Issue - meetings

Background:

This report provided details of the work recently undertaken by the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Monitoring Group and included its findings and recommendations.

It was reported that the Children and Adults Overview and Scrutiny Committee in 2009 had agreed that this task group should be established to review the SEN strategy and policy and consider provision, impact on children and families and financial implications.

This report provided details of the work undertaken by the group, which included visits and evidence sessions. The findings had been considered and referred to Cabinet by the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 20 January 2011.

Reasons:

Medway’s special schools are full and requiring additional capacity and the group recognised that despite the current financial constraints, investment was needed where possible.

This report details the findings and recommendations of the Special Educational Needs Monitoring Group. 

Discussion:

The Chairman and the Assistant Director for Inclusion introduced the report on behalf of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Monitoring Group, highlighting the findings of the group and explaining that the current Diversity Impact Assessment for SEN provision, referred to in the report, was tabled at the meeting for the committee’s information.

The committee then debated the report and asked various questions which included: -

·        clarity about the figures of children and young people in school and the proportion that have SEN;

·        reasons for the high SEN diagnosis in Medway;

·        the required spend on SEN provision to realise future savings in enabling children to receive provision in Medway, rather than at expensive out of area placements;

·        importance of recognising when a child was under achieving, rather than requiring SEN.

Members suggested that the recommendation to Cabinet, detailed in paragraph 10.2 of the report, should be strengthened.

The Headteacher representative also referred to material that was provided to her Inclusion Leader who was currently undertaking an accredited course for SEN Co-ordinators (SENCOs).  She explained that she found the material useful in auditing the processes in place at her school and that it should be shared more widely.

Decision: 

(1)               The committee acknowledged the findings of the SEN Monitoring Group and the progress in provision and increased capacity for Medway to accommodate children with SEN;

(2)               The committee recommended the Cabinet to acknowledge the urgent and dire need to invest in Medway’s special schools, which require improvements to their accommodation, as identified in Medway’s SEN Policy and Strategy and that where funding can be secured, this be used to improve the facilities for children with the highest needs of special education;

(3)               The committee recommended the Cabinet to delegate the Director of Children and Adults to review the findings against the outcomes of the forthcoming Green Paper on SEN;

(4)               The committee recommended officers to share with schools material provided to SEN Co-ordinators (SENCOs) on the accredited course.