SEND - The Big Plan (Kirklees, October 2023 refresh)
SEND - The Big Plan
October 2023
1. A call to action
Why do you need to read this?
Because we want to let you know what we’re doing - it’s important to all of us and together we can make even more of a difference.
Who is this for?
This is important for everyone, but mainly those who live or work with children and young people who have Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) from birth to 25.
Why you?
Because you have the power to make a difference every day. We see so many great examples of that happening and we know we can connect better.
What are we trying to achieve?
Together we’ve always tried and will continue to make sure that every child has the best possible start in life and achieve their best. We know that there are always opportunities to improve how we do that - sometimes that’s doing more, but often it’s about doing things differently.
We’re ambitious for children, young people and parents and carers in Kirklees. We’re trying to make sure we support children and families at the earliest opportunity; our young people go to school in Kirklees with positive results; there’s a consistent and inclusive offer; and whatever our young people are interested in, we want them to excel. Click here to see our 7 inclusive ambitions.
When we achieve this, young people have told us what it would look and feel like. Examples include “I feel ready for my next steps”, “I will be attending a school in Kirklees”, “Services are better used and waiting lists go down”.
What’s the action?
It only takes a couple of minutes to read this. We’d love to hear more of your examples of how impact is being made. Click here and you can either leave us a message telling us about it or we can call you to capture it.
2. Context - Why are we ‘doing this’?
We’ve listened to what young people, parents, carers and partners (Education, Health, Voluntary Sector and Council) have said.
Our young people told us not to talk about Strategy, call it ‘Our Big Plan’ so that’s what this is. You also said “don’t write lots of stuff - keep it simple”.
We know everyone around the country is facing similar issues to Kirklees. In January 2023 we had 63,741 children and young people who go to school in Kirklees. The number of requests for support with SEND have increased significantly and are more complex, and the amount of money available to us has not been and isn’t enough. We need to look at different ways to make the differences we’ve jointly set out to achieve.
There is no single action that sorts everything out, so we need to have a Big Plan to focus the work. This then makes it easier to share what’s planned, what’s been achieved and what’s left to do.
3. So how will we go about this?
We’ve been working together and we’re looking at ways to further improve.
We’re bringing partners together in an Improvement Board to oversee and drive the work. We already link into key meetings where partners come together and we’ll continue to look at how we can best use established arrangements rather than create more.
How can people get involved?
There will be increasing engagement with and through our partners such as Education, NHS - Health / Locala, Thriving Kirklees Partnership, Voluntary Sector partners such as Pcan, and the Council. In addition, you can click the link to get in touch with us and we’ll talk with you to see what might work best for you.
4. What and when
This plan has developed over time and there are now 3 key areas of work that focus on ‘Need’ (Demand); ‘Are we getting it right’ (Quality & Compliance); and ‘Enough of the right stuff’ (Sufficiency).
We’ve listened and heard what parents, carers and young people have said and have made sure that feedback is built into the projects.
Diagram showing the crossover between Need (demand), Are we getting it right (Compliance) and Enough of the right stuff (Sufficiency), all within Joint system ownership.
Some things that we’re doing:
a. Need (Demand) - Re-designing things so people get the right help at the earliest point; Supporting people from birth into adulthood (Transition at all stages / Preparation for Adulthood). This ties back to what young people have told us if we get it right – “I feel ready for my next steps”.
b. Are we getting it right (Quality & Compliance) - The right support happens as quickly as possible and, where it doesn’t, we understand why and try to improve things. We know what is going well and do more of this.
c. Enough of the right stuff (Sufficiency) - We use data, research and feedback from children and families to work out what’s needed. We then reshape or change how we do things, so they are easier to understand and work better.
We’ve also increased our support for teachers, pupils and their families. We’ve already increased Additionally Resourced Provisions (ARPs) in some schools and are looking to do more of this. 2 of our special schools are being rebuilt with more places for pupils. Building works will be finished in 2026.
There’s lots of detailed plans underneath this and we’ll bring more of that detail together in our SEND Transformation Plan. We produce the Kirklees SEND newsletter with updates on progress at least 4-times a year - if you don’t already get it, click here.
We’ve also made 7 commitments that we’ve shared with Government inspectors in our ‘Written Statement of Action’. These can be seen below and the things we have planned / are doing will help us achieve those.
Joint system ownership: We need all of us - partners including young people, parents and carers, and voluntary groups, to own, drive and make sure that things happen in the best way possible to make a difference.
We will try our best to listen to you, hear you and act on what you have told us. Our aim is to work with you and partners so that you get the support that you need.
Our 7 commitments
We have previously agreed these 7 commitments with Government inspectors in our Written Statement of Action:
1. Improve parent/carer confidence/young people’s confidence in Kirklees SEND system 2. Increase the range and impact of early intervention strategies 3. Increase the sufficiency of places and settings across Kirklees Council 4. Increasing and improve the timeliness of responses to needs of children and young people with SEND 5. Enhance and improve the preparation for adulthood (PfA) 6. Improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND in mainstream settings 7. Addressing workforce pressures and capacity issues
Infographic with the following timeline:
June 2022 – 2023
• June 22 - Graduated Approach – Launch of Inclusive High Quality Teaching Audit Toolkit
• June 23 - Graduated Approach - Launch of supporting documents for schools
• Summer 23 - Healthy Child Programme – achieving the national ambitions for the health visiting offer
September 2022 - 2025
• Sept 22, Sept 23, Sept 24 - Project Search new starters
• Sept 22 - Ravenshall Special School Satellite Provision opened at Headfield Ce Junior School
• Sept 23 – Implementation of the Reception Transition Funding Pilot
• Sept 23 - Southgate Special School Satellite Provision opened at Newsome Academy
• Sept 23 - Appointment of Designated Clinical Officer (Dco)
• Sept 23 – Five new Additionally Resourced Provisions (Arp) opened
October 2023
• Oct 23 – Woodley School & College Post 16 Special School Satellite Provision opened in Huddersfield Town Centre
• Oct 23 - Graduated Approach – Launch of Inclusion Counts
November 2022 - 2023
• Nov 22 - Kirklees SEND Newsletters - 8 weekly publication commenced
• Nov 22 - Local Offer live (South Kirklees, Huddersfield)
• Autumn 23 - Refresh of SEND Transformation Strategy (the ‘Big Plan’)
• Nov 23 - Local Offer live (North Kirklees, Dewsbury)
2025 Onward
• 2025 – more school places available for pupils with an EHCP
• 2026 completion date - Rebuild of Joseph Norton Academy
• 2026 completion date - Rebuild of Woodley School & College
June 2022-2023
• June 2022 - Graduated Approach – Launch of Inclusive High Quality Teaching Audit Toolkit
• June 2023 - Graduated Approach - Launch of supporting documents for schools
• Summer 2023 - Healthy Child Programme – achieving the national ambitions for the health visiting offer
September 2022-2024
• Sept 2022, Sept 2023, Sept 2024 - Project Search new starters
• Sept 2022 - Ravenshall Special School Satellite Provision opened at Headfield Ce Junior School
• Sept 2023 - Implementation of the Reception Transition Funding Pilot
• Sept 2023 - Southgate Special School Satellite Provision opened at Newsome Academy
• Sept 2023 - Appointment of Designated Clinical Officer (Dco)
• Sept 2023 - Five new Additionally Resourced Provisions (ARPs) opened
2025 onward
• 2025 - More school places available for pupils with an EHCP
• 2026 completion date - Rebuild of Joseph Norton Academy
• 2026 completion date - Rebuild of Woodley School & College
October 2023
• Oct 2023 - Woodley School & College Post 16 Special School Satellite Provision opened in Huddersfield Town Centre
• Oct 2023 - Graduated Approach - Launch of Inclusion Counts
November 2022-2023
• Nov 2022 - Kirklees SEND Newsletters - 8 weekly publication commenced
• Nov 2022 - Local Offer live (South Kirklees, Huddersfield)
• Autumn 2023 - Refresh of SEND Transformation Strategy (the ‘Big Plan’)
• Nov 2023 - Local Offer Live (North Kirklees, Dewsbury)
June
Sept
Nov
Oct
Kirklees SEND Local Offer www.kirkleeslocaloffer.org.uk
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