SEND Manifesto Being Developed

The update below, from the Learn Sheffield CEO, was shared with setting leaders in September 2024. Further information can now be found on the SEND Manifesto project pages.

Learn Sheffield has been commissioned by SCC to support improvement in SEND in the city. This commission includes both leading the development of the strategic approach and the delivery of some specific activities and reforms.

One of the challenges in this work is the need to develop the strategic approach and start to develop aspects of the delivery at the same time. Ordinarily you would develop the strategy and then use this to inform the thinking and decision-making underpinning the action. This would be unrealistic in our current position in relation to SEND in Sheffield.

It is crucial that the strategic planning is long-term and based on genuine shared accountability from all partners in the local area SEND system. For this reason, we are taking this term to work with the senior leaders from our local system, including those from health and the local authority. The buy in to this work from colleagues is already encouraging.

Our intention is to then consult widely (and quickly) on the detail of a new long-term SEND strategy on behalf of this group. The proposed title of this work is ‘Better lives for Sheffield children with additional needs: a manifesto’. The title will clearly be less important than the content, and in turn the impact, but the choice of the word manifesto is deliberate. It is a public declaration of policy and aims, which everyone in the system needs to be able to hold each other to account for.

SEND is a space in which no-one can succeed unless we all do. Any individual setting, provision, service or organisation could be excellent but the impact of this will not be sufficient if other parts of the system are ineffective. In addition, ‘fixing’ the SEND systems and processes will not make a big enough difference unless we also seek to make changes which lead to fewer children and young people needing something additional or different in the first place.

This is a moral imperative to work together to increase the number of children who have positive experiences and achieve good outcomes, but also a practical necessity. SEND is in crisis for education, health and local authorities in equal measure. We need to recognise this but stop using crisis-style responses, and we need to do this together because none of us can do it effectively without the others.

We will continue to share information about the development of the thinking through this term (this began last term with Nick Whittaker’s input – Are Schools Healthy Human Systems?). The quality of the manifesto will be crucial but, as I said earlier, change also needs to begin more quickly and in parallel to the development of the manifesto.

For this reason, a number of the building blocks that will be part of the manifesto are being developed in parallel this term by Learn Sheffield, supported by the new commission. A stronger analysis of quality in relation SEND will lead to clearer and better structured long-term priorities for the city, but we are confident that the activities below will form a useful part of the strategic approach moving forwards. Current developments include:

• a review of locality processes alongside locality leads - this will make recommendations to the Inclusion Taskforce in November with a view to changes from January 2025.
• a restructure of the sector SEND team (which will now be led from Learn Sheffield) – appointments to new roles were made last week and will all be in place by January 2025 (some sooner) alongside more resource in localities.
• the work to develop a detailed and holistic description of healthy child development begins this half term, supported by a wide multi-disciplinary group of colleagues.
• the development of a new speech and language strategy will also be informed by a detailed programme of case studies this term (led by Nick Whittaker alongside a similarly experienced colleague with a health inspection background).
• the launch of a new approach to supporting quality and improvement in resourced provision (including IRs and hub provisions across the city) this half term - including resources for everyone and the first commissioned enquiry visits by a team of colleagues who will support improvement in the city.

A great deal of other partnership work is also taking place, led by colleagues from SCC, Sheffield Children’s Hospital, the Integrated Care Board and the Parent Carer Forum. This includes the transformation work being led by Meredith Teasdale within SCC, the development of the education funding model and the work being led by Inclusion Taskforce on the continuum of provision in the city. There is also a working group which is exploring how to tackle the long-standing challenges relating to neuro-disability pathways. All of this work is characterised by much greater openness to different approaches than has been the case before.

It is important that colleagues across the education system have an awareness of this work, including the significant influence of the sector through Inclusion Taskforce, Locality SEND Leads and sector partnerships. We also recognise the significant and (still) growing impact of these challenges on all our settings and the fact that many of you will not be feeling much practical difference in the way that you or the communities you serve experience SEND.

Learn Sheffield has made significant changes and additions to enable us to seek to make a difference in this space. This has been made possible by a much-improved relationship with SCC. We know that you will support these developments (as you have told us you would like us to get more involved in SEND often and in numbers in recent years!) but we also know that you are sceptical about change that you have yet to see.

We believe that we have the expertise and resources to make a difference to the local area SEND system in Sheffield. Our hope is that you will retain faith in the possibility that this can be profoundly better and commit to being part of that change.

Stephen Betts (30.9.24)