Our Challenges Philippa Stobbs: Assistant Director, Council for Disabled Children

Ofsted/CQC Local area SEND inspections: one year on Children’s and young people’s SEND were identified well in the early years, particularly for those with complex needs. Parents generally felt supported and involved in the process.

Advisory teachers, EPs ensure access to settings Gloucestershire: Advisory teachers, EPs ensure access to settings additional funding available 68% reduction in early years children entering special schools compared to three years ago The Whitby Communication Project: improved proportion of children achieving expected level in speech and language from 43% in 2010 to 83% in 2015. Advisory teaching staff and Educational Psychologists help to ensure children receive the support they need to gain access to pre-school settings, nursery education and reception class. Practitioners who identify the need for additional support to help children access early years settings can seek extra funding. As a result, there has been a 68% reduction in the number of early years children entering special schools compared to three years ago. A specialist infant mental health service effectively supports families with children under 5 with priority given ante-natal referrals and children under 1.

Levels of identified SEN: 2, 3 and 4 year olds 2 year olds in funded EY education: 3.1% had SEN 743 (0.5% of cohort) had a statement or EHC plan 4079 (2.6%) were on SEN support 3 and 4 year olds in universal EY education: 6.3% had SEN 10,106 (0.8%) statement or EHC plan 70,455 (5.5%) SEN support 3 and 4 year olds in extended funded EY education: 2.6% had SEN 919 (0.3%) with a statement or EHC plan 6,908 (2.3%) on SEN support

% 3 and 4 year olds with SEN: universal offer 2016 2017 2018 All ages (2017) % with EHCP (or statement) 0.7 0.8 2.8 % SEN support 5.3 5.4 5.5 11.6 Total 6.0 6.1 6.3 14.4

Access to the full entitlement? Early years census, 2015: 43% 3 and 4 year olds with SEND received between 13 and 15 hours of funded early education 60% for all other children

Outcomes Early Years Foundation Stage Profile, a growing gap between young children with SEN: 2014 gap: 47.1 percentage points 2015 gap: 50.4 percentage points 2016 gap: 52 percentage points 2017 gap: 53 percentage points

Communication and language gap % pupils achieving at least expected level in Communication and Language   Listening & attention Understanding Speaking No identified SEN 91 90 All SEN pupils 44 41

KS1 attainment SEN/non-SEN

Longitudinal study: childhood disability Transitions and trajectories research, longitudinal study ESRC funded work: CLS, IoE, NCB and CDC, LSE Found associations between: Disability and disadvantage Disability and bullying and later adverse health and social problems Disadvantage, learning, speech and language and behaviour difficulties

Longitudinal study: childhood disability Transitions and trajectories research reviewed cognitive development: between ages of 3 and 5 again between 5 and 7 Found that: disabled children and children with SEN make less progress over the early years than their non-disabled peers with similar levels of cognitive skills, that is, the same prior attainment

Levelling the playing field, 2015 How much of their free childcare offer are parents with disabled children accessing? 60% receive (then) full free entitlement, 15 hours per week for 38 weeks 15% receive some of the free entitlement, but less than 15 hours per week 25% receive none of the free entitlement

Levelling the playing field, 2015 Why are parents with disabled children not accessing any of the free childcare offer?   38% do not think provision can care for child safely 30% do not think staff are adequately trained 28% do not think provision is inclusive and supports their child to participate in activities alongside their peers 25% say the nursery/child carer refused a place or excluded their child because of their disability or SEN

Levelling the playing field, 2015 Why are disabled children being excluded from early years childcare settings?   49% say setting cannot meet child’s needs 47% say their child needs one-to-one care (or other additional support) which is not available/affordable 34% say setting cannot manage child’s behaviour

Exclusion of young children from school Increases in the exclusion of young children from school: The data draws only on exclusions from schools The figures are drawn from DfE statistics up to 2016-17 Taking into account numbers and percentages

Links Levelling the playing field: https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/news-opinion/news/new-research-levelling- playing-field-campaign Identified SEN: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ data/file/709496/Special_educational_needs_Publication_May18.pdf Take up of EY entitlement, children with special educational needs: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of- age-january-2018 EYFSP outcomes: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results- 2016-to-2017 Exclusions data: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ data/file/726741/text_exc1617.pdf *Please note, not all the DfE data is broken down by region and by LA *Some of the compendia of data provide links to more specific datasets