Bexley supports EHC Plans for children with SEN
Although it is known that some boroughs support children with SEND without going through the formal process of securing education and healthcare plans, there are several risks to children and to the local authority in doing this, SEND sub-group members learnt, at their meeting of 12th September 2019. Not only would high needs funding be used without an assessment, but children without an EHCP would have no automatic right to the same level of support if they moved to another borough and their parents/ carers would have no right of appeal over the level of support their child was offered. As the Quality First Teaching and SEN Support Toolkit was just being embedded in schools, sub-group members believed that it was not the right time to test another system, although they agreed to review this in a year’s time.
The Quality First Teaching and SEN Support Toolkit was launched to head teachers and SENCos in summer 2019 and has been received positively by schools, parents/ carers and other stakeholders.
In the meeting it was agreed that Head Teacher Forum on 6th December 2019 be used to share information about the Educational Psychologist service to schools; this followed a discussion which highlighted the difference in perception of the service between head teachers and SENCos around the usefulness of planning meetings, the timeliness of report-writing and the cost of EP time.
Head Teacher Forum on 16th March 2020 will be where new guidance for head teachers around Deferred Entry into Reception is likely to be launched and the Capturing Pupil Voice Toolkit would now be launched at the Spring SENCo Forum.
