Issue - meetings

The Board received a report of the Strategic Director – People, advising on the outcomes of the consultation on the proposed local area SEND Strategy for 2021-2024, and how it would be implemented.

It was noted that following the SEND Partnership Board’s approval of the draft SEND Strategy for 2021-25, consultation took place during March and April 2021.  This was hosted on the Halton Local Offer and was widely publicised both prior to and during the consultation phase.  The draft SEND Strategy, SEND Strategy Governance and consultation responses were attached to the report as appendices one, two and three.

The report provided the Board with detailed information on the involvement of stakeholder events and the consultation responses, providing some examples of feedback received.

The Board was advised that the Strategy would be ratified tomorrow at the Strategic Partnership meeting.

            The following queries were raised:

What support did children get when transferring into mainstream schools?

Placement decisions were made through a panel process.  Provision and Placement Panel would make their recommendations, taking into consideration any preference made by the parents.  A decision to transfer a child with SEND to a mainstream schools is taken by the Local Authority (LA) in accordance with the Code of Practice.  Halton Borough Council’s scheme of delegation makes the Divisional Manager 0-25 Inclusion ultimately responsible for placement decisions. 

Not all children would go into mainstream schools as some would always remain where they were due to their requirements and the Council would support a child to be as inclusive as they wanted to be.

Will they get one to one support in a mainstream school?

Decisions about one to one support were based on the needs of the child or young person, not the type of school they attended.  There was no reason why not if this was required.

What part does a mainstream school play in accepting a child to their school?

The SEND Code of Practice sets out the requirements on local authorities to consult with schools before making placement decisions.  It also sets out the importance of parental or young person preference.  In Halton schools were consulted with prior to any decision being taken by Provision and Placement Panel.

There was an annual review process in place to ensure that the provision and setting remained appropriate for the child or young person.  This review could be brought forward at any point where there was a significant change of circumstance or concern.  Where there was a strong family preference for a particular school and this school was not named in an EHCP, the LA must clearly demonstrate why not.  Parents have the right of appeal to the SENIST tribunal (an arm of the family courts) if they disagreed with a decision taken by the LA.

RESOLVED:  That the report and comments made be noted.