1. An Introduction to the aspire SEND Quality Assurance Toolkit
Supporting you and your partners in readiness for the SEND Ofsted/CQC Inspection Framework
July 2016
Jane Harrison

2. About aspire
Independent company founded by Jane Harrison who has an excellent understanding of the SEND reforms
Track record of working/leading on national DfE SEND contracts e.g. Short Breaks, Early Support, Regional Pathfinder Champions
Strategic management of SEND reforms for a large North East LA – meeting SEND compliance and implementation
Currently delivering Independent Support in 5 local authority areas in the North East region.
Extensive experience of working with parents and carers who have children and young people with SEND
Trainer for the Council for Disabled Children – delivering key working and Independent Support training

3. aspire SEND Quality Assurance Toolkit

4. What is the aspire SEND Quality Assurance Toolkit?
The aspire SEND Quality Assurance Toolkit is an invaluable management tool which pulls together all of the ‘musts’ (and some of the ‘shoulds’) from the SEND Code of Practice into a full set of Quality Standards.
The Toolkit comprises of:
One pack which contains all of the SEND Quality Standards presented in a self evaluation framework (SEF).
One pack which is a Quality Assurance resource pack and provides helpful tools and resources for managers and practitioners. This includes a separate document which has all of the LA ‘Musts’ from the Code of Practice.
A USB stick with all of the resources and materials included.

5. What is the aspire SEND Quality Assurance Toolkit?
SEND Quality Assurance SEF
The SEND Quality Assurance SEF is the main resource in the Toolkit. It comprises of an individual pack which mirrors the eleven sections of the SEND Code of Practice.
Each of the eleven sections contains a set of Quality Standards which have been designed for you and your partners to self evaluate your progress against.
The SEF requires you to evidence your judgements and develop an action plan for any Quality Standards that are not yet fully met.

6. What is the aspire SEND Quality Assurance Toolkit?
Quality Assurance Toolkit Resource Pack
The Quality Assurance Resource Pack is intended to provide some useful tools and resources and includes:
LA ‘Musts’ document.
A Glossary of Terms.
A specific section on Quality Assuring EHC plans.
A set of laminated Person Centred Planning tools.
Additional resource section with information from CHI MAT – particularly useful for Joint Strategic Commissioning.
A copy of the License Agreement.
USB stick with all of the materials and resources.

7. Who is the SEND Quality Assurance Toolkit aimed at?
Strategic Lead Officers from the LA, Health and Social Care who have responsibility for delivering better outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
LA, Health and Social Care Officers who have responsibility for preparing for the new SEND Ofsted/CQC Inspection.
LA SEND Commissioners/Managers and their partners including those from health and social care.
SEND/EHCP teams and those responsible for producing and quality assuring draft and final EHC plans.
Individual organisations such as Schools, Early Years, Further Education providers, IS agencies can all benefit from using some or all of the Quality Assurance Toolkit.
LA/Health/Social Care Officers who have responsibility for Work Force Development in their respective agencies.

8. What are the benefits?
It fits into the new Ofsted/CQC framework and supports your readiness for inspection.
It provides a baseline of progress across all of the SEND reform areas.
SEND Boards/Strategic Boards will have a clear understanding of the priority areas and the actions needed.
It fits in with your existing quality assurance/performance management systems and processes.
It is an ‘invest to save’ model that brings efficiency and effectiveness into the SEND system, helping you to meet your statutory deadlines – providing more efficiency and effectiveness and Value for Money.
Improved Quality Assurance processes around the EHC needs assessment and EHC plan – bringing Quality Assurance earlier in the pipeline and helps you to produce high quality EHC plans.

9. What are the benefits?
Greater levels of transparency and accountability across all partner agencies.
Generates greater ownership and involvement from partner agencies.
Supports co-production and person centred planning – across the whole of the SEND agenda.
Leads to increased levels of satisfaction from parents and young people as timescales are better met.
Supports Individual Professional Development with Quality Assurance forming part of an induction programme and professional supervision and support.
Supports workforce development and capacity building, developing knowledge, skills and culture change.

10. How to use the Quality Assurance SEF

11. How to use the Quality Assurance SEF
The Quality Assurance SEF provides a structured approach to the assessment, baselining and tracking of all key aspects of the SEND reforms.
As a start point you will want to baseline your progress and identify key priority actions to action.
Remember!
You will need strategic ‘buy in’ from lead officers in the LA, Health and Social Care to help you to drive this forward.
The implementation of the reforms is a Local Area responsibility – not just one person or the LA and others may have information/evidence that they can contribute.
When Ofsted/CQC arrive, you are not expected to have implemented all of the reforms – but you will need to demonstrate where you are, and have plans in place for addressing the gaps.

12. How to use the Quality Assurance SEF
Completing your Quality Assurance SEF:
TOP TIPS when completing the Quality Assurance SEF:
1. Be honest in your judgements and have the evidence to support this – you may be surprised at just how much progress you have made! 
2. You may want to moderate a judgement(s) with others in your organisation and/or triangulate this with parents and young people before making a final judgement. 
3. Build an evidence portfolio as you work through the SEF – this will be invaluable in preparing for Ofsted and evidencing your progress.
4. Consider the impact and outcomes that you have achieved – if there are examples of good practice, highlight them.

13. How to use the Quality Assurance SEF
Completing your Quality Assurance SEF: 5. Don’t forget co-production with parent/carers and young people – this supports your statutory obligations under Section 19 of the CFA 2014 and will undoubtedly form a major part of the new SEND Ofsted/CQC Inspection Framework. 6. Bring all of the action plans together into a single document (supplied in the toolkit) and use this as a strategic planning tool to identify and agree short and longer term priorities. 7. Ensure that you factor in a review mechanism of the Quality Assurance SEF as part of the strategic or service improvement plan.

14. How to use the Quality Assurance SEF
Completing your Quality Assurance SEF Some of the Quality Standards can be used by practitioners to support their day to day work e.g. part of Section 9 is particularly useful for those who are responsible for producing and Quality Assuring EHC plans; Section 6 is particularly useful for schools. Please note: There is a specific section in the Resource pack titled ‘Quality Assuring EHC plans’. This section includes some new tools and resources to help you to Quality Assure EHC plans.

15. Feedback from LAs and partners
Early feedback and comments have been overwhelmingly positive and LAs have valued the opportunity to examine the Toolkit more closely. “This is what is missing” “This will build in QA earlier in the pipeline and before EHC plans go to panel – reducing the amount of returned plans and delays in the process” “This will help partners to understand their role and accountability better” “The toolkit provides a framework to use on an individual and service area basis” “We have shared this with our partners and thematic leads and has been very well received - everyone is pleased to have something concrete to work with and it is giving them a framework to plan how to move forward”

16. Feedback from LAs and partners
“I like that this brings everything together in one place” “It is very thorough and a lot of thought has been given to what we need and will help us” “This will be extremely useful to our school and support staff development – not only can we focus on those areas that we have to do, but we know what is expected of local authorities and their partners which is useful” “This has been invaluable in helping us to move forward with our partners– it has provided the evidence for us to have the high level discussions that were needed”

17. Feedback from LAs and partners
aspire was commissioned by an LA who purchased the toolkit (May – Jul) to complete a baseline assessment for them. The following outcomes were achieved:
SEND has a higher profile across all partner agencies and the organisation will restructure to ensure that there is sufficient strategic capacity to take the reforms forward (joint post with Health).
Parents were fully involved in evidencing the baseline and they know the direction of travel.
Evidence of the strengths, gaps and issues – at a strategic and operational level.
The LA has a comprehensive set of recommendations with an agreed action plan across all areas of the reforms with key priorities identified.
Evidence to inform the commissioning strategy and feed into the Health and Wellbeing Board.
Evidence for building knowledge, capacity and skills of the workforce.
Overall, the LA have made significant progress in their preparation for the Ofsted/CQC inspection and they have a framework on which to build.

18. LAs who are using the QA toolkit
High level of interest including LAs, schools and colleges:
Northumberland LA and Special School
North Tyneside
Durham
Darlington
St Helen’s
Bedford
Cambridgeshire
Thurrock
Northamptonshire
Bournemouth
Poole
Sunderland
Peterborough
Discussions are currently being held with a number of other LAs across the regions.

19. Future developments Developing a QA tracker
Developing an outcomes tracker
Seek feedback from LAs and their partners and review as part of quality improvement

20. Questions ??