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Special Educational Needs (SEN) review

Children & Young People Service Development Team - May 2009
sen.admin@kirklees.gov.uk

About the Special Educational Needs (SEN) review
In April 2006 Kirklees Children & Young People Service (ChYPS) was created. It combined social care services for children and young people with the former Education Department services. This meant that all the services were put together in a different way. The review was put in place to look at all the changes and suggest how services could work together better. We also needed to make sure that we have the best possible quality of schools and services for children with SEN.

The report was completed by a company called Cambridge Education in April 2008. It involved a careful look at the range of children's needs, and the provision made for them in mainstream and special schools, and took 4 months to finish.

There are 37 recommendations in all which are described in detail in the report.
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Changes to services following the review
  • Improve all communication between parents, primary and high schools and SEN administrative staff
    • For example on the assessment and statementing procedure.
  • Make sure that all our school buildings are accessible
    • Working with schools to ensure they have an Access Plan. This will benefit children and young people, as plans will set out how schools will reduce and remove inequalities and barriers that some disabled pupils have experienced.
  • Reduce bureaucracy and make paperwork simpler
    • We have put in place a better more straight forward process for access to all services for children and young people with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties called the 'single point of referral'.
  • Improve our schools and services to meet changing needs
    • Making sure that our resourced schools are of the same quality across Kirklees and that they meet the needs of the children placed in them.
  • Make best use of our schools and services
    • At present some schools and services have spaces and some are overstretched. We need to get the balance right.
  • Build up the ability of mainstream secondary schools to meet the needs of children and young people with SEN
    • Mainstream secondary schools are keen to include children with SEN but sometimes need more training and support. At the moment some pupils from resourced mainstream schools are going on to special schools for their secondary education.
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Working groups to implement the changes
The changes are being managed by the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Project Board. Membership includes:
Board members
Name Role Contact details
Karen Worrall Project Leader, Head of Localities Tel: 01484 225163
Email: karen.worrall@kirklees.gov.uk
Judi Bamford Project Manager Tel: 01484 221472
Email: judi.bamford@kirklees.gov.uk
Suzanne Triggs Project Coordinator Tel: 01484 416290
Email: suzanne.triggs@kirklees.gov.uk

The changes are grouped together under different headings. They are being worked on by 5 different working groups. All the groups are made up of parents, primary, middle, secondary and special school headteachers, along with officers and managers from health, social care, higher education and transport.
Working groups
Group Work Leader Contact details
14-19 years Updating the different courses, and extending the opportunities for progression, for disabled young people and young people with learning difficulties aged over 16 at Kirklees College. Denis Grainger Tel: 01484 225016
Email: denis.grainger@kirklees.gov.uk
Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD) To make sure that children and young people with BESD are well supported by local authority services and provisions that are good value for money. Lynn Nickson Tel: 01484 414956
Email: lynn.nickson@kirklees.gov.uk
Resources The work of this group links into all the other working groups. It looks at resourcing their options and recommendations (how best to use money and staff time), ensuring value for money and accountability. Carole Hardern Tel: 01484 225226
Email: carole.hardern@kirklees.gov.uk
Specialist provision Developing high quality special educational needs provision for children and families in Kirklees. Anne Tierney Tel: 01484 225183
Email: anne.tierney@kirklees.gov.uk
Systems and processes To ensure that identifying, assessing and providing for special educational needs is as clear and as straightforward as possible at every age. Judi Bamford Tel: 01484 221472
Email: judi.bamford@kirklees.gov.uk
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