Written evidence submitted by Learning in Harmony Trust

(SFC0032)

Background

Learning in Harmony Trust (LIHT) is a multi-academy trust which supports 10 primary schools and two special schools across London and the East of England. The Trust is committed to providing an excellent education, which ensures better outcomes for all children, and particularly those diagnosed with, or showing early signs of, special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

• JFK Special School, part of LIHT, is one of only a few Outstanding SEND providers in England. It has a long-standing history of sharing its expertise and knowledge with schools across its local community to support in enhancing the provision of children with SEND.
• LIHT has continued to expand its SEND provision and deliver high-quality and bespoke support. This includes:
• The opening of Connaught Special School in 2023, which is already supporting children who have been out of school for extended periods of time to reintegrate back into a school setting.
• New Autism Resource Bases that provide specialised support for pupils with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) at a number of its schools. part of this, the Trust has worked closely with Newham Local Authority to create admissions plans that focus on individual student profiles rather than their broad diagnosis.
• Expertise from the SEND leaders at the Trust’s special schools supports LIHT’s mainstream primary schools with advice and guidance, enabling them to meet the needs of all students. 

LIHT welcomes this call for evidence and the work being undertaken to address gaps in support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) including in the Department for Education’s SEND and AP improvement plan and is pleased to submit the following evidence to indicate that further work must be done, in line with the suggestions presented here.

Performance of the system

We are pleased to see the Government place the needs of young people with SEND at the heart of its work to break down the barriers to opportunity. We welcome proposals to join up services to support early identification and intervention, the essential role of school support staff, and the need to improve inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools.

Learning in Harmony has extensive experience in supporting pupils with SEND across our schools. Almost one third of all children with EHCPs in Southend schools are educated in one of our five local schools and all of our mainstream schools have innovatively set up their own specialist SEND classes, ensuring inclusivity and best support for all our young people. As such, seeing the current system first hand and based on this experience, the Trust has found the following to be true:

• The current funding system does not encourage accountability for local authority spending, including high needs funding or special needs capital. This means funding is not mirrored in school or top-up funding, and local authorities are often paying way above market price on independent schools, who set their own fees.
• The current admission profiling system is overly focused on a student’s diagnosis and the preconceived needs of a child based on the broad brush understanding of their disability.
• Newly qualified, early career, and professional development training in the current sector do not place enough emphasis on inclusion or support for those with SEND. Currently, trainee teachers and ECTs are not given adequate preparation and training around SEND, preventing classrooms and teachers from being best supported to make adaptations to learning where needed.
• Within early years settings, there is not enough support or training available to staff to ensure the early identification of children with SEND, meaning that children are falling through the gaps instead of receiving support as early as possible.
• Currently, attitudes and awareness of SEND provision are not underpinned by inclusivity which prevents classrooms, language, resources and curricula from being truly supportive for those with SEND.
• Accountability measures and metrics for outcomes or progress are not inclusive enough and overly focused on results data. This fails to recognise the importance of differing metrics of success and wellbeing across education for those with SEND.
• It also becoming commonplace for the generic term ‘vulnerable children’ to be used to speak about both disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.              
• While there are many similarities across these two groups, and both are under-resourced, the provision, funding curriculum, and pedagogy needed to best support the two can be significantly different.
• Without the important nuance and specification between the two, there is a significant risk that generalisations may be made which do not effectively serve the needs of either set of pupils.

Government action to create a sustainable SEN system and restore confidence

The following should be used as a framework to deliver provision for children with SEND, to ensure that every child is given the very best support which actually reflects and meets their needs, and that no child falls through the cracks or misses out on support.

Removing barriers to delivery of SEND provision

1.       Targeting SEND funding to ensure it reaches where it is needed most

• There needs to be more methods of accountability around local authority spending, including high needs funding or special needs capital, which is not mirrored in school or top-up funding.
• As part of this, there needs to be strategic reform to the tribunal system in placing students, which ensures local authorities are able to provide what is outlined in a student’s EHCP. This will ensure funding reaches where it is needed most, so local authorities are providing adequate SEND and therapeutic support alongside opening more maintained special schools, which are equipped to meet the highly specialised needs of children.
• This will prevent local authorities from paying way above market price on independent schools and stop this drain on the system. We would also support consideration from the government on regulation to what independent private schools can charge.
• This means funding can be reinvested into communities instead of spent on private settings.

2.       Streamline admission profiling so that it is determined based on a child’s profile, not their general diagnosis

• Placing students with SEND in the right settings which are able to meet their needs is critical to their success. This needs to be done as precisely and swiftly as possible.
• To ensure accuracy of provision, placement and funding, profiling should be determined by an individual’s precise student profile and not their general diagnosis, so that bespoke support can be delivered.
• Our Trust has worked in collaboration with the Newham local authority to create an admissions plan which looks at the individual student profiles instead of their general diagnosis. The plan has supported the local authority in better signposting students to the right schools for their specific needs and assuring parents that their child is in the best possible environment for success, and, where appropriate, affords them the option of enrolling their child in a mainstream school. We would be happy to discuss with your team how this works in practice.

Ensuring the delivery of high quality SEND provision

1. Ensure every classroom has access to a member of staff who is trained for early identification of children with SEND

• It needs to be a requirement for every early years and foundation stage setting to have a member of staff trained in early identification of children with SEND.
• Early identification is vital to improving the life chances of children with SEND, by ensuring they are receiving the support they need as early as possible.
• We need to ensure that every child in reception is overseen and supported by teachers who understand SEND needs, to support early identification and prevent children from falling through the gaps.
• This will enable all children and parents or carers to have access to specific resources when needed early on. This ensures more robust early intervention and prevents reliance on expensive private education, which is a significant drain on high needs funding. Increasing investment and flexibility in SEND school places would both reduce the need for private places and allow local authorities to use high needs funding more efficiently, which in turn saves money to be reinvested into community schools.

2. SEND-inclusivity and awareness must be embedded into all training materials and continuous professional development

• All training materials must be re-evaluated to include tailored sections on SEND and an awareness of the impact on children with SEND.
• The incoming NPQ must have a consideration for its impact on children with SEND and provide ideas and resources to support teachers and leaders to make adaptations where needed.
• The ITT and ECF programmes should have embedded sections on SEND throughout all learning materials, so that from the start, every teacher is equipped to identify and support children with additional needs.
• This focus and awareness must be present and consistent at every level of training, and be written with and informed by a SEND expert.
• This will ensure every teacher is a teacher of SEND and classrooms can truly meet the needs of all children, with a passion for being inclusive.
• A key part to achieving this, will be to ensure that there is always a SEND expert, who has on the ground experience of working with children with a wide range of needs and disabilities, involved in the drafting of all training materials for teachers at every stage of their career.

Increasing awareness of the need for SEND provision

1. Attitudes towards and awareness of SEND provision must be reformed to increase inclusivity

• We need to focus on creating SEND-inclusive classrooms and language, so we can re-evaluate how teachers, parents, and carers can build communication around SEND inclusivity. This change should be considered within the Government’s upcoming mental health bill.
• This includes supporting teachers and leaders to create inclusive classroom resources, materials, and strategic directions which will build the quality of specialist provision within special schools and mainstream classrooms - these resources need to be made with SEND specialists, and be readily available and freely to every school. 
• Support for parents needs to include a stronger focus on and awareness of SEND, alongside driving positive language and additional classroom support where needed. Building a genuinely inclusive environment means that young people would have the tools to support their learning, enabling stronger intervention earlier on and supporting outcomes.
• There must also be a move away from generalisations across disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND. While there are many similarities between the two, and both under-resourced groups, the provision, funding curriculum and pedagogy required for these two groups can be significantly different. Without nuance and specification there is a risk that generalisations are being made that don't effectively serve either set of pupils, and prevents access to the best support for that individual.
• This will ensure good practice for those with SEND is good practice across the sector, so every child is able to access a provision which meets their needs.

2. Inclusivity needs to be built into accountability measures, including through common metrics to support understanding outcomes and progress

• Education provision and sector frameworks must acknowledge the importance of differing metrics of success and wellbeing across education for those with SEND, rather than relying solely on results data.
• Building a new way for schools to be accountable for their SEND provision, through metrics such as building independence and a meaningful life, we can create fairer and more representative public-facing accountability measures.
• As part of this, we would suggest reform of public-facing results tables and reform within Ofsted inspections to prioritise SEND provision in their evaluation, and own language around success.
• This will ensure there is stronger language around SEND, support parents and carers to understand what successful provision looks like, and ensure we are fostering an environment which supports needs as early as possible.

November 2024