UPDATE NO 261 28 July 2017

SEND Benchmarking Workshop 21st July 2017

The workshop was organised by Alastair Lee and Tracey Maytas and was well attended with 21 people, including both data and SEND delivery specialists,  attending from 13 LAs plus the Local Government Association (LGA) and the NCER (National Consortium for Examination Results). The morning session looked at:

• South East SEND Benchmarking,
• LGInform SEND Report,
• the LAIT (Local Authority Interactive Tool) and
• SEND education performance using the NCER tool Nexus.

A number of LAs were not aware that they could take part in the SE SEND benchmarking and were re-assured that they could and all those that already take part were very keen for all LAs to do so that better comparisons can be made. The DfE may be stepping back from leading on the LGA SEND report and the workshop agreed that it needs to continue so suggested that the LGA and the ADCS regional data and performance groups work together to maintain it. This would be through the Childrens Services National Performance and Information Management Group (CS-NPIMG).

The 5 LAs represented that had been inspected had found all the reports useful in their preparations, where they knew about them. LAs also used them in self-evaluation to support the SEND strategy and to identify strengths and areas for development. The areas where more might be needed relate to data from health partners, on funding, outcomes and quality. There was discussion with the NCER about how attainment and progress data can be collected for children with plans educated outside the home LA, it would be very useful for LAs to have this in a similar way to the NCER’s Children Looked After (CLA) project.

Provisional next steps are to:

1. Support the development of the LGA SEND report once the DfE has passed on ownership. (To be discussed at the CS-NPIMG on 11 October 2017)
2. Look at how some of the duplication of data can be reduced or reports merged
3. Consider reporting data on demand for assessments in both Oct and March and create a separate report (at SE Benchmarking meeting in Sept 2017)
4. Engage with the NCER on the collection of attainment and progress data for children with plans educated out of their Home LA

Data Benchmarking Reports

Last week we published 

•  (Restricted) Adoption Benchmarking Report 2016-17 Q4 v1 [Excel & PDF]

‘Restricted’ reports contain unsuppressed data, and data which is not in the public domain. Please do not share these outside of your LA.

Also last week we distributed the Data Collection sheet for the 2017-18 Q1 and Provisional Annual 2016-17 Social Care Benchmarking returns.  The deadline for submission is Monday 21 August, with the reports expected to be published during the first week in September. Returns should be sent to the following email address: CS.DataManagement@eastsussex.gov.uk

ALB Quarterly return Q1: Please also remember to send a copy of your LA’s ALB Q4 child level return to: Joseph.Hutchings@eastsussex.gcsx.gov.uk at the same time as submitting to the DfE.

Topical Peer Challenge Round 10

Bookings for Topical Peer Challenge Round 10 are now open. Currently two participants: Buckinghamshire (MASH Front Door) and Wokingham (Virtual School).

Please let Richard Tyndall (contact details below) know if you would like to join in Round 10, the field work for which will be undertaken in late 2017 or early 2018.

Leadership Development

We continue to offer our successful portfolio of Leadership Development Courses all of which have been positively evaluated by delegates.

We are offering LAs the opportunity to train their own trainers for all our courses. Our aim is to increase the capacity and capability across the region  to ensure future sustainability within LAs. Courses can also be delivered with adult services and/or for schools. Please contact Di Smith, details below, if this is of interest to you.

All courses are run in-house in the LA who provides the venue. Each course is accompanied by a range of training resources for the delegates including a comprehensive handbook. The current courses on offer are as follows and details of each course and the costs for each can be found by downloading the April 2016 Leadership Development Prospectus. 

Coaching to Improve Performance

Embedding a Coaching Culture

Leading Change in Times of Austerity

Step Up to Leadership   

We can also arrange one-to-one coaching, especially to support newly appointed 2nd and 3rd tier managers

If you require further details or wish to book a course please get in touch with Di Smith (contact details below)