Our progress so far

Timeline of SEND improvement activity

April to June 2022

During this time, we:

January to March 2022

During this time, we:

  • asked the SEND Partnership Board to approve the autumn term 2021 edition of Data Dashboard and it was subsequently published on the Local Offer (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • asked the SEND Partnership Board to agree on a streamlined feedback process for changes to Data Dashboard (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • commenced cycle 2 of the EHCP audit activity (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)
  • held co-production workshops with parent/carers, and professionals on the draft SEND Strategy (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • helped the Speech and Language Therapy Service to progress a project in mainstreams schools to review all school-age children with a speech and language therapy referral jointly with their SENCo – the therapist will then update their assessment and agree on a treatment plan with parents (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • agreed quality assurance process for annual reviews (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)
  • drafted SEND Strategy (building on previous interim strategy) (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • co-produced waiting times infographic for speech and language therapy (theme: co-production on improving our SEND services)

October to December 2021

During this time, we:

  • created and launched the ‘Together is Better’ strapline for the SEND community – created by children and young people (theme: co-production on improving our SEND services)
  • co-produced a SEND Quality Assurance Framework including the measurement of quality of EHCPs, Annual reviews, family experience and statutory performance. The Quality Assurance Framework is published on the Local Offer (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)
  • held training with schools in Autumn Term 2021 via the SENCo study sessions delivered by SENDATs and SEND managers (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)
  • asked the SEND Partnership Board to approve the summer term 2021 edition of Data Dashboard. It was subsequently published on the Local Offer (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • provided our Executive with the outcome of the consultation on special school/specialist places – over 350 responses (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • introduced Innovate audit tool to audit annual reviews (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)
  • commenced cycle 1 of the EHCP audit activity (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)
  • launched new Local Offer website (theme: improving our SEND Local Offer)
  • invited the PDA Society to deliver a training plan for social workers of 4 workshops, including ‘PDA for Educators’ and ‘Working with and supporting PDA (pathological demand avoidance) children (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • launched co-production charter and professionals’ toolkit; these are embedded in the induction process for us and community health services (theme: co-production on improving our SEND services)
  • developed Family Experience Report to measure the quality of experience of those going through the EHCP process (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)

July to September 2021

During this time, we:

April to June 2021

During this time, we:

January to March 2021

During this time, we:

  • commissioned an independent review of 1,797 EHCPs (September 2020 to February 2021) (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)
  • developed a Local Offer Communication and Engagement Plan, including attendance at children’s centre coffee mornings, and locality meetings to share information on the Local Offer (theme: improving our SEND Local Offer)
  • conducted a full content audit of the Local Offer website against the SEND Code of Practice (CoP) (theme: improving our SEND Local Offer)
  • commissioned Groundworks youth service to engage with a small group of young people with SEND who co-produced the new Local Offer website (theme: improving our SEND Local Offer)
  • created a section on the Local Offer for independent organisations providing advice and guidance for families on SEND services and support (e.g. SENDIASS and SNAP Parent Carer Forum) (theme: improving our SEND Local Offer)
  • measured the outcomes developed and identified the full list of all data sources and content developed (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • presented a dashboard with outcome domains to the SEND Partnership Board (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • commenced work on NHS Digital process (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • launched a joint campaign with Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust to help parents support their child’s communication; the Five Key Messages campaign focused on five of the most important activities to help children develop their communication skills (theme: SEND outcomes and strategy)
  • revised EHCNA process in alignment with SEND CoP (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)
  • reviewed roles and responsibilities in the SEND team and identified the need for designated EHCP coordinators to strengthen co-production; telephone calls from EHCPs informed one key point of contact for families, which supported the appointment of EHCP coordinators (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)
  • commissioned James Narine (January to December 2021) to train and support the quality assurance of EHC plans (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)
  • commenced work on transformation and education localities in Mosaic, to ensure effective data quality and sharing across social care and health (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)
  • continued internal quality assurance of plans from independent audit; immediate actions taken as a result of the main audit report findings (theme: quality and oversight of EHCPs)

October to December 2020

During this time, we:

February 2020 to August 2020

During this time, we:

  • established a pan-Bedfordshire SLCN Steering Group to develop the graduated offer (March 2020)
  • began work on mapping the NDD pathway across Bedfordshire with a multi-agency group and parent carer forums (April 2020)
  • created SEND Partnership Board (April 2020)
  • developed special school places forecasting methodology, co-produced with special schools and SNAP Parent Carer Forum
  • established written statement of action (WSoA) working groups for 4 themes with joint leads from us and healthcare – SNAP Parent Carer Forum involved across all workstreams
  • established a series of ‘Meet the Directors’ sessions

Work by our partners included:

  • a virtual drop-in nurse-led session created by children’s community nursing service via telephone and piloted behaviour workshops via video conferencing on Microsoft Teams
  • virtual question and answer sessions for service users to be video recorded and posted online, as agreed by community paediatricians
  • a new web page on the Bedfordshire Community Health Services website; ‘Support and resources for families with children with special educational needs: COVID-19’