Warwickshire set to take part in Delivering Better Value in SEND programme
Warwickshire County Council is set to take part in a government programme to drive forward its commitment to improve services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Warwickshire is one of 55 local authorities participating in the Delivering Better Value (DBV) for SEND programme which has been created to identify the highest impact changes that can be made to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND, and to optimise the use of finances.
By participating in the programme, the Council will receive dedicated support from Newton Europe, a transformation and improvement partner, and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), the local government accounting standard setter in the UK. They will provide valuable expertise and skills on identifying opportunities for change. In addition, there will be the opportunity to bid for grant funding from the DfE to support the implementation of any proposed changes.
Throughout the course of the programme, the team will be seeking to engage with local partners to listen to and understand their different perspectives, all of which will collectively inform our development plans. To ensure we have the right balance of experience and areas of expertise, we will be inviting people directly to participate in workshops to look at anonymised real cases in detail, or to take part in focused studies.
If you are invited to attend one of these activities, we would ask you do your best to do so as your input as an education expert will be invaluable to the process. Others will have an opportunity to get involved through various surveys and drop-in sessions.
If you have any questions regarding the Delivering Better Value in SEND programme in Warwickshire, please contact sendchange@warwickshire.gov.uk.
You can find more information on the Delivering Better Value for SEND programme here.
Senior mental Health Training
It is strongly recommended by the DfE and DoH that all schools and colleges have a Senior Mental Health Lead by 2025.
If your setting has not accessed the grant to fund the DfE quality assured training, please see Senior Mental Health Training
To date Education Services and RISE have provided virtual half-termly support network sessions for Mental Health Leads.
More recently attendance at the support sessions has reduced; we are keen to hear what support you would like us to provide moving forward in the next academic year.
To help us plan this support, please complete this short survey; it should only take a few minutes to complete.
https://forms.office.com/e/60fSYZT6jY
Last chance to share your experience of the local authority’s mediation and SEND tribunal processes
Professionals working in education settings, and parents and carers, are being encouraged to share their experiences in an online survey, as part of a review into local authority processes for resolving disagreements around special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
The survey will close on Tuesday 25 July 2023, so there is now just over two weeks left to share your views.
As part of the SEND and Inclusion Change programme, Warwickshire County Council is reviewing the process for resolving disagreements following a decision about an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan or EHC needs assessment. We understand there may be occasions when families won’t agree with the decisions that the local authority makes in relation to EHC assessments and EHC Plans, and we recognise the importance of being able to have open and honest discussions with families to resolve any issues.
Since launching the survey in March, we have received valuable feedback from parents and carers, and professionals working in schools and across SEND and health services to help inform this review, however we are keen to hear from as many as possible to understand their experiences.
All feedback is welcome and anyone who has been involved in a disagreement following a decision about an EHC plan or EHC needs assessment in the past two years is encouraged to respond.
Survey for education professionals.
Professionals working in an education setting whose involvement has been through mediation and/or through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) appeals process can complete the professionals online survey here.
Survey for parents/carers/young people aged 16-24.
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Contact with a Special Educational Needs and Disability Assessment and Review Service (SENDAR) Plan Co-ordinator;
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Independent advice received, for example through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Independent Advisory Service (SENDIAS);
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Mediation;
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Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (SEND)
We would be grateful if schools and settings could share the link to the parent and carer survey with families before the end of the summer term, and to share the professionals survey internally with staff.
Both surveys will close at midnight on Tuesday 25 July 2023. Information provided by those responding will be strictly confidential and handled according to the County Council’s privacy policy.
Warwickshire Virtual School for Children in Care
We have lots of training for our Designated Teachers (DTs) for Children in Care next year. Please see the attached posters or refer to the website .
We have developed a range of face to face and remote training throughout the year on a range of topics so that our DTs can access high quality, relevant training.
The annual training dates are booking up fast, a great way to meet other DTs and work together, we look forward to seeing you at these sessions.