Stoke-on-Trent SEND Strategy 2024-2028
SEND Strategy 2024 – 2028
Contents Page
Introduction
Our Vision For Children And Young People In STOKE-ON-TRENT
What We Know About SEND In STOKE-ON-TRENT
Engagement And CO-PRODUCTION
What You Said
Our SEND Priorities
How We Will Monitor Progress
Local Offer
Appendix 1 – Linked Strategies
Appendix 2 – Glossary 2
Appendix 3 – Strategy Engagement
Introduction
The focus of this strategy is to ensure that there is a clear agreed vision across the city so children and young people with SEND have the right support at the right time, delivered by the right people. Not only does this statement support this strategy but also feeds into the key wider local outcomes identified in the “To be the best I can be” priorities and outcomes that have been developed by children, young people and families.
As a partnership between Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the Integrated Care Board it is important that we understand the challenges and issues facing the local area in order to effectively support residents with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Our aim is to provide the best opportunities for every child across our city, inclusive of the SEND community and we know that there is a lot of good practice happening within the city of Stoke-on-Trent. However, the global Covid pandemic and the subsequent economic challenges has meant significant disruption and immense pressure for children and young people. For some families these have lessened resilience, increased poverty, and increased mental health difficulties across the population.
Feedback from children, young people and their families has informed this strategy and identifies that whilst there is good work happening within the city there is much more to do to ensure the SEND community in Stoke-on-Trent feel heard, that they belong and are supported to reach their full potential. There are improvements to make that will ensure that in Stoke-on-Trent, SEND is understood and embraced so services can shape the best possible co-produced solutions with our families and meet ambition and hope for the future.
What This Strategy Does
The strategy identifies a set of shared priorities with clear outcome measures that will form the road map for SEND in Stoke-on-Trent. This has been informed by local data and extensive engagement and feedback from the community, partners and stakeholders. The strategy is also in line with the requirements of the SEND Code of practice 0-25 years and the SEND and alternative provision improvement plan: right support, right place, right time. There is work ongoing with partners to refresh Room to Grow, our children's partnership strategy, with a new children's strategy due to be launched in 2024. We will also refresh our improving education strategy during 2024.
Working In Partnership
Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (Icb) and its commissioned providers will work in partnership, which will be set out within this SEND Strategy. We will engage and co-produce with parents, carers, children and young people, the voluntary sector, service providers, professionals and other stakeholders to ensure inclusion is central to everything we do. We will directly address priority areas that matter most to children, young people and their families.
“Children and young people with special educational needs, disabilities and social, emotional and mental health, living in Stoke-on-Trent will have the opportunity to be the best that they can be, live their best life and be as aspirational as they want to be’
Our Vision For Children And Young People In STOKE-ON-TRENT
The area partnership sets out Stoke-on-Trent’s strategy to continually develop and improve services for children and young people aged 0-25 years with SEND.
We aim to ensure that all children and young people in Stoke-on-Trent feel valued, understood and that they belong in our city. We are ambitious for every child and young person in the city, ensuring they have opportunities and can reach their full potential. We want our children and young people to feel that they belong in their education settings, that they have access to and can attend health services and that they have access to social care support that meets their needs. We want our Cyp (children and young people) to feel safe and included in their community and have a voice and representation in key developments.
This strategy has been co-produced with parents, carers and families (including the Parent Carer Forum) children and young people who have lived experience; early years settings; schools; colleges; advocates; frontline practitioners; the voluntary and community sector; and North Staffordshire Combined Health Care, University Hospitals of North Midlands, Midlands Partnerships University NHS Foundation Trust, and Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care System.
SEND Local Offer – SEND Local Offer (stoke.gov.uk)
In addition to this vision within Stoke-on-Trent “Pots of Positivity” have been developed with children and families as part of the Room to Grow to ensure a joined up consistent approach within the city.
These outcome statements will be the centre of all decisions that involve and impact children, young people with SEND and their families.
Pots Of Positivity Outcome
Outcome
Live Well
Good Education
Preparing for Adulthood
Employment Opportunities
Be Healthy
Skilled Workforce for support
What this means for children and young people
I want to feel valued and part of a community and be respected by the people I meet
I want to have a good quality education that is meaningful to me
I want to feel confident about growing up and look forward to being as independent as I can be
I want to have opportunities for work experience, apprentices and the chance to have a job I enjoy
I want to be physically, mentally and emotionally healthy as I can be
I want the people who support me to have the right skills and knowledge and for them to work together to help me be the most I can be
What We Know About SEND In STOKE-ON-TRENT
58,305 children & young people live in Stoke-on-Trent
41,643 children & young people (aged 3 – 18) in state funded schools
8,073 children & young people have Special Educational Needs
22.6% of children & young people with SEND have an EHCP
455 children & young people with SEND Support are known to social care
249 children & young people with an EHC plan are known to social care
871 (30%) of children & young people with an EHCP attend LA mainstream schools
504 of children & young people with an EHCP attend Nmss or Isp. 322 attend out of city provision
28.3% of children & young people with SEN support reached expected outcomes at Attainment 8 (national average is 34.6%) *
11.2% of children & young people with an EHCP reached expected outcomes at Attainment 8 (national average is 14.3%) *
Data produced performance team October 2023 / November 2023 except for (*) taken from Mime SEND Data July 2023
Engagement And CO-PRODUCTION
The Stoke-on-Trent SEND Co-production Charter Stoke-on-Trent SEND Co-production Charter outlines the commitment, agreement and vision for co-production in the city.
Co-production in Stoke-on-Trent is about all stakeholders working together to ensure we achieve better outcomes for our children and young people. Better individual outcomes, better outcomes in services and better strategic vision and outcomes for the way we shape our partnership working.
Partners from across education, health, social care, parent carer forum and the voluntary sector have committed to the four cornerstones:
• Welcome and care
• Value and include
• Communicate
• Work in partnership
The four cornerstones are threaded throughout the strategy. We will work with our families and partners to be creative and innovative, with understanding, listening and actioning. The strategy has been developed with the people of Stoke-on-Trent for the people of Stoke-on-Trent keeping the local area context and experiences at the heart of the priorities.
What You Said
What does inclusion mean to me?
• Feeling equal
• To embrace all
• Every child feeling comfortable in their setting
• Playing together/happy expressions
• Enjoying each others company
What does good look like?
• Bespoke
• Calm but stimulating
• Welcoming
• All pupils belong
• Achieve progress
• Adapting to needs is fully accepted and automatic
• Kind and friendly, making sure no one is left out
• Included in play
What does inclusion look like in the future?
• Employment
• Opportunities
• Safe
• Independence
• Holistic approach
• Happy and safe at school
• Everyone joins together
How can we overcome the challenges?
• Communication – listening/heard
• Confidence
• Understanding
• Planning
• Right time, right place – timely support
• Well planned transitions
• Workforce development
1) Nothing for us without us - We will build positive, trusting and respectful relationships with the children, young people and their families, ensuring that we listen to the lived experience and that their views help shape and form services
2) Part of the community - All children, young people will feel safe, valued and included in schools and settings and within the wider community
3) High aspirations and preparation for the future - We will have high aspirations for children and young people supporting them to reach their full potential and be independent and prepared for adulthood
4) Identify and Assess Early - We will develop holistic plans together ensuring that support is meaningful, in the right place at the right time
5) Skilled and knowledgeable professionals - We will have a workforce that has the skills and knowledge to meet needs locally and in a timely way
Our SEND Priorities
Priority 1
Nothing For Us Without Us We will build positive, trusting and respectful relationships with the children, young people and their families, ensuring that we listen to the lived experience and that their views help shape and form services
We will do this by….
• Embedding the co-production charter and co-produce a toolkit that will be used across SEND services. The toolkit will include the full ladder of co-production so there is a shared understanding of how and when we will co-produce and engage
• Taking a restorative approach to working with children, young people and families
• Creating more opportunities and empower children and young people with SEND to share their views, experiences and aspirations to help inform decisions about their own lives and to shape services
• Continuing to develop the local offer ensuring that it is accessible and user friendly for all residents in the city
• Offer a variety of ways for families to co-produce and engage, including facilitating sessions online, face to face and at different times of the day accounting for the work and caring responsibilities that parents/carers have
• Reporting on and reviewing feedback from compliments and complaints to make meaningful service improvements
• Ensuring there is regular communication at service level and wider across the SEND system, including a termly Stoke-on-Trent SEND newsletter and ongoing updates on the local offer
This is what you will see….
• Children and young people sharing their views and making decisions about themselves in a way that works for them
• Children, young people and their families involved in sharing their experiences, views about services and ideas for improvements
• A reduction in complaints, tribunals and mediation coupled with an increase in compliments and positive feedback
• Families feel informed through good and regular communication
• A co-production toolkit that is shared, understood and implemented
Priority 2
Part Of The Community All children, young people will feel safe, valued and included in schools and settings and within the wider community
We will do this by….
• Working with families and partners to identify gaps in provision and support
• Working together with the wider community to utilise all available resources to provide a varied and appropriate offer of support and activities
• Scoping the current SEN (Special Educational Needs) Support offer and working together to further develop SEN Support within the city
• Co-producing a refreshed graduated approach across education, health and social care
• Developing a travel training offer so young people can access the community, can travel to education and access services independently
• Working with schools and settings to promote a city-wide anti-bullying campaign
• Ensuring that family hubs will provide support in an accessible way for the SEND community
• We will produce/update an annual education sufficiency statement that outlines the plans to ensure there are sufficient SEN places locally
This is what you will see….
• A local offer that has a wide range of community activities and opportunities for children and young people to participate
• More children and young people with SEND participating in community activities
• Children and young people tell us they feel safe in education and schools/settings will report a reduction in the number of incidents of bullying
• Children and young people will tell us they feel safe and that they belong in the community
• An improved local offer that meets the needs and interests of the children and young people
• More children and young people having their needs met locally
• A refreshed graduated approach published on the local offer
• More young people are able to travel independently through universal support or travel training
• Children and young people accessing the network of Family Hubs that provide support and activities
• Most children and young people should have their education needs met locally
Priority 3
High Aspirations And Preparation For The Future
We will have high aspirations for children and young people supporting them to reach their full potential and be independent and prepared for adulthood (their next stage)
We will do this by….
• Working with the Education Challenge Board ensuring that SEND is a golden thread and a priority to all schools and settings
• Working with Learning and Skills Board to monitor the progression and destinations of SEND learners
• Working with the city’s Education Leaders to ensure SEND is a priority
• Continuing to develop the pathway to employment for young people with SEND, including increasing the number of supported internships and offering supported internships at the City Council
• Having robust quality assurance processes in place, including ensuring appropriateness of curriculum
• Provision in place to ensure children and young people with SEND achieve appropriate and ambitious qualifications
• Rigorously tracking school attendance data for children and young people with SEND and devising a strategic approach to attendance that prioritises pupils, pupil cohorts and schools on which to provide support to and focus efforts on addressing barriers to attendance
• Ensuring governing bodies comply with their statutory duties in relation to pupils with SEND when administering the exclusion process
• Health services planning with you the transition to adult services
• Where children are receiving support, they will be identified early to allow a well-planned transition as documented in our forthcoming Children’s to Adult Social Care Transitions Policy
• Working with Housing Teams to ensure the offer of council housing meets the needs of young people leaving care and other vulnerable people
This is what you will see….
• More young people complete supported internships
• More young people with SEND in education, employment or training
• More young people with SEND will progress into paid employment
• Increase in attainment for children at SEN Support and with EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans)
• Increase in attendance at SEN Support and for those with EHCPs
• Reduction in exclusions for those at SEN Support and with EHCPs
• Young people and their families report feeling supported and prepared when transitioning to adult services
• More young people being able to live independently and sustain a housing tenancy.
• Less young people experiencing homelessness.
Priority 4
Identify And Assess Early
We will develop holistic plans together ensuring that support is meaningful, in the right place at the right time
We will do this by….
• Embedding the quality assurance processes for Education, Health and Care Plans, creating a robust feedback and improvement loop
• Developing a range of opportunities for children, young people and their families to co-produce their plans
• Co-producing a Stoke-on-Trent SEN Support plan document to standardise the way we record assess, plan, do and review as part of the graduated approach
• Continuing to provide a joint education and health assessment of pre-school children through the Discovery Group at Hazel Trees
• Increasing the number of places for children with additional needs in Pvi excellent, inclusive settings across the city by
raising confidence and knowledge of setting staff through the Shine award
• Improving access to health services at the right time by monitoring provision and looking at best reach
• Ensure that there is sufficient information on the local offer so families know where support is available
• Developing our Designated Social Care officer role to support social care and early help to provide the right assessment and support for children
• Ensuring local pathways are clearly understood and accessible to all professionals who may be supporting children and young people with SEN
• Updating the Joint Area Strategic Needs Analysis (JSNA) so the area has an up to date understanding of the support and provision that is required
• Jointly commissioning services where appropriate
• Further developing resource provisions so that children have their needs met at schools in their local community
• Co-produce our new short breaks offer
This is what you will see….
• Improved quality of Education, Health and Care Plans, containing relevant information and advice from across education, health and social care to support the ‘tell it once’ approach
• All schools and settings in the city use a Stoke-on-Trent SEN Support plan document
• Schools and setting report that they understand the graduated approach and that they are able to implement holistic plans with children/young people, parents/carers and partners
• Parent/carers report that they have increased confidence that early intervention is providing the right support at the right time
• More PVIs in the city who have achieved the Shine Award
• Pathways are clear and children and families get the support they need at the earliest opportunity
• More children and young people attending schools and settings in the city and having their needs met
• More children and young people accessing support in a graduated way so that more family’s needs are met at a universal level
• More children and young people that need targeted or high needs support receive the right support and provision in a timely way
• More Resource Bases in with city
• Children and young people will be able to access short breaks that will meet their assessed needs
Priority 5
Skilled And Knowledgeable Professionals We will have a workforce that has the skills and knowledge to meet needs locally and in a timely way
We will do this by….
• Working collaboratively to map out the current training offer and planning a robust multiagency SEND training offer for the city
• Working collaboratively to offer support and training to the workforce, including front line staff and senior leaders
• Develop a ‘SENCO Learning Academy’ that is part of the graduated approach, where all education, health and social care training is advertised
• Utilising the national training offers and ensuring that teams are aware of support that is available
• Supporting the confidence and skills of mainstream schools to meet needs through a refreshed graduated approach and SEN Support offer
• Working in partnerships to train each other and understand roles and responsibilities
• Adoption of the Positive Behaviour Support approach as part of a child's plan
• Work with partners and commissioners to ensure joined up training
This is what you will see….
• A workforce that is trained and equipped to support children, young people and their families on matters related to SEND and they know where to signpost to if required
• Families feel better understood and supported in a way that meets their needs
• A workforce that report they feel confident and supported to carry out their roles
• Skilled staff are retained in the city
• More children and young people have their needs met locally and in mainstream school
How We Will Monitor Progress
SEND and Inclusion is a multi-agency board with representation from Education, Health, Social care and Parents/Carers, the board provides support and challenge and will hold services to account on the delivery of the SEND Strategy.
Education Governance
Children, Young People And Family
Strategic Partnership Board
Executive Board For
SEND And Inclusion
SEND Delivery
Group
High Needs
Board
Early Help And Prevention
Partnership Board
Participation Delivery Group
Local Education
Partnership*
Education Challenge Board
Young People
Learning And
Skills Board
Early Years
Board
Access, Attendance
And Alternative Provision Boards
Place Planning And Sufficiency
NHS Staffordshire And STOKE-ON-TRENT Integrated Care Board Governance
There will be a clear co-produced action plan in place that sits alongside the area SEND self-evaluation and improvement plan, all of which support the journey of continuous improvement. Progress against the actions will be monitored at the Executive Board for SEND and Inclusion through quarterly progress reports. The action plan will be refreshed annually. It is imperative that we measure how successful we are in making progress against our priorities. We will identify key indictors linked to the priorities, the indictors will reflect and measure the impact that the agreed actions have on the lives of the children, young people and their families.
We will continue to communicate openly and transparently throughout implementation, sharing progress against the actions and about any challenges that we may face.
Staffordshire And STOKE-ON-TRENT
Icb Board
Icb Quality And Safety
Committee
Icb Safety Quality Group
Staffordshire Joint Commissioning Board
Ics Mental Health, Learning Disability
And Autism Programme Board
Ics Children’S And Young People’S
Programme Board
STOKE-ON-TRENT Joint Commissioning Board
Staffordshire And STOKE-ON-TRENT Health
And Care Senate
STOKE-ON-TRENT Children, Young People And Families Strategic Partnership Board
STOKE-ON-TRENT Executive Board For SEND And Inclusion
STOKE-ON-TRENT SEND
Delivery Group
Staffordshire Family Strategic Partnership Board
Staffordshire SEND
Inclusion And Partnership Group
Staffordshire SEND Sub Groups (EHCP, Early Years, Joint Commissioning, Local Offer,
Graduated Response)
Local Offer
The Local Offer is the one stop shop for accessing information about education, health, social care and the community for children and young people 0-25 with special educational needs and disabilities in Stoke-on-Trent
Scan the Qr to go to Stoke-on-Trent SEND Local Offer:
Appendix 1 – Linked Strategies
Room to Grow Children And Young People’s Strategy 2020 – 2024
Early Help and Prevention Strategy
Children’s Commissioning Strategy
Children & Young People’s Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Strategy
Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2021 - 2025
Youth Participation Strategy 2021 - 2025
Joint All Age Carers Strategy 2021 - 2025
Young People's Learning And Skills Strategy 2022 - 2027
Joint Commissioning Strategy 2023 - 2028
Learning Disability Strategy 'Living my best life' 2021 - 2026
Short Breaks Services Statement 2023
Integrated Care Partnership Strategy
Appendix 2 - Glossary
Co-production The term ‘co-production’ refers to a way of working where the people who use services (in this case children and young people with SEND, their parents, carers and service providers all work together to create a service that works for them all).
Education Health and Care Plan A legal document that set out the education, health and care need of a child or young person. It is for children or young people who have a disability and or special educational needs that cannot be met by support that is usually available in school or college.
Governance Corporate governance is the structure of rules, practices, and processes used to direct and manage organisations.
Mainstream Schools
In a mainstream school a child with Special Educational Needs or a Disability (SEND) would be supported in following the National Curriculum alongside peers without SEND. All state maintained educational settings including nurseries, schools and colleges have a legal obligation to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and disabilities (SEND).
Outcomes The outcome of an activity, process, or situation is the situation that exists at the end of it.
Pathways A Pathway is interconnected navigated support, a number of professionals can support an individual to meet their support needs.
Special Education Needs and Disabilities A child or young person has special educational needs and disabilities if they have a learning difficulty and/or a disability that means they need special health and education support.
Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice provides statutory guidance on the SEND system for children and young people aged 0 to 25.
Acronyms
Adhd - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Asc - Autism spectrum disorders
Cyp - Children and young people
EHCP - Education Health and Care Plan
Icb - Intergraded Care Board
JSNA - Joint Strategic Needs Assessment
LA - Local Authority
SEND - Special educational needs and disability
SEN - Special educational needs
Slcn - Speech language and communication needs
Strategy Engagement
The following engagement sessions were held:
• Parents focus groups – one face to face, one online
• Stakeholder focus group
• Local Authority SEND focus groups
• Parent/Carer Survey
• Stakeholder Survey
• Children and young person Survey
National Inclusion Week Stoke-on-Trent Local Authority with partners from schools and settings developed assembly and lesson content to raise the profile of inclusion and also provide the children and young people of Stoke-on-Trent the opportunity to contribute to the development of the refresh of the strategy.
Year 2 took part in Inclusion Week We thought about how we are all different and the different ways we are included in a variety of activities. We shared our own differences and then thought about our own special talents we can share with each other.
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