ESSEX LOCAL AREA

SEND Reform in Essex – The Journey 2014-2016

Self-evaluation

Essex Local Area Self-Evaluation Cycle

Experiences, views and

outcomes of Families and Children &

Young people

Deep Dive SEF

SEND Specific JSNA

(annual refresh)

Storyboards

(regularly refreshed to

support development of key initiatives)

Schools, Colleges, EYFS settings, PVS

evalustion captured

Peer review and other external moderation

KEY JOINT DOCUMENT

Summary SEF captures

widespread Local Area

assessment

Action planning feedback loop back into self -

evaluation

Local Area SEFworking group

(termly)

Cross service stocktake

(6 monthly)

Joint self-evaluation underpins the Essex Local Area approach to SEND reform implementation. Self-evaluation is ongoing and developing in terms of co-production and rigour. The Essex Local Area SEF ‘package’ comprises;

SEND specific JSNA

Deep Dive integrated SEF

Summary SEF for joint working and prioritisation

Series of storyboards reflecting key ongoing initiatives around reform

Prioritisation from the Deep Dive SEF and SEND specific JSNA has led to the Summary SEF based on:

Discerned high impact on children, young people and families

Collegiate views/triangulation

Strength of concern/consensus

SEND SPECIFIC JSNA

'Storyboards' - Evaluative narratives describing key our

programmes for reform implementation

How effective is the Local Area in

identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people who have

SEND? Deep Dive SEF -a more

detailed scrutiny of impact and evidence

Summary SEF - for sharing widely and

providing a focus for co production

Timeliness of identification

1.1 When potential needs are raised with the local area by the young person, parents and carers or teachers or other staff working with the young person what is the efficiency and appropriateness of the response?

The efficiency and appropriateness of the response is effective in the early years. The efficiency and appropriateness of identifying which children and young people require an EHC needs assessment is effective. Summary SEF REF MP6

The efficiency and appropriateness of the response is not yet consistently effective for pupils at SEN School Support. Summary SEF REF LP3

This means that: For pre-school children SEN are identified early and they and their families receive early support to

EY SEND data

Send specific JSNA

EY Storyboard: Implementing the SEND CoP in the Early Years Sector

EHCP Storyboard

SEND review reporting

Parent carer voice (POET)

Monthly SEN Data Reports

ELO website

School-Led SEND

Earlier effective intervention at SEN Support is emerging as a key focus for development across teams and services.

Supporting schools in delivering a high quality graduated response is a key element of the LA strategy and a focus of the School-led SEND work-stream.

Focus Question A

How effectively does the local area identify children and young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities?

Parent/Carer and CYP views workshop info/SENDIASS parent surveys

The views of Essex parents and carers were obtained through a workshop held with Families Acting for Change in Essex (FACE) in February 2016, 20 families

attended the event.

Where early diagnosis and intervention takes place this contributes positively towards identifying the need. Where schools fail to identify the need and it

requires intervention from the parents and carers to take the process on. Identification within the first four years (0-4) is more likely to result in good access to

required services. There are times when the advice provided by Specialist teachers is not taken on-board. Things could be improved if there was more training

given to mainstream teachers around SEND. Communication was improved between agencies and there was a step change that not only placed families and

young people at the centre but also that their needs are acknowledged and met.

Organisations such as Essex Health Watch have widely consulted with young people across Essex on a range of topics. The YEAH! Report 2015 includes the

views of 414 young people across Essex on their lived experience and identified their priorities in relation to health and social care. The young people felt that

more work needed to be carried out on raising awareness of learning disabilities and young carers.

“Mental Health is not understood or funded enough. There are prejudices against certain people and conditions.” “Mental Health services need to be

promoted, to make people aware that services exist and that people can get help.”

Storyboard reference: EHC Plans / Early Years/ Local Offer/SEN Support JSNA reference: 2016 refresh section 4, appendix for section 4 and section 7

Ref Area Local Area Evaluation Sign-post to Evidence Areas for development /

action

enable them to make progress in the early years and to have an effective transition into school. At the SEN School Support Stage, whilst there has been a discernible improvement in accurate identification of genuine SEN and a correct differentiation with other barriers to learning; where practice is less developed there is a lack of precision and accuracy in discerning needs further than generic. Role of school nursing service? This section to be developed during wider consultation Sept ‘16 CCG leaders have discerned inconsistency in the way levels of are need are identified across CCGs. There is also inconsistency in contract data requirements and referral pathways. Summary SEF REF LP1 This means that: Families face different approaches according to where they live. There is recognition there is a need to be consistent to ensure equity.

briefing paper and action plan

Essex YEAH Report – Young Essex Attitudes on Health and Social Care 2014-2015

Develop some common and shared criteria to ensure identification of need is uniformly effective across the 5 CCGs.

1.2 What are the monitoring

arrangements to ensure

assessment information

remains up to date?

Monitoring arrangements are effective in the early years. For school aged children and young people they are not yet consistently effective. For early years children notified by health or identified by pre-school settings monitoring by the ST&PS Service is good. For those CYP at SEN Support broader School Support mechanisms in terms of core advice and guidance to school leaders would reference the currency of assessment information. For children and young people with statements or EHC plans there is clear guidance to support person centred annual reviews. Part of this process involves ensuring that assessment information is up to date and relevant.

‘Ofsted ready’ self-evaluation tool for schools

Provision Guidance toolkit - online

LA review reports

ST&PS visit notes, PAP files

School Improvement visit notes

Guidance published on the

Supporting schools in implementing appropriate and accurate assessment approaches will be a key element of the LA strategy and a focus of the School-led SEND work-stream.

LA (Education) reviews by the Standards and Excellence team would cover efficient assessment information remains up to date. However this school input is not universal and is connected primarily to schools causing concern. Care Leads evaluate the management of information, e.g. on CiN, CWD cases, review of cases etc. as ‘patchy’ This means that: Children with SEND in the early years receive support that is informed by up to date assessments and this ensures that they are able to make progress. School effectiveness underpins the quality of educational assessment for those CYP at SEN Support and currently this is variable; LA Education teams are working with schools in order to supply tools and training needed. The quality of information management for children’s care cases is not effective enough to inform practice positively.

ELO

CWD teams will work on creating a more rigorous system for case information to be refreshed and reviewed

1.3 What is the effectiveness of

routine assessment of

educational attainment and

progress, including the

application of national

assessment arrangements?

Outcomes for those children and young people with a Statement or EHC Plan are good and effective routine assessment supports this progress Ref MP1. Whereas a significant number of schools are struggling with measuring progress from starting point effectively for CYP at SEN Support where outcomes are broadly much weaker. Ref LP3 This means that: Schools identify when pupils are not making expected progress; LA education officers support queries and dilemmas arising from national ARA guidelines; however we have identified that skills

Case studies illustrate impact of Developmental Journals, specialist assessments

Special school HT focus group re moderation

JSNA data sets re attainment

Development of School -led System

ST&PS to introduce/promote the Autism Education Trust Progression framework for all pupils with ASD from Sep 2016

Training for primary schools on qualitative assessment (Softly, softly KS1-4)

Training on use of assessment tools implicit in SEND training (ELKLAN ,

and expertise at measuring progress from starting point is sometimes at odds with national assessment measures and schools need help working this through.

Dyslexia audit, etc)

1.4 How are the social care needs of children and young people are identified and assessed?

CWD leaders assess early identification and intervention is of variable quality. Social Care may not know about children’s needs early, unless informed by other agencies. The Family Operations Hub – triage or assess and support however –engagement from families is voluntary; some families may not want to engage in support and services. There is a particular challenge around identifying and supporting LAC with disabilities. Referral into social care comes from a variety of sources – the service has made change in process to alleviate a bottleneck of paediatrician needing to sign off referral. Social Care doesn’t have to do formal assessment to identify children with disabilities

Adult Operations – initial assessment is good via One Plan, progressive support planning is developing CYP with SEND are identified by ensuring Family Operations Hub practitioners understand CWD thresholds and can swiftly triage new contacts (in line with windscreen levels of support), signposting them to ELO or referring them to the most appropriate social care team for further assessment. This means that: Assessments can flag up a large number of needs, not all of which are critical/priority. The resulting care plan can look exhausting and overwhelming both for families and practitioners and makes it

Care Plans which demonstrate planning takes place in the crisis without sufficient information; data is difficult to capture

CDC document

Practitioners need to enrol on Outcomes Training (when available) to increase understanding of what good SMART outcomes look like and how to frame them in care planning. Currently care plans can have lack of specificity of language which means outcomes are not meaningful enough to translate into meaningful action, that families can hold professionals to account on.

SC: Inconsistency Issue needs to be debated with between teams and health and education

difficult for them to prioritise. Interpretation of threshold criteria for social care can be interpreted in different ways, so can cause inconsistencies – also, differences in 0-15 and 16-25 CWD team thresholds.

1.5 How effective is the use of

information from early health

checks and health screening

programmes

The use of information from early health checks and health screening programmes is effective and a strength: (CCG and PH colleagues please comment here)

New born hearing screening – Teachers of the Deaf within the Specialist Teacher and Pre-School (ST&PS) service respond in line with national standards and early intervention framework established Direct health referrals are made from specialist clinics to VI for early intervention Integrated 2-year check (Health Visitor and EY setting) supports early identification of SEND and setting of next steps (need to check with HV evidence of impact) Prompt LA response to section 23 from health re preschool children with SEND – range of EY SEND services available for children/families/preschool settings (However, no trend showing that S23 notifications are being made any earlier by health) Please can PH colleagues verify from their perspective? The Local Area has recognised that early health checks including the integrated 2 year old check are not as effective as they could be. Clear requirements and KPIs for this service have been set out within the specification for the Pre-Birth to 19 Service. This means that: Needs are identified early and

(Case Studies– Jamie’s story, John’s early years progress)

(Case study – Alfie)

Pre-birth to 19 specification

There is an identified need for ‘education’ to know earlier about particular groups, eg those born with Down Syndrome, in order to work with parent at earliest point – action: direct referral established for DS in 2016

Essex County Council and West Essex CCG are currently undertaking the procurement process for a Pre-Birth to 19 Service, which includes the Health Visiting Service and the School Nursing Service.

accurately, leading to the right kind of intervention. The right package of support enables to access to the right learning pathway and interventions. (CCG and PH colleagues please comment here)

1.6 What is the performance

towards meeting expected

timescales for EHC needs

assessments, including the

transfer of existing

statements of special

educational needs to EHC

plans?

Performance towards meeting timescales is developing with clear improvement over time, the positive improvement trajectory continues from an unsatisfactory starting point. (As of 9th Aug 2016) Essex has progressed from 7.5% of EHC plans issued within 20 weeks and 36.5% issued within 25 weeks (September 2015) to 48% issued within 20 weeks and 75% issued within 25 weeks (July 2015). We have undertaken (or are undertaking) 1456 transfer reviews and have issued 543 EHCPs as a result of a transfer review to date. This is 20% of the total number of statements. This means that: Effective steps are being taken to meet the timescales required. The driver behind this improvement is reducing the stress and anxiety for families and enabling smooth transitions (well planned); also getting children in the right placements as soon as possible.

Monthly performance data reports

EHCP storyboard

Recorded dialogue with Charlie Palmer

Performance management targets and training and support are in place to ensure sustained improvement against statutory timescales. This includes use of a new SEN database.

We have used SEN reform grant money to fund a team of transfer review officers.

A countywide QA moderation exercise will be implemented to ensure consistency across the 4 quadrants.

The Transfer Plan to be updated to reflect the actual numbers of transfers to be completed by April 2018 published on the Local Offer

1.7 How effective is the timing

of assessments in

preparation for a child or

young person’s move from

Our transfer protocol from children’s services to adult services is underdeveloped; a new Transfer Protocol is not yet having a positive impact. Care leaders are not as well equipped to identify

New Transition Protocol publication

TP Communications to all re: their expectations/ support/DPs differences between Children’s and

one provider to another, or

into adult services

appropriate support. (check) This means that: transitions are not all well planned in advance and planning from assessment information is not always sufficiently informing change in a supportive way.

Adults legislation

Develop more of a Multi-disciplinary team approach to transition planning

1.8 How is school census data

used to identify possible

inconsistencies in

identification of needs?

We are questioning the use we have made of the information and analysis undertaken and to what extent we are addressing the over/ under identification or prevalence; for this reason we consider this area needs further development to be effective The starting point for development is: Census information is used by the SEN provision development manager for modelling future need and best use of resources. Census data essentially feeds the annual SEND SFRs re needs which our data and intelligence team turns into a needs overview for LA teams to draw upon. The census data forms part of the data sets within the Local Area SEND specific JSNA.

This means that: Although we consider our capturing of data and intelligence as an emerging strength we currently do not always act on what census information is telling us about needs.

Projection of needs analysis (GBloom)

Example of needs overview report

Capital programme paper detailing data and intelligence rationale for decisions

ASC and SEMH strategies for provision and best practice

SEND specific JSNA (and previous versions)

To review the ‘so what’ of our data and intelligence database in relation to how well we use findings related to the identification of needs to improve awareness and understanding of needs.

Quality of identification and Assessment

1.9 How effective is the

establishing of baselines

for setting targets for

progress and

improvement towards

meeting education,

The establishing of baselines is developing for CYP

with statements or plans and also for those CYP

at SEN Support; we see a strong link with accurate

identification of needs here and where practice in

mainstream schools is less developed there is a

lack of precision and accuracy in establishing needs

Exemplar learning Journals

– Case Study: Nichole

Supporting schools in

establishing accurate

baselines and setting

appropriate targets will be a

key element of the LA

strategy and a focus of the

health and social care

support or therapy

needs?

and setting targets for SEN Support.

Whilst practice in establishing baselines and

setting targets for children and young people who

receive a range of therapeutic inputs/interventions

is effective within specialist provisions, we

recognise that more work needs to be done to

support mainstream schools to develop their

practice in this area.

This means that; where schools are invested in

developing effective assessment of baselines that

are used in the one planning process (to co-

produce steps to achieving outcomes) we are

making improvements. We are looking for further

ways of developing school-to-school support to

broaden the impact of good practice across the

system particularly for those pupils at SEN

Support.

School-led SEND work-

stream.

Developing integrated

approaches to the delivery

of and setting of targets

across practitioners within

education and health.

Ongoing development of : Specialist assessments (eg use of SLCN assessments in primary schools, Hearing Impairment – Listening and Language) Use of learning journals, standardised Developmental Journals (eg Down Syndrome, Multiple Needs, Visual Impairment, Hearing Impairment)

1.10 How well does Local Area

identification and

assessment inform joint

commissioning, predict

the need for services and

put in place provision

that meets the needs of

children and young

people?

Our work in this area is not yet fully developed. We have developing systems in place to use our data and intelligence to predict needs for services and to inform provision planning well; for example As a Local Area we are currently developing a SEND JSNA which will provide a clear picture of needs and services within the Local Area. The SEND JSNA will inform future joint commissioning intentions across the Local Area. A Joint Commissioning Group with representation from all partners across the Local Area including

Analysis of out of authority placements/ provision

SEND JSNA

Short Break specification

Joint Commissioning Storyboard

Local Offer Storyboard

Joint

Development of banding descriptors as a guidance tool

Develop the Local Offer to be able to map services against need for services within locality.

A priority is to further explore where differences across CCGs present positive opportunities to meet

ECC, CCGs, Public Health, Mental Health and NHS England has been established. Terms of Reference and reporting lines have been agreed by all partners. Currently the Local Offer is building its list of services and provision for the local area. It needs to develop its capacity to highlight the gaps in provision down to locality level. Essex has a clear requirement for each provider of Short Breaks to gather the views of the families in order to inform their service planning and delivery. This means that; although firm foundations have been laid to ensure effective use of identification and assessment data and intelligence in these areas, this is not yet effective in underpinning joint commissioning intentions. Commissioning sometimes still happens in isolation; in too many cases, for a child, it’s a disjointed picture. However

CCGs - Joint Commissioning arrangements have set firm foundations for achieving good outcomes. Please can CCG colleagues confirm italics?

Commissioning Group Terms of Reference

Local Area SEND Governance Structure

locality need effectively and where discrepancies may create inequality in the system.

1.11 How well does assessment information inform planning for effective teaching and other education, health and social care support or therapy?

The use of assessment information to inform planning for effective education, health and social care support or therapy is under-developed because planning lacks cohesion and consistency. There is also a question about the quality of assessment information. A range of tools, techniques, training and coaching to develop the skills of education settings are available on, or publicised through the Local Offer and we have feedback from the partners to create a free person centred training for education, social care, educational settings, health and parents

One Planning

ELO

SEND CCG Forum meetings

InterAct report on One Planning generic training

SEND CCG forum meetings consider the quality of assessment information and how it is used to inform planning and to devise appropriate outcomes. This element of the meetings will develop further to encompass opportunities for joint assessment across education, social care and health as part the EHC process at local level

across the county on a rolling programme. However the eligibility criteria for each service do not yet align in order to create a cohesive service around need; this results in gaps in provision that are filled in an ad hoc manner.

This means that: Although we are beginning to develop a common understanding of assessing need through Multi-agency strategic forums we do not have a sufficiently integrated approach to broader commissioning which demonstrates best use of resources or early intervention.

Outcomes training to be offered to local area in 2016-17

Target specific areas/sectors to ensure training is given where need has been highlighted

There is still a disconnect in some planning – the ‘golden thread’ outcomes through to resourcing is not understood by all (part of the cultural change that we need to continue to work on)

1.12 How well does the Local

Area evaluate the

effectiveness of the

teaching and other

education, health and

social care support or

therapy provided?

Currently the Local Area is not yet adequately evaluating the effectiveness of support or interventions provided. Useful evaluations work within individual services but have not been drawn together or examined collectively to inform next steps as an integrated Local Area. Recent improvements in joint evaluation have not yet impacted on experiences or outcomes. ECC has developed a new model for people with sensory impairments. It is jointly developed and commissioned with health and other partners. This has led to a better understanding of roles and responsibilities for adults and children and young people with sensory needs which are leading to better ways of working together. There is now a single point of access for anyone with a sensory query leading to improved and easier access to sensory services.

Annual review guidance materials on ELO

Report on therapies survey with schools

We are developing the

systems by which we can lift

the information from annual

reviews to see what it is

telling us about ‘what

works’

Links to be established

between the therapies

commissioning project

group and the School Led

SEND work-stream.

Specifications for future therapy contracts to include clear expectations around measurement of impact and outcomes of interventions along with robust

For children and young people with a Statement of SEN or an EHC plan, the person centred annual review guidance has been developed to include a measure of the effectiveness of interventions. This is new and will take time to become consistently embedded in practice across settings. Specialist teachers have a role in the classroom – modelling good practice and acting as critical friend/mentor. Standards and excellence Commissioners regularly review school practice and advise school leaders on improvement but this cannot be universal; supporting the effectiveness of school-to-school support is a key element of system change in action around effective teaching for SEND.

Evaluation of the impact/effectiveness of therapeutic interventions for children and young people with Statements of SEN/EHC Plans or at SEN Support is underdeveloped. Commissioners recognise that there needs to be greater emphasis on impact of and outcomes from interventions within provider contracts. This means that: Review and evaluation of different aspects of reform and different services are not yet assimilated completely. Joint evaluation is a relatively new practice and we would want to build on newly strengthened relationships to embed and sustain best practice.

performance measures/KPIs

Further questions raised at this stage of implementation: (questions we are asking ourselves)

We are questioning the demand for EHC plans and the criteria for agreeing to issue; does have this have implications on the positive outcome data?

There is a culture of expectation that a statutory plan is completely necessary to achieve good outcomes; how do we change this belief in the local community.

We need to find effective ways of tracking (needs at the point of assessment are well communicated but we do not have a mechanisms to monitor on the journey)

Robust QA mechanisms must be established as part of the school led SEND system

We are noticing that consistency and equity against this question are significant concerns

Where perceptions need to be replaced with clear information and effective communication:

It is very difficult to get an EHC Plan in Essex! (parents and schools)

It is always necessary to get an EHC Plan in order to have needs met

Parents need to “fight” to achieve an EHC Plan

Focus Question B

How effectively does the local area assess and meet the needs of children and young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities?

Parent/Carer and CYP views

The views of Essex parents and carers were obtained through a workshop held with Families Acting for Change in Essex (FACE) in February 2016, 20 families

attended the event.

There can be differences of opinions between services on the best approach to meeting the needs. Parents and carers have to provide coordination between

services, and sometimes their expectations are not met. Some school leaders don’t access the most appropriate support services and are without the right level

of experience to tackle the challenges provided by SEN. Some SENCOs are not fully aware of available support relying on families to do the research and provide

the insight. Some parent’s mainstream schools don’t see SEN as a priority and there is a lack of Autism expertise.

Schools do meet the needs to the best of their ability considering their own resource limitations. Transfer plans, school clubs and being innovative are all

positive experiences. School pastoral care staff actively support trips and visits. Health staff are amazing, physios from Essex travel out of county to meet the

needs of YP.

Supporting needs with outcomes mapped from an early age and managing the effectiveness of an EHC plan are areas to improve. More coordination of

assessment including listening to and working with the child, teachers and parents to better identify issues. Improving the variability of access to services (see

threshold inspection aspect). Making better use of TA support, better planning and techniques, one to one might not provide the most effective support.

The Children and Young People’s Strategic Plan’s extensive consultation with young people highlighted that young people in Essex are ambitious and

aspirational and positive about the future. They want to do well at school and get the support they need so that they can get a good job and have nice

things.

Healthwatch “YEAH Report 2015 – I am autistic and dyspraxic. There are times when I wish there was a cure, but sadly there is not. However, my TAs and

family are amazing when it comes to supporting me.”

Storyboard reference: Wider strategies to Support SEND School Effectiveness / School Capital Spend/Co-production with Parents and Young People/Local Offer

JSNA reference: JSNA reference: 2016 refresh section 5, appendix for section 5 and section 7

Ref Area Local Area Evaluation Sign-post to Evidence Areas for development /

action

2.1 Engagement and co-

production with children

and young people, and

their parents and carers

A person-centred approach is at the heart of systems, processes and guidance. Summary SEF REF MP2

The local area has demonstrated a commitment to person centred approaches to working with families with the intention of strengthening relationships and improving experiences; Essex

Brian Lamb Evaluation Report Sept 2015

POET Survey Feb 2016

ISEssex feedback

SENDIASS parent survey

Continue current work with Brian Lamb and Parent /Carer Forum in creating co –production principles and framework of engagement.

Work with CYP to design a process to ensure engagement at strategic

One-Planning presents a rich resource bank of tools and guidance to support joint planning around children and young people to support good progress. With reference to clinical effectiveness; diagnosis and treatment is strong and appropriate – Some Essex families feel this is of a high quality and have expressed this to GGS leads. A person centred approach from social care teams demonstrates a strengths-based approach and practice; and there is an emphasis on embedding relationship-based social work through all teams. Evidence of impact is emerging in 18+ around enhanced independence and maintaining the family unit. Social care teams have achieved effective engagement models with young people. (Evidence)

The local area does find strength in our co-production work on setting up EHC processes and guidance materials/letters and the development of the Local Offer. A priority is to engage children and young people in coproduction and commissioning of services and provision at a strategic level. Our arrangements for co-production are not sufficiently developed at the strategic stage. Summary SEF REF MP2

This means that; CYP and parents are largely involved in making decisions about their own SEND provision via the One Planning environment. However, families and especially children and young people should have an increasingly larger role in strategic planning across the Local Area in order that they are part of leading reform implementation.

Children and Young People’s Strategic Plan 2016

level and service planning.

2.2 Effectiveness of The development of co-ordination of assessment is at an early stage and is not yet fully effective;

Therapies Outcomes from Therapy

coordination of

assessment between

agencies in joint

commissioning – clear

roles, responsibilities and

accountability of partners

in assessing and meeting

needs

firm foundations for stronger cohesion have been created and operational and strategic improvements now need to be fully embedded. Education, Health and Care have worked together to create jointly owned training and guidance materials. However, EHC panels to facilitate joint decision making are not yet fully established: these are at different stages of development in each quadrant. Clear pathways in north quadrant around how Family Operations Hub process requests for social care contribution to EHC Needs Assessment – these are recorded as case note alert to individual allocated social workers. CWD leads encounter barriers to following through work as development can be stepped up or stepped down from other services – e.g. Family Solutions. In certain circumstances communication systems do not work in the best interest of the child or family. For example, when some CYP are diagnosed with visual impairment sent to clinicians, however families are then not told what support they need and care practitioners are not aware of sensory link officers or that there is a register of visual impairment- this is an area that is being reviewed by ECC, with plan to support sensory champions in Family Ops and co-ordinate and promote register. There is lack of understanding across mainstream social care teams around EHC planning – a quick guide has been circulated and awareness training

workshop

LMT/JAAP

Record of training delivered

Evidence Writers Pack

C & F Assessments.

Social care meeting minutes

Home visit reports

Email communications

LAAP decision sheets

JAAP decisions

workshops to be considered

in re-shaping of therapy

delivery within the Local

Area.

A task and finish group with

representation from all

partners has been

established to oversee the

development of EHC Panels

and to ensure consistency

and equality in decision

making across the Local

Area.

Further development of the quadrant EHC panels

Health Access Champions – will look at models of CYP youth health champions

Improve partnership working: Joint assessment visits are few (e.g. with health, adult social care, or other professionals).

Ensure Social workers are asked to provide report for the EHC Needs Assessment.

Social workers prioritising getting their reports for EHC Needs Assessment shared with family, gaining consent and sharing report with co-ordinator of EHC Needs

Social workers prioritising attendance at EHC Transfer meetings or EHC Outcomes Meetings.

offered; this is an opportunity to develop links between practitioners and specialist teaching teams. Interaction of Care act and Children and Families Act needs to improve – particularly around understanding and operationalisation of entitlement to request a parent carer assessment. Co-ordination of assessment and integration of support: good examples of the transition service and 16-25 CWD team working well together – different disciplines within the team work well together as a result of review of the service structure.

Social Care leaders feel the service is supporting families to be self-sustaining and access resources within a community rather than always accessing statutory services; an example of where this is working is where families access community short breaks and light touch packages of care; the family operations hub has an important role in signposting families to this support and there is quality feedback from short breaks users. Young people are enabled to develop their skills which support them to progress their life and achieve outcomes they desire. Summary SEF REF MP4

Recommissioned community based clubs and activities and light touch packages of care are working well– with consistent feedback loops – 4Children/Action for Families (new provider) have done lots of work with families across Essex to understand needs, opportunities and gaps and recommission clubs and activities to be responsive

Ensure Social workers invited to EHC meetings

Develop links between practitioners and specialist teaching teams

To continue to develop our SEND JSNA in partnership with health, social care and parents to become a more sophisticated tool for improvement

to needs. A framework is now in place for light touch packages of care that are available to families without needing to go through Social Care. Expanded on innovations: e.g. caravans adapted for sensory needs – well regarded and taken up by families. Summary SEF REF MP4

This means that; we are aiming for greater consistency in levels of effectiveness over the different Essex quadrants to ensure the offer is equally as good for every child. There are points of strength where innovation has made a real difference to families. However, communication issues between services impact negatively on experiences and outcomes.

CCGs – developing Joint Commissioning arrangements have improved foundations, professional relationships and structures in place for families and children to effectively, safely and positively achieve set outcomes. Summary SEF REF MP5

A priority is to further explore where differences across CCGs present positive opportunities to meet locality need effectively and where discrepancies may create inequality in the system. CCG SEND local groups have led to better working relationship with our statutory service and a more efficient process has been introduced within the EHC process to reduce timescales. Heath Access Champions are effective, however there is a difference in levels of effectiveness over the quadrants.

All 5 CCGs signed

up to the CYP plan

2016

Shared consent

form has been

developed.

All services meet

NICE Guidelines

Templates for EHC

plans agreed

across services.

Joint agreed EHC

Needs Assessment

Process

Pre-Birth to 19

Documentation

Clinical assessment processes are effective across CCGs, when the child reaches the point of assessment with a practitioner. However the waiting lists and paths to diagnosis are lengthy. This means that; assessment of need is professional and accurate not enough is known about what it feels like to be a child in the system; especially during periods of uncertainty. CCG have developed good relationships with providers and have also worked with them to place a high importance on SEND and to inform SEND provision and practice This means that; Productive partnerships across the Local Area have raised awareness of SEND, improved skills amongst providers and enabled partners to work effectively together in commissioning Local Area wide services, for example the joint procurement of the new Pre-Birth to 19 Service.

2.3 Satisfaction of parents and carers/satisfaction of children and young people

Parents who have fed back about their experience of the One-Planning process have been very positive. Parents are generally satisfied with the EHC Plan process but are not satisfied when the 20 week timeframe is not achieved. Summary SEF REF LP6

Feedback is captured through emails/surveys/evaluations capture levels of confidence following ST&PS service involvement (families of preschool children) We are learning from ST &PS interviews with parents about the effectiveness of early support and adapting processes as a result.

ST&PS staff have coached staff in gaining pupil

Brian Lamb Evaluation Report Sept 2015

POET Survey Feb 2016

ISEssex feedback

SENDIASS parent survey

Complaints

Complaints procedures and levels of tribunals and appeal

Student voice feedback from

There is a priority need to find ways in which the views of children and young people can be heard and how they can have a strategic influence

CCG contact survey data to be broken down by special need

Obtaining feedback from the Essex youth assembly

Individual provider data collected on family experiences was broken down for SEND

views/ ensured pupil views are captured as part of their specialist assessment and consultancy work. Training on gathering pupil views is offered by this team to schools. Adult Operations leaders assess the ‘Insight’ which is the mechanism for capturing feedback initiative is not yet effective. This means that; whilst the development of seeking views from Parents, Carers and CYP is routine; the sharing and acting upon these views is not developed consistently across the Local Area.

special schools ST&PS service have interviewed parents to gain views on how effective the early support has been and how the EHCNA process has worked for them. (Case studies – Emma). ST&PS staff coaching model (eg graphic facilitation training on pupil views Exploring Pupils’ Views – SENCO Conference Sept 16

Develop consultation re ‘Insight’ to be more consistent and focus on particular issues

Leaders are working with Brian Lamb on developing a co-produced framework to widen and enhance parental participation

2.4 Suitability of EHC plan,

(including where relevant

alignment with child in

need and child protection

plans)

Leaders assess this area as underdeveloped and inconsistent. Rich one-planning does not always translate into the statutory plan. The shift in thinking from a planning ‘meeting’ to a One-Planning environment has not reached all practitioners. Planning can sometimes be too generic and not take into consideration a child’s individual profile nor build on prior experiences/outcomes. Equity across settings is weak; there is an ongoing challenge around skills and expertise, courage and confidence. The golden thread linking the accurate identification of individual needs, effective provision and outcomes needs to be emphasised and strengthened (Sections G and F). The Local Area has placed an emphasis on quality

QA process guide and materials

EHC Guidance

SAS Staff Handbook

The process for working with

health and care colleagues

to have a joint QA process is

at an early stage of

development. Further work

is being undertaken on the

QA process at a quadrant

level through the Local Area

SEND Groups where all

partners, ECC, CCGs and

providers are well

represented.

EHCP format has been reviewed and Section A has been developed to be more child-centric and personal.

Sampling plans and

of EHC Plans as well as timeliness and has a quality assurance process in place. This system is telling us that the quality of plans still vary around specificity. The QA process involves using a checklist and RAG rating for every draft plan with 1 in 10 also be QA’d by a quadrant panel of SEN managers. EHC plans still predominantly cover the educational element. Developing the work with social and health to ensure that EHC plan is holistic is key. We find that the level of universal offer in settings, which is variable, drives planning and implementation into the specialist offer. The quality of the graduated response is not consistently good across the Local Area. From a CWD perspective, the process is improving for new plans and new requests; the EHCCo role is helping. EHC transfers are variable with some process issues e.g. inviting social care practitioners to planning or transfer meetings in good time. There are some issues about sensitivity of information held by social care and how it is circulated or shared. There is guidance, but there is a need to promote this further to ensure it is followed. This means that: There are gaps in external moderation to ensure the quality and suitability of plans. CCG leaders have identified a need to further develop the mechanisms for enabling child and

triangulating

Developing deeper QA system in terms of follow-through

To improve the

appropriateness and

efficiency of access to

therapies is a priority. This is

currently being addressed

through ECC therapy

commissioning and work

around jointly

commissioning therapies in

the future.

Develop high level external

moderation around the

suitability of plans

family voice. This means that: not enough is known of the experiences and views of families and children about the way in which their health needs are met and therefore planning is not fully involving them. CCGs conjecture that possibly too many professionals are involved in child’s life and this makes the experience complex and confusing. CCGs feel that there is further work to do around the development of EHCPs in terms of outcomes and what impact they have. Rather than seeing it as a ‘product’. Also, CCG leads intend to shift the focus on the outcomes and what impact the plan has for the child or young person. This means that; more work needs to be done on testing the impact and effectiveness of CCGs contribution to EHCPs Needs, provision and outcomes detailed within EHC Plans do not yet inform commissioning intentions.

CCGS feel there needs to be an improved understanding of what’s important to the child or young person in terms of outcomes they value and their aspirations. This means that; CCGs need to understand better from CYP about What is important to them? And how to measure progress using the right measurements.

CCG: Workshop with Parents and carers to take place in Autumn 2016 in order to learn more about the experience and views of CYP and Parents/carers

CCGs to develop work testing the impact and effectiveness of EHCPs as outcomes driven

Develop the line of sight from EHC Plans to commissioning intentions

2.5 The Local Offer, including

its development,

accessibility and

currency

The Local Offer is an element of reform where the Local Area is making progress due to its continuing work with health commissioners and providers, social care, education, parent/carer and CYP to ensure that the Local Offer remains up to date and accessible and provides an accurate record of provision and services available in the local area. Summary SEF MP5

The Local Offer site is compliant with requirements and contains a range of useful information. A communication and marketing plan is in place to ensure that Local Offer is advertised across local area – use social media/leaflets/newsletters. The site is well used (300 hits per day). 60% return rate. This has increased from 100 hits per day in 2014-2015.

This means that; the local area is gradually building an accurate picture of what services are available for children with SEND and providing an early support mechanism for families and professionals to use as a reference source. From a CWD perspective families registered for community Short Breaks who may not know anything about Local Offer ECC short breaks database has around 1000 families (and 1300 on Facebook page) short breaks signposts to as many services as possible. Links with education are an area for further work. It is a challenge for some families to navigate through the different sources of information – e.g. Local Offer, adult hub, Family hub offer etc. CWD leads see the Adult Operations Local Offer

Dedicated worker with responsibility to assist in the development and maintenance of the Essex Local Offer portal and mailbox– upload and monitor content

Communication Trust Case Study Report Dec 2014 and National Deaf Children’s Society

Work with colleges is developing but there is more to do to make the site accessible for young people.

Work on ensuring that there is a review mechanism available so services can receive feedback from the service users .

Work on analysing the gaps in provision to help identify where appropriate service or provision is required in the local area.

and CYP local offer as currently separate.

There are good examples of links to local children’s partnership boards and wider partners – for example looking at impact of accommodation on CYP and families with CWD. This means that: Elements of the Local Offer that logically dove-tail, but are currently represented separately, could be presented in a more joined-up way for families.

From a CCG perspective making the area offer to fit a specific local area (within the wider Local Area) is important. There is a strong sign-up to creating an effective Local Offer however different commissioning arrangements for different CCGs render operational success inconsistent. The approach to meeting needs can be different according to the preferences and unique requirements of the locality. The CCGs recognise that this creates issues around equality across the Local Area and that this inequity needs to be addressed. This means that: There is an issue with equity across Essex and more must be discovered about how this impacts on children and young people. The strategic approach needs to develop further in order to get a consistent approach.

Further work to do around finding a one-stop shop for social care offers and that thought should be given to how the Local Offer could develop to accomplish this.

Local Offer: Find ways of representing separate elements that should logically dove-tail in a more cohesive way

CCGs to explore to “what extent is it possible to get a consistent approach?”

2.6 Is planning appropriate

to meet the needs of

children and young

people receiving special

Individual CYP level: The Local Area assesses the appropriateness of planning at an individual level as under-developed because currently the quality of planning is too variable and still too generic.

Completed EHC

plans

Essex special

schools have a

Develop initial ideas around coaching for the internal team to produce high quality plans rather than a commercial company.

educational needs and/or

disability support.

Follow-through from the one planning event into an environment, where planning is tangible and implemented well, is not always effective. Plans completed by a commercial company are not all of good quality and at times misinterpret advisory notes. CWD leaders have identified more training is needed for practitioners to use person centred planning and understand how to identify needs from a CWD perspective; One Planning is of variable quality across Essex. CWD EHC planning is in place for each quadrant with good engagement from family ops in each area – however, inconsistent in how ‘user friendly’ EHCPs are. Now teams are starting to engage in multi-agency quality review meetings in quadrants, to discuss quality of plans and inform practice improvements This means that: Mapped out systems and processes (along with helpful tools) are strong however the translation into the final plan and implementation is not yet fully effective. At a strategic level: Planning across teams and services is underdeveloped because the quality of work is inconsistent. The Local Area lacks sufficiently robust moderations systems to ensure standards are uniformly good. The gap created by the loss of a historic monitoring team has not been plugged. Preparing for Adulthood from the earliest stages assessed as a weakness in the systems.

capacity of 2252

places but in

February 2015 had

a pupil population

of 2306.

331 Essex pupils

with an EHCP

attend an

independent

special school;

106 of these pupils are identified as ASC and 124 identified as SEMH.

JSNA

SEND JSNA

Development of an

ambitious capital

programme to increase

Essex special school places,

with boarding, and ASC &

SEMH enhanced provision in

mainstream schools;

Support good and outstanding Essex special school sector to lead development of new provision to meet needs of all pupils with SEN both in special and mainstream settings.

Specialist Teacher Team and ASC teachers to introduce School Support Plan (strategic approach to SEND training/development) from Sept 2016 aligned to AET standards/competencies.

Establishing consistency in

and equality of decision

making is a priority. Work is

being undertaken within the

Joint Commissioning work-

stream to address this.

There are insufficient special school places within Essex to meet the needs of a significant cohort of children and young people; especially those with ASC or SEMH. The number of young people placed at out of county provisions is too high. Needs analysis tells us that developing provision for ASC and SEMH is priority. There is an ambitious capital programme underpinned by practice initiatives and school to school outreach. This means that; the Local area has recognised need and is acting upon expanding and strengthening provision however in the past, needs have not been met in a timely or appropriate fashion and we are ‘catching up’. CCG leaders feel there is a greater awareness of unmet needs and opportunities for improvement in meeting needs more effectively. Partners are working effectively together to create a Local Area SEND JSNA which will support effective, consistent identification of need and of effectiveness of services across the Local Area. This means that; this sharper, collegiate self-evaluation has impacted positively around meeting needs more effectively. Challenges and opportunities have arisen through achieving joint self-evaluation. Increased join-up around joint commissioning is an emerging strength. However CCG areas have distinct challenges and careful though needs to be given to achieving uniform approaches. CCGs are funded differently and there are different eligibility requirements for services (therapies is a prime example)

CCGs: Essex CCGS work together to agree joint eligibility criteria for services and a contracted mechanism to make it work.

This means that; there is an inequality of opportunity and experience across Essex in terms of benefit from some services and therapies. There is a need to further develop working relationships between CCGs, providers and the Statutory Assessment Service within education in order to meet needs holistically. There are inconsistencies in EHCCo relationships for different CCGs. This means that; EHCCos need to have a greater understanding of what health needs are in order to ensure provision aligns with need appropriately and successfully.

Further work to be undertaken across the Local Area to determine a joint approach to commissioning of services such as therapies

Further questions raised at this stage of implementation: (questions we are asking ourselves)

We are developing a capital programme and we will engage with CCGs and Social Care to ensure there is a cohesive solution in provision mapping

We are thinking of ways of engaging children and young people in planning and decision making at a strategic level

The design of new provisions will encompass a vision of holistic delivery of health, education and care needs on site

Our future training programmes will be more specifically targeted to include training for parents at SEN support level and we will offer bespoke training to colleges

Where perceptions need to be replaced with clear information and effective communication:

There is a perception from parents that the correct specialist provision is not in place; whereas in many cases it is the quality of education in existing mainstream settings that needs to improve

Focus Question C

How does the Local Area Improve the outcomes of disabled children and young people who have special educational needs?

Parent/Carer and CYP views

The views of Essex parents and carers were obtained through a workshop held with Families Acting for Change in Essex (FACE) in February 2016, 20 families

attended the event.

Health consultants are thorough; they listen and look for solutions. When a person listens with empathy and is prepared to find the best outcome it affects

everyone positively in the family. Identification of mental health needs and the subsequent provision of life and social skills to provide support are more

important than grades and levels. By providing more social opportunities along with academic opportunities. Opportunities at Post-16 don’t necessarily

require specific activities, what is required is support to build confidence and provide encouragement to try new things and meet people. Focusing a young

person’s progress on achievement and aspirations not grades.

Healthwatch engaged with 414 young people across the county to create a snapshot of how they perceive and use health and social services. In YEAH! 2015

they asked that there be improved access to information about health and social care to allow young people to make informed choices and prepare them for

the responsibilities of adult life. “Transition points, such as between child and adult services around age 18….are critical times for supporting young

people….this means ensuring that local services have arrangements in place to manage transition….safely and in co-operation with young people.”

Storyboard reference: Wider strategies to Support SEND School Effectiveness /Youth Service

JSNA reference: JSNA reference: 2016 refresh section 5.4, 5.5 section 6, appendix for section 6 and section 7

Ref Area Local Area Evaluation Sign-post to Evidence Areas for development /

action

3.1 Outcomes – across education, health and care

Essex pupils with a statement or EHCP tend to perform the same or better than peers nationally. Essex performs better than statistical neighbours and Eastern Region authorities. All special schools and pupil referral units (including those attached to adolescent mental health units), in Essex are either good or outstanding. Summary SEF Ref MP1

Leaders acknowledge there is a significant difference in relative outcomes for those children and young people with a statement or EHCP compared to those on SEN Support. This

Storyboard re Wider strategies to Support SEND School Effectiveness

SEND specific JSNA

School led SEND proposal document

SEN Support comparative data dive

REF: School led

A School-led SEND initiative is being developed in partnership with school clusters to strengthen the graduated approach and provide evidenced based illustrations of best practice through large action research projects. A priority is to extend the good practice behind this

trend has been mapped over several years leading up to 2014 and beyond through attainment data and destination measures. Summary SEF Ref LP3

This means that; there are a number of indicators, most importantly, insufficient expertise around the graduated approach and a rapid escalation to statutory assessment, which tell us that a bolder overarching strategy is required with the buy-in of school leaders. There is also a need to review the timeliness and quality of early intervention across services. The Virtual School assesses outcomes for Children in Care as good: KS1 progress is good: an average of 58% making 4+ points progress and 31% making an average of 6+points progress; KS2: Attainment was above England average in all three core strands GCSEs including English and maths. This is above the England average. This means that; overall the results for CiC in 2015 showed improvement and good progress.

SEND proposal tabled with Essex HT Association on May 9th 2016

School-led SEND action plan

Governor Guidance and tools for review

Virtual school Action Plan and SEF

strength to increase parental confidence in the system at SEN Support.

Promote a strategic approach to SEND CPD (based on nasen Focus on SEND national training programme) – ST&PS service to implement School Support Plan which aligns to the identified SEND CPD needs, and is based on use of relevant standards/competency frameworks

3.2 Leaders’ assessment of the

effectiveness of the local

area in improving

outcomes for children and

young people

Leaders acknowledge that the effectiveness of the Local Area in improving outcomes is not yet effective There is also too much variation in outcomes across different areas of Essex and inconsistencies in the experience and outcomes of CYP which are cause for significant concern. Key initiatives are in the early stage of development (such as EWBMH delivery from new provider and the Transforming Care agenda) There is a significant gap in outcomes between those CYP with a statement or EHCP and those at SEN support. PFA is a discerned weakness.

SEF ‘suite’: SEND specific JSNA Evaluative Doc Storyboards

SENDIASS steering group reports (breakdown as to use of service)

SEND Vision 2016 has been created in response to the initial analysis of reform implementation. The work-streams will be the catalyst for integration and partnership work to promote greater consistency and lessen variation away from

Summary SEF REF LP1/4 This means that children and young people at SEN Support receive a variable experience according to where in Essex they live and that outcomes also vary in line with the variation of locality offers.

positive experiences and outcomes

3.3 Supports and improves

outcomes including their

preparedness for

higher

education/employment

Independent living

Participation in society

And being as healthy as

possible in adult life

This is area is under developed overall and not yet effective. The Local Area consider the current NEET Figures for young people with SEND to be unacceptably high and therefore to decrease this key measure for PFA is a priority. Summary SEF REF LP4

Concerns expressed that whilst college courses

may be suitable from an academic perspective,

they do not provide the wrap around support to

ensure successful outcomes;

Essex has the highest NEET and Unknown in the

comparative data. SEND as a % of total cohort for

Essex is higher than statistical neighbours and

England but lower than East of England.

There are currently 2202 young people who are

aged 16 to 19 being reported as SEND in March

2016. Of these 236 were NEET. NEET adjusted

for SEND is 11.3%, compared to 4.4% for the total

16 – 19 cohort.

Adult Operations judge a range of current

initiatives to be under-developed with particular

reference to the ‘Living Options’ and ‘Supported

Living’ initiatives as these are both new un-

evaluated initiatives.

Essex NEET report

POET survey (cross reference to parents’ views)

Ref: Improving Independence Team review

TC figs for successful discharging figs/Early discharging figs

Good lives -Positive outcomes from the pilot

Positive feedback from users and evaluation from Essex University

To investigate how we

resource support to

help those who can re-

engage do so, and in

terms of those

unavailable to the

labour market how we

work with partners in

Health, Social Care and

benefits agency to

support community

participation in

preparation for eventual

re-engagement to the

labour market

To facilitate improved joint working between special schools and colleges in building an improved offer to students commensurate with their needs and aspirations

In connection to Living Options and Supported Living – and in general a

The Transforming Care discharge process is

underdeveloped.

The Realising Futures programme is not yet

effective as individuals are not realising their

planned outcomes.

The Good Lives Programme is effective and has

had positive feedback from users and a positive

evaluation From Essex University.

(Good Lives training and roll out is about

consistency of support and practice for 16-25

supporting outcomes focused planning and

embedding principles about having conversations

earlier with families and linking teams together.

There is an intention to roll out to 0-15 CWD

team over time).

This means that: the Local Area has not yet created a clear and cohesive strategy to underpin successful transition to adulthood for a significant number of young people. A number of initiatives and projects have the potential to improve the experience and outcomes for young people and their families but implementation is disjointed and lacking in cohesion across services. Essex County Council’s Youth Service is making a positive contribution to the Local Offer. As a Licenced Authority for the Duke of Edinburgh Award, the Youth Service supports 10 Special Schools and to deliver the award. 7 Special schools also run the Gateway Award.

Youth Service SEF and Storyboard

more refined understanding of needs to be developed with a focus on Self-help and appropriateness (coordination with) of providers

Extension of Good Lives

Programme across the

County

There is a need to pool

resources to jointly

commission in order to

meet cross cutting

outcomes

This means that; the service is able to enable: Young people to understand the consequences of unhealthy risk taking; gain personal development qualifications; are involved in the design, governance, delivery and evaluation of their clubs; take part in the National Citizen Service; are members of local youth councils and go on to be volunteers

The Essex response to the national Transforming Care programme is in the early stages of development; the Transforming Care Partnership for Essex consists of the 7 x CCGs and the 3 x Local Authorities across Essex. The challenge for the Partnership is to deliver a more community-based, preventative model to re-settle the current cohort, to assure that those children and adults with LD and/or Autism receive the right support to prevent escalation into in-patient episodes, and to ensure they can access the right support within mainstream services to lead the fulfilling lives to which they aspire. Related to the rationale for this programme, Social Care teams and Education leaders assess that Crisis Management is not yet effective; early indications of need are not picked up quickly enough or in a systematic way; there is not yet a system wide response to supporting and averting crisis; a lack of cohesion in the current system impacts negatively on children and young people’s experiences and wellbeing. Summary SEF REF LP5 This means that: this work has started across Essex, but further progress is expected in the coming months as the complex stakeholder environment becomes better sighted and briefed

Active Essex Website

Essex Transforming Care documentation

“Open Up, Reach Out” documentation

We would like to extend our bank of impact data to include links to broader learning achievements

Introduce SEND monitoring for accreditations

Accelerate planned early intervention pilots for EWBMH in schools with NELFT

Accelerate planned work within the Transforming Care initiative particularly around managing crises.

on the issues. However pace is an issue here and work needs to be accelerated.

Leaders have identified a significant gap in services for Mental Health and a significant need to provide better support for children and young people and schools around mental health issues. Parents/Carers and school leaders are telling us that access to the right support at the right time needs urgent action. Summary SEF REF LP7

School leaders identified a need for effective support and intervention to be put in place before children and young people meet historic referral thresholds. There is good and outstanding provision for Essex CYP at hospital schools but these facilities have very limited capacity for the most significant cases. Special School Headteachers have a serious concern around different pathways for children and young people with autism and achieving the right support for them In November 2015 Essex procured a new provider for Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health (NELFT). Plans for a pilot with local schools in year 1 to design training and support for staff that could be rolled out to all schools and children’s centres in years 2 and 3 have been initially delayed, because of start-up challenges. This means that; although the right thinking and planning is in place the delayed implementation of early intervention for EWBMH is not yet

making an impact. “Active Essex” is highly effective in promoting and increasing engagement in special sector sport and physical activity, self-esteem and leadership; the Special school games has been initiated and co-developed (planning for third year underway) by a student from a special school. Investment in a wider range of games and activity has been significant. This means that; the majority of students have the opportunity to engage in community sport and activity with peers and that integration with mainstream friends around sport is routine. Social interaction and communication are a focus in addition to physical health. Essex County Council’s Youth Service is effective in increasing awareness of sexual health; healthy eating, cooking and the importance of physical activity. IAG aim to prevent longer term requirement for mental health services through early referral to social care, targeted youth and voluntary sector. Overall this means that; there are pockets of productive initiatives and good practice around being as healthy as possible in adult life but there are also delays and challenges to embryo projects which limit positive impact.

Further questions raised at this stage of implementation: (questions we are asking ourselves)

We need to consider outcomes in a holistic way and we need to analyse more effectively from a number of perspectives in order that there is a clear ‘so what?’

We need to encourage a more effective collaboration between schools and colleges around building a joint offer

Where perceptions need to be replaced with clear information and effective communication:

There is a perception from special schools that needs cannot be managed at FE colleges

There is a perception from some special school parents that the needs of children and young people are better met at their pre-16 special school

Some parents and staff in mainstream schools believe that needs are better met in independent schools but our data does not substantiate this idea