Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Service to refresh the Rotherham SEND Strategy, vision and future priorities.  

Recommendations

That Cabinet:

1.    Approve consultation on the refreshed Rotherham SEND Strategy that has been co-produced with partners across the Borough.

2.      Agree to the refreshed SEND Strategy being presented back to Cabinet in late 2024 for formal approval prior to implementation.

The Chair invited Councillor Cusworth, the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People Services to introduce the report. She introduced Helen Sweaton, Joint Assistant Director, Commissioning and Performance and Niall Devlin, Assistant Director, Education and Inclusion.

The report being submitted to Cabinet on Monday 10 June was asking for approval to consult on a refresh of the Rotherham Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Strategy, which set out the priorities and vision for SEND services over the next four years. Following the Joint Local Area SEND inspection in July 2021, along with partners, the Council had worked to deliver the written statement of action to address significant areas of weakness in the local area’s practice. In September 2023, the Improving Lives Select Commission noted feedback from advisers and successful achievement of the required improvements and the successful discharge of priority actions.

To provide additional context, the areas of improvement were quality of education, health and care plans, communication around the local offer, preparation for adulthood and the graduated response. Since that time, the Department for Education (DfE) White Paper on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and also an alternative provision improvement was published in March 2023. The national SEND review set out government proposals for a system that offered children and young people the opportunity to thrive with access to the right support, in the right place and at the right time, enabling them to fulfil their potential to lead happy, healthy and productive adult lives.

It was known that, where possible, it was better for children to access education within mainstream with additional support, because children should be able to play in their communities with their friends that live close by. It had a tremendous effect on children and young people’s sense of wellbeing when they were sent out of area for education, whether that was for alternative provision, which used to be called pupil referral units, or whether it is special educational needs. There would always be some children who needed to access specialist provisions.

It was important that a refreshed vision and a co-produced strategy for SEND services in the borough be developed to reflect the changing environment and the current priorities for children, young people, parents, carers and families. The draft strategy had been developed with partners, including the Rotherham Parent Carer Forum, Special Educational Needs and Disability Information advice and support services, and both special and mainstream schools. The refresh strategy titled ‘My Life, My Rights’ reflected the changing environment and priorities for children and young people, parents and carers.

There were seven sections in the strategy, which were set out in the report. She highlighted the voice of children and young people was very important. The Children and Young People’s Partnership Board had been reinvigorated recently and the young people, who were the guiding voices which was the children of the Parent Carers Forum and those children, themselves who had disabilities and additional needs attended those meetings. That Board was the main point for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5