Parents’ and Carers’ Guide to SEN changes from Sept 2014

1. Parents’ and Carers’ Guide to SEN changes from Sept 2014

2. Sen code of practice 2014 has arisen from the Child and Families Bill 2013 All local authorities and educational settings must ‘have regard’ to the Code and must justify any deviation from it… NHS Health Trusts must also ‘have regard’ to the Code… Many changes have been suggested by parenting and family support organisations. Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

3. Why Change? Because, for some, sen support has been… Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

4. Confusing… Many agencies may be involved in diagnosing and supporting a child’s needs… In many cases referral processes were not easy to understand and tended to be inconsistent across regions… Often parents and carers found themselves saying the same thing, over and over again, to different experts… Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

5. INConsistent… Support can differ widely between authorities and between schools within authorities… All children with SEN and disabilities deserve the very best support possible. Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

6. Impersonal… Many children, young people, parents and carers felt uninvolved with support arrangements… Support could occasionally feel like it was something that was inflicted on the family – with very little of their feelings and opinions being taken into account… Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

7. So from September 2014 How will sen support be different? Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

8. Sen support will … … be clearly signposted at local and school level with all agencies working together… … strive to be excellent for all children in all schools… …engage children, young people, their parents and carers in decisions… An informative video presentation can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfgEZiUjr7Y&sns=em Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

9. So… What will this look like? Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

10. Local and school ‘offers’ Local authorities will provide information about the types of support available in their area. They will describe referral processes clearly. Schools will do the same. They will describe how children’s learning is assessed and how their needs are diagnosed and supported. All schools will follow a ‘best practice’ model… Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

11. The ‘offers’ Local and School ‘Offers’ will be published on websites and will be available in hard copy. The principles underlying the Local Offer are: • collaboration • accessibility • comprehensiveness • transparency. The School Offer will include information about strategies and interventions and the personnel involved. It will also explain how the school will link to other services to extend support. Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

12. Everyone will work together… All agencies from education, health and social care will work together to ensure that outcomes for children are the best that they can be… In practice this should mean that parents, children and young people will tell their story once, that they will be able to attend meetings with all the agencies present… Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

13. Children,young people and their families… … will be involved in decision making surrounding their support. They will be asked… about what is important to them… about what they want to be able to do one day… about what is important for them… to think about how they learn best… for their opinions. Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

14. A family centred system Children, parents and young people will be involved in decision making. They will be invited to yearly ‘person centred’ reviews with the team of professionals working with the child… In Essex these will be called ‘One Planning’ meetings. There will also be opportunities to review and discuss progress with the class teacher and one of the SEN management team in each school term. Families will have access to impartial information and advice from parental support agencies and parent carer forums to be established nationwide from September. The following link will provide further information: http://www.essex.gov.uk/education-schools/schools/special-education-needs/pages/parent-partnership-service.aspx Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

15. Nitty gritty… Who gets this support? Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

16. The sen register Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

17. How does this change affect day-to-day learning at school? The Graduated Response In class Class teachers have long been expected to take full responsibility for the learning of all their students. High quality teaching with effective differentiation and the use of appropriate strategies will often be all that is needed. SEN support group If, despite this, your child’s progress is limited, the teacher will discuss his or her needs with the Senco and further measures will be put in place. At this point, your child is included on the SEN register at SSG level. Some more complex needs may require 1:1 support from a Learning Support Assistant. The school may invest resources to provide 1:1 interventions outside class or 1:1 support to help your child to take part in class. Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

18. How does this change affect day-to-day learning at school? The Graduated Response Top-up funding and ‘Education Health and Care Plans’ If your child fails to make good progress throughout these stages the school may apply to the Local Authority for ‘top-up’ funding. An Education, Health and Care Plan will then be put in place. This equates to the former ‘Statement’ of SEN which resulted from Statutory Assessment. EHC plans will remain in place until the child is 25 years old. (Statements of SEN were retained until the age of 18.) Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

19. The education, Health and care plan • All children who currently have Statements should be transferred to EHC plans by Easter 2018. • This is most likely to happen when your child reaches a transitional stage e.g. moving from primary to secondary school. • Statements have been ‘provision focussed’ with the emphasis on providing a certain number of hours to support a child’s needs. • This will change. • EHC plans will be ‘outcome focussed’. Parents, child and professionals will agree on desired ‘outcomes’ and then determine objectives or stepping stones to get there. • A ‘personal budget’ will be provided to help achieve these outcomes. This can provide a wider range of support optionsthan is currently available. Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

20. How will the school know which type of support my child needs? Model of Support and Intervention Review Assess Plan Do Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

21. Processes and documentation? Class teachers’ assessment and planning records Parent consultations twice yearly with additional meetings where necessary. Meetings with class teacher and member of sen management team if child is included in SSG SEN register and Provision Map Yearly ‘One Planning’ meetings for more complex needs (currently described as SA+ and ‘Statements’) One Page Profile with supplementary target sheet to be reviewed with child, parent and class teacher termly (replacing ‘Individual Education Plan’) ‘One Planning’ replaces ‘Annual Review’ paperwork for statemented pupils. Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust

22. Please Bear with us… Many details remain a little fuzzy! We await clarification from central government regarding many aspects of these reforms… In Essex precise descriptors for levels of need are written but await authorisation before professionals will be able to use them to determine appropriate support. We will be working things out as we go along… Eveleigh LINK Academy Trust