Report of the Director of Education

Manchester’s vision is that all children should be safe, happy, healthy and successful and that disabled children can be independent and have choices. This report outlines the continued work coproduced with parents/carers and children/young people to improve the experience of children with special educational needs or disability and their families and provides information on the local offer available to support them to achieve these outcomes. The report also provides an update on progress with actions following the Local Area SEND inspection in November 2021 and ILACs inspection in March 2022 as well as an update on the new inspection framework for SEND.

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Education which outlined the continued work coproduced with parents/carers and children/young people to improve the experience of children with SEND and their families and provided information on the local offer available to support them to achieve these outcomes. The report also provided an update on progress with actions following the Local Area SEND inspection in November 2021 and ILACs inspection in March 2022 as well as an update on the new inspection framework for SEND.

Key points and themes in the report included:

• New inspection framework;
• Overall school population with SEND;
• Provision in Manchester;
• Education;
• Health;
• Care;
• Joint commissioning;
• Coproduction with parents, carers, children and young people; and
• Next steps.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To welcome the positive report and thank everyone involved for the work that had been done;
• Children who had not yet been assessed as having SEND and were not receiving the support they and their families needed;
• Concern about children with SEND in Elective Home Education;
• Preparation for adulthood, including moving towards greater independence and transition to adult social care, where necessary;
• The benefits of parents receiving support from other parents with children with SEND, including recognising the work of the Parent Carer Forum;
• The barriers to accessing activities for children with SEND, including children who were neurodiverse, and the benefits of projects which enabled them to access physical activities such as climbing and gymnastics;
• Families with English as an Additional Language; and
• To request that a breakdown of children with SEND by ethnicity be included in a future report.

The SEND Lead reported that there were some waiting lists for assessment, particularly in relation to the social communication pathway, which included autism, and that these had been lengthened because of the pandemic.  She reported that once children were on the pathway the experience and outcomes were more positive.  She advised that, due to the pandemic, children had experienced much less social interaction, and, therefore, more children, particularly children in early years, were displaying difficulties in communication and interaction with their peers and the level of referrals into a range of services had significantly increased.  She reported that the Council was working with a range of partners, including the health service, schools and parents, to ensure that needs were met while children were waiting for a diagnosis, including providing training for schools and special schools supporting mainstream schools.  She also reported that the Riding the Rapids course for parents and carers of children with autism had been extended to those who were waiting for a diagnosis and that parents and schools could refer a child to the M-Thrive hubs if they were concerned about their well-being while they were waiting for a diagnosis.  She informed Members about the SEND information, advice and support service, which, she advised, could provide interpreters where necessary, and SEND Local Offer drop-ins, which were another way for parents to get advice and information in a range of community languages and which were attended by representatives of the Parent Champion Group.  In response to a Member’s question, she informed the Committee about the role of specialist Health Visitors who supported children aged 0 – 5 with SEND and their families.  She also informed Members about a new tool being piloted which Health Visitors would be using to screen children from age 1 upwards.  In response to a question about the reasons for the higher percentage of children with SEND in Manchester and why this was increasing, she reported that there was a range of factors including the higher levels of disadvantage in the city and, that due to legislative changes, parents now viewed getting an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) as a way of getting support for their child so they were more likely to request one.  In response to a Member’s question about the late diagnosis of autism in girls, she informed Members about the Autism in Schools programme, which she advised there was a lot of learning from, and she offered to provide further information on this in a future report.  In response to the comments about accessing leisure activities, she reported that there was now an extensive community offer for children with SEND and that she would welcome suggestions of other providers.  She advised that the Local Offer and Engagement Team was working to break down barriers to accessing community activities with the aim of making all activities accessible to all children and young people.

Tom Dainty from Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership confirmed that there had been a higher level of referrals but that this had not necessarily led to a higher level of diagnosis.  He informed the Committee about four autism hubs which were being set up in Manchester and the development of a new model for under-5s which identified needs and looked at ways to meet the needs rather than waiting for a diagnostic pathway, advising that this approach had worked successfully elsewhere, notably in Portsmouth.  A Member welcomed this and requested that further information on this model be included in a future report.  In response to a question about how parents and carers could be supported, including while they were waiting for an assessment, he informed Members about a neurodiversity toolkit for parents and carers which was being used elsewhere the country and which they were looking at utilising in Manchester.

Jordan Navarro from the Parent Carer Forum highlighted the benefits of responding to the child’s observable needs.  He welcomed that the SEND Community Offer was open to children who did not have a recognised diagnosis and that the whole family could attend the activities, not just the child with SEND.  In response to a Member’s question, he outlined how the Forum was being, and could continue to be, supported, including financial and resource support, promotion of activities and good communication and co-production with partners, including partners communicating with smaller groups set up to support parents.

In response to a Member’s question, the Director of Education reported that, where a mainstream school commissioned a temporary place at another school for a child on their roll, the school where they were on roll was responsible for issues such as transport, rather than the local authority.  The Member requested that officers look into this issue as she reported that in some cases families were not receiving support with transport when it was needed.

The Service Manager (Transition) reported that early identification was important to a smooth transition to adult social services and working systematically to identify people who the service already knew about.  She reported that a Project Manager was being recruited to recognise from the age of 14 who might require adult social care or adult health services and to encourage people to make a referral at an earlier stage. She advised that preparation for adulthood should be considered from Year 9 for a young person with an EHCP and she outlined multi-agency work to address this.  She reported that her team were working alongside Children’s Services and Education Services to meet with young people and their families to discuss what they wanted for their future at an early stage. The Assistant Director of Education reported that, in addition to the transition work outlined, independence was embedded in planning for children with SEND throughout their childhood, from when they were diagnosed, for example, looking at travel training to help them to become more independent.

In response to a question about Home School Transport, the Director of Education informed Members that a new policy was being implemented.  She highlighted some of the challenges in this area, including recruitment of drivers and passenger assistants and access to transport, and advised that a range of solutions were used, including giving families budgets to get their child to school and providing travel training to help children with SEND learn to travel independently.

The Chair highlighted the shift towards greater independence and independent learning for young people with SEND.  She expressed concern that Early Years provision could be too chaotic for autistic children and that not all staff in the sector had a good understanding of the needs of children with SEND.  She praised the Grange School and encouraged Members to visit it.  She expressed concern that there were not sufficient numbers of Health Visitors to identify all children with SEND at the earliest stage.  She also expressed concern that there was insufficient funding for the High Needs Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant and about the impact of the pandemic.  She welcomed the adoption of the new approach referred to which had been used successfully in Portsmouth, the Health Visitor pilot for screening children from the age of 1 and the planned new special school in north Manchester.

Decision

To request that a breakdown of children with SEND by ethnicity and further information on the Portsmouth model be included in a future report.