Summary of the November Board Papers

This is the eighth meeting of the Local Area SEND Partnership Board.

1. Review of Action Log (tasks to be completed by subgroups and members of the board)

12 tasks given to members of the board at previous meetings were marked as complete.

2. Update from the Continuous Improvement Subgroup

Progress since September

• A lot of interviews took place in October for the new SENDSTART team. Most of the posts were filled and the new staff will be starting in January. Adverts have now gone out for the posts that weren’t filled.

• The team have been practising for an inspection from Ofsted  and CQC.

Tasks for the month ahead

• The group are working on their plan of actions for the next year. This plan will be finished before the next meeting in December.

• The details of the new SENDSTART team will be uploaded to SENDLO with an update on how to contact the new team.

 3. Update from the Strategic Performance Subgroup

Progress since September

• The group has improved way it reports on EHCP and tribunal data. The new data collected will help all of the agencies better understand the service and the data.

Tasks for the month ahead

• The group is now looking at how it can use the data to forecast when families will be able to see improvements on the ground.

EHCP Reviews and Annual Recovery Plan

Recruitment for the new SENDSTART team has been successful. All of the new members of the team should be in place by the end of January. The induction and training for the new staff is being coproduced with PCPW.

The Strategic Performance Subgroup will begin to report on EHCP annual reviews and Year 9 transitions. This data is expected to be presented to the Board from December onwards.

Speech and Language Service

The waiting time for the first assessment went up from 33 weeks to 37 in September, but fewer children overall are waiting to be seen.

Over the past year, the service has worked on waiting list management. This has helped reduce the number of children waiting for their first assessment by over 900.

New funding means that more therapists can be hired, starting in November 2024, to improve the service.

Neurodevelopmental Pathway

Waiting lists for assessments continue to be high.

Work is continuing that will help improve the experience of families on the pathway. This includes the health offer within Wirral’s Graduated Approach. Work is also taking place on a new Neuro Developmental Profiling Tool and more information will be sent out on this in early 2025.

4. Update from the Participation and Engagement Subgroup

Progress since September

• The group updated the Board on recent feedback from parents and carers. The feedback shows that work still needs to be done on communication and ECH assessments along with other services. The monthly SEND sharing events and the emotionally based school avoidance (ESBA) programme amongst others were very well received.

• A yearly survey is being coproduced by the Local Area SEND Partnership. This survey will be launched in January. It will be a key survey that will take place every year for families and young people with SEND. The results of the survey will shape changes in SEND services for the year ahead.

Tasks for the month ahead

• The feedback from the Preparation for Adulthood Event is now going to be used by services and agencies involved in preparation for adulthood on Wirral to help develop their new operating model. More information on this will be shared when the new model has been approved by the Board.

• The group will continue working to make all of the statutory services on SENDLO accessible.

5. Update from the Delivering Better Value Subgroup

Progress since September

• Around 150 school staff and leaders attended a training session on embedding the Graduated Approach in Wirral’s school.

• A number of schools across Wirral have now made arrangements to develop resourced provision for September 2025.

• The group is also looking to develop post-16 resourced provision.

Tasks for the month ahead

• The group is focussing on successful transitions between schools at key points. Meetings are booked in with all secondary schools in December and work is also taking place with primary schools.

• More training is booked for school staff and leaders around the Graduated Approach. Before Christmas a team will be in place to help support schools with embedding the approach.

Other news from the Board

In November’s meeting the Board discussed the impact of the recent leadership visits to settings. The feedback received from settings was very positive and the leaders who took part all felt it was valuable and helped them to understand the challenges settings faced. More visits are expected to take place in 2025.