Written evidence submitted Witherslack Group

(SFC0055)

Introduction to Witherslack Group

Witherslack Group is the UK’s leading education provider for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) across England. Witherslack Group have been providing education for children with social, emotional or mental health challenges, and young people on the autistic spectrum for over 25 years. Each one of our pupils have Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) provided by their local authorities.

Witherslack Group have the highest proportion of Outstanding schools in the sector, with every single one of our 35 schools rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. Our award-winning schools offer inspirational living and learning environments and our unique approach enables each young person to achieve outstanding outcomes. For example, 70% of our GCSE pupils achieved GCSE English Language and 70% achieved GCSE Maths (in comparison to only 15% of SEN pupils attending mainstream who are entered for GCSEs). We have 123 local authority partners who place with Witherslack Group; 65 of which have done so for over 10 years.

Last year, as part of our commitment to our young people, Witherslack Group launched a dedicated Futures Programme, designed to deliver unlimited aspiration and endless opportunities for each pupil as they enter into the ‘adult’ world. The ultimate goal of the programme is to ensure that all of our pupils go on to access sustainable, paid employment opportunities in adulthood.

We already see 100% of our leavers move into employment, further education or training. However, more specifically as a result of this innovative programme, 25% of all our 2024 Year 11 Leavers moved into direct employment or employment with education pathways. Our commitment also goes beyond our current leavers, and we are proud to offer support to our alumni for however long they need it. As a result, 30% of the previous three years’ leavers remain directly engaged with the Futures Programme, or are settled in regular employment.

The below examples set out the most impactful aspects of our provision and intends to provide the overall picture on the support that is available and outcomes that are possible for those with SEN. Witherslack Group are dedicated to supporting the Government to create a sustainable SEN system and restore confidence in such a vital sector, and would be delighted to provide further evidence to the Committee should it be helpful.

Our ITAC approach

Across all of our schools, the highly effective therapeutic model that we implement is our Integrated Team Around the Child (ITAC) approach. It ensures that young people have access to cohesive services and all the relevant practitioners concerned with an individual young person meet regularly. This means that the services delivered are integrated, prioritised, coherent and achieve their intended outcomes.

Each half term, we review the young person’s provision through the Integrated Team Around the Child coming together to evaluate progress, plan next steps and evidence change in emotional wellbeing, mental health, behaviour and learning. The team is made up of professionals from across different disciplines to ensure there is a holistic approach to meeting each young person’s needs.

All Witherslack Group provisions use the unique ITAC model to provide intensive and adaptable support to every one of our students. The key feature of the provision that makes this possible is permanently having experienced experts in each of the clinical, therapeutic and academic elements on-site and available to the young people. The team around the child are in constant contact with each other, ensuring that all are aware of any developments or changes for the learner, so that all aspects of their support can adjust where needed to ensure the learner continues to progress.

We recently undertook a social impact study on our approach, using the example of one of our learning centres: The Grange in County Durham, which is rated as ‘Outstanding’. The study found that, “there is a drastic difference between what a learner is able to achieve in their life having been supported by the staff and setting at The Grange, as opposed to the probable alternatives for young people with such severe needs and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).”

Through the development, study and evaluation of archetypical learners, we have calculated the average additional social value from a placement at The Grange is at least £631k. The additional social value generated by a placement at The Grange takes into account the cost of placement there. A placement at the Grange, therefore, represents significant value for money and we believe this example can be replicated across the system.

Futures Programme

While the ITAC approach is the central focus of our support while young people are with us, our Futures Programme prioritises how we support our pupils in the transition to adulthood.

The Futures Programme launched last year and has been embedded across our schools. We have partnered with over 300 national, regional and local employer partnerships to create work experience opportunities that are intended to offer motivation and ambition to young people who are interested in specific careers (such as construction, catering etc.), as well as a service that enables young people to access jobs from their bank of employers as full-time paid employment when they are ready. The scheme remains accessible to former students as long as they need it, ensuring that employment outcomes can be sustained in the long term.

Significantly, the Futures Programme seeks to understand the interests and ambitions of young people and to tailor employability activities to fit with that they want to do. This contrasts with schemes that simply target employment of any kind, or which have narrowly defined study pathways that may not suit some young people.

Furthermore, our employer partners include nationally recognisable brands, such as Microsoft, British Airways, Wagamamas, John Lewis, Roadchef and many more. All our Futures employer partners receive specialist training to ensure they can support the additional needs of our young people. Anecdotally, we are finding that we are unable to meet the demand for employees from the Group’s student body alone, and have met with the Department for Education and Work and Pensions to discuss how it is possible to scale up this offer and provide a blueprint for other schools and providers to adopt.

To assess the effectiveness of the programme, Witherslack Group carried out a similar social impact study on one of our schools in Sunderland: Ashbrooke School, which is rated as ‘Outstanding’. It demonstrates unequivocally that a placement with Ashbrooke, with its active use of the Futures Programme as part of its curriculum, delivers significant positive impact for learners and society as a whole.

There is a significant difference between what a learner can achieve in their life having been supported by the staff and setting at Ashbrooke School, as opposed to the probable alternatives for young people with such severe needs and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). That, in turn augmented by access to the Futures Programme, paves the way for the Group’s aspiration that every young person will leave Witherslack Group to achieve positive long-term employment outcomes. We have calculated that the average additional social value from a day school placement at Ashbrooke School is at least £844k.

Reflections on the system

• We understand from some parents and carers that engaging with the SEND system can be challenging. We support efforts to improve the system and note further efforts to support access to EHCPs should be a priority. We currently provide advice and support via our support line, webinars and resource packs to over 60,000 families and professionals who do not have a placement, or are supporting a child in our provision, showing the gap in support that exists and should be provided as a matter of urgency.
• Inclusion and mainstream provision are appropriate for many children, however, not for the intake that the Witherslack Group supports. Policymakers must recognise the specific policy and regulatory needs of those children and young people with the most complex needs.
• The system should encourage and be greatly more focused on the longer-term outcomes for children with complex needs and neurodiversity. We should expect excellence for our children with SEND through their academic and employment futures. Programmes such as Futures should be proactively rolled out across the UK. We firmly consider this support should be provided until alumni are in their 20s as a minimum, given that the transition of 16-25 can be complex. Local authority commissioners can work effectively with special schools on this programme. We would support greater regional commissioning and place planning to ensure enough sufficiency of places for those children that need them.
• Government should ensure that all children with complex SEND needs have access to clinical and therapeutic support.

November 2024