Oxfordshire SEND local offer

Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) improvement

Our local area partnership work to improve services

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SEND services are provided by the Local Area Partnership which works to improve services for families, children and young people.

What is the Local Area Partnership?

The local area partnership comprises:

  • Oxfordshire County Council
  • Oxfordshire Education Schools and Settings
  • NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB)
  • Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
  • Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH)
  • Oxfordshire Parent Carer Forum (OxPCF), the official body for the voice of parent carers. 

Oxfordshire County Council and BOB ICB are jointly responsible for the planning and commissioning of services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Oxfordshire. 

The SEND Strategic Improvement and Assurance Board

The Oxfordshire SEND Strategic Improvement and Assurance Board was established to drive the action required to deliver better services for SEND children, young people and their families. 

The board is made up of senior leaders from across the partnership. Steve Crocker (former Director of Children’s Services at Hampshire County Council and was a former President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services) is the board’s independent chair.  

Improvement Journey

July 2023 - Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission inspected services for children and young people with SEND provided by Oxfordshire’s local area partnership.  

November 2023, the Department for Education published an improvement notice, which was issued to the county council. Read the partnership’s response in its news story. 

Priority Action Plan 

December 2023, Ofsted approved the partnership’s priority action plan (pdf format, 827 KB)

Transformation roadmap 

 January 2024 to April 2025  special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) roadmap (pdf format 2MB) a high-level overview of the key milestones and activities for the local area partnership’s SEND transformation programme.  A glossary of terms and abbreviations used when talking about SEND has been developed to support this roadmap.

Progress made

October 2025 

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reported that the local area partnership has taken effective action in all five areas that had previously been identified as priorities. Acknowledge still some more work to do so that all families have a consistent and high quality experience 

Inspectors find effective progress in Oxfordshire’s SEND services

2026 

A new Local Area Partnership SEND improvement plan is currently being developed in response to the improvements identified.

Find out more about what the plan means in practice.

Video transcript

Lisa Lyons, Director of Children’s Services

I know that there is work to be done and improvements made.

We have developed a significant improvement plan.

Our aim to get to children and their families the right help at the right time.

It can prevent issues for them increasing. It can assist with anxiety and it can help children succeed and that’s why it’s so important to listen. Not only to parents and carers but to children and young people.

Mel Carruthers, SENDCO

SENDCOs have to be more proactive and find different initiatives and find different ways of meeting the needs of children. But the most exciting thing is when you do that and the reward for that is just amazing. 

It is busy, it can be challenging but there is increasing support available. And schools are working really hard to be completely inclusive, 

Tracey Holme, SENDCO

All children being included in all areas of the curriculum as a primary school SENDCO that’s really important. 

I think as a SENDCO, partnership is important. You can feel very much like an island because you are the only person in your school that’s doing that role. So partnership as a SENDCO is very important with the external agencies and with county.

I think county has got a lot better with communicating with SENDCOs. There are new initiatives that have been coming out over the last couple of years.

Deb Smit, Head of SEND

We are committed to improving outcomes for children and young people. Part of understanding that is to listen to the views of children and young people and their families and act on those view.

We really nee dot understand the lived experience of children, young people and their families so that we can improve our services and improve their experience.

We’re in a period of reviewing resetting and then rebuilding to make sure that we have high quality services right across the system that are consistently delivered to improve outcomes for children and young people.

We’re on a journey of change in Oxfordshire and that can take some time. We can only do this if we do it together.

Information and Support for SEND

SEND Local Offer Website - Online support for parents and carers of children with SEND can be found on our local offer webpages.

SEND e-newsletters

Parents and carers can sign up to receive a SEND e-newsletter to get the latest news from us. Families can read previous updates online.

Parents and carers can also read OxPCF’s SEND Connect newsletters, which include news and information from across the local area partnership.

SEND coordinators can also sign-up to receive a dedicated e-newsletter. 

Progress updates can be read on the news area of our website (linked)

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    Oxfordshire County Council

    County Hall, New Road, Oxford, OX1 1ND