31 October 2024

Welcome

This edition is another SEND improvements special. We have updates to share with you from the last 3 months of work against our SEND improvement Plan. This is our plan to make things better against 2 'priority' areas and 5 'improvement' areas that Ofsted and the CQC wanted to see from the council and health services.

In this issue:

Hear about the progress we made on SEND improvements in July - September 2024

Our progress update on the SEND Priority Action and Improvement plan for July - September 2024 is now live. 

If you don't have time to read the whole thing, here are some highlights:

👩🏻‍🤝‍🧑🏽Recruitment complete for EHCP services: We have reached our recruitment target into services that manage our statutory duties, with 138 new staff. Now, we turn our focus to retention, and we have more statistics to share with you on our performance to deliver the EHCP process.

👩‍🏫 Annual reviews training: We delivered annual review training to 431 professionals from schools and settings.

👨‍👧‍👦 Hearing the voices of children and young people: Our Experts by Experience have started working across the partnership, and we are hosting 8 supported interns across health and SEND services.

🧠 New resources about neurodiversity: There is now a Neurodiversity Service Directory (PDF 191kb) and a comprehensive Neurodiversity Handbook (PDF 6.6mb) to support families.

🏫 Improved processes for specialist provision request: The number of Placement and Provision panels has increased from 1 to 8 per month.

Read our full update on our SEND Improvement Plan progress so far.

Webinar: The right education, in the right place, at the right time: enhancing inclusive mainstream schools and increasing specialist provision in Hertfordshire

 Wednesday 27 November, 7.30pm - 8.30pm, MS Teams

Hear from leaders at the council talk about how we’re addressing the increased need for specialist provision in Hertfordshire. They will be sharing information about:

  • the work we are doing to increase specialist provision in Hertfordshire
  • details of our new model for provision panels
  • the work we are doing to create more inclusive mainstream schools. 

 If there are any questions you would like to have answered during the session, please email them to sendstrategy@hertfordshire.gov.uk before 11pm on Monday 18 November. We will theme up the questions we get and try to answer as many as we can during the session. We can’t respond to questions about specialist provision for individual children, but we will address the general questions we know a lot of families have about this topic.

Save this joining link, which you can use to join the meeting at 7.30pm on Wednesday 27 November:

Webinar joining link

Meeting ID: 376 847 150 22

Passcode: 9b4935

You can express your attendance on our Facebook event too, where you can also find the link.

Special school enlargement plan gets green light to proceed to next stage

A resolution to grant planning permission to relocate and expand Breakspeare school was made on Thursday 24 October at the Development Control Commitee.

Next, the decision will be impartially reviewed by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. If they give approval, we will grant the planning permission, with conditions attached (these are certain conditions which must be met before building work can begin). 

Councillor Caroline Clapper, Executive Member for Education, Libraries and Life Long Learning, said:

“We are taking urgent action to improve our services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities which includes investing in increasing the numbers of special school places available. There is an urgent need for more special school places for children with severe learning difficulties in west Hertfordshire. This new development will mean that families can secure a Hertfordshire school place for their children now and into the future.”

Read more on Hertfordshire County Council's news area: Special school enlargement plan gets green light to proceed to next stage

Introducing the new EHC Portal: tracking the EHC assessment process with ease

We are excited to announce the development of a new online EHC Portal for families, which will make it easier for families to track the progress of their Education Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment. The portal is now available to young people and families living in St Albans, Dacorum and Watford, and Three Rivers for new EHC Needs Assessment requests.

The rest of Hertfordshire residents will be able to access the portal for new EHCP assessments in the new year. After the assessment part of the software is fully available and working well, we are planning to expand the portal to cover existing EHCPs (we hope this to be later in 2025).

Introducing the new EHC Portal: tracking the EHC assessment process with ease

Senior leaders in SEND find out what works for pupils and parents

Caroline Clapper, Executive Member for Education, Libraries and Lifelong Learning at Hertfordshire County Council met staff, pupils and parents at Hertfordshire’s brand new secondary special school for young people with complex communication and autism needs. The James Marks Academy, which formally opened its doors to pupils from September this academic year, has created a calm haven for pupils with communication and autism needs to settle safely and progress in their educational journey.

Read the story on Hertfordshire County Council's news area: Senior leaders in SEND find out what works for pupils and parents

Watch a short video on the visit (1m38s):

Meet Ellis: one of our Experts by Experience

Ellis has joined our SEND Improvement and Transformation team as an Expert by Experience - he is a young person under the age of 25 with personal experience of SEND.

Ellis says: "I believe that understanding the different forms of support and how they help different students is crucial to the work which we will be doing".

Read more about him in our news area: Meet: Ellis Walker, our Expert by Experience

Watch a short video (2m11s) of Ellis introducing himself and what he hopes to achieve in this role:

Events

View all events and things to do

Online support group for parents with children avoiding school - 6 week course (NESSiE)

Tuesday 5 November, 9.30am - 11am. Free, online

Seeing your child overwhelmed and unable to attend school can be distressing for any parent/carer. In this closed, confidential group, parents/carers will have the opportunity to discuss their current situation and find support from others going through the same thing. Guidance is available from our specialist family support workers who will provide some useful coping strategies.

St Albans SEND Chat and Play ( Sopwell Family Centre)

Wednesday 6 November, 9.30am - 10.30am.

Hemel Hempstead SEND Chat and Play (Cedar Tree Family Centre)

Wednesday 6 November, 11am - 12pm.

Stevenage SEND Chat and Play (Broadwater Family Centre)

Thursday 7 November, 10am - 11.15am.

These drop-in sessions provide an opportunity to meet other families and for you and your child to access appropriate resources in a safe environment. Our friendly SEND Champions will be there to discuss any concerns or issues you may have, provide information about other local support groups and offer a friendly ear.

Little Brollies - Hemel Hempstead (Electric Umbrella)

Friday 8 November, 11am - 11.40am. £6 per child, £10 for siblings.

Nurturing little musicians; for any child aged 5 or under and a parent or carer.

Join us for an amazing music experience on Friday mornings at our Studio in Hemel Hempstead. 40 minutes of music and sensory fun followed by refreshments. Just drop in and pay-as-you-go. No booking required.