Health practitioners “do not routinely notify support services about pre-school children who have or are likely to have SEND”, according to the joint inspection team from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission.
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Special Report: Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
Without this information the council and schools “cannot accurately plan services for the future”, they detail in their report, following a visit in September.
Also, schools need to do more to identify pupils’ needs earlier. In some cases the needs of children are not identified until they attend alternative provision settings after being excluded.
“Although pupils’ needs are well met” once they have been recognised, inspectors found that they “struggle to reintegrate back into school because their needs were identified too late”.
Lack of early identification is part of a raft of failures across the London borough in supporting children with special needs or disabilities.
Health practitioners are “not visible partners” in supporting children’s education, health and care (EHC) plans or helping them prepare for adulthood. Planning for this transition stage in their lives is described by inspectors as “underdeveloped”.
When young people reach 16 support is being delivered outside of the borough, but inspectors found they would prefer to access support in Lewisham.
“There is further work to do to ensure that young people with SEND consistently benefit from access to meaningful employment and education and training that they are interested in and that meets their aspirations,” they added.
In addition, records are not being updated for children with learning disabilities, and children must wait over a year for autism or ADHD assessments.
“The long wait can be difficult for some children and young people and their families as their needs are not consistently well understood and managed in schools and settings,” say inspectors.
Inspectors are calling on the council to ensure support across education, employment and training is offered locally and improvements are made in record keeping around children with learning disabilities.
EHC plans need to improve in both “quality and timeliness” and waiting times for assessments need to be cut.
Inspectors suggest they are optimistic improvements can be made after praising local leaders for having a “commitment” to keeping the views of families and children “at the centre of planning and decision-making”
“There is a clear moral imperative to do the right thing for children and young people,” they added.
“We are determined to ensure that all our children can have the right start in life,” said Chris Barnham, Lewisham Council’s cabinet member for children and young people.
“Good support for children with special educational needs is an important part of that. I am pleased that the inspection recognised our ambition and the strong work that the council, schools and our health partners are doing.”
He added that the council will “soon publish a refreshed SEND Strategy which will tackle the inspectors’ recommendations and set out an ambitious forward plan”.
