Inspectors praise SEND progress

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out the three-day revisit in June, where they spoke with children and young people, parents and carers, as well as schools, health and local authority personnel. They also reviewed individual Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) and visited an education provider.

The inspectors concluded that “leaders are learning from and taking more account of the views of parents, carers, children and young people” with parent representatives having “more trust” in Local Authority and NHS leaders, especially when concerns are raised. This includes better quality Education Health and Care (EHC) Plans, which are simpler and “easier for children and young people to understand”.

The report goes on to say “the views and ambitions of children and young people are now more frequently at the heart of plans.”

The revisit followed on from the partnership inspection of Wandsworth’s local area (health, social care and education) services in 2019 which identified two key areas for improvement for local partners.

Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Kate Stock, welcomed the findings of the re-visit and said she was pleased that inspectors had recognised the progress made by Wandsworth Council and its partners in improving services for children and young people with SEND.

She said: “I am proud of the great work and the progress made and I would like to thank everyone involved, in particular our schools and parents, for their contribution to the journey, particularly during the pandemic.

“As partners across the local area we have a collective responsibility to do more and we will continue to relentlessly focus on ensuring that children and young people with SEND in Wandsworth are supported to achieve their individual ambitions and potential. To support this agenda the council is establishing additional resource bases, redesigning existing provision and increasing capacity in Special Schools across the borough to keep our children in high quality schools within our local communities.”

The outcome of the revisit has been published and can be found here.