Ofsted Report - Beyond the classroom: the experiences of children with SEND who are not in school

A new thematic review from Ofsted entitled Beyond the classroom: the experiences of children with SEND who are not in school  has been published.  

The report starts with the belief that every child should be able to have their education, health and social care needs met while remaining in education. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) having these needs met in mainstream schools, when this environment is in their best interests. This report specifically reviews the provision of support for children and young people with SEND and Ofsted acknowledges that many children with SEND are leaving the school system because their needs are not being met sufficiently well. 

The report highlights multiple examples of services and professionals working well together to help children with SEND remain in school or to support children with SEND who are not in school. Ofsted found examples where many children who leave a school roll are still able to receive strong support from education, health and social care providers. 

While the report acknowledges that the government is starting to put things in place, the report highlights several issues that should be addressed by national government or sector bodies. For example, there are missed opportunities to identify children’s additional needs early enough and to put in place the right support for them to remain in full-time education. In their research they found that this was due to settings not having enough capacity, resource or expertise. Once needs are identified, they found that children often cannot access relevant health services before their needs escalate. As a result, too many children with SEND leave the school system when this could be avoided. 

The report highlighted a set of recommendations: 

• The DfE should prioritise working with local area partnerships to ensure that children’s emerging needs are consistently identified early and accurately so that more children with SEND can remain in school. In its forthcoming white paper, the DfE should set a clear expectation that all schools and education settings should support children with SEND to remain in school full time, when this is in their best interests. 

• NHS England and the DfE should provide local area partnerships with access to the necessary resources and training so that they can support schools to take a needs-led approach to supporting children with SEND. This should enable more children with SEND, including those without a formal diagnosis or EHC plan, to have their individual needs met while remaining in mainstream education, when this is in their best interests.

• The DfE should lead on developing guidance for the appropriate use of EOTAS arrangements. The guidance should set minimum expectations and provide examples of best practice of different types of EOTAS arrangements. This should include how local area partners work with parents and carers to ensure that children’s educational, health and social care needs are met. 

• Local area partnerships should prioritise establishing clear and robust processes for sharing information about children with SEND not in school or at risk of leaving school. Health services, including primary care, universal services and urgent care, should always be an important and involved partner in these arrangements. 

• Local area partnerships should ensure that all children with SEND who are not in school receive coordinated support to meet their education, health and social care needs. This should, where possible, involve appointing a lead professional from health, social care or education who knows the child and their family well. They should hold key responsibilities for the coordination of services. 

• The DfE should resolve the lack of consistency in how in-year admissions are coordinated across the country. The DfE should identify and share examples of best practice of local authorities successfully coordinating in-year admissions. This should contribute to the development of guidance so that all local area partnerships can better understand expectations and replicate effective models of in-year admissions.