Agenda item

To receive and consider the Inclusion Funding verbal report.

Jonathan Wilding, Safety Valve / SEND Consultant presented the Inclusion Funding report and the Safety Valve update.  The following points were highlighted:

·           The fund was used to support children who did not quite reach the threshold for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP);

·           £150k was allocated to this fund by WBC and approved by Schools Forum each year;

·           Most of this fund (£110k) in the past few years had been passported to Addington School to support their outreach programme;

·           £40k had been under-utilised every year;

·           The feedback received from schools was that the requirements of the fund or terms of reference were not clear;

·           There was consensus that the process and impact needed reviewing;

·           The panel had renamed itself the Inclusion Group and there had been a change of chair;

·           It had been agreed in principle that WBC would take responsibility for commissioning outreach support;

·           A block of the funding was going to be retained to support children who were waiting to have their EHCP assessment through the High Needs Innovation Fund;

·           One of the priorities was to create Inclusion Provision, this could be achieved with Nurture Bases at schools to help children access education;

·           The proposed budget was:

o   £15k for newly arrived pupils – historically the spend on this had never been more than £13k

o   £45k for priority themes 2024/25 – with an indicative £15k per project

o   £50k for High Needs Innovation Capital Funding – with an indicative £5k for minor refurbishment and fixed equipment to create school Inclusion Bases /Nurture-based provision.  (this would be approved as part of the new SEND Capital Programme within the Medium Term Financial Plan for 2024/25 and 2025/26)

·           The proposal aimed to create a more impactful system by facilitating collaboration between schools and unlocking schools’ creativity to innovate to address key challenges facing the system;

·           It was not possible to facilitate this offer for Wokingham pupils attending schools outside of the area.  The Panel agreed that non-Wokingham pupils living in Wokingham would be offered this support, and it was agreed that this was fair;

·           Schools Forum endorsement was being sought, the fund was ready to be launched in February.

Ming Zhang stated that much work had been undertaken with schools to develop this innovative plan.  It was more effective to develop support at schools that could benefit more pupils, rather than supporting individual pupils on a one to one basis.  There was much support from schools for this model.

Schools Forum were in support of this model of work.

Jonathan Wilding shared a Safety Valve update presentation and highlighted the following points:

·           The programme had been running for nine months, and there had been much development in terms of early intervention and demand management;

·           The Vulnerable Learners Panel led to the development of the Inclusion Group;

·           The newly appointed SENCO Area was starting this week.  Three SENCOs would be recruited to work in this team one day a week;

·           The slides contained a list of the developments and activities undertaken in the year;

·           The DfE had given a lot of weight to Schools Forum’s decision to transfer 0.5% of the Schools Block to the HNB;

·           There was a movement in the right direction in relation to achieving a balanced budget;

·           There had been a 15% reduction in the requests for assessments.  Most request submitted by schools were being approved, most requests submitted by parents were being refused because it was believed that more help could be offered at early stages;

·           The process of scrutinising the cessation of EHCPs when a young person finished education was being strengthened to ensure that the EHCP ceased at the appropriate time;

·           Of note was the fact that now 51% of pupils with EHCPs were being supported in mainstream schools;

·           The number of EHCPs was now in line with the target;

·           The verbal DfE feedback had been positive, and it was anticipated that the DfE payments would continue to be received in accordance with the plan;

·           One of the challenges, was the fact that the DfE had not yet responded to WBC’s request to run the capital project for the two new free schools.  It was believed that WBC was best placed to run this project and ensure timeliness;

·           Another challenge was parental anxiety.  There was an increase in the number of mediation meetings and tribunals.  More work to enhance communication with parents was needed to change parental perception about the Safety Valve programme;

·           Work was being undertaken to ensure that more contribution from Health was received;

·           It was acknowledged that some waiting lists for Health services were very long, work was being undertaken with Health colleagues to address this issue.

During the discussion of the item the following questions and comments were made:

·           Councillor Pittock asked for more information about the challenges in relation to unlocking the financial help from Health;

·           Jonathan Wilding explained that historically Wokingham had never received a high level of funding for the most complex cases.  Much work was being undertaken with Health colleagues to address this issue, and there were some signs of progress;

·           Debra Briault expressed concern that 97% of tribunals found in favour of parents.  Jonathan Wilding explained that this was a national figure.  It was preferable to avoid tribunals.  There was an unbalanced view in favour of parental preference at tribunals, sometimes going against professional advice.  However, there was an increase in the number of cases going to tribunals;

·           Ming Zhang stated that great effort was being made to avoid tribunals and use mediation meetings instead.  Mediation meetings (prior to tribunals) would become a legal requirement from September 2024;

·           Sara Attra pointed out that not all mediation meetings could be resolved.  Many parents requested places at Addington and the school was full.  Those cases would not be resolved through mediation meetings and there was a risk in relation to school places in Wokingham;

·           Ming Zhang acknowledged that not all cases would be solved at mediation meetings, but there was an effort to minimise cases going to tribunals.

RESOLVED That:

1)     Schools Forum endorsed the implementation of the Inclusion Fund; and

2)        Schools Forum would continue to receive regular updates on the progress of the Safety Valve programme, in particular the risks.