UPDATE NO 499 01 April 2022

Public Law Outline toolkit – free SESLIP workshops NOW BOOKING

The course is aimed at team managers, service/district managers, heads of service and legal professionals and is free to SESLIP members. Join the 60+ colleagues from across the region who have already booked.

Now booking: Cohort 1: 6 April (am and pm) and 27 April (am only) OR Cohort 2:  11 May (am and pm) and 25 May (am only). For more information contact Alison Smailes (details below)

Take Your Place – aspirant ADCS course NOW BOOKING

The Take Your Place programme is NOW BOOKING a 5-day aspirant Assistant Director’s course aimed at (approx) third-tier officers. Free of charge, each SESLIP large authority has two places and small authorities a single place. Your final nominations need to be endorsed by your DCS and details sent to Mark Evans (details below). The deadline for applications is Friday 22 April. See this flyer for more details

The 5-day programme will be delivered by The Staff College and consist of:

• 1 x 2-day face to face orientation residential, including evening speaker (16 & 17 June)
• 3 x ½ day virtual workshops, including sessions facilitated by Research in Practice & Early Intervention Foundation (11 July, 12 September, 27 September)
• 1 x 1 day face to face end of programme/partner workshop (13 October)
• 1 x ½ day co-production session
• 5 X action learning set sessions during and post

System Leadership – CYP Mental Health 28 April 3pm NOW BOOKING

NHS (England), The Staff College and SESLIP have organised a 2-hour online workshop “System Leadership in Children and Young People’s Mental Health – a south-east region perspective” 3pm-5pm on Thursday 28 April.  

This event is FREE and aimed at all strategic leaders from partner agencies, commissioners and providers. You can book here

Opportunity for All – Schools White Paper

On 28 March DfE published Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child which sets out plans to deliver on the government’s priority to level up across the country. The economic benefits of meeting the white paper’s ambitions, and the case for a fully trust led system, are also set out.

The White Paper is here.

Annex 1: The case for a fully trust led system is here.

Annex 2: Economic benefits of meeting the ambitions set out in the Schools White Paper is here and

Annex 3: Methodology for obtaining mean GCSE grades for English language and mathematics is here

SEND review: right support, right place, right time – new DfE consultation closes 1 July 2022

On March 29, DfE published SEND Review: Right support Right place Right time. The DfE is seeking views on its green paper about the changes we want to make to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) system in England.

You can respond to the consultation here, or you can email SENDReview.CONSULTATION@EDUCATION.GOV.UK. The consultation closes on 1 July 2022.

ANTI-RACISM REPORT

On 17 March 2022, What Works for Children’s Social Care, Social Work England and the Principal Social Worker Network published their Anti-Racism Report

Findings from 1,958 responses to a survey of registered social workers include: 19% reported that workplace racism had increased their anxiety, and 13% reported worsened mental health; and social workers from ethnic minorities typically experience increased scrutiny and negative assumptions about their skills based on their ethnicity. The full report is here.

Early Help Network

The Early Help Network page is now live. The next meeting is on Wednesday 25 May at 1.30. Please contact Rebecca Eligon (details below) for further information.

There is a list of Early Help Lead contacts across the region. Please can you check the entry for your authority and send any updates to Isabelle Gregory (details below).

Supporting schools that are not making necessary improvements. Closes 23 May

On March 28, DfE publsihed a consultation on Supporting schools that are not making necessary improvements. It proposes to make all schools with two consecutive Ofsted judgments of below ‘Good’ eligible for intervention. This will enable the Secretary of State to move these schools into strong trusts in order to ensure that children attending them receive the standard of education they deserve. This change to the Department’s policy on intervention in schools would be introduced from September 2022, pending the outcome of the consultation.

The consultation document is here.

The “Draft guidance for local authorities and Regional Directors on how to work with schools to support improvements to educational performance, and on using their intervention powers” is here.

The consultation response page is here and closes on 23 May.

Future dates for network meetings

Lead Members Group: Joint meeting with DCSs on NHS Integrated Care Systems. Fri 8 April 9:30am. More from Alison Michalska (contact details below)

Data Benchmarking: Tuesday 12 July 10:00am More information from Alastair Lee (contact details below)

Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board: Monday 25 April 10.30am-12noon More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

AD Education: Friday 6 May 10:00am. More information from Chris Owen (contact details below)

AD Safeguarding: Friday 10 June 10:00am. More information from Mark Evans (contact details below)

QA Network: Thursday 16 June 2:00pm – 5:00pm. More information from Amanda Meadows (contact details below)

Fostering Network: Wednesday 27 April 10-11.30am More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

SEND SE19: more information from Tracey Maytas (contact details below)

Early Help: Wednesday 25 May 1.30pm. More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

Education, children’s social care and offending

On 10 March 2022, DfE published Education, children’s social care and offending, an examination of the education and social care background of children cautioned or sentenced for an offence.

Correlations reported include the large majority of offenders have SEND (which increases the more prolific the offender) and that there is a closer correlation between having a series of suspensions and offending behaviour than if permanently excluded. Most young people who offended also had high levels of persistent absence.

The full report (81 pages) is here

School Capacity Survey May 2021 published

On 24 March, DfE published the data reported by local authorities in England, in the annual School Capacity (SCAP) survey, as of 1 May 2021. 

Data shows that 17% of primaries and 22% of secondaries are at or over capacity. Demand for primary places is expected to have peaked this year and, in secondaries, in 2025-26. These data report the highest level of excess capacity in primaries for a decade.

Sustainable high needs systems: learning from the ‘safety valve’ intervention programme

On 24 March DfE published Sustainable high needs systems: learning from the ‘safety valve’ intervention programme

The programme, working with a small number of local authorities in the first round, identified a number of ways in which local authorities can and should improve their management of their high needs systems. The lessons learned through this intervention programme could benefit other local authorities.