Ofsted Review of SEN and Disability – A Statement is not Enough

The Ofsted review of SEN and Disability finally emerged last week. The report was trailed with headline messages about the over-identification of children as having SEN when Ofsted assert that they have simply not been taught well enough.

Ofsted concluded that no one model of educational support – such as special schools, full inclusion in mainstream provision, or specialist units co-located with mainstream settings – systematically worked better than any other. The report also found that there is currently too much focus on providing statements of need and checking pupils are getting extra services.

You can download a copy of the report (also in My Documents)but key findings are as follows:

Overall achievement for disabled children and young people and those who had special educational needs was good or outstanding in 41% of the visited provision.

There is a strong focus on assessment in the review with Ofsted expressing concern about what they saw as inconsistencies in the identification of the needs of young people. It was found that parents saw the current system as requiring them to ‘fight for the rights’ of their children, and they often wanted their child to be formally identified as having special educational needs – and especially to have a statement – as their guarantee of additional support.

The review argued that there was a need for greater knowledge and professional expertise in relation to special educational needs and disabilities in information, advice and guidance services.

The report found that schools rarely considered the impact of exclusions and low attendance on the child’s safety. It was even noted that some of the special schools visited were not always robust in challenging the reasons for absence and paid insufficient attention to what the pupil was missing when she or he was absent from school.

In six special schools, outcomes for all children or young people were still, or until very recently had been, evaluated only in terms of whether they had met the targets on their individual education plan.

A general theme of the review was its focus on outcomes and its criticism that some schools or organisation were concentrating simply on what services were being provided or on processes, without focusing enough on the outcomes for individual children.

The report found that whilst for the children with the most obvious and severe needs, access to appropriate provision from a range of services was relatively quick and carried out at an early age. However, it was found that some children were prevented from having access to specialist education provision unless they had a medical diagnosis, even when their needs were apparent.

Ofsted found that even when SEN assessment was accurate, timely, and identified the appropriate additional support, this did not guarantee that the support would be of good quality. This supports the view that whilst commissioning is important there is still a need to ensure provision is of a high standard.

The report found that where children and young people were identified as having special educational needs at any level, with or without a statement, they generally received some additional support or resources. For example, some were allocated support for their behaviour when, in fact, they had specific communication needs.

It was found that in some non-maintained special schools there were assumptions that provision was good unless challenged through Ofsted inspections and reports from school improvement partners. On a more positive note parents and carers of those who attended special schools often cited good staffing levels and access to a range of professionals from different services as their reasons for seeking placements.

The evaluation of progress made by disabled young people and those with special educational needs within post ̶ 16 provision was limited, and Ofsted’s inspectors saw no consistent system for tracking the outcomes across transition from previous placements.

The report found that “middle-class and articulate parents” were more likely to push for schools to register children as having special needs to make sure they got extra help and tuition. Pupils with special needs or a disability were found to be disproportionately from disadvantaged backgrounds, much more likely to be absent or excluded from school.
Anne-Marie

Annemari Ottridge-new Head of Education at Wingrave

A few words from Annemari Ottridge – newly appointed Head of Education at MacIntyre School Wingrave

I am sending my greetings to all of you in cyberspace, only three weeks in post as the new Head of Education at Wingrave School. Both students and staff have made me feel very welcome and I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting lots of new people. New academic year on its way and lots of exciting projects ahead, I cannot wait to be part of all aspects our school life!

For those of you who might be interested about my background, I keep this short and to the point. I graduated in 1989 with a MA from Helsinki University (yes, it is in Finland, and yes, I am Finnish). I taught mainstream primary, worked as a lecturer at the University teaching primary school teachers (Early Years, KS1 and KS2) and PGCE graduates, and continued to study Arts in Education, especially, Drama in Education. Through my studies and links with British Council and some UK universities, I spent a lot of time in UK and during one of those travels I met my husband. The rest is history. I took a career break to be at home with my girls Alex and Anna, and finally went back to teaching after we returned from overseas tour in 2002.

For the last 8 years I have worked for the Vale Federation of Special schools, which consists of two special schools Booker Park and Stocklake Park. I have been fortunate to work with students from 3 – 19+ with a wide range of needs: PMLD, SLD, MLD, BESD, ASD and complex needs. I joined the organisation as a specialist teacher for ICT and Science, eventually taking the post of Head of Secondary and 6th Form as Deputy Headteacher.

Things close to my heart professionally are: Person Centred Approaches, Person Centred Planning and Year 9 PCP Transition reviews; Students’ Voice; Lifelong learning, Adaptive Leadership and Coaching. My interests outside work are running, golf, surfing, skiing and music.

Look forward to working with you all and wish you a very enjoyable and exciting Autumn term.

Annmari

Consultation Response

On Friday 10th September, the Department for Education announced the pre-cursor to the much-awaited SEN Green Paper. We understand that the key areas of focus for the Green Paper are likely to be:-
The experience of children and young people with SEN and their families
Early Years
Achievement in Schools
Post 16/Transition
System wide reform and funding

NASS (the National Association for Non Maintained and Independent Special Schools) of which both MacIntyre Schools are members will be preparing a response to the consultation that runs until 15th October.The Green Paper itself is most likely to be out in December 2010, after the next White Paper has been announced. Watch this space!
If you are interested, the consultation can be downloaded from: http://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm?action=consultationDetails&consultationId=1736&external=no&menu=1