With some families struggling to get support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities,
Ofsted's recent Big Listen consultation highlighted significant ongoing concerns about provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
“Families shared heartbreaking stories of their fight to get the right support,” said Ofsted's national director for social care and regulation Yvette Stanley.
“Frustrated professionals told us they are striving to do their best for children and young people with SEND but are hamstrung by a lack of resources.”
As a result the regulator committed to taking various steps to increase its focus on how providers were meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND.
These include introducing new inspection criteria for inclusion as part of an overhaul of the education inspection framework, currently being consulted on.
Ofsted pledged to improve SEND training for inspectors through its new Ofsted Academy and to recruit more SEND specialists.
The regulator also said it would make changes to area inspections of SEND provision carried out jointly with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
SEND inspection framework
In 2023 Ofsted and the CQC launched a new SEND inspection framework, promising more emphasis on the experiences of children with SEND and their families.
The framework also introduced “engagement meetings” between Ofsted, the CQC and local partners to take stock of progress between inspections.
Towards the end of last year the two regulators embarked on a review of the SEND inspection framework. In the meantime, monitoring inspections, which check on progress to address significant weaknesses in SEND provision have been paused.
Under the current inspection framework, local partnerships receive one of three outcomes. Areas can be judged to have arrangements that typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children with SEND; arrangements that lead to inconsistent experiences with improvements needed; or widespread and/or systemic failings that lead to significant concerns about children's experiences and outcomes.
Analysis of inspection findings by parent-led website Special Needs Jungle shows the majority of provision inspected over the last two years fall into the middle category where provision is “inconsistent”.
Of the 54 SEND area inspections graded so far, 48% resulted in an “inconsistent” rating. Roughly a quarter – 26% – led to a “positive” rating while 26% raised “significant concerns” with provision.
SEND inspections identify areas for improvement as well as areas for priority action. The analysis by Special Needs Jungle shows the most common areas for priority action were poor leadership and joint working between education, health and social care.
Inspectors also highlighted serious problems or delays with education, health and care plans (EHCPs).
Areas most commonly identified for improvement include provision for neurodivergent children and young people, mental health and speech and language therapy with many families facing long waits for assessments.
Ofsted and the CQC have said they will not be making fundamental changes to how SEND inspections work in practice such as how often inspections take place or the evaluation criteria.
However, they will look at how well some aspects – including monitoring inspections and engagement meetings – support partners to make improvements.
Reducing workload
The review will also consider how to reduce the workload for areas being inspected, including when it comes to the information they must provide, and improve training for inspectors to help them lead such complex inspections.
In a blog about the review, Stanley acknowledged children's services leaders' frustration at being held to account for national and systemic challenges that are out of their control.
“Some want us to stop inspection until there is national reform of the SEND system,” she wrote. “But we think it is important SEND inspections continue. They provide an important voice for children with SEND and their families and they hold leaders to account for their vital role in providing high-quality services.”
The review is set to conclude this spring with findings due to be published in the summer.
INSPECTION SHORTS
SCHOOLS
Ofsted will visit about 240 providers to test its plans for a new approach to inspecting education. Inspectors will visit a range of settings to see how new inspections will work in practice. About half of the voluntary visits will be full trial inspections while the other half will test specific aspects of the new regime or feature two inspectors to check whether they follow the same process and come to the same conclusions.
YOUTH JUSTICE
Haringey Youth Justice service has been rated “good” following an inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation. Inspectors praised the service's focus on education, training and employment including the Dusty Knuckles training programme for over-16s, run with a local bakery firm. Areas for improvement included strengthening assessments of young offenders to reduce the risk of harm to others.
EARLY YEARS
Ofsted says it is working with the government to ensure funding for early years settings is not disrupted by changes to inspections. Funding for nurseries and other childcare is often dependent on inspection grades. Chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver told delegates at the recent Nursery World conference the regulator was working with the Department for Education “to maintain continuity in this funding as our approach and our grades change”.
EDUCATION
Curriculum quality in schools has improved since the launch of the current education inspection framework (EIF), according to new research by Ofsted. The research is based on visits to 20 schools before and after the launch of the EIF. It found the overall quality of the curriculum had improved and it was more likely to be ambitious across all subjects. The study found the inspection regime had influenced school leaders' thinking. Ofsted said its new inspection framework would incorporate the best of the EIF, including its focus on curriculum quality.
HEALTH
A specialist mental health service for expectant and new mothers run by Leeds and York Partnership NHS Trust has been rated “good” following its first inspection. The perinatal mental health service includes an eight-bed ward for women in late stages of pregnancy or with a child under one who are experiencing significant mental health problems. An unannounced inspection by the Care Quality Commission in September last year found a safe and caring environment where mothers and their partners were involved in devising treatment plans. However, not all staff had completed mandatory training.
BEDFORD: CULTURE OF WORKING WITH CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Services for children and young people with SEND in Bedford were given the top rating by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission following an inspection in November last year.
Bedford Borough Council and NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board are responsible for planning and commissioning services.
Inspectors found SEND provision typically led to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND and partners were taking action where improvements were needed.
“In general, children and young people get strong support,” says the inspection report. “They usually experience a team of expert and committed professionals working in a joined-up way to help them.”
The inspection found children “have their voices heard effectively” and there was a culture of working with children and families meaning there were few complaints or appeals.
A Parents and Carers Forum plays a key role in shaping strategy and services.
Some families have less positive experiences but inspectors found the partners worked with them to try and resolve problems.
The report highlights the creation of an “inclusive park” – an outdoor play area featuring equipment that can be used by all children with SEND including a wheelchair-accessible roundabout, trampoline and see-saw.
“This is one example of effective co-working with children and young people with SEND from the ground up,” says the inspection report.
Inspectors found the needs of children and young people with SEND were mostly identified early and accurately across education, health and social care and that education, health and care plans (EHCPs) were completed with “excellent timeliness”.
Some children and young people were waiting too long for neurodevelopmental assessments but they could still access support such as mentoring and gaming groups ahead of getting a diagnosis.
Another area for improvement was the support on offer in schools. “A few children and young people with SEND have not had their needs identified and met successfully. Sometimes this has resulted in a crisis,” says the report. “Many have been suspended or excluded from school when this might have been avoided.”
Inspectors found the partnership had taken urgent action to address this including reviewing alternative education provision, which can help reduce the risk of exclusion. The number of exclusions has since fallen.
Inspectors said the partners needed to do more to ensure school staff were able to identify and support children's additional needs – especially when it came to pupils who do not have an EHCP.
Beford Borough Council said the inspection findings were encouraging but acknowledged there was room for improvement.
“As an area SEND partnership we recognise that some children and families have not had positive experiences or outcomes and we know there is still work to do in some areas,” said a spokesperson.
“We are confident that through our strong partnership working and through continued co-production with the Parent Carer Forum we can continue to build on the strengths identified and to address the areas that require further improvement to ensure all children with SEND have positive experiences and outcomes.”
