An Introduction to Special Education Needs and

Disability Reforms

East Sussex Parent and Carers Council with East Sussex County Council

March 2014

Outline for today

• Overview of the national context• What’s happening in East Sussex • How parents have been involved• Hearing from parents• Discussion and vote• Questions and Answers • What’s next?

Note: Special Education Needs & Disability = SEND

What’s not working?The current system has weaknesses ~ the reforms aim to address these:

Too many children with SEN have their needs picked up late

Young people with SEN do less well than their peers at school and college

Schools and colleges can focus too much on the SEN label rather than meeting the child’s needs, and the current Statements/ Learning Difficulty Assessments do not focus on life outcomes;

Too many families have to battle to find out what support is available and to get the help they need from education, health and social care services; and

When a young person leaves school for further education, they enter a very different system which does not carry forward the rights and protections that exist in the SEN system in schools.

Organisations not working together

Government’s vision behind Children and Families Bill

Children’s SEN are identified early and the right support is routinely put in place quickly;

Aspirations for children and young people are raised through an increased focus on life outcomes, including employment;

Parents know what they can reasonably expect their local school, college, LA & local services to provide, without having to fight for it;

There is greater choice and control for parents and young people over the services they and their family use;

Staff have the training, knowledge, understanding and skills to provide the right support for children and young people who have SEN or are disabled;

For children with more complex needs, an integrated assessment and a single Education, Health and Care Plan are in place from birth to 25.

Who is leading this process?

Minister Edward TimpsonUnder Secretary of State, Department for Education.

Key changes to how things are to be done

‘Child and young person and their family at the heart’

• Person centred /personalisation• Outcomes focussed• Child/young people and parents participate• Child/young person and family are informed• Working together with families, across services

Focussing on outcomes

What has happened so far?

• Recognition that current system not working • Green Paper: Support and aspiration: A new approach to

special educational needs and disability March 2011 • Range of organisations asked to help deliver different parts

of reforms • ‘Pathfinders’ chosen: local authorities to test the proposed

changes• East Sussex included in SE7 Pathfinder (seven authorities

working together in the South East) • SE7 produce frameworks to help shape change in East

Sussex

the Family Led Principles

will describe the child’s

and family's experience

Person centred

Child and family led

Creative solutions

Family resilience

Empoweredparent carers and

practitioners

Holistic

Transparent

Clear Prioritised

Accountabilities

Time specificOutcomes

focused

Core principles underpinning SE7 SEND Pathfinder activity

What is the structure of the reforms?• Primary Legislation• providing the legislative framework for the new

system

Children and Families Bill

• Secondary Legislation• providing the detail of the new legislation• telling organisations what they must do to carry out

the lawRegulations

• Statutory guidance• Tells professionals what they must do to so they

work within the law and provides further detail on how the law works in practice

• Professionals have to regard it – this means they must do what it says unless they have a very good reason not to

Code of Practice

Reforms timeline

a

· Royal Assent to Children and Families Bill Announced in Queens speech (May)

· Systems in place to maintain and regularly update the Local Offer, and to promote feedback

· Final Code and Regulations published

Early

2014

· Implementation of provisions/ become law

· Period of transition from statements to new style plans, with timescales to be confirmed by government, but local influence on some aspects

Sept

2014

Working together

What are the key things that change?

Local Offer

Personal Budgets

Assessments and post 16 planning

Education Health and Care Plans

Personalisation and Outcomes focussed plans

National Network of Parent Carer forums

• Bulletins, facebook, opportunities to get involved:

Contact a Family

• Information and SEND advice, health related information etc

Further information

• National Pathfinder: www.sendpathfinder.co.uk• SE7 Pathfinder: www.se7pathfinder.co.uk• E Sussex Parent Carer Council: www.eastsussexpacc.org/• National Network of Parent Carer Forums:

www.nnpcf.org.uk• Contact a Family: www.cafamily.org.uk• Council for Disabled Children:

www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/

Thank youCarriebritton08@googlemail.com