Summer Term 2016

SENCO NETWORK 16th June 2016

The latest SENCO network meeting included:

Update and discussion on how we inform parents of those pupils on the SEN register and Parent Engagement by Linda Cantillon and Barbara McDougall

Update from the SEND team and forward planning for next year by Karen Spencer Preparing for Local Area inspection by Julia Katherine Update on Redwood, Mary Rose and Cliffdale Provision by Alison Beane Challenging the Gap by Alison Beane Auditing and updating your school's SEND Information Report by Diane Cook Future in Mind: Developing a Whole school Well-Being Strategy by Sarah Christopher Accessing the SEMH portal by Melanie Wells and Rachel Horler

PLEASE SEE THE ATTACHED SLIDES, COVERING ALL THE ABOVE TOPICS WHICH SHOULD BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH THIS NEWSLETTER.

PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT - Linda Cantillon and Barbara McDougall Portsmouth Disability Forum

Portsmouth Disability Forum has been commissioned by Portsmouth City Council to continue their engagement work in promoting the SEND reforms. However, this year the focus is on engaging parent carers whose child/ren are in receipt of School Support (previously school action/school action plus). PDF's aim is twofold: increase parents' knowledge of the reforms in readiness for the local area Ofsted inspection and set up SEN school Parent/Carer Champions in each cluster to improve the dissemination of information.

Many of you will have worked with Deirdre Smith over the past couple of years however due to personal circumstance Deirdre has resigned. PDF are pleased to announce, following a recruitment process that Kara Jewell is our new Engagement Officer.

At the SENCo network meeting Linda gave out a very quick survey which is included with this newsletter. It would be really helpful if you could fill it in and return it to Linda.cantillon-guyatt@p-d-f.org.uk If you are willing to host an event for PDF to raise parent carers’ awareness of the Local Area Ofsted Inspection and the SEN School Champion role please let Linda have your contact details.

SEND TEAM UPDATE - Karen SpencerThe SEND team have received 209 new requests this academic year. This is a significant increase and the SEND team will be looking to analyse why there has been such an increase over the summer.

Of these new requests 172 have been agreed and 16 have been refused. Eleven are awaiting consideration. Karen confirmed that 85% of EHC needs assessment requests have been completed within timescale.

SENCOs should have received a letter from the SEND team detailing the transfer timescales for each year group and list of pupils whose statement will be transferred next year. If you have not received this letter please contact the SEND team.

For pupils who are changing schools at the end of next academic year (in year 2 or year 6), the deadline for issuing or amending an EHCP is 15th Feb 2017.

Karen advised that all of the specialist schools and resource provisions (now called Inclusion Centres) in Portsmouth are full from September 2016.

PREPARING FOR THE LOCAL AREA INSPECTION - Julia Katherine

Some LAs have now been through inspection. It is a local area inspection, NOT a Local Authority inspection or an inspection of individual schools or settings. The Local Area includes providers for Care, Health and Education.The focus will be on how do we identify needs and how do we meet needs. It will be a 5 day inspection and three inspectors. Inspectors will spend the 3rd and 4th days of the inspection visit in settings including schools, colleges and early years settings. They will want to talk to children, young people and parents in school as well as talking to staff including SENCOs, Head teachers and Governors.

The type of questions that you may be asked and should be prepared to answer are:

How do you identify which pupils are on SEN Support? How do you know they are making progress? How do we involve parents in reviewing and developing the SEND info report? How do you ensure the needs of our most vulnerable pupils are met? What is the link between SAF and EHCP assessment processes? How do you support children on SEN Support to make successful transitions?

Feedback from SENCOs was that further discussion would be helpful. We need to focus on these and other questions particularly how we clearly articulate the link between the SAF and EHCP processes. Time for ongoing discussions will be scheduled into future network meetings.

Other areas you should be prepared to discuss are:

Pupil outcomes and rates of progress Attendance of pupils with SEND What the EHCP looks like in practice? Inspectors will triangulate this by speaking to parents

and pupils and SEND team and Health CPD for staff (NASEN have recently published some good training materials)

www.oln.nasen.org .uk How we use other services?

UPDATE ON PORTSMOUTH SEND STRATEGY (CHILDREN'S TRUST PLAN PRIORITY 4) AND SPECIALIST SCHOOL PROVISION - Julia Katherine / Alison Beane

The refreshed SEND Strategy (Priority 4 of Portsmouth's Children's Trust Plan) gives us a number of priority areas for development. There are six work strands:

Inclusion: accessing the right provision in the right setting Early identification and sharing information: this needs to be robust Implementing the SEND reforms Coproduction with parents and young people: we need to be using the language of

coproduction throughout our work Preparing for adulthood including a focus on independent living and work Joint commissioning

Development areas have included:

New sensory impairment provision is open at St Edmunds New Inclusion Centre at Trafalgar for pupils with communication and interaction difficulties

is opening in September 2016 The DAUs (Diagnostic and Assessment Units) at Devonshire and Portsdown are being

remodelled to become Inclusion Centres for children with communication and Interaction difficulties from September 2017

Special school provision for children with cognition and learning difficulties is also being remodelled

UPDATE ON MARY ROSE, REDWOOD AND CLIFFDALE - Alison Beane (Executive Head)

Alison outlined the current profile of pupils in these schools. The designation of these schools is being reviewed. The current situation is as follows:

Mary Rose - all through provision 140 on roll 2-19 years Severe and complex needs ASD 30% Many wheelchair users and significant health needs Sixth form provision

Cliffdale - Primary provision 116 on roll Primary 4-11 13 classes Five specialist classes Most able pupil are currently in yr 5/6 - they are only accessing curriculum at yr 1 level 50% have a diagnosis of Autism Around 35 pupils with severe learning need High level of staffing ratio 1:2 and 1:3 Behavioural needs are around learning and social development needs

Redwood - Secondary provision 141 on roll 13 classes and one specialist class for Autism Some pupils are working at p levels Some students placed at Redwood Park historically are more able (e.g. some GCSE courses

previously) but the profile of students is changing significantly Lots of personal development Some students have additional SLCN and SEMH Every class has at least one pupil on the Autism Spectrum A primary model class based teaching approach with some specialism The school has been through a period of change and is still working on the accommodation

and getting the expertise and training right to take the children from Cliffdale

Cliffdale, Redwood and Mary Rose will be holding Open Mornings.

Redwood: 28th September, other dates to follow.

Due to the changing profile in our specialist schools, main streams are being asked to broaden the range of pupils they take.

Issues mainstream schools should consider: Increasing number of more severe needs in mainstream particularly Autism Spectrum Need a whole school ethos on inclusion Make use of PSENSP, this if free, they have increasing numbers of staff to support and give

advice for pupils in mainstream. There are six leaders of education and can support SEND in mainstream.

Staff teams will need to be skilled up to work with these pupils Areas they provide for mostly are:

o Awareness for whole staffo Positive Behaviour and learning managemento Access to learning in generalo Getting the environment righto Supporting staff to personalise learning and resolves to support pupils, looking at

barriers

CHALLENGE THE GAP - Alison Beane

Challenge partners started in London and were successful in turning schools around. This is now a national body known as Challenge the Gap and we have a Portsmouth HUB.The focus is on improving outcomes for pupils, who are in receipt of Pupil Premium, especially those with SEND.The programme involves three staff: Senior leader, teacher and TA. The programme identifies ten to fifteen pupils who you want to work on and you all work in triads.

Alison will speak about this in more detail at the Inclusion Conference on 6th October 2016

SEND INFORMATION REPORT AUDIT - Diane Cook

We are aware that most of you are updating your SEND Information Reports (school local offer). Please refer to the attached checklist to make sure you include all the necessary information, including evidence of co-production.

Check that the link on www.portsmouthlocaloffer.com is correct for your school and that you reference and link to Portsmouth Local Offer in your SEND Information report.

If you have any questions or would like any support with this please contact Diane or Sarah.

WHOLE SCHOOL STRATEGY TO PROMOTE WELLBEING AND RESLIENCE - Sarah Christopher

As part of the Future in Mind Transformation Plan for the Portsmouth, Sarah is working with schools and partners in health and social care to develop a whole school strategy to promote wellbeing and resilience.

This strategy aims to support school-based staff to be able to:

Recognise the value and impact of mental health in children and young people and how to provide an environment that supports and builds resilience

Promote good mental health to children and young people and educate them about the possibilities for effective and appropriate intervention to improve wellbeing

Identify mental health problems early in children and young people and offer support where appropriate

Refer appropriately to more targeted and specialist support

If you have not yet given your views as part of the consultation work please complete the embedded form and return it to Sarah by 12th September. Any SENCOs who would like to be involved in a stakeholder event on 28th September which will help to shape this strategy should contact schristopher@priorysouthsea.org

SEMH PORTAL - Melanie Wells / Rachel Horler

We now have an SEMH portal to provide a one-stop-shop to coordinate SEMH training and support in Portsmouth.

Please see the information on the slides or contact Rachel on: 023 92 841023.The login in the same as the one you have already been sent for the SENCO network. If you do not have a login or would like any support with the SEMH portal or the SENCO Network Forum please contact:Traded.services@portsmouthcc.gov.ukservicesnetwork@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

HEALTHY MINDS NEWSLETTER FOR SCHOOLS

CAMHs are producing regular information sheets for schools to share with parents and carers. If you would like to receive this please contact Nicola Fisher Nicola.fisher@solent.nhs.uk

School:

Your Name:

Email :

Future in Mind

Whole School Strategy to Promote Wellbeing and Resilience

1. Do you have an explicit named point of contact for mental health in the school? If yes, what is their role?

Yes / No Role _____________________________________

2. What staff/ resources do you currently have in school to support SEMH? (Please circle and add any others below)

ELSA School Counsellor Nurture Group

Peer Support Play Therapist Art therapist

Fami ly Support worker Pastoral Support Worker

Mentors Learning Support Uni t

Others:

3. What examples of good practice are you aware of from your own or other settings?

PORTSMOUTH GOOD PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTED

Please see link below for national recognition of our Ordinarily Available Provision document on the Local Offer - one of the small number of examples of good practice highlighted in this report: http://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/help-resources/resources/local-offer-briefing This was also highlighted at the DfE SEND National Advisory Board which Julia Katherine attended last week. Thank you to all SENCOs for your contributions to this piece of work!

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

Portsmouth Inclusion Conference Thursday 6th October 2016Marriott Hotel, Portsmouth

SENCO network meetingsTuesday 8th November 2016Thursday 9th March 2017Wednesday 14th June 2017

Any queries, concerns or requests for support please feel free to contact either:

Diane Cook dcook@arundelcourt.com or Sarah Christopher schristopher@priorysouthsea.org