North Northamptonshire Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Partnership's Priority Action Plan underway
Children and families17 July 2024
North Northamptonshire Council, alongside strategic partners including the Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board and Northamptonshire Childrens Trust, commenced work in April 2024 on the Local Area Partnership's Priority Action Plan, which aims to improve services and support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
SEND Improvement workshops, focusing on expected outcomes, are being organised to take place across North Northamptonshire in September and will involve multiple stakeholders across the partnership who will work collaboratively to co-produce an outcomes monitoring framework to monitor the priority action plan.
The plan, published on 3 June, responds to Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission’s inspection report of SEND partnership services in March. A draft plan was submitted to the Department for Education and was approved by Ofsted on 24 May. The department issued an Improvement Notice to the partnership last week.
The plan sets out what will be achieved across four priority action areas between now and November 2025.
- Partnership Working
- Joint Strategic Commissioning
- Governance Arrangements
- Accurate assessment of needs
A further six areas for improvement were also identified, outlined below:
- Long waiting times for health services
- Access to specialist equipment
- Approach to coordinating early years support
- Relationships with mainstream schools
- Strategic commissioning of alternative provision
- Support for transition services / preparedness for adulthood
The planning and commissioning of SEND services across the area is the responsibility of the North Northants Local Area Partnership. This is made up of two statutory bodies, North Northamptonshire Council and NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board. It is delivered across the area in conjunction with multiple other partner organisations, including Northamptonshire Children’s Trust together with schools, nurseries and North Northamptonshire Parent Carer Voice (NPCV).
The partnership will continue to work with Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission on ensuring that progress is being made towards necessary actions within the plan prioritising actions to secure immediate improvement for children and young people with SEND and their families.
As health and care partners across the partnership, we’re fully committed to improving North Northamptonshire’s SEND services for children, young people and their families and the Priority Action Plan demonstrates this.Adele Wylie, North Northamptonshire Chief Executive, and Toby Sanders, Chief Executive of NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board
A North Northamptonshire SEND Assurance and Improvement Board is in place to oversee, assure and scrutinise SEND strategies and the Priority Action Plan. The Board will be chaired by an independent person, who we are currently recruiting for.
To ensure that the views of children, young people and their families are at the heart of that improvement, a North Northamptonshire SEND Improvement Stakeholder Assurance Group has been set up that will have oversight of the work being undertaken. The assurance group will be chaired by North Northamptonshire Parent Carer Voice (NPCV) and the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) to ensure that progress is meticulously tracked and constructively challenged by parents and carers.
The partnership will continue to work with Department for Education and NHS England advisors and, through regular monitoring visits, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission on ensuring that continued progress is being made towards improving the system and in prioritising actions to secure rapid improvement for children and young people with SEND and their families.
We are all committed to creating an environment where children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, as well as their families, can thrive.
View our full SEND Priority Action Plan. Parents and carers can also read the latest updates at the Local offer Page.
If you would like a copy of the full document in another format, or a version that will be accessible to screen-readers, please email parents or carers have any comments please email [email protected]