Reflections from Steve Crocker - 12 December 2024

Hello and welcome to my 11th blog as independent chair of the Oxfordshire SEND Strategic Improvement and Assurance Board (SIAB).

The board met once more on 12 December. 

Chair’s remarks

I began by discussing the importance of staying connected over the winter period. The purpose of the December meeting, which was only a couple of weeks after the last board meeting, was to ensure we have continuous communication as a board and partnership as we enter into the festive season and to address a few agenda items that might not have been covered otherwise. 

First on the agenda was Jules Francis-Sinclair, Chair of Oxfordshire Parent Carers Forum (OxPCF) and her colleague Liz Knight.

OxPCF feedback

Liz noted that there haven’t been significant updates since the last meeting two weeks ago. However, a few key meetings have taken place, including the regional PCF meeting. The forum updated it was wrapping up tasks before the Christmas break and preparing for events and work set to begin again in January.

OxPCF also highlighted the importance of gathering broader parental feedback and incorporating it into their planning and decision-making processes. They are reviewing the various methods used in the feedback loop, aiming to refine these processes and create a positive impact in 2025.

Next on the agenda was Barbara Chillman, Service Manager for Pupil Place Planning, at the county council who provided an update on school places and sufficiency. 

School places 

Barbara provided an update on the sufficiency of education provision for children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs). She discussed the technical aspects of submitting the number of places planned for special schools and resource bases to the Department for Education (DfE). This submission impacts school budgets and is updated annually.

There is a gradual growth in the number of special school places, such as at Bloxham Grove and other schools that have volunteered additional provisions. For example, Springfield School has increased its planned number to 121 by changing the use of a room.

New resource bases – a classroom or area based within a mainstream school, providing enhanced support for pupils with a range of complex needs – are also being established, such as the one at St Frideswide Primary School in Oxford, which will eventually have 16 places, starting with 12 next year. 

Barbara highlighted several upcoming projects, including new special schools in Didcot and Faringdon, and expansions at existing schools like Mabel Prichard and Springfield.

She mentioned the difficulties in forecasting demand for special educational needs provision and the importance of planning for health and therapy services alongside educational expansions. Barbara emphasised the need for early involvement of health services in planning to ensure that the necessary support is available when new provisions are established.

Barbara concluded by summarising some of the other key challenges in delivering additional special education provision. This includes planning the right balance of different types of provision to meet changing patterns of need; availability of suitable sites; the complex multi-stakeholder negotiations required where changes in the use and organisation of the educational estate are proposed; and the approval processes required for new schools, changes to existing schools, and planning permission for construction projects. 

Key performance indicators (KPIs) and infographic

KPIs

Kate Reynolds, Oxfordshire County Council’s Deputy Director of Education, continued the education theme providing highlights from the monthly key performance indicators (KPIs) captured. Kate was joined by Chris Wright, Assistant Director, Partnership Development at NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB) who provided a health update. 

Kate drew attention to the KPI around education, health and care plans (EHCPs) issued within 20 weeks, which has begun to pick up from last month to just under 18 per cent with the cumulative figure being just under 43 per cent (year to date). The percentage of annual reviews remains stable and the proportion of children with EHCPs educated in mainstream has increased by five per cent. 

We also have an increase in young people getting supported in internships. Kate also shared good news around a provisional figure of 7.3 per cent of children with EHCPs working at the expected level at key stage 2, which is above the national average of seven per cent.

Kate shared there had also been an increase in the number of people who had taken the workshops and webinars about living well with neurodivergence.

Chris acknowledged this positive update alongside updating that waiting times for neurodevelopmental assessments have improved compared with this time last year. However, waiting times for occupational therapy and speech and language therapy are continuing to rise. He also highlighted he has provisional data for the number of children and young people on the dynamics support register with an EHCP (53), a slight reduction from last month. Chris confirmed that processes are being established to ensure this data is available and standardised for routine reporting.

I thanked colleagues for all efforts in obtaining and sharing data to monitor and measure improvements on, acknowledging we can and will get better at this. 

Infographic

Charlotte Knowles, Marketing and Campaigns Manager at the county council then followed to present an infographic that was created to respond to parents' requests for clear information on performance improvements. It pulls out some of the key markers in the priority action plan, focusing specifically on those that parents can relate to in the SEND process. This includes website understanding, professional interactions and assessment numbers.

The infographic compares data from July 2023 to November 2024. The aim is to make the data relatable to parents by focusing on specific points in the process that they are likely to encounter. 

The infographic received positive feedback from board members and will be published on the Local Offer shortly. 

Programme update

Lisa Lyons, Director of Children’s Services at the county council closed the meeting with a reflection on the transformation programme. Lisa talked about leading a review of workstream three (right provision, right time, looking to independence) as part of the programme. 

In the early version of the priority action plan, a range of projects covering a wide range of diverse areas were included in workstream three. These now need to be reviewed and realigned in a more logical way to make it easier to identify and evidence the progress that has been made. 

A final update, in November’s blog I shared highlights from the analysis of the parent carer survey that had taken place last summer, which provided insights into the experiences and concerns of parents and carers who took part in the survey. To accompany these, we have now published the report on the county council’s digital engagement and consultation platform, Let’s talk Oxfordshire. The report has been produced by Enventure, a research company that was independently commissioned to analyse the findings. 

As before, a reminder that this survey was conducted at the early stages of our improvement journey. Much work has been undertaken on capturing the voices of children, young people and parent carers and to address the key issues highlighted in the report to improve their overall experience. We are also now looking at new and targeted ways of capturing feedback and measuring improvement at specific service touchpoints from a much wider group of parents and carers of children and young people with a variety of needs.

So that’s it from me for now, and I hope, as always, this is useful. We next meet as a board on 23 January 2025. 

If you are a parent or carer and have any thoughts or comments, please share with OxPCF by emailing info@oxpcf.org.uk. If you are a partner, please do feedback through your organisation. You can find a list of the LAP member representatives on the board on the SEND improvement webpage. Also don’t forget to sign-up to receive the SEND e-newsletter if you’re not already receiving it. 

Until next time. 

Steve Crocker