Information to improve services for pupils with SEN
Addressing one of its core priorities to ensure that all children and young people with SEND have their voices heard, The Bexley Pupil Forum is being relaunched. Members of the SEND sub-group were asked, at their meeting of 1st December 2020, to identify secondary-aged pupils with SEND who would be willing to feedback on behalf of their school.
Members also learnt that the Commissioning Intentions of SEN Places 2021/22 document had been updated to ensure that SEN places are available to meet local needs effectively, reducing the number of vacant SEN places and the related funding costs. This is the most downloaded document from the Local Offer page, aiding parents of children with SEND when making their choices about schools.
After viewing geographical maps showing where children with EHC plans or at SEN Support lived and went to school, members gave a number of suggestions as to how this data could be used to best support children with SEN. Most pertained to informing supporting services such as the Early Intervention Team and Children’s Health, so that they could plan effectively; others related to understanding where children went to school (mainstream, resourced provision or special schools) and whether some schools were over or under-identifying need. The information for the maps was taken from the Schools Census (January 2020).
Information was also shared around permanent and fixed term exclusions from school of children with SEN and about how Local Authority services had been restoring and recovering in light of the pandemic.
