Agenda item

              The Committee will consider a report providing an overview of the issues relating to the sufficiency of educational placements for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. It outlines the issues and headline data that informed the development of the draft SEND Education Sufficiency Strategy, and details the steps taken to publicly consult on 6 proposals to meet the expected demand over the coming 5 years.  The report summarises the outcome of the consultation and next steps. These next steps include working with Buckinghamshire’s parent/carer forum and existing schools and colleges to develop new or different provision, as well as exploring the feasibility of new building projects to meet growing demand.

Contributors:

Richard Nash, Corporate Director Children’s Services

Simon James, Service Director - Education

The Chairman introduced the report noting the need to provide sufficient places for children with special educational needs and disabilities within Buckinghamshire. The Chairman  thanked the Officers and the Cabinet Member for the extensive work undertaken to support children and young people with these needs. Councillor Cranmer noted that the work detailed in this item fed into the work undertaken in the strategy.

Simon James noted the connection with the previous report, aiming to find places for as many children as possible within Buckinghamshire and to provide sufficient appropriate educational places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Collaboration work involved detailed communication with all special schools, inclusion units, FACT Bucks and primary, secondary and special school headteachers.  310 responses had been received about the six key proposals in the public consultation in June 2021. 84% of responders agreed the proposals were right or partly right. 16% did not agree with the proposals. The next stage would be to develop the SEND sufficiency strategy and plan, engaging with stakeholders and taking into account the consultation responses received.

In response to questions from the committee members the following points were made:

·       Weekly meetings with the DFE gave support to this work

·       Regular communication was held with the Regional Schools’ Commissioner who welcomed this work on sufficiency

·       Post 16 is a priority, and representatives from Bucks College Group attended liaison groups to understand which students required a care plan. Work was underway to improve the quality of the offer to this group. Work also focussed on routes into employment and training from special schools.

·       The service would listen and adapt to the responses in the consultation. Work would take place over multiple phases. There was a possibility of opening a new school for children with social, mental and emotional issues, and expansion of some current schools. Mapping work of educational places against proposals was underway. Andrew Howard noted that this work was significant and FACT Bucks was grateful for this.

·       More challenging behaviour was now being experienced, particularly from children that has not been able to access all the help they required during the pandemic, and it was the service’s intention to target those children who needed the most help.

·       In depth work on children placed in out of county settings had been completed and was reported in a report to the Schools Forum  last September.  Last financial year, some children were brought back into placements within the county. Many of those children had a primary need and the strategy aimed to bring more back into county, especially those with social, emotional and mental health needs where there had been a significant increase in numbers.  3% or 148 children with EHCPs were currently placed outside the county. It was noted that occasionally, a child’s needs were not able to be addressed in county.

·       A feasibility study had been undertaken at Alfreston School which showed it was not possible to convert the boarding provision to day provision. It was important to ensure that all children with a similar need received access to the provision. On-going this school would be part of the overall solution for respite care.

·       Stony Dean and Pebble Brook facilities provided high level provision for independent living.

·       Parents living outside the county could apply to facilities inside the county. The aim would be to find as much provision as possible for children within the county.

·       Over 1000 out of approx. 85,000 school children in Buckinghamshire in total, which included those with special educational needs, were currently home educated but the numbers were starting to drop as confidence increased in the education service. Approximately 60 with EHCPs were home schooled but this number remained consistent.