Report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services

This report sets out in detail the legal and strategic context in which services are delivered to children with SEND, a profile/demography of need in Manchester and an outline of the advice, support and services that are available for children and their families.  In addition, the report details how children and their families are influencing and shaping how agencies/services work together so that Manchester City Council and its partners continually improve the experiences and outcomes of children with SEND.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services which set out in detail the legal and strategic context in which services were delivered to children with SEND, a profile/demography of need in Manchester and an outline of the advice, support and services that were available for children and their families.  In addition, the report detailed how children and their families were influencing and shaping how agencies and services worked together so that Manchester City Council and its partners continually improved the experiences and outcomes of children with SEND.  It reported that investment in modern, energy efficient and high quality education infrastructure would drive reductions in carbon across the estate of schools.

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the report which included:

·         Overall population with SEND;

·         How parents’/carers’ and children’s and young people’s views impacted on strategic decisions;

·         The Local Offer;

·         How an integrated transparent pathway allowed parents and young people to access services across education, health and social care;

·         How children and young people with SEND had their needs met through excellent education, health and care services, jointly commissioned where appropriate;

·         Preparing for Adulthood (PfA);

·         Improved outcomes and standards across education and training; and

·         The workforce.

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

·         To recognise the good work taking place in this area;

·         How parents could be assisted to obtain the right adaptations for their children;

·         Transport, including travel training;

·         That mainstream schools which had a reputation for providing high quality support to pupils with SEND attracted more pupils with SEND and that this could place additional budget pressures on the school, particularly where children did not yet have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP);

·         The importance of early identification of SEND;

·         That some children with SEND benefited from being in a special school which had high aspirations for them but that for most children, including those with moderate learning difficulties, being in an inclusive, mainstream school was the best option; and

·         Support for young people once they left school, including support for a transition to adult social care and health services.

The SEND Lead informed Members about work taking place to streamline the assessment and provision of equipment for children with mobility needs, for use both at school and in the home, and advised that officers would be able to provide further information at a future meeting as this work progressed. 

The SEND Lead informed Members that approximately 35 pupils per year received travel training through a contract with the Travel Training Partnership which gave them the skills to travel to school independently and also to travel for leisure activities, which the young people found valuable.  She reported that some short break providers were also being asked to help young people to develop the skills to travel independently and that schools would be offered training on how to deliver travel training to pupils with SEND, to enable more pupils to benefit from this.  The Director of Education informed Members that officers were in discussions with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) about improving transport for young people with SEND, including the issuing of concessionary passes, and that a meeting was being arranged between young people from the Changemakers group and TfGM so that the young people could raise their issues directly.

The Head of Schools Quality Assurance and Strategic SEND informed the Committee that, if a school was facing financial challenges due to a high proportion of pupils with SEND, there was a mechanism for reviewing its funding, although she advised that there had only been one school so far where it had been considered appropriate to make adjustments to the budget.

The Head of Schools Quality Assurance and Strategic SEND informed Members that information on work to identify children with SEND at the earliest stage was covered in the Early Years report which had also been submitted to the Committee.  She reported that a key element of the new Inclusion Strategy was the identification of any SEND, particularly Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs.  Darren Parsonage from MHCC reported that girls tended to be better at hiding their needs, which might delay an autism diagnosis, but that the social communication pilot in south Manchester was identifying girls’ needs earlier which would ensure they got the right support as soon as possible.

The Executive Member for Children and Schools highlighted the budget pressures which schools and councils were facing on a national level.  He reported that the budget proposals due to be considered at the Budget Council meeting on 6 March 2020 included additional resources for the Statutory Assessment Team which dealt with EHCPs and that an additional £20 million had already been agreed to fund more special school places.  The Chair advised Members that, although funding for the High Needs Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant had been increased this year, this followed several years of under-funding, and that Members should continue to campaign for more funding.

A Member who was also a Parent Champion and a member of Manchester Parent Carer Forum outlined how parents of children with SEND were supporting each other and arranging activities where these were not already available in the local area.  She advised the Committee that work was still ongoing and there was still room for improvement but that, as long as these issues were being discussed and parents were being included in these conversations, further progress could be made.  The SEND Lead read out some comments from Jordan Navarro from Manchester Parent Carer Forum which recognised the multi-agency work taking place and the progress made so far to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND.  In his comments, he advised that there was a lot more work to be done but that he was confident that further progress would be made, working in collaboration with parents and carers.

The SEND Lead reported that the local authority and health services now had responsibility for supporting young people with SEND up to the age of 25.  She informed Members that significant work was taking place with partners, including adult social services, health services and education, to improve the transition for young people who would require support into adulthood and ensure that they were able to have a good life as adults.

Decisions

1.            To encourage Members to lobby the government for more funding for pupils with SEND.

2.            To note that Ofsted inspection reports for special schools are being monitored through the Ofsted Subgroup.

[Samantha Barnwell declared a personal interest as a Parent Champion and a member of the steering group for the Manchester Parent Carer Forum.]

[Councillor Wilson declared a personal interest as a governor at Broad Oak Primary School.]

[Councillor Stone declared a personal interest as a governor at Manchester Secondary Pupil Referral Unit.]