also the development to co-produce a Youth Hub for the Local Offer, this will deliver joint work to provide support to young people, for example in terms of employment, training and community activities.

It was reported that Gateshead’s Tribunal appeal rate was 1.8% for 2020 which is slightly higher than the regional and national rate. Nationally, 95% of appeal decisions are in favour of parents therefore it is important to weigh up if it is worth going to tribunal. The main area of appeal is due to not undertaking assessment, because there is a low threshold for assessment a graduated response is required.

In terms of next steps, a working group of Headteachers and SEND teams are looking at a common assessment system for identifying need and support. This is based on an existing system and is being adapted to suit the needs in Gateshead. This will provide more consistency and thus allow more mainstream settings to acquire the skills they need to be fully inclusive for SEND children. Subsequently this will provide better information for parents in relation to needs assessments and therefore reduce the number of Tribunal appeals lodged.

Future work will also be to investigate settings that have the space and experience to provide additional ARMS, either through expansion or creating new provisions. This is in addition to development of a clear ARMS strategy to identify need and where provisions need to be based.

Next steps also include completion of the Youth Hub and ongoing refresh of the information provided in response to comments received from stakeholders.  A support and advise service (SENDIASS) has also been jointly commissioned with the ICB and is based at Barnardos in Gateshead.

Committee suggested that all primary schools should have ARMS units and it was questioned as to how much is the increase in EHCP requests due to a lack of ARMS in local schools. It was noted that a lot has been done to give parents confidence in what mainstream schools can offer, however there is always unknowns for parents with a new diagnosis. It was also acknowledged that the new way of assessment is helpful because it identifies what is needed to be resourced and where the gaps in provision are.

There were concerns that some schools could no longer afford to run ARMS and the model should be looked at again.  It was confirmed that work is underway looking at the ARMS model and in particular a Service Level Agreement which clearly outlines the financial responsibility. This is already in place in some ARMS and officers are working through all the provisions.  There were also concern that the Education Psychologist (EP) team is overwhelmed yet there are schools with no allocated EP time. It was confirmed that the EP works on SLAs with schools if they have bought into EP time. It was acknowledged that this is a national issue.  It was queried why private EP guidance parents cannot be access for those children on the waiting list for an EHCP assessment. It was noted that there is no issue with schools securing private EP guidance but if an EHCP is then requested only the EP directly commissioned from the local authority can be used, this is contained in legislation. It was also confirmed that the work EP’s do in terms of EHCP assessments are done very timely and within timescales and are performing within the top 5% of local authorities.

It was suggested that setting up separate ARMS units can create a segregation. It was noted that there are different ARMS models and this includes a whole school approach, the model would depend on the children and the school.

RESOLVED    -           That the Committee noted the information presented.