Review of High Needs Funding and SEND Strategy

SEND Strategy Julie Ely Head of SEN

KENT SEND STRATEGY WORKING TOGETHER, IMPROVING OUTCOMES ACHIEVEMENTS: 2013-16 More children attending a better school Support for schools through LIFT and Early Years LIFT High needs funding without statutory assessment 500+ ASD, 300 SLCN and 300 SEMH Largest group Y1, then Yr2. Secondary schools make fewer applications but 63% non-Grammar and 47% Grammar schools applied. We are tracking Y6 into Secondary school More places in Special schools and in mainstream specialist resourced provision (SRP) Support and for families; IASK, Local Offer

KENT SEND STRATEGY WORKING TOGETHER, IMPROVING OUTCOMES Refreshed aims for 2017-2019 Improving outcomes; education, social, health and emotional well-being Meeting statutory duties; Children and Families Act 2014 Creating greater capacity; address the gaps in provision; quality and range

KENT SEND STRATEGY WORKING TOGETHER, IMPROVING OUTCOMES Vision Good local schools; core standards, earlier intervention and inclusion Partnerships; school to school, workforce development, outreach support Provision and places Co-production, providers engaged with changes Good progress for every Kent child and young person with SEN

KENT SEND STRATEGY Priorities for 2017-2019 Identifying the right children at the right time Creating capacity in schools through workforce development particularly for pupils with autism Improving attendance and inclusion Better transitions between pre-school and school, moving to college Ensuring assessment is effective and meeting needs  

KENT SEND STRATEGY Priorities for 2017-2019   Ensuring provision is improving outcomes Effective use of High Needs Funding Specialist provision where it is needed locally, reducing transport Preparation for adulthood; post 16 provision, high quality work experience, internships and support for apprenticeships Fewer SEND NEETs

KENT SEND STRATEGY Priorities for 2017-2019  Increasing parent satisfaction and confidence Children and young people with SEND and their parents are involved in decision making Creating more specialist places, particularly Secondary age Reduce parents’ frustrations with delay or accessibility Continue to promote awareness of the Local Offer Have a high quality statutory assessment process which delivers to timescales and engages parents at each step Have embed a culture of evaluating the impact of what we do to regularly monitor and review children’s progress and parents’ experiences of schools and systems

WE WILL KNOW WE ARE ACHIEVING WHEN High needs funding has more impact on SEND progress and attainment Parents feel listened to and their views are acted upon and there is evidence of high levels of parental involvement in SEND assessment and review Young people are influencing decisions about them The local offer is informative, well known and used Parents are highly satisfied with SEND provision and have confidence in the support provided Fewer EHCPs needed in mainstream schools

Review of High Needs Funding

Future years outlook The Government is proposing to introduce a National Funding Formula form 2018-19 In relation to High Needs, based on current proposals, we are unlikely to see any increases in High Needs funding that Kent receives for the next 4 years (2018-22) But we are still going to have growth in High Needs pupil numbers We have commenced a review of High Needs

High Needs Funding The numbers of pupils supported by high needs funding have increased In relation to High Needs costs in mainstream schools, there has been an increase of £14m since 2013-14 More than half of High Needs funded pupils do not have an EHCP But referrals for statutory assessment continue to increase

High Needs Pupil Numbers - By Institution 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 Actual Latest forecast Special Schools 3,272 3,349 3,572 3,688 3,733 Resource Provision 804 810 874 859 900 Mainstream Schools 802 860 1,475 1,916 2,129 Independent - pre 16 458 491 521 533 Independent - post 16 87 71 64 52 Independent 545 562 585 OLA Maintained 95 103 108 FE Colleges 467 570 636 845 SPI and CCP 55 141 TOTALS 5,985 6,254 7,229 8,001 8,299 This slide was shared with the Schools Funding Forum on 9 December and shows the year on year growth of High Needs pupils in Kent Main areas of concern are around the growth in Mainstream schools as well as FE colleges for post 16 pupils On mainstream, our new system was introduced in 2015-16 so you cannot compare with previous years Position on mainstream has increased further since this was produced – LA is looking at options for containing costs within affordable levels

Cost of High Needs (£'000) - By Institution Type 1000 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 £'000 Actual Forecast Special Schools 67,048 68,543 68,118 70,326 71,093 Resource Provision 13,118 14,919 15,274 15,938 15,658 Mainstream Schools 8,755 8,899 14,398 20,808 22,344 Independent - pre 16 17,581 19,840 22,588 23,661 Independent - post 16 6,000 5,359 4,281 4,665 Independent 23,581 25,199 26,869 28,326 OLA Maintained 2,295 2,531 2,661 3,247 3,948 FE Colleges 4,229 4,980 6,867 8,332 8,425 SPI and CCP 366 1,123 TOTALS 119,026 125,071 134,186 147,342 150,916 Increase from previous year 6,045 9,115 13,156 3,575 % increase from previous year 5.1% 7.3% 9.8% 2.4% And here is the costs of those High Needs pupils by type of institution

Balancing the 2017-18 High Needs Budget DfE increased the budget by £3.4m Schools Funding Forum agreed to the transfer of £5m from Schools budget to meet growth in mainstream High Needs Schools Funding Forum also supported some changes to the Notional SEN top up, which will save an estimated £1.8m

High Needs Funding in Mainstream Schools

DfE Guidance on High Needs Funding SEN Code of Practice 2015 section 6.99 states; ‘Schools are not expected to meet the full cost of more expensive special educational provision from their core funding. The local authority should provide additional top-up funding where the cost of the special educational provision required to meet the needs of an individual pupil exceeds the nationally prescribed threshold’.   The DfE identifies High needs funding as the cost, over £6,000 incurred by a school, of more expensive special educational provision to meet the individual pupil’s needs. It is not for quality first teaching and the delivery of the differentiated curriculum. This includes generic TA support.

TA Support An adult can be the facilitator of an intervention but are not an intervention or resource themselves. Class TAs supporting in any adult/child ratio, during a teacher led class based lesson, is differentiated teaching and would not be considered a SEN provision required to meet the needs of an individual pupil. Further guidance can be found in the Education Endowment Foundation ‘Making the Best Use of Teaching Assistants’ https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/resources/making-best-use-of-teaching-assistants/ There are too many applications stating that a child needs 1:1 TA support with no identifiable purpose. A teaching assistant can’t be an intervention, an adult is the facilitator of an intervention. Every effort must be taken to provide an inclusion curriculum and large amounts of 1:1 TA support will not be funded apart from in exceptional circumstances.

Total number of HNF applications per district April 2016 to February 2017 Area With EHCP % with EHCP Without EHCP % without EHCP Total applications Tun Wells 58 36% 104 64% 162 Ton & Mall 105 46% 125 54% 230 Maidstone 107 44% 137 56% 244 Shepway 55 33% 114 67% 169 Ashford 74 35% 138 65% 212 Dover 81 145 226 Thanet 110 51% 49% 215 Canterbury 119 40% 182 60% 301 Swale 39% 257 61% 419 Dartford 83 43% 108 57% 191 Gravesham 184 Sevenoaks 75 97 172 County 1103 1622 2725

HNF Pupils and Secondary School Destination Year 6 HNF pupils and year 7 school destination in Sept 2016 Type of school Totals % Special school 80 49% Mainstream school 71 43% Other 12 8% Total 163 Mainstream pupils Number with HNF claims since Sept 2016 Number with EHCPs 43 (60%) 3 Number without EHCP 28 (40%) 2 5

Conclusion The % of CYP with EHCPs in mainstream schools drops by 20% from year 6 to year 7.

Conclusion Secondary schools’ HNF claims are more likely to be for an EHCP (58% – 70%) than without an EHCP. Eg. Out of all the HNF claims for Year 10, 70% of the CYP have an EHCP and 30% don’t.

% of CYP who received HNF and went on to be issued with an EHCP

Review of High Needs Funding In partnership with schools we want to look at practice and provision where: There are more than 10 applications for high needs funding (will vary depending on size of school). Applications include a majority of 1:1 provision. Any HNF application that is over the special school cost for that need type. There is evidence of poor quality provision plans, poor outcomes or limited evidence of ‘assess, plan, do, review cycle’. Lack of evidence of impact and/or progress at reapplication. Limited use of the LIFT process and the available support to increase capacity in the school