Warwickshire Partners Leading the Way on Inclusion
Schools across Warwickshire are making their pledge to inclusion to reinforce the county’s commitment to providing an inclusive education for all children and young people.
To support this commitment, a new Inclusion Charter has been created to set out a shared vision for schools across the county using the four cornerstones of ‘Welcome and Care’, understanding that every child is an individual; ‘Value and include’ remembering that inclusion is everyone’s responsibility; ‘Communicate’ and ‘Work in Partnership’, working together to recognise need and support families on their journey.
The Charter; which has been coproduced with Warwickshire schools, Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice, young people from IMPACT and Warwickshire County Council, will support schools and families to consider and develop how they can work together to improve the experience of all children and staff in schools and demonstrate to others how they are doing this.
For more information on the SEND support in Warwickshire visit the Local Offer webpages or the Local Offer Facebook page. The Schools Charter can be found here
SEND top-up funding trial update
The SEND top-up funding trial, which launched in January 2022, piloted two systems to make the process of applying for top-up funding simpler and more transparent.
It is recognised that the current banding system for top-up funding is not fit for purpose and the costed individual education plan is too bureaucratic.
The trial has now come to a conclusion. A new method of calculating top-up funding has been developed using a 6x4 matrix, using the four main areas of need and six levels of support from Quality First Teaching to the highest level of specialist support. This matrix has been tested and there is evidence to demonstrate the new system is financially sustainable.
It is proposed that this new system will be rolled out across early years, mainstream and special school settings from 2023. This will be a phased roll out and further detail will be provided over the coming months.
We would like to extend thanks to those who have helped us get to this point, there has been a lot of effort from all those involved.
Improving outcomes for children and young people dealing with Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA)
Warwickshire’s SEND and Inclusion Change Programme (SCIP), which aims to improve the educational outcomes for children and young people, aged 0-25, with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), has begun a new project to look at how to improve support for children and young people experiencing Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA). 
During a child or young person’s education, there can be times when they have severe difficulty in attending school. This is often associated with emotional and physical distress, such as anxiety, and can lead to prolonged absences from school. The term used to describe this is Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA). This can affect all children and young people, not just those with special educational needs and disabilities.
Most recent government figures suggest that there are approximately 770,000 persistent absentees in England and local data highlights an increase in the number of children absent from school as a result of their emotional needs. It is predicted that this number will continue to rise. Young peoples’ educational experience has also been impacted by COVID-19 and anxiety about returning to school has been more evident following the pandemic.
To help address this increasing need, Warwickshire County Council will be working with parents, carers, children and young people, educational settings and key stakeholders to develop an improved offer of support for those who are experiencing EBSA. The project will build on best practice and existing work already undertaken.
The project team will analyse local data to better understand the level of need across the county and will use this to inform a collaborative approach which will involve key stakeholders.
The aims of the project will be to:
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Raise awareness of EBSA needs with educational settings, those working with children and young people and with families;
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Develop a pathway to enable earlier intervention for young people with attendance difficulties;
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Improve advice and information for schools supporting young people with EBSA needs;
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Improve support for parents, carers and young people experiencing EBSA;
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Improve methods for tracking young people’s progress;
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Develop a training programme to roll out across the local area.
By doing this, it is hoped that children and young people who are anxious about school will be supported to build their resilience and feel confident to re-engage with their education following non-attendance.
All children and young people should be given the opportunity to experience a rewarding and successful school career; a key stepping-stone to enable them to move on to a happy and fulfilling adult life.
Look out for further updates over the coming months as the project gathers momentum, as well as opportunities to have your say and help shape future support.