'You Said, We Did' SEND in Norfolk 2023-4

Over 1,200 of you gave your views by taking part in our SEND survey 2023. We read every comment and identified the key messages which were shared in our three Norfolk SEND survey 2023 reports which were published in autumn 2023.

We drew heavily on the SEND survey reports when developing our new Norfolk Area SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy (NASPAS). This is a five-year strategy 2024-29 with five important themes:

• My learning and development
• My changes and new beginnings
• My adult life
• My family is supported
• My friends and activities

Each theme has four or five priorities that were co-produced and then consulted on through eight NASAPS community engagement events. These were held in venues across Norfolk early in 2024.

Please read on to learn about what we are doing to address the issues raised by children and young people (CYP) with SEND, their parents/carers and the professionals who work with them. 

1. Lack of inclusive activities and events
2. Bullying
3. Improve communication and shared decision-making
4. Improve support for mental health difficulties
5. More support for families
6. Support for professionals to gain specialist SEND knowledge 
7. Improve support to help meet needs at SEN Support
8. Improve waiting times for speech and language therapy support
9. Reduce waiting times for neurodevelopment assessments
10. Make SEND information easy to find, understand and use
11. Next steps

The SEND Local Offer team has:

• Launched a calendar of SEND events where SEND friendly and inclusive activities and events are being published and promoted

The Educational Psychology Specialist Service (EPSS) has:

• Developed a digital online noticeboard for schools to share with families who have a child with SEND which includes links to 'things to do' and youth groups

The Norfolk Music Service is:

• Encouraging specialist resource bases (SRBs) to give their pupils the opportunity to join mainstream school music lessons with their peers
• Offering music technology as a 'Holiday Activities and Food' (HAF) activity to give young people the chance to make new friends through music
• Offering more SEND activities such as Free Flow Friday, an autism-friendly concert in Gorleston in March 2024 and SENDfest in June 2024
• Working to make music accessible to all, learning from feedback from SENDfest, the SEND Youth Forum and HAF families
• Bringing bespoke music sessions to pupils in specialist settings

The Children and Young People (CYP) with SEND participation officers:

• Launched 'Article 12 Gamers' for CYP with SEND aged 12-16-years-old with positive feedback from CYP and their carers. The group meets every school holiday and half-term break. An additional group for a younger age is being explored.
• Are exploring with CYP the idea of a young person's profile template to be completed by the CYP prior to any engagement activity with the team. It would include the young person's likes/dislikes and communication preference to ensure their needs are met.
• Organised a NASAPS drawing competition to build relationships and understand what a happy life looks like for CYP. 272 CYP took part. The drawings have been used throughout the NASAPS strategy. You can see everyone's pictures on YouTube.
• Built on relationships with schools and young people through further engagement and additional projects
• Asked CYP with SEND what makes them feel comfortable and uncomfortable in school and co-produced a list of top tips for schools.
• Met with students from East Norfolk Sixth Form College to review what SEND support looks like in further education (FE) and what could be improved
• Are co-creating a group for young people with SEND aged 16+ to give them opportunities to meet and connect with their peers
• Consulted CYP on a rating system for questions they are asked about as part of their education, health and care plan (EHCP). The participation officers learned they prefer a red, amber, green thumbs visual rather than smiley faces or emojis. This rating system will start being used for all surveys.

Many children and young people with SEND feel bullied.

Children and Young People (CYP) participation officers shared that many CYP with SEND feel bullied widely within Norfolk County Council and in multi-agency meetings.

The partnership, schools and communities team:

• Delivered a virtual classroom and digital online noticeboard of resources for education settings wanting to mark Anti-Bullying Week in November 2023
• Delivered a workshop 'Creating an anti-bullying charter ensuring it is autistic spectrum condition friendly' at the Norfolk Youth Against Bullying Anti-Bullying Conference in November 2023
• Delivered a workshop 'Be an anti-bullying change maker' at the Youth Participation Workshop Day in May 2024
• Published an article in the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) SEND Network Briefing in March 2024 for schools. It was about the topics needing to be prioritised when teaching RSHE to pupils with SEND. For example:
  • Caring friendships
  • Respectful relationships
  • Asking for help
  • Online and media
  • Mental wellbeing
• Published an article in the RSHE SEND Network Briefing in June 2024 for schools. This explored how to overcome the challenges of pupil engagement, complexity and range of SEND, curriculum and resources to ensure all pupils can access this subject.

The inclusion and opportunity team developed thematic toolkits, including information and guidance on how to approach anti-bullying in schools.

The need for improved communication, stronger working together and shared decision-making.

The inclusion and opportunity team has:

• Published case studies about how SEN Support works in several Norfolk schools and their next steps to improve. Some recognise the need to involve parents carers more in conversations about SEN Support.

The Statutory SEN Service has redesigned the service to respond to and increase communication with those who use the service. The changes include:

• A move to three teams for each of the three localities from September 2024
• Additional EHCP co-ordinators, reviewing officers, support staff, team managers and a third head of service
• Continuing to focus on issuing timely and quality plans within the 20-week timeframe
• Improving EHCPs using the learning from parent carer and young people's feedback. Sharing good practice in reflective practice sessions with EHCP co-ordinators and social care teams.
• Using the Children Services' Quality Assurance framework to share best practice in gathering children and young people's (CYP) and the parent carer voice. It has also checked for CYP and parent carer voice during the quality assurance of EHCPs.
• Reinforcing the importance of parent carer and CYP feedback during reflective practice sessions with EHCP co-ordinators and social care teams

Support for children and young people with mental health difficulties must improve.

NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Commissioning Board:

• Set up a new way for 0-25-year-olds and families to request mental health support through Just One Number

Get access to mental health support

• Worked with Cambridge Community Services to set up a triage process for mental health referrals. This is to make sure the right service and appropriate self-care resources, advice, guidance and support is provided.
• Launched a new website FYI - For Your Information. The website will help children and young people (CYP) get the information they need on a range of topics, including mental health.

Visit FYI - For Your Information website

• Is piloting a two-year Mental Health Navigator project. The project will support CYP - with high-level mental health needs - to get the help they need from services so that they can achieve their goals.

The Educational Psychology Specialist Service (EPSS) has developed several parent carer digital online noticeboards of support information that schools can share with families on the following topics:

• Autism
• Sleep
• Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH)

The early years and childcare team:

• Set up an Early Years SEND Consultative Group to better understand the needs of early years settings, childminders and the families who use their services
• Attended Making Sense of SEND events to meet and talk to parents carers about early years services and support
• Is reviewing and updating the early years information on the SEND Local Offer, to give early years providers and families a better understanding of early years services and support

The inclusion and opportunity team has:

• Worked with special schools to review steps provision and support for families of children and young people with SEND
• Collaborated on the design and launch of a new SEND and inclusion support line. This will help parents carers who have a child with SEND to get help when services and support are not working.

The new schools and community teams have established relationships with educational settings in their community zones.

The NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Commissioning Board (ICB) children, young people and maternity (CYPM) team is:

• Developing a new digital library for parents carers which will launch in autumn 2024
• Developing training for parents carers that will be available on Just One Norfolk website in autumn 2024

Professionals who work with children and young people with SEND, must be supported to gain specialist SEND knowledge and skills. 

The inclusion and opportunity team has:

• Developed guidance, resources, support and a training offer for educational settings, to help build their capacity and confidence to meet needs at SEN Support. Examples include:
  • New short on-demand SEND training videos
  • New inclusion and SEND toolkits on a range of topics, including transition and bullying
  • New SEN Support plan templates, case studies and guidance
  • SENDCo peer reviews

The Educational Psychology Specialist Service (EPSS) is extending their successful core consultations with schools to early years providers, giving them access to specialist advice.

The early years and childcare team:

• Offers an Early Years SEND Inclusion training programme at times that allow childminders and early years settings to take part
• Promotes key SEND messages and SEND training to encourage engagement
• Worked with Dingley's Promise to make early years online inclusive practice and transition training available to all early years providers. As a result, 98% said they felt better equipped to support more children with SEND.
• Has run communication hubs in around the county every half-term since 2023. These give clear and consistent messages about how to access and deliver speech and language support effectively in early years settings to 889 practitioners.
• Monitor early years provision across Norfolk to ensure it is of consistently high quality 

The inclusion and opportunity team has:

• Delivered a range of 'Steps for SEND' virtual classrooms to Steps lead professionals on Autism and ADHD
• Developed one-minute guides, inclusion and SEND toolkits, and elearning to help professionals provide effective support to children and young people with SEND
• Shared a differentiated approach for delivering relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) to children and young people with SEND

Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Commissioning Board (ICB) child and young person and maternity team has continued to develop the training platform for professionals on Just One Norfolk. This will enable professionals to access training on a wide range of topics in one place.

Improve support around educational settings to help them meet needs at SEN Support.

The inclusion and opportunity service has:

• Developed guidance, resources, support and a training offer for educational settings, to help build their capacity and confidence to meet needs at SEN Support. Examples include:
  • New short on-demand SEND training videos
  • New SEN Support plan templates and guidance
  • Supported the design and implementation of a new SEND and inclusion support line, to help everyone get the right SEND support at the right time
  • SENDCo peer reviews
  • Revised processes to make them less time-consuming and more user-friendly for SENDCos

Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Commissioning Board (ICB) child and young person and maternity team has:

• Signed up to a new national pilot called 'partnership for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools' (PINS) in partnership with Norfolk County Council. The pilot will test the support offer for education professionals to better understand, support and improve inclusion in primary schools.
• Continued to develop the training platform for professionals on Just One Norfolk website, to enable them to access training on a wide range of topics in one place
• Started work on a new neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) digital library. This is in collaboration with young people, families and stakeholders across health, education and care. It will go live autumn 2024.

Mental health teams have:

• Been working in schools across Norfolk to increase awareness of how staff can support children and young people with mental health needs
• Developed a training offer for Norfolk and Waveney's children and young people's mental health and wellness workforce with the Talk (Training, Applied Learning and Knowledge) Centre website. The teams are working to expand its reach.

Waiting times for speech and language therapy need to improve.

The Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) service has:

• Changed the way children, families and professionals access the SaLT service with:
  • A new online referral form for parents carers to outline their speech and language concerns and the current support in place. This triggers a 30-minute virtual early advice session with a speech and language therapist. They will provide advice, support and signposting to training and resources.
  • New termly school link meetings with SENDCos and higher level Teaching Assistants (HLTAs). They will discuss the current SaLT needs in their setting, the support already provided and new requests for support.

These approaches give speech and language therapists the opportunity to identify needs and provide appropriate and tailored support to children and young people at an earlier stage. This has reduced the waiting time for speech and language therapy to 12 weeks.

Feedback quotes

"We have been provided with excellent support throughout my son's journey with the speech therapists and his SRB school, we have been so impressed with his progress".

Parent X in August 24

 "As someone who has been a SENDCo for over 10 years, I feel like the organisation of the SALT team is at its best and I am excited by what is to come".

Primary School SENDCo in July 24

Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Commissioning Board (ICB) child and young person and maternity team:

• Worked with the regional and national team to change how they support neurodiverse children and implement:
  • A neurodevelopment provider framework
  • A new list of quality assured neurodevelopment independent providers. They can be chosen by families seeking a neurodevelopment assessment for their child under Right to Choose
• Is working to understand how neurodevelopment needs can be identified and supported earlier, to reduce reliance on assessments

Information about SEND services and support needs to be easy to find, understand and use.

The SEND Local Offer team has reviewed and updated the SENDCo guide. This has been relaunched as:

• Navigating the SEND Local Offer - A guide to help special educational needs and disabilities coordinators (SENDCos) find the information they need

Our next SEND survey will launch in January 2025.

We will report on what we learn from children and young people with SEND, their parents carers and the professionals who work with them at Making Sense of SEND on Thursday 3 July 2025 at County Hall, Norwich.

You will also be able to:

• Learn about the actions being worked on during 2024/25
• Progress towards achieving these goals
• Take part in a question and answer (Q & A) session with senior leaders
• Visit the information fair

Visit the SEND newsletters page and subscribe to the SEND Bulletin e-newsletter for regular updates throughout the year.