Worcestershire Strategy for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) 2021-2025

Worcestershire Strategy for Children and

Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) 2021-2025

Document Control

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Version Who Date Amendments 0.1 NaJo 06.07.21 Draft to Stakeholders

Document Control Worcestershire Strategy for Children and Young People with Special Educational

Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 4

Vision And Purpose ....................................................................................................... 5

Where Are We Now And What Needs To Change? ............................................... 6 Impact evaluation .............................................................................................................................. 6

Workforce Development .................................................................................................................... 9

User feedback ................................................................................................................................... 9

Strategic Priorities ................................................................................................... 12 How will we achieve these priorities? .............................................................................................. 12

Next Steps ...................................................................................................................... 16

Definitions / Glossary ............................................................................................... 16

Introduction Worcestershire is ambitious for all children and young people and has set out a challenging agenda through its Children and Young People's Plan (Cypp) 2021- 2023: ‘Putting children at the heart of everything we do’. Taking the lead from the Cypp, the vision is for 'Worcestershire to be a wonderful place for all children and young people to grow up'. We believe it is important that all children and young people:

• Are safe from harm

• Reach their full potential

• Make a positive contribution in their communities

• Live healthy, happy, and fun filled lives In Worcestershire we recognise the significant challenge in ensuring these aims are met for our children and young people (Cyp) with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and are committed to ongoing improvements to realise this aspiration. We believe that every Worcestershire child and young person with SEND matters and should be supported to achieve their potential and enabled to make a positive contribution to society. This requires us to take a proactive approach to inclusion, where the rights of Cyp to live and be educated alongside their peers need to be promoted through the identification and removal of barriers to achieving this aim. All Cyp with SEND should have their needs met, as far as possible, in the local community, within local early years providers, schools, further education colleges and workplaces. We also believe that they should have access to high quality provision which ensures good health, care, and educational outcomes including, where possible, living independent lives and contributing positively to the local community.

We know that by working together as partners we can deliver an effective approach for SEND. This will include early identification of need, outcome focused assessment and the right provision at the right time, ultimately improving outcomes for our children and young people with SEND in Worcestershire.

Vision And Purpose The consultation activity we have carried out in producing this strategy has led to agreement of the following vision for SEND:

In Worcestershire we want all children and young people with special educational needs and / or disabilities to be truly seen and respected as

individuals and to be the best they can be.

The purpose of this Strategy is to set out how we plan to deliver this vision through seven key priorities. It will drive an ambitious programme of work that will be overseen by representatives of the accountable bodies through the SEND Strategy Board (currently known as the SEND Improvement Board), reporting to Worcestershire’ Health and Wellbeing Board. The SEND Strategy Board will carefully monitor progress against the strategy and related action plans which will outline the activity needed to realise our aspirations. We will also ensure that parent carers and Cyp are invited to comment on our progress on an annual basis throughout the period covered by the strategy. The strategy will change the ways in which we work with Cyp with SEND, parents/carers, and as professionals together. It will involve greater integration of services and co-production of developments that will effectively:

• Identify Cyp with SEND • Assess and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, through the Graduated Response and Education Health and Care Needs Assessment for those who need it • Provide support and services that effectively meets needs and improves outcomes of those with SEND

Information about the national, local, and financial context in which this work will be carried out can be found in Appendix 1 of this strategy.

Where Are We Now And What Needs To Change? In producing this strategy, we have reflected on information from two sources:

• Impact evaluation of plans for SEND development (our local area SEND Written Statement of Action and SEND Strategy 2017-21) • User feedback (parent carers, children and young people, educational settings) We have also ensured that the priorities outlined in this strategy align with other strategies describing work and developments across the local area partnership. Impact evaluation Worcestershire’s Local Arrangements for SEND were inspected by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in March 2018. Twelve key concerns were identified, and the Local Area was required to produce a Written Statement of Action detailing how these concerns would be addressed. This inspection increased and added to our understanding of our strengths and weaknesses, including the five priorities outlined in the SEND Strategy 2017/21:

• A Person-Centred Approach – putting children and young people at the centre of planning and decision making about their own care and support • Integration and Operational Delivery – coordinating services across education, health, and care to improve the Education Health and Care Plan process • Early Intervention - allowing families to be able to access information and support that can be helpful at an early stage as soon as problems or concerns arise • Preparation for Adulthood – creating a whole life approach to improve the personal transition experience and journey to adulthood • Workforce Development – developing a multi-agency workforce that understand SEND and works together to achieve good outcomes The Written Statement of Action described how we would address the concerns raised by inspectors and was underpinned by the five priorities from the 2017-21 strategy. Impact evaluation has identified the following priorities for 2021- 2025:

• Commitment to listening to children and young people with SEND and their families. We will continue to work with them to further improve, develop and innovate our SEND Strategy and delivery of support and services. • Recovery from the pandemic. We must understand the impact for Cyp and continue to adapt to support and prevent lasting effect. • We are taking an all age disability approach within our SEND Local Offer. This will ensure a seamless experience for Cyp from 0-25 with SEND and their families. • Commitment to the effective and efficient use of resources. This will support early intervention prevent escalation of need and be inclusive. Improvements achieved to date and further areas for development for each of the 2017-21 priorities are as follows:

A Person-Centred Approach Improvements

• Parent carers feel better engaged and informed. • Professionals embed co-production with parent carers in the design of services and processes impacting on families. • Improved relationships and joint working with parent carer groups such as Families in Partnership. • Cyp are consulted about SEND provision and strategy.

Areas for development

• Strengthen co-production across all services in education health and social care. • Support educational settings with parent carer engagement and develop further guidance to support this work. • Ensure engagement and person-centered approaches with Cyp ensure the voice of the child is central to casework and strategic decision making.

Integration and Operational Delivery Improvements

• Services work in partnership across the local area to agree priorities for funding and action. • A joint commissioning strategy is in place which clearly defines the roles of partners and processes for decision making. • The Designated Clinical Officer role is well embedded and ensures SEND and health needs of Cyp are prioritised. • Service integration impacting on Cyp with SEND has been reviewed and improved through the formation of Worcestershire County Council, Starting Well Partnership and Hereford and Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group. • There have been significant improvements in the Education Health Care Needs Assessment process impacting on timeliness and quality. • Outcomes achieved for Cyp by SEND are actively tracked and monitored and actions taken to improve these.

Areas for development

• Deliver commissioning intentions described in Joint Commissioning Strategy through Joint Commissioning Group activity. • Implement and enhance Joint Commissioning Quality Assurance Framework. • Improvement of the annual review process for Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) including the multiagency response and continue to make improvements to the quality of EHCPs following initial needs assessment. • Development of a single plan for SEND learners across education health and social care. • Focus on improving attendance of students with SEND where possible.

Early Intervention Improvements

• Enabled Early Years (Ey) settings to refer to our Pre-School Forum which considers the needs of our youngest children with SEND. • Better understanding and monitoring of the ‘Graduated Response’ described in the SEND Code of Practice (2015) in mainstream schools and partner organisations. • SEND provision reviewed across education and short breaks to strengthen early intervention and improve outcomes for Cyp.

Areas for development

• Implementation of the Exclusions and Alternative Provision plan. • Further review and improvement of the Preschool Forum to ensure early identification of need and effective multiagency support to settings and families. • Focus on meeting needs of Cyp with autism. • Coordinated approach to concerns about Cyp’s mental health in schools. • Implementation of SEND provision plan to ensure local effective places and provision are available to meet need.

Preparation for Adulthood Improvements

• Preparation for Adulthood pages on the SEND Local Offer map pathways into adulthood • Increased joint working between Education, Health and Social Care including the Young Adults Team. • Publication of Post 16 Graduated Response guidance. • Improved tracking of outcomes for Post-16 learners indicates reduction in young people aged 19-25 who are not in Education Employment or Training (Neet) and increase in uptake of supported internships.

Areas for development

• Improve consistency and breadth of tracking of outcomes for Post 16 young people with SEND. • Develop the annual review process to have a greater emphasis on Preparation for Adulthood from Year 9. • Progress an ‘All Age Disability’ approach to SEND focusing on the experiences of Cyp and their families from 0-25.

Workforce Development Improvements

• Workforce training implemented across SEND services in education, social care, and health. • SEND Training and Development network undertakes needs analysis and planning for educational settings. • E-Learning modules developed to support understanding of SEND and inclusion.

Areas for development

• Development and delivery of targeted training packages for educational settings in response to needs analysis, feedback, and evaluation. • Develop improved approaches to sharing existing effective practice in educational settings through the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) network and Early Years and School Inclusion Forum. • Creation of SEND champions across social care to support the development of effective SEND practice. • Continued improvement in understanding of SEND across local area partnership workforce.

User feedback Since our last strategy, we have worked closely with parent carers, Cyp and partners to understand what more needs to change for our approach to SEND to improve in Worcestershire. We have embedded co-production in our approach to SEND strategic change and have consulted widely to agree the priorities for the next four years. As such, we have listened carefully to the experiences of our service users to ensure it is their experiences which determine our next steps. Parent carer feedback Since 2020 Worcestershire has surveyed the views of parent carers of Cyp with SEND on an annual basis to understand what is working well and what needs to improve. This adds to our understanding of the priorities for Worcestershire from regular coproduction activity and incidental parent carer feedback. Analysis has indicated that there are times when parent carers are happy with and appreciative of the support they receive. Positive feedback has been received about different services, settings and professionals across health, social care and education. The need for improvement has been identified in the following areas:

• Communication with parent carers, Cyp and between agencies including educational settings • Support for families including support for Cyp in educational settings and from specialist services

• Understanding of SEND and the impact on Cyp and families across services and educational settings • Timescales and waiting times for referrals, pathways, and statutory processes • Funding for support and provision for Cyp with SEND Further details about the 2020 SEND Parent Carer survey can be found at the following link: Your feedback so far | Your feedback so far | Worcestershire County Council Feedback from educational settings Feedback has been gathered from educational settings from surveys in 2019 and again in 2021, in addition to incidental feedback. This feedback has provided information about what is going well and what needs to improve. What is going well?

• Settings find the Graduated Response guidance clear, concise, and informative. • Settings feel supported and held to account by Worcestershire County Council (Wcc) services and guidance. • Liaison from partners with SENCOs through networks and regular communication is effective. • Settings experience opportunities to collaborate, share good practice and shape provision for SEND. • Communication with the SEND casework team has improved and there is increased support for placements. Areas for improvement The following areas were noted in the 2021 survey as having improved since 2019 however further improvements are needed:

• The SEND training offer has increased and improved however further development opportunities are required in some areas for schools, parent carers and health professionals. • Ongoing improvement of the SEND Local Offer including content geared towards professionals. • Communication and coproduction with parent carers have improved and Wcf is more responsive to schools. Communication with parent carers and schools from SEND professionals has room for further improvement and increased joined up working across health social care and education is needed. • Timeliness of the EHC needs assessment process and quality of EHCPs are improved. Assessment process could be simplified and improved with and increased focus on funding and the ability to complete the process online.

Further improvements needed identified anew in the 2021 survey were:

• A focus on long-term sustainability within the SEND strategy and plans, describing how things link together • Increased and improved access to the Educational Psychology Service • Increased support for schools through mental health networks and improvements in Cyp’s access to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). • Multiagency involvement in annual reviews followed by timely amendments to EHCPs • Ensuring that funding in educational settings for Cyp with SEND is sufficient • An effective and clearly articulated continuum of provision for Cyp with SEND which addresses gaps, celebrates good practice, and ensures provision is made in a timely manner Cyp feedback To ensure this strategy is underpinned by the views of those who will be most impacted on by its failure or success, we engaged with Cyp through educational settings to understand their experiences and aspirations. Cyp were supported by setting staff to provide their views about education, health, and their communities. Education

• The majority of Cyp like and enjoy going to school and college and feel safe in their settings. • Cyp feel education is important because it helps them build skills and knowledge and allows them to socialise with their peers. • In addition, Cyp with SEND would like education to be a place where they feel supported, included, and accepted, be listened to, and have fun. Health

• The majority of Cyp with SEND felt that health services were able to help them. • Aspirations of Cyp in relation to health were for them to be able to feel good about themselves, to be happy and confident, active, and healthy, to know who to go to for help and feel able to talk to someone. • They suggested that health services could improve by: o Reducing waiting times o Increasing awareness of SEND in health professionals o Providing key workers Community

• The majority of Cyp with SEND want to and feel included in their community. They generally feel like Worcestershire is a nice place to live and most feel safe. • Some Cyp would like to see a reduction in bullying and criminal behaviour in communities as it makes them feel unsafe. • Cyp take part in a variety of activities in their local communities. The most popular are shopping, seeing family and going to parks. • Within their communities Cyp with SEND also want to feel trusted, respected and included. They want equality opportunities in their communities including access to employment.

Feedback from multi-agency partners (SEND strategy steering group) Our multi-agency SEND strategy steering group have the following aspirations for Cyp with SEND:

• To ensure we make effective provision in a timely manner • To work together and collaborate to ensure processes are simple and consistent • To communicate with parent carers and families throughout their journey • To offer clarity to young people about their preparation for adulthood • For Cyp with SEND to feel safe and valued in their communities and learning environments as they make a positive contribution as citizens • To ensure transition points for Cyp are smooth • To enable Cyp can live and learn in their local communities wherever possible • To continue to embed coproduction and ensure the child’s voice is central to our decision making

Strategic Priorities Based on our self-evaluation and stakeholder engagement in Worcestershire our strategic priorities for 2021-25 are to ensure that:

• Identification and assessment of SEND is timely and effective • There is an effective continuum of SEND provision • There is awareness and understanding of SEND within local communities • There is effective planning so that Cyp with SEND experience positive transitions as they progress through their education • Outcomes for young people with SEND are improved as a result of effective preparation for adulthood planning and better coordination of service delivery • Cyp with autism access the right support to meet their holistic needs and achieve their potential • Emotional health and wellbeing is actively promoted for Cyp with SEND and effective targeted and specialist support is available for those at risk of, or experiencing difficulties How will we achieve these priorities? Identification and assessment of SEND is timely and effective Our development work in the next four years aims to ensure that effective identification and assessment of SEND takes place as early as possible, so that appropriate support can be put in place, enabling Cyp to achieve the best possible outcomes. We will achieve this by:

• Monitoring waiting times for professional assessment pathways through our SEND strategy board and putting in place robust recovery plans where these impact on early identification of needs. • Focusing on identification and assessment of Cyp with social emotional and mental health needs (Semh) through our exclusions and alternative provision implementation plan, embedding the mental health support team approach, encouraging schools to participate in senior mental health lead training and expanding our mental health leads

networks to include all phases of education. • Improving our care needs assessment pathways for children with disabilities. • Ensuring that annual reviews for Cyp with EHCPs accurately identify Cyp’s needs as they grow and develop. • Working with educational settings and other professionals to ensure that effective practice in early intervention using the assess plan do review cycle is shared, understood and embedded. • Coproducing guidance and information for parent carers so that they understand how SEND is identified and assessed and how and when they should ask for help if they are concerned about their child. • Strengthening links between our approaches to early help and SEND to improve our identification and assessment of need and are able to provide the right support at the right time. There is an effective continuum of SEND provision Our strategic approach over the next four years aims to improve existing and develop new provision for Cyp with SEND. This provision will improve outcomes for learners, offer value for money and ensure Cyp are able to live and learn in their local communities wherever possible. This approach relies on Cyp being able to access the right provision at the right time and is dependent on a shared understanding of our SEND local offer. We will achieve this by:

• Implementing our SEND provision plan which considers the need for specialist placements for Cyp with EHCPs. • Updating our SEND joint strategic needs assessment and SEND sufficiency report annually and ensuring these are understood by stakeholders including parent carers. • Embedding and refining our approach across education, health and social care to joint commissioning for Cyp with SEND through our Joint Commissioning Strategy. • Establishing regular and effective good practice sharing between educational settings and partner organisations. • Ensuring short breaks and community activities for Cyp with SEND meet need and promote inclusion. • Implementing placement plans for Cyp accessing specialist education placements to improve monitoring of outcomes and to inform action planning for Cyp as their needs change and they require increased or decreased support. • Focusing on improving attendance of Cyp with SEND in educational settings through agreed multi-agency pathways and decision making. There is awareness and understanding of SEND within local communities Worcestershire aims to ensure our Cyp with SEND grow up in inclusive communities working together to create social cohesion. A socially cohesive community is defined as one which ‘works towards the well-being of all its members, fights exclusion and marginalisation, creates a sense of belonging, promotes trust, and offers its members the opportunity of upward social mobility.’ In the next four years we will achieve this by:

• Ensuring community activities and short breaks for Cyp meet need and promote inclusion ensuring information available on how to access • Making the transition from ‘Here2Help’ following the Covid-19 pandemic: Development of a joint independence strategy and independence hub

• Working at a district level to ensure community safety initiatives and leisure facilities ensure Cyp with SEND feel safe and included • Increasing employment opportunities for Cyp with SEND as they prepare for adulthood and move out of education • Working with housing providers to ensure that safe and welcoming living opportunities are available within local communities There is effective planning so that Cyp with SEND experience positive transitions as they progress through their education As Cyp with SEND grow and develop, they and their families are likely to experience several transitions between educational settings. Our aspiration is that these transitions are seamless, and that new provision builds on previous support and outcomes through careful information sharing and planning which is responsive to individual needs. We will achieve this by:

• Refreshing our guidance and support offer to Ey settings, schools and colleges regarding effective transition between educational settings. This will include situations where Cyp move between mainstream and specialist placements. • Making decision making processes about educational placements for Cyp with EHCPs more transparent and ensuring that the lived experience of families of these decisions is as positive as possible. Outcomes for young people with SEND are improved as a result of effective preparation for adulthood planning and better coordination of service delivery From Year 9 (when Cyp reach age 14), all planning and provision for SEND must include a focus on preparing for adulthood and the time when young people will leave education for increasing participation in society and independence. Approaches need to be better coordinated to ensure that transitions from children to adults’ services are smooth and planned well in advance. We will achieve this by:

• Ensuring that information about criteria for access to services for Cyp with SEND is clear on the SEND Local Offer and developing this content to include information about what support is available if a Cyp does not meet the threshold for support. • Reviewing the experiences of transitions between services supporting Cyp with SEND with parent carers and Cyp and agreeing and putting in place improvements needed. • Redesigning service structures and processes to improve transitions as part of the All Age Disability programme • Embedding longer term planning for Cyp into processes within the newly designed All Age Disability Service. • Strengthening person centred planning across services working with Cyp with SEND from Year 9 upwards. • Developing and describing Preparation for Adulthood pathways through the All Age Disability program focused on outcomes in four key areas:

o Independent living o Employment o Community inclusion o Living healthily • Improving transition and annual reviews for Cyp with EHCPs in Year 9 and above to ensure they include effective and responsive planning for adulthood based on young

people’s aspirations. • Improving transitions between health services as young people move into adulthood and reviewing commissioned services to ensure they meet the health needs of young people with SEND from the age of 18 • Ensuring there is consistent understanding and implementation of the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberties duties across professionals working with Cyp with SEND. Alongside this, supporting parent carers to enable their children to take increasing responsibility for decision making as they grow older. Cyp with autism achieve positive outcomes and the support required to enable this is in place Over the next four years we aim to ensure that we better understand and overcome the barriers to Cyp with autism achieving good outcomes as active participants in education, families and communities. This will involve working closely with families, education settings and support services to understand our current strengths and to identify and make changes where we need to improve. We will achieve this by:

• Ensuring there is alignment between the priorities in Worcestershire’s All Age Autism Strategy with the National Strategy for Autistic Children, Young People and Adults, Transforming Care agenda (focused on those with Learning Disabilities and/or Autism) and the All Age Disability Strategy. • Strengthening the focus in the All Age Autism Strategy on meeting Cyp’s needs and supporting parent carers • Improving and clarifying the intervention pathway for Cyp with autism and emotional and wellbeing needs across universal, targeted and specialist services • Improving and clarifying the autism pathway in adults’ social care • Working with Worcestershire Schools to help them achieve the Autism Friendly Schools Standard. • Reviewing and refreshing the eligibility criteria for the Children with Disabilities team to ensure access to assessment and support for children with autism and their families is fair and transparent.

Emotional health and wellbeing As we move on from the Covid-19 pandemic, our ongoing priority to ensure that the emotional health and well-being needs are met is particularly important. We recognise the need to promote good mental health for Cyp with SEN within their educational settings, families and communities, to focus on prevention for groups of Cyp at risk and to intervene quickly and at an appropriate level where Cyp are experiencing emotional distress or have mental health difficulties. In the next four years we will achieve this by:

• Acknowledging the importance of Cyp’s emotional health and wellbeing post pandemic and developing and improving universal, targeted and specialist support in response to these changing needs. • Developing ‘place-based’ partnerships as part of the development of Integrated Care arrangements. • Implementing Herefordshire and Worcestershire’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. • Analysing the impact of mental health support for Cyp with SEND and using this information to develop priorities for improvement and joint commissioning.

Next Steps A detailed action plan describing the activity, timelines and outcomes for the actions needed to progress these priorities will be co-produced and published by December 2021. This plan will clearly indicate how we will measure the success of our activity and the awareness raising and workforce development which will be put in place for priority areas. Where appropriate this action plan will reference aligned strategies, which will provide more detail regarding the context and ways of working which will support the aspirations of this SEND strategy. Worcestershire’s SEND Improvement Board will make the transition during this period to become the SEND Strategy Board and will oversee the implementation of this strategy and report annually to stakeholders on progress against the action plan and overall aspirations contained in the strategy. This will be informed by self-evaluation, stakeholder feedback, robust monitoring of activity planned and analysis of data about outcomes for Cyp with SEND.

Definitions / Glossary

All-age Disability Service: The number one priority for Worcestershire County Council is for children and young people within the County to have the best outcomes in life. This includes those who face the additional challenges of having a disability. The All-age Disability Service seeks to improve both the experiences of support and co-ordination, along with improved outcomes through a joined up ‘offer’ for children and young people with disabilities and special educational needs.

Annual review: The review of an EHCP which the Local Authority must make as a minimum every 12 months.

Assess, Plan, Do, Review: Also known as the Graduated Response, this is a guide which enables educational settings to plan and implement support for children and young people

with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities.

Autism: Autism is a developmental disability affecting how people communicate and interact with those around them. Autistic people may have difficulties with social communication/interaction, display repetitive and restrictive behaviour, display and over/under sensitivity, have highly focused interests, have anxiety, and shutdowns/meltdowns.

Clinical Commissioning Groups: CCGs are clinically led groups that include all the Gp groups in their geographical area. The aim of this is to give GPs and other clinicians the power to influence commissioning decisions for their patients. CCGs are overseen by NHS England (including its Regional Offices and Area Teams). These structures manage primary care commissioning, including holding the NHS Contracts for Gp practices NHS.

Care Quality Commission: The CQC registers, monitors, inspects, and regulates health and adult social care services in England. They ensure services meet government standards for quality and safety.

Co-production: Co-production is a way of working which builds on the strengths of families, communities, and services, and involves everyone from the beginning as equal partners. Worcestershire County Council are committed to working in partnership with families, and other agencies, to create effective services for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities.

Dco: Designated Clinical Officer: The officer supports Herefordshire and Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group to meet its statutory duties for children and young people with Special Education Needs and/or Disabilities. They also support the agreement of health services as part of an Education, Health, and Care Plan.

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS): These relate to those aged 18 or over, who lack mental capacity, and require treatment or care through a care home or hospital. If a person required continuous supervision and control, then a DoLS authorisation may be required, and can be applied for by a managing authority such as the hospital or care home.

Early help: Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life, from the foundation years through to the teenage years.

Early Years Provider: A provider of early education places for children under five years of age. This can include state-funded and private nurseries as well as child minders.

Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP): An EHCP details the education, health and social care support that is to be provided to a child or young person who has SEN or a disability. It is drawn up by the Local Authority after an EHC needs assessment of the child or young person has determined that an EHC plan is necessary, and after consultation with relevant partner agencies.

Ehcna: Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment. Worcestershire Children First will carry out an Ehcna when more specialist help is required to support children with Special Education Needs and/or Disabilities. The assessment will be turned into an Education, Health, and Care Plan.

Emotional Health and Wellbeing: The government established a task force in 2015 to promote, protect and improve children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. In

collaboration with the Ccg Worcestershire County Council developed the transformation plan to improve services within the County, providing advice, support, and training.

Exclusions and Alternative Provision Implementation Plan: Local and national context highlighted the need for Worcestershire County Council to carry out a review of their approach to exclusions and the use of alternative provision settings. As a result of this review the Implementation Plan was created with a focus on five key areas: Exclusion prevention by mainstream schools, The exclusions and AP pathway, Communication and collaboration between settings, Integrated service approach, and Equity and strategic clarity in commissioning arrangements and processes.

Further Education (Fe) College: A college offering continuing education to young people over the compulsory school age of 16. The Fe sector in England includes general further education colleges, sixth form colleges, specialist colleges and adult education institutes.

Graduated Response: A model of action and intervention in early education settings, schools, and colleges to help children and young people who have special educational needs. The approach recognises that there is a continuum of special educational needs and that, where necessary, increasing specialist expertise should be brought to bear on the difficulties that a child or young person may be experiencing.

Health and Wellbeing Board: A Health and Wellbeing Board acts as a forum where local commissioners across the NHS, social care, and public health work together to improve the health and wellbeing of their local population and reduce health inequalities. The boards are intended to increase democratic input into strategic decisions about health and wellbeing services, strengthen working relationships between health and social care and encourage integrated commissioning of health and social care services.

Health and Wellbeing Strategy: This strategy sets out how Worcestershire County Council will support Worcestershire residents to be healthier, live longer, and have a better quality of life. Targeted at those who’s health is currently the poorest.

Here2Help: Here2Help is a community action scheme which was originally dedicated to helping those in need of support during the CV-19 pandemic. The service has been expanded offering advice, support, and help to organisations and people of all ages within Worcestershire.

Hwhct: Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust. The main provider of mental health and learning disability services across both counties, across a range of settings. Additionally, they provide community hospital, neighbourhood teams, and community nursing services across Worcestershire.

Joint Approach to Commissioning: The NHS, Worcestershire Children First, and Worcestershire County Council have adopted a coproduction approach to commissioning SEND provision. This applies to the design, development, and commissioning of new services, projects and programmes, working with and abiding by the principles outlined within the Worcestershire SEND Charter.

Joint Strategy Needs Assessment: This is a continuous process which provides information on health and well-being to support decision making. The process improves health and well- being, reduces inequalities, and determines the actions local authorities, the NHS and other

partners will make to best meet people’s health and social care needs.

Local authority: An organisation responsible for the delivery of public services, and for providing facilities within a certain area.

Mental Capacity Act: The Mental Capacity Act 2005 provides a legal framework to act and make decisions on behalf of those, aged 16 and over, who lack the mental capacity to make their own decisions in relation to care and treatment.

Neet: Not in Education, Employment, or Training. It is the law for 16 year olds leaving school to participate in further education or training until the age of 18. The Post-16 Neet Team at Worcestershire County Council offer advice, guidance, and support to those young people who are currently Neet.

Ofsted: Ofsted inspect and regulate services who provide training, education and care within England. Their aim is to promote improvement, ensuring high quality service is provided to children and young people.

Preparation for adulthood: As part of the Worcestershire County Council SEND Strategy there is a focus on Preparation for adulthood, with the aim of creating a whole life approach to improve the personal transition experience and journey to adulthood. A multi-agency approach has been taken to offer a wide range of support to children and young people with SEND to enable them to achieve their ambitions.

Pre-School Forum: Children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities are sometimes referred to Pre-School Forum for additional support. This could be through extra Early Years provision, specialist placement, transition support when moving to school, or through the implementation of an EHCP.

Semh: Social, Emotional, and Mental Health. This is a type of special educational need where children have difficulties managing their emotions and behaviour due to Social, Emotional, and/or Mental Health needs.

SENCo: Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator. Every school in the UK is required to have a teacher responsible for special educational needs to enable children and young people to achieve the best educational outcomes.

SEND: Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities.

SEND Code of Practice: 0-25 years: The code of practice provides guidance to organisations who work with and/or provide support to children and young people (0-25 years) with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities. It outlines legal requirements and statutory duties for schools, academies, early years providers and local authorities which focuses on a family- centred system of care and education and covers four broad areas of support: Communication and interaction, Cognition and learning, Social, emotional, and mental health, and Sensory and/or physical needs.

SEND Local Offer: Local authorities in England are required to set out in their Local Offer information about provision they expect to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people in their area who have SEN or are disabled, including those who do not have Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Local authorities must consult locally on what provision the Local Offer should contain.

SEND Sufficiency Report: Worcestershire County Council have a statutory duty to ensure there is sufficiency of school places available to meet the needs of all children and young people within the County, including those with SEND. To ensure the best educational outcomes for all children and young people the report reviews historic demand for school places. This enables future demand to be assessed and monitored to ensure correct provision is in place, to continue to best meet the needs of all children and young people within Worcestershire.

SEND Written Statement of Action: During the 2018 SEND inspection inspectors identified that children and young people with SEND were not being provided with the quality of service and support they are entitled to. In collaboration with the Ccg, Worcestershire County Council produced the SEND Written Statement of Action (an action plan) outlining how Worcestershire will tackle the areas of weakness identified during the inspection.

Short breaks: Short breaks provide families of children and young people with disabilities a break from their caring responsibilities. A short break could last a few hours, a day, an evening, overnight, or for a weekend, and can take place within or away from the home. They can range from an afterschool club, to an overnight stay with a carer or at a short break unit.

Transforming Care: The NHS England’s commitment to improving the care of people with Learning Disabilities, and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder. The aim is to reduce people being admitted to hospital when they don’t need to be, and to encourage early and effective planning to support those leaving hospital.

Wcf: Worcestershire Children First. Worcestershire Children First was a not-for-profit company which is 100% owned by Worcestershire County Council. The company is responsible for the delivery of services to children and young people across Worcestershire.

Why this page, not just a PDF? The original is a PDF - fine to read, but a poor fit for assistive technology: heading structure is often inconsistent or absent, text doesn't reflow for zoom or a narrow screen, and screen readers can struggle with multi-column layouts and scanned pages. This page is the same content rebuilt as plain, semantic HTML - real headings, text that reflows, nothing a screen reader or zoom tool trips over.

Republished from Worcestershire County Council under the Open Government Licence v3.0. View the original PDF.