Recommendation 1 update
Recommendation 1 - Leaders in education, health and social care are empowered to drive forward improvements at pace so that the Southend SEND Partnership strategy impacts positively on the experiences and outcomes of all children and young and people with SEND.
What we have done so far:
- Revised the membership SEND specific meetings across the SEND partnership, to widen multi-agency representation and to include schools and parent voice.
- Strengthened reporting from key area leads to SEND specific meetings and the Health and Well-Being Board
- Leaders in Health, Education and Social Care have co-produced the area partnership’s draft self-evaluation, which now includes Alternative Provision and SEND as an integrated system.
- The review of the Integrated Care Board has been completed with roles identified that support the SEND and Children's agenda.
- Work has begun that will reshape education services to better meet the needs of children and young people with SEND and their families.
- Created a Headteachers SEND Forum that supports wider consultation and feedback with regards to service improvement
The difference this makes:
- New governance arrangements have led to clearer functions for reporting and tracking progress against strategic action plan across meetings.
- SEND Strategic Board members have clearer oversight of the delivery of SEND Services and the impact of them.
- Leaders in Health, Education and Social Care are held to account on the delivery of services.
- There is greater stakeholder engagement through the creation of the SEND Headteachers Forum, SEND Network and Educational Strategy Group
- Southend SEND Independent Forum (SSIF) remain equal partners to policy development and strategic planning.
- Leaders have been empowered to take improvement actions.
- Schools are now more engaged with the shaping of services and have a better understanding of the wider picture.
What we need to develop:
The senior leadership teams need to get better at Quality Assurance and holding services to account.
Next steps:
The area's Strategic Action Plan will be reviewed in light of self-evaluation, feedback from stakeholders and the Health and Wellbeing Board.