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Agenda item

Agenda item

DIVISIONAL 3-YEAR STRATEGIES EDUCATION & SEND

The Principal Education Officer submits a report to update Members of the CYP&E Scrutiny Commission on the Divisional 3-year strategies for Education and SEND.

 

The Commission are asked to note the Education and SEND 3-year Divisional Strategies as part of the suite of Divisional Strategies in the Department.

Minutes:

Martin Samuels, Strategic Director for Social Care and Education, introduced the item. It was noted that when he wanted all parts of the Social Care Services to have a clear sense of what outcomes were desired. In line with this each division in the department came up with a standard-format, 3-year strategy. The goal was to make these strategies readable for the general public. These strategies would feed into a living implementation plan.

 

Sue Welford, Principal Education Officer, presented the 3-year strategy for the Education division. It was noted that:

 

·         Five priorities for improvement were set out in the strategy.

·         There was a need to strengthen partnerships with schools.

·         There was a need to improve engagement and promote inclusion for those CYP missing out on quality education.

 

Tracie Rees, Director for Adult Social Care and Commissioning, presented the 3-year strategy for SEND. It was noted that:

 

Tracie Rees, Director for Adult Social Care and Commissioning, presented the 3-year strategy for SEND. It was noted that:

 

·         There were 3000 CYP in the city who had care plans, and 7000 who had SEN but had no care plan.

·         The strategy had been  developed in conjunction with the parent and carer forum.

·         Priorities included greater co-production with bodies such as the parent and carer forum and big mouth forum, and a greater focus on inclusion to enable SEN CYP to be educated in mainstream schools.

·         There was a need to manage the increase in SEN CYP.

·         Making sure SEN CYP were prepared for adulthood and could have a smooth transition into Adult Social Care Services was also a priority.

 

In response to Member’s questions, it was noted that:

 

·         These strategies would be able to help form the case why maintained schools should stay with the Local Authority instead of becoming academies.

·         The hope was to bring targets on attainment into the core education strategy.

·         The groups outlined in priority 5 on the education strategy were those demographics of CYP doing statistically poorer in Leicester compared to the national level. Priority 4 of the strategy spoke about improving outcome for all CYP to prepare for life destinations.

·         There was a number of CYP coming off the school roll due to moving or emigrating, the Service worked with the Home Office to monitor this. The Service also worked with CYP coming into the city, supporting them to get a school place which also required working with local partners.

·         There was a national rise in CYP receiving home schooling which was being seen in Leicester, this included SEN CYP. However several of those who had left the school roll were now reapplying to get school places.

·         The teaching school hubs for Leicester were based in Rushey Mead Academy and Christ the King Primary, each hub had it’s own priorities and Key performance Indicators.  

·         Sector lead improvement work was on a regional level, based on sharing good practice, in this case on early years work.

·         Various assistive technologies were currently being used for SEN CYP. Moving forward a wide range of assistive technologies would be looked at, the main focus in this area was maintaining best practice.

·         The ethos for the departmental strategy was a person-centred approach, enabling people to live the life they choose. This ethos was captured in the core statement for the department.

·         Collaboration with academies would be required as 40% of pupils in the city were now in academies.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.    That the Commission notes the divisional 3-year strategies.

Supporting documents: