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Sunday 25 November 2012
Sunday 18 November 2012
Eden Manor New Secondary Special School Brent
We Care Foundation, has been established by a group of parents in Brent NW London, who each have a child with special educational needs, together with a number of teaching professionals, health professionals and local community organizations.
EDEN MANOR
The organization recently submitted a proposal to Brent Council as the Trustees of Barham Park, to transform the vacant library building that was closed at Barham Park, into a Secondary Special School called EDEN MANOR, for young people aged 11+ with a learning impairment of Autism, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and or Dyscalculia. Proposed opening date for Eden Manor is September 2013 with admission for 20 pupils in year 7 and year 10. The proposed school will eventually accommodate 100 cohorts from year 7 onwards with the ability for all pupils to continue their education at the school after year 9. This will be in contrast to the current Brent Local Authority arrangements where a number of pupils have to be transferred from Woodfield to Alperton Community School after year 9, as there are simply not enough places at Woodfield for all pupils currently admitted to year 7. For any child, transferring to another school midway through Secondary Education is a challenge and can be detrimental to their learning. But for a child with autism, the disruption to learning and the inability to easily develop social friendships in moving schools can have a profound negative impact on their future academic achievements. Brent are consulting on Special Educational Needs and you need to have your say on Brent Education by 30 November 2012. Follow the link http://www.brent.gov.uk/home.nsf/news/LBB-1800
The recently published draft Brent Special Educational Needs strategy document, highlights there are currently 174 young people in Brent attending Out of Borough Special Schools, as there are insufficient places in Brent. We should point out this is double the national average. It is expected that by 2020 an extra 200 special school places will be required in the Borough of Brent, let alone the London wide school placement shortfall causing over-crowding and bulge classes in all schools across the capital. Those children with special educational needs are particularly at risk of falling behind in the current fight for school places.
The community desperately needs more schools and our proposal for Eden Manor at Barham Park does not even require the high cost of building a new school. Furthermore Brent Local Authority spent 300,000 Pounds in 2010 refurbishing part of Barham Park, prior to the library being closed. Surely in these times of Austerity, we all need to be thinking about how best to use a Local Community Resources, particularly when at least part of the building at Barham Park has had substantial money spent by Brent Local Authority and that money ultimately comes from Brent Council Tax payers. Rather than fighting Austerity with loads of Local Authority cuts, Brent Local Authority need to think creatively and innovatively, Furthermore Brent are not engaging and working with local community organizations. We openingly express a request to Councillor Butt, as the leader of Brent Coucil, to start working with those in the community who have innovative ideas to solve the social issues in the Borough. Up until now, it has been like a Brick Wall of Silence between those in the community and Brent Local Authority.
The current budget cuts are forcing more pupils with special educational needs into mainstream education and while obviously some children will thrive in a mainstream education, others will struggle. It is those children who constantly struggle, resulting in a lack of self confidence and self esteem that detrimentally impacts on their ability to learn and therefore inability to pass those rigorous exams. Case in point is last weeks article in the Guardian of the very tragic case in Brent of School Exclusions. Read and watch short video about this tragic case. http://t.co/4SApSUXO Could this happen to your child ?
EDEN MANOR will work collaboratively with community stakeholders and will
evolve as a Co-Op College. We Care Foundation submitted a proposal in 2011 to the Department for Education (DFE) in response to the first call for Free Special School proposals. Brent Local Authority would not support our proposal eventhough there is clear need in the Borough of Brent for more Specialist School provision. Our application to DFE in 2011 was not successful, as unlike mainstream Free Schools, Special Free School criteria is such that a Local Authority has to be fully supportive as ultimately the Local Authority budget will be funding a Special Free School rather than funding coming directly from the Secretary of State. We suggest that this is causing further distress to areas of high need for more specialist educational provision and we did not submit an application to DFE in 2012 as Brent Local Authority would not simply suport our application for a second time. The funding benefits of a "Free Special School" would unlock direct development funding, where as establishing as a Co-Op College will require community support in fundraising and donating to this Worthy Brent cause.
While the inclusion debate has focussed on the need to have every child attending a mainstream schools, we should point out when you have a major medical problem you don't expect your GP to be the surgeon, you expect a Specialist Surgeon. There is nothing inherently wrong with some children attending specialist education, where there are a high number of specially trained teachers. Given the number of parents in Brent who are opting to sent their child Out of Borough, simply because there is no suitable provision in Brent, suggests that parents want greater educational choice, with a variety of educational provisions.
Brent Local Authority and the Unions are totally opposed to the "Free School Agenda." We respect Brent and the Unions position on Free Schools, however simply closing the mind to try new educational models results in less innovation. It is our view that educational standards for children with special educational needs can only be driven up, with a wider variety of Specialist Schools, equipped with modern interactive technology and highly skilled and specialist teachers and therapists together with a building that inspires pupils to engage, think and learn. We suggest that Barham Park offers such an opportunity and Eden Manor will become a beacon of excellance in educating young pupil with a learning impairment.
The location of Barham Park in parkland, provides a natural and peaceful learning environment and we believe will allow the natural creativity hidden within a young person with a learning impairment to achieve their potential. Furthermore the location of Barham Park has excellent transport links Borough wide with 18, 182, 92, 204, 245 and H19 stopping directly outside, combined with good connections on the tube with Sudbury Town, Wembley Central and even Wembley Park and overground rail links. The importance of very good transport links is that pupils who may attend will inherently come from all wards in the Borough of Brent. Traditionally Brent has incurred very high transport costs in providing Local Authority provided transport, because the special schools that Brent parents choose are well out of Borough with some children actually travelling across to South London on a daily basis to attend Centre Academy in Battersea. Both the current Village School and Woodfield are not well serviced by public transport in any event. We estimate a Brent Local Authority saving in the order of 250,000 per annum if you reduce reliance on Local Authority provided transport, by placing another special school in the Borough. Not only is there a major potential cost saving for Brent Local Authority in agreeing to our proposal for Eden Manor in respect to travel costs, but for long term independence, it would be better to support as many children as possible in using public transport to travel between school and home. This can only be achieved by locating any Special School provision within proximity to very good cross Borough transport links. Furthermore we would also suggest that pupils if they were schooled locally in Brent could also participate in after school sports and extra curricula activities. Given long travel journeys in attending Out of Borough schools, most children with special educational needs do not have such opportunity, as they return home well after these activities would have begun.
Pupils will come from a wide geographical area across Brent with potentially some pupils also being admitted from neighbouring Boroughs of Harrow and Ealing. The location for EDEN MANOR is ideal, as there a wide variety of public transport routes that would support independent travel, increasing the educational experience of each pupil attending the school, so that pupils are confident and capable upon leaving the school to live fulfilling, satisfying and independent lives.
Increased Employment opportunities in Brent with long term 30 Full Time staff at Eden Manor will bring much needed new jobs to Brent and in particular the local community of Sudbury. If you have any skills and would like to lend us a hand, we urgently need Volunteers to support the work we are doing to secure Barham Park. For those with real determination, a long term job is possible as we will need to fill many posts once we secure approval to open. Please email : volunteer@edenmanor.co.uk
The long term benefit of locating Eden Manor at Barham Park is that we could open up parts of the building for evening and weekend educational classes and study area with an IT suite with access to learning space. It will not be the same as the old Barham Library, but we suggest the local community of Sudbury want the building at Barham Park to have some form of educational purpose and we suggest that the School together with local community support would be able to deliver an after school educational provision that added value to the local community, rather than simply not exploring and delivering other alternatives to the Local Community.
We also suggest that our proposal for Barham Bus Cafe in Barham Park could be used as a social enterprise training work experience opportunity for pupils attending Eden Manor. Local community food growing at Barham Park would also support a number of educational opportunities for both pupils and the community to engage collaboratively. It will be necessary to fence a section of the parkland around the buildings of Barham Park, however this can be done so that it does not detract from the public space of Barham Park. Our verbal communication with the Charity Commission on this point, suggests that it would be possible under Child Protection reasons to fence an area of parkland at Barham Park. Public enjoyment of any fenced area after school hours would be possible.
Have your say and help us deliver a New School for Brent. We have had no Government or Local Authority Funding and the lead Mr Toby Chambers has dedicated over 1 year of his time without any remuneration in preparing the business case and fighting for this Worthy Cause, that is to provide Better Educational Provision in Brent for Children with Special Eductional Needs
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT, SO PLEASE DONATE NOW !
(Go to Donate Button on Top Right Hand Corner to Donate)
Please also follow @Eden_Manor or email donate@edenmanor with your Twitter Handle and we will follow you and Tweet #ThankYouForYourDonation once we have received your donation and you can retweet to all your followers. )
(Please be aware there is still no guarantee we will secure the building at Barham Park, but your generosity will go a long way in proving up the business case and successfully securing the building, as we do now need vital funds to proceed.
Please keep in touch via email info@edenmanor.co.uk, Facebook Eden Manor, Tweet @Eden_Manor or simply phone 02089028821)
(Third party agent handling the processing of donations on behalf of We Care Foundation with no more than 10% processing fee to cover processing and administration of donations.)
EDEN MANOR
The recently published draft Brent Special Educational Needs strategy document, highlights there are currently 174 young people in Brent attending Out of Borough Special Schools, as there are insufficient places in Brent. We should point out this is double the national average. It is expected that by 2020 an extra 200 special school places will be required in the Borough of Brent, let alone the London wide school placement shortfall causing over-crowding and bulge classes in all schools across the capital. Those children with special educational needs are particularly at risk of falling behind in the current fight for school places.
The community desperately needs more schools and our proposal for Eden Manor at Barham Park does not even require the high cost of building a new school. Furthermore Brent Local Authority spent 300,000 Pounds in 2010 refurbishing part of Barham Park, prior to the library being closed. Surely in these times of Austerity, we all need to be thinking about how best to use a Local Community Resources, particularly when at least part of the building at Barham Park has had substantial money spent by Brent Local Authority and that money ultimately comes from Brent Council Tax payers. Rather than fighting Austerity with loads of Local Authority cuts, Brent Local Authority need to think creatively and innovatively, Furthermore Brent are not engaging and working with local community organizations. We openingly express a request to Councillor Butt, as the leader of Brent Coucil, to start working with those in the community who have innovative ideas to solve the social issues in the Borough. Up until now, it has been like a Brick Wall of Silence between those in the community and Brent Local Authority.
The current budget cuts are forcing more pupils with special educational needs into mainstream education and while obviously some children will thrive in a mainstream education, others will struggle. It is those children who constantly struggle, resulting in a lack of self confidence and self esteem that detrimentally impacts on their ability to learn and therefore inability to pass those rigorous exams. Case in point is last weeks article in the Guardian of the very tragic case in Brent of School Exclusions. Read and watch short video about this tragic case. http://t.co/4SApSUXO Could this happen to your child ?
EDEN MANOR will work collaboratively with community stakeholders and will
evolve as a Co-Op College. We Care Foundation submitted a proposal in 2011 to the Department for Education (DFE) in response to the first call for Free Special School proposals. Brent Local Authority would not support our proposal eventhough there is clear need in the Borough of Brent for more Specialist School provision. Our application to DFE in 2011 was not successful, as unlike mainstream Free Schools, Special Free School criteria is such that a Local Authority has to be fully supportive as ultimately the Local Authority budget will be funding a Special Free School rather than funding coming directly from the Secretary of State. We suggest that this is causing further distress to areas of high need for more specialist educational provision and we did not submit an application to DFE in 2012 as Brent Local Authority would not simply suport our application for a second time. The funding benefits of a "Free Special School" would unlock direct development funding, where as establishing as a Co-Op College will require community support in fundraising and donating to this Worthy Brent cause.
While the inclusion debate has focussed on the need to have every child attending a mainstream schools, we should point out when you have a major medical problem you don't expect your GP to be the surgeon, you expect a Specialist Surgeon. There is nothing inherently wrong with some children attending specialist education, where there are a high number of specially trained teachers. Given the number of parents in Brent who are opting to sent their child Out of Borough, simply because there is no suitable provision in Brent, suggests that parents want greater educational choice, with a variety of educational provisions.
Brent Local Authority and the Unions are totally opposed to the "Free School Agenda." We respect Brent and the Unions position on Free Schools, however simply closing the mind to try new educational models results in less innovation. It is our view that educational standards for children with special educational needs can only be driven up, with a wider variety of Specialist Schools, equipped with modern interactive technology and highly skilled and specialist teachers and therapists together with a building that inspires pupils to engage, think and learn. We suggest that Barham Park offers such an opportunity and Eden Manor will become a beacon of excellance in educating young pupil with a learning impairment.
The location of Barham Park in parkland, provides a natural and peaceful learning environment and we believe will allow the natural creativity hidden within a young person with a learning impairment to achieve their potential. Furthermore the location of Barham Park has excellent transport links Borough wide with 18, 182, 92, 204, 245 and H19 stopping directly outside, combined with good connections on the tube with Sudbury Town, Wembley Central and even Wembley Park and overground rail links. The importance of very good transport links is that pupils who may attend will inherently come from all wards in the Borough of Brent. Traditionally Brent has incurred very high transport costs in providing Local Authority provided transport, because the special schools that Brent parents choose are well out of Borough with some children actually travelling across to South London on a daily basis to attend Centre Academy in Battersea. Both the current Village School and Woodfield are not well serviced by public transport in any event. We estimate a Brent Local Authority saving in the order of 250,000 per annum if you reduce reliance on Local Authority provided transport, by placing another special school in the Borough. Not only is there a major potential cost saving for Brent Local Authority in agreeing to our proposal for Eden Manor in respect to travel costs, but for long term independence, it would be better to support as many children as possible in using public transport to travel between school and home. This can only be achieved by locating any Special School provision within proximity to very good cross Borough transport links. Furthermore we would also suggest that pupils if they were schooled locally in Brent could also participate in after school sports and extra curricula activities. Given long travel journeys in attending Out of Borough schools, most children with special educational needs do not have such opportunity, as they return home well after these activities would have begun.
Pupils will come from a wide geographical area across Brent with potentially some pupils also being admitted from neighbouring Boroughs of Harrow and Ealing. The location for EDEN MANOR is ideal, as there a wide variety of public transport routes that would support independent travel, increasing the educational experience of each pupil attending the school, so that pupils are confident and capable upon leaving the school to live fulfilling, satisfying and independent lives.
Increased Employment opportunities in Brent with long term 30 Full Time staff at Eden Manor will bring much needed new jobs to Brent and in particular the local community of Sudbury. If you have any skills and would like to lend us a hand, we urgently need Volunteers to support the work we are doing to secure Barham Park. For those with real determination, a long term job is possible as we will need to fill many posts once we secure approval to open. Please email : volunteer@edenmanor.co.uk
The long term benefit of locating Eden Manor at Barham Park is that we could open up parts of the building for evening and weekend educational classes and study area with an IT suite with access to learning space. It will not be the same as the old Barham Library, but we suggest the local community of Sudbury want the building at Barham Park to have some form of educational purpose and we suggest that the School together with local community support would be able to deliver an after school educational provision that added value to the local community, rather than simply not exploring and delivering other alternatives to the Local Community.
We also suggest that our proposal for Barham Bus Cafe in Barham Park could be used as a social enterprise training work experience opportunity for pupils attending Eden Manor. Local community food growing at Barham Park would also support a number of educational opportunities for both pupils and the community to engage collaboratively. It will be necessary to fence a section of the parkland around the buildings of Barham Park, however this can be done so that it does not detract from the public space of Barham Park. Our verbal communication with the Charity Commission on this point, suggests that it would be possible under Child Protection reasons to fence an area of parkland at Barham Park. Public enjoyment of any fenced area after school hours would be possible.
Have your say and help us deliver a New School for Brent. We have had no Government or Local Authority Funding and the lead Mr Toby Chambers has dedicated over 1 year of his time without any remuneration in preparing the business case and fighting for this Worthy Cause, that is to provide Better Educational Provision in Brent for Children with Special Eductional Needs
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT, SO PLEASE DONATE NOW !
(Go to Donate Button on Top Right Hand Corner to Donate)
Please also follow @Eden_Manor or email donate@edenmanor with your Twitter Handle and we will follow you and Tweet #ThankYouForYourDonation once we have received your donation and you can retweet to all your followers. )
(Please be aware there is still no guarantee we will secure the building at Barham Park, but your generosity will go a long way in proving up the business case and successfully securing the building, as we do now need vital funds to proceed.
Please keep in touch via email info@edenmanor.co.uk, Facebook Eden Manor, Tweet @Eden_Manor or simply phone 02089028821)
(Third party agent handling the processing of donations on behalf of We Care Foundation with no more than 10% processing fee to cover processing and administration of donations.)
Story Behind inspiration for Eden Manor inspirational
The inspiration for Eden Manor has come from Toby Chambers, a social entrepreneur.
You can listen to his amazing story.
His move into social entrepreneurship began in 2004 when he was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer and permanently lost his right vocal cord. For 4 years he could not talk, but thankfully voice reconstruction and speech therapy has resulted in a near perfect recovery. At the same time, his young son, Oliver, who was 4 years old at the time, could not speak apart from a couple of words. Eventually Oliver was diagnosed with Autism
Toby's loss of voice, allowed him to understand his sons world, where his autistic son wanted to communicate, but could not verbalize his communication.
Thankfully Oliver can also now verbally communicate.
Toby has been working over the past year and a half without any government funding or financil support in preparing the plans for Eden Manor.
He now asks for your support to make Eden Manor a reality. Please click on the donate button and give generously.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
You can listen to his amazing story.
His move into social entrepreneurship began in 2004 when he was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer and permanently lost his right vocal cord. For 4 years he could not talk, but thankfully voice reconstruction and speech therapy has resulted in a near perfect recovery. At the same time, his young son, Oliver, who was 4 years old at the time, could not speak apart from a couple of words. Eventually Oliver was diagnosed with Autism
Toby's loss of voice, allowed him to understand his sons world, where his autistic son wanted to communicate, but could not verbalize his communication.
Thankfully Oliver can also now verbally communicate.
Toby has been working over the past year and a half without any government funding or financil support in preparing the plans for Eden Manor.
He now asks for your support to make Eden Manor a reality. Please click on the donate button and give generously.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
About Delivery Team
The Delivery Team is led by :
Social Entrepreneur, Toby Chambers http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/toby-chambers/2b/653/2bb He has had many years experience in establishing private businesses, securing previous supply contracts in to Waitrose, John Lewis, Julian Graves, Selfridges, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, but to name a few. Ill health in 2004 being diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer with permanent right vocal cord paralysis and his son being diagnosed with autism, changed his outlook on life. Rather than pure profit he has become an activist for social change and long term positive social action, environmental and sustainable impacts. His long term goal is to complete a PhD in Economics at LSE, proposing an alternative economic structure to the current flawed capitalist system.
Kieran O'Donnell
Founding member and first chair of 1 Voice Brent. Kieran was instrumental in the founding of the parents group for children with additional needs 1 Voice in Brent was established from Aiming High funding. He has a son with Cerbral Palsy and is dedicated to improve support for all young people and their parents with disabilities.
Architects :
G A Architects
Led by founding partner Mr Christopher Beaver.
http://www.ga-architects.com/?page_id=221
Christopher is particularly interested in designing buildings for special needs and is a specialist in designing autism-friendly environments. His work in this field includes new buildings and the adaptation of existing buildings for residential, educational and respite use. He is a regular speaker at conferences both in the UK and overseas. Christopher is a member of RIBA and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
While the building at Barham Park provides a number of architectural challenges, we are confident the experience of GA Architects in designing buildings for the client group and utilizing the natural environmental features of Barham Park will lead to the school Eden Manor being a highly sought after special school for pupils on the autistic spectrum, delivering high quality education.
http://kidzlunchco.co.uk/
Project Conultants
----------------------
Legal :
Kieran O'Donnell
Founding member and first chair of 1 Voice Brent. Kieran was instrumental in the founding of the parents group for children with additional needs 1 Voice in Brent was established from Aiming High funding. He has a son with Cerbral Palsy and is dedicated to improve support for all young people and their parents with disabilities.
Architects :
G A Architects
Led by founding partner Mr Christopher Beaver.
http://www.ga-architects.com/?page_id=221
Christopher is particularly interested in designing buildings for special needs and is a specialist in designing autism-friendly environments. His work in this field includes new buildings and the adaptation of existing buildings for residential, educational and respite use. He is a regular speaker at conferences both in the UK and overseas. Christopher is a member of RIBA and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
While the building at Barham Park provides a number of architectural challenges, we are confident the experience of GA Architects in designing buildings for the client group and utilizing the natural environmental features of Barham Park will lead to the school Eden Manor being a highly sought after special school for pupils on the autistic spectrum, delivering high quality education.
http://kidzlunchco.co.uk/
Project Conultants
----------------------
Legal :
Community Partners, Stakeholders, Donors & Volunteers
Community Partners and Stakeholder & Personal Donors
The Kidz Lunch Company run by a young mother Jahmila Connage passionate about healthy and nutrition. She say's, "Providing Good Healthy Food will help children learn in the classroom." View her details.
http://kidzlunchco.co.uk/
(Please email : info@edenmanor.co.uk if your organization would like to be a community partner. For community partners and named donors we ask that you make a kind donation and or offer to support us in same way. For Volunteering please email Please see Donation Button for immediate donation)
We will Tweet #Thank You for Your Kind Donation if you provide your Twitter Handle and Follow us @Eden_Manor
The Kidz Lunch Company run by a young mother Jahmila Connage passionate about healthy and nutrition. She say's, "Providing Good Healthy Food will help children learn in the classroom." View her details.
http://kidzlunchco.co.uk/
(Please email : info@edenmanor.co.uk if your organization would like to be a community partner. For community partners and named donors we ask that you make a kind donation and or offer to support us in same way. For Volunteering please email Please see Donation Button for immediate donation)
We will Tweet #Thank You for Your Kind Donation if you provide your Twitter Handle and Follow us @Eden_Manor
Brent Draft Special Educational Needs Strategy 2012-15
2012-15 Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND) strategy consultation
1. Why are we consulting?
Brent Council is consulting in order to engage you at an early stage in thinking about how best we can work together to develop Brent’s SEND strategy over the next 3 years. The information below sets out:
- The changing national and local context for SEND
- The challenges we all face in continuing to improve on the good outcomes for children and young people with SEN and disabilities in Brent
- An outline of the policy direction the Council is proposing
This consultation will run over a 6 week period in March and April 2012. It is being circulated widely to schools, governing bodies, unions, parent groups, voluntary bodies and partner agencies. The consultation document is purposefully brief but sets out the main issues in summary form. You will find a consultation response form at the end for return by no later than Friday 20th April 2012. Consultation responses will be collated and made available in May 2012. This consultation will inform the issue of Brent’s refreshed SEND strategy for the period September 2012 to August 2015.
This consultation will also need to take account of the outcomes of the Government’s SEND Green Paper consultation which are likely to become apparent before Summer 2012.
2. Current strategy – progress and achievements
Brent’s current SEND strategy was issued in 2007 and was supplemented by the Education Accessibility Strategy published in 2010
Key achievements are summarised below:
· Outcomes for children with SEN in Brent have remained above national average (*% pupils achieving expected benchmark at 11 and 16 years old) .
· Education accessibility strategy has been implemented leading to an increased percentage of schools that have good levels of disabled access.
· SEN audit programme has been developed and implemented in all schools to support inclusive practice.
· Amalgamation and rebuilding (underway) of Hay Lane and Grove Park Schools to create the Village School with an additional 25 places.
· 20 place ‘satellite’ provision for the Village School established at Queens Park Community School.
· Additional 21 places for children with autism at Preston Manor High School and Granville Plus Nursery
· Revised SEN funding arrangements agreed through the Schools Forum providing increased clarity and transparency of delegated funding for SEN.
· Implementation of Individual Pupil Support Agreements (IPSAs) to provide additional support to SEN pupils outside of the statutory framework.
3. Challenges for the next 3 years
· Local contextual issues
- Outcomes for children and young people are good and Brent children with SEN achieve better than national average attainment.
- There is generally good quality provision with some outstanding special schools.
BUT
- Financial pressures within the Dedicated Schools Grant have reached unsustainable levels as numbers and placements continue to rise.
- The numbers of statements of SEN are significantly above National and West London averages suggesting an over reliance on the statutory framework for resourcing SEN.
- There is a rising population and increasing numbers of children with high level needs. This has led to a shortfall of specialist provision in mainstream and special schools in Brent. It is estimated that 200 additional local specialist places will be required by 2020.
· National contextual issues
- There is a major Government review (SEND Green Paper) in process, proposing education, health and care plans, personal budgets, different models of support and other radical proposals that we will need to plan for. A new statutory framework for SEN will be introduced in 2014.
- The Lamb Enquiry proposed ways for strengthening parental confidence in the SEN system which need further development.
- There are a number of other major reviews and guidance on good practice (Ofsted, Rose, Bercow) for identifying and meeting the SEN of children generally and specifically those with communication and literacy difficulties. The implications of these national reviews need to be fully considered locally.
4. Underpinning principles
It is proposed that the following principles should underpin the 2012-15 strategy
- Secure the best possible outcomes for children and young people with SEN and disabilities.
- Promote their independence and autonomy to assist transition to adult life.
- Build a strong culture of inclusion in every school.
- Increase the skills and capacity of all schools and other education providers to effectively meet a wide range of needs, building on strong early intervention.
- Meet the needs of children and young people in a local inclusive setting wherever possible, promoting their full participation in wider community life.
- Promote the engagement of parents and carers in their child’s learning and ‘team around the child’ approaches to provide co-ordinated multi-agency support.
- Ensure the best possible use of available resources working in partnership between the local authority, schools and other key partners within an agreed strategic framework.
5. Analysis of placements for Brent children with statements
PLACEMENT TYPE
|
CURRENT SITUATION
|
· 24 Children placed in residential special schools which are part funded by education budget.
|
· High costs, high needs.
· Relatively small numbers and downward trend.
· Mostly joint funded with Social Care and/or health.
|
· 174 Children placed in day independent special schools outside Brent.
|
· Increasing numbers particularly children on autistic spectrum.
· High volume and high cost placing acute pressure on Dedicated Schools Grant.
· Includes some children with high level or very specialist needs where Brent provision not suitable.
· However, many placements made out-Borough due to Brent’s specialist provision being full.
· May involve long journeys and high transport costs.
|
· 503 Children placed in Brent special schools and additionally resourced mainstream provision.
|
· Very few surplus places in Brent special schools.
· Schools catering for increasingly complex range of needs.
· Programme of expansions and development projects in place in response to rising demand.
· Increased mainstream/special collaboration.
|
· 860 Children in mainstream schools.
|
· Approximately 50% of children with statements attend mainstream school with additional support.
· Brent has a high proportion of children with statements in comparison to other London authorities and statistical neighbours.
· Thresholds for statements recently revised and threshold criteria consistently applied.
|
N.B. There are also 79 other Brent children with statements in other types of provision (e.g. early years providers, PRU’s and maintained special schools in neighbouring local authorities ) who are not included in the above table.
| |
6. Proposed Priorities for the next 3 years and Proposed Policy/Strategic Direction
Priority
|
Examples of how we plan to achieve this
| |
I
|
Continue to raise the attainment of children and young people with SEN by supporting mainstream schools to meet a wider range of needs through increasing their capacity.
|
Continued use of SEN audit to challenge and support.
Provide high quality specialist outreach support under unified management.
Support development of school to school networks.
|
II
|
Continue to develop a continuum of provision across mainstream schools, additionally resourced provision and special schools and address shortfalls in local provision.
|
Review of admission criteria of Brent specialist provisions.
Special and mainstream schools working together to develop provision.
Develop further in-house ASD provision.
Targeted review of children in out Borough special schools to consider return to Brent provision.
|
III
|
Develop stronger commissioning arrangements where out-borough placement is required.
|
Develop stronger commissioning arrangements within the local authority.
Joint work with neighbouring authorities to achieve greater economies of scale.
|
IV
|
Improve advice, information and support to parents and carers and their involvement developing strategy.
|
Establish parent reference group to guide developments.
Improve information, advice and guidance to parents across all agencies.
Assess potential for personal budgets.
|
V
|
Increase multi-agency collaboration and pro-actively prepare for the introduction of education, health and care plans.
|
Streamlining of referral and assessment pathways for under 5’s.
Joint training and piloting of education, health and care plans before full implementation in 2014.
|
VI
|
Increase practitioner skills and promoted effective early intervention.
|
Maintain strong central SEN training programme.
Develop traded services offer to schools.
|
VII
|
Reduce the reliance on the statutory framework for resourcing SEN.
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Review of SEN resourcing arrangements through schools forum.
Broaden partner involvement in consistent application of threshold criteria in decision making.
Evaluate impact of Individual Pupil Support agreements ( IPSAs) and revise .
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VIII
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Promote the collective ownership of Brent’s strategic approach and priorities
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Wide scale consultation on 2012-15 policy.
Revise arrangements for ongoing involvement with all stakeholders.
Increasing emphasis on communication strategy about SEN developments.
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CONSULTATION RESPONSE FORM – PLEASE RETURN BY NO LATER THAN 20th APRIL 2012:
BY HARD COPY For The Attention Of Andy Beckett at Chesterfield House, 9 Park Lane, Wembley, Middlesex, HA9 7RH.
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1.
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Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
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b) How might these be developed further to underpin our work over the next 3 years?
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2.
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Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
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b) Are there any priorities you don’t agree with? If so please tell us why.
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c) Are there other key priorities which you feel should be included?
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3.
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What more do we need to do to meet the priorities set out in Section 6?
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4.
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Any other comments or proposals?
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NAME OF RESPONDENT:
ORGANISATION (WHERE APPLICABLE)
Your Organisation
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An individual
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ARE YOU RESPONDING ON BEHALF OF or as
PLEASE TICK BOX AS APPLICABLE:
Partner Agency (please specify)
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SENCO
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Parent
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Union Representative
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Governor
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Headteacher
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RETURN THE COMPLETED FORM AS FOLLOWS:
Post a HARD COPY to: For the Attention of Andy Beckett at Chesterfield House, 9 Park Lane, Wembley, Middlesex, HA9 7RH.
This document can also be downloaded on line at: www.brent.gov.uk/consultation
EQUALITY MONITORING INFORMATION. If you are responding as an individual It will help the Council meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, if you were willing to complete the following questionnaire. Please take a few moments to provide the information below.
About You
1. What is your gender?
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Male
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Female
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2. What is your age group?
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Under 21
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40-49
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21-29
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50 +
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30-39
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3. Which one of these groups do you feel you belong to?
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Asian Indian
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Mixed White and Asian
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Asian Pakistani
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Mixed White and Black African
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Asian Bangladeshi
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[ ]
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Mixed White and Black Caribbean
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Asian Other
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Mixed Other
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Black African
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White British
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Black Caribbean
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[ ]
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White Irish
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Black Other
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[ ]
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White Other
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Chinese
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[ ]
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Other, please specify:
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Yes
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No
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4. Do you consider yourself to have a long standing illness or disability?
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[ ]
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[ ]
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5. Does your disability or impairment affect your daily life?
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[ ]
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[ ]
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6. What is your religion? (Please tick one box)
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Baha'i
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[ ]
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Islam
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Buddhism
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[ ]
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Sikhism
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[ ]
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Christianity
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[ ]
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Taoism
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[ ]
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Hinduism
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[ ]
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No religion
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[ ]
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Jainism
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[ ]
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Prefer not to say
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[ ]
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Judaism
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[ ]
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Other, please specify:
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7. What is your sexual orientation?
[ ]
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Bisexual
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[ ]
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Lesbian
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[ ]
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Gay
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[ ]
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Prefer not to say
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[ ]
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Heterosexual
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