Southampton Local Offer Annual Report

Direct feedback at parent carer engagement events.

Coffee Mornings

Promotion and awareness of the Local Offer – not enough parents know about the local offer website or use it regularly to find information about services.

• Regular SEND Local Offer Website Facebook page posts giving more information about what the local offer is and the information it provides.

• New SEND News and Updates area on the landing page of the website to update on key headlines and information that will be useful.

• Regular presence of the SEND Local Offer Officer at local coffee mornings to offer support and information and to help parent/carers to navigate the Local Offer website (Springwell School, Kanes Hill Primary School and new coffee morning at Redbridge Community School).

• SEND Local Offer Officer continues to facilitate sessions on Teams and in person to upskill SCC staff/professionals on the SEND Local Offer website and how to use it. SEND Service Team, Jigsaw, plans to upskill Year Heads and education staff within schools.

• A short video is now on the Local Offer Landing page giving brief information and an overview of what “The Local Offer” is.

• The SEND Local Offer Newsletter/Bulletin is published three times a year just before the longer school holidays, Easter, Summer and Christmas and is really well received by families and professionals.

• SEND Family Day 2024 is facilitated and hosted by Southampton Parent Carer Forum. This took place during the Easter Holidays. The event was a great success, good attendance from families and providers (over 800 families, including parent/carers, children and young people and 100 providers attended the event) and lots of activities for children and young people to engage with whilst parent/carers were able to speak to providers and receive support and advice.

• Summer Survival Event, June 2024. This event was hosted and facilitated by SPCF. This was an opportunity for families/parent/carers to speak with/connect with a smaller group of providers to prepare for the summer holidays, .i.e playschemes, activities happening over the holidays etc.

• This area is a priority in the SEND Strategy 2022-2027.

Home to School Transport Service

Continuing issue with communication, delays to transport and organisation of transport

School Travel Service Consultation – ended October 2024

• Following meetings with partners, Southampton PCF, Re:Minds in the past year to receive feedback from families, the decision that an improvement plan would be put in place and a planned independent review would be carried out to ensure service level improvement.

• Since the Edge Review of free school travel earlier this year a lot of work has been undertaken by our school transport colleagues, here are some updates:

• A three-year transformation programme has been put in place. The Governance for the transformation programme is through a Board which includes representation from the Parent Carer Forum.

• More staff were allocated to the School Travel Service Team over Summer 2023, to help them answer questions more quickly and decide on transport arrangements more quickly.

• An updates webpage for parents and carers has been created. This will give parents key dates and deadlines, contact details and any updates relevant to the transport service.

• More providers of routes are going to be delivering the service, this will help the service to be more reliable and efficient.

• Providers will be asked to comply with additional quality measures going forward, improving the standard of the service that you receive.

• At EHCP annual reviews, an additional sheet of information will be completed detailing the child's specific travel needs. This will be shared with the child's escort and driver to help them to make the journey as smooth and comfortable as possible.

• A parent carer information booklet is being developed, in collaboration with the Parent Carer Forum, this will help to explain very clearly how the free school travel service works and will answer many of the frequently asked questions.

• There is a central number and email address. The number is 023 8083 2419 and email - travel.coordination@southampton.gov.uk

• SPCF were commissioned to provided empathy and lived experience training to Transport Co-ordination staff.

• Updates required on above and policy updates to be added following consultation.

Lack of Post 16 provision and awareness of Post 16 Services and Support

• Preparation for Adulthood Guides workstream in progress and all pillars to be updated on the website early 2025.

• Planning is underway for a review of post 16 provision for SEND in Southampton. Early meetings have taken place with all the post 16 providers and data will be reviewed and analysed and a working group established.

Increase in Food bank referrals

• Due to the rising costs of living, families are struggling with the day to day costs/food. Families that receive free school meals continue to be provided with food vouchers during the school holidays.

• Statistics based on website hits show that families looking for food bank information are still on the rise (period of Jan to Dec 2024 showed 1202 searches on the SCC website).

• Both Re:Minds and SPCF have food bank voucher referral support in place for families to access.

Communication – a need for an update even if it’s to say there is no update. Parent Carers currently feel it is up to them to be proactive and contact the service.

Many parent/carers feel that when they request a change or a request for information, there is a lack of communication from the 0-25 Service during this process.

• The SEND Team has been aiming to improve the quality of communications with families. In part this has been around managing expectation and ensuring that telephone and email responses reflect times when the service is under particular pressure.

• Going forward we are exploring the introduction of SEND Navigators to be a first point of contact for families. We have secured funding through the SCC Transformation Programme and aim to have these posts in place in the summer term 2025.

Inclusive practice, historic concerns around inclusion, exclusions, reduced timetables

Easily accessible information should be available about what each school should provide and the process they should follow

• We’re challenging schools where practice isidentified as not being inclusive.

• Ordinarily Available Provision Document (OAP) published in October 2023, this replaces the former Graduated Response Document and provides information and guidance about the process schools should follow when SEND is identified in any child or young person.

• We developed a comprehensive list of ‘Resources, tools and training’ to support the Ordinarily Available Provision Guidance (2024). This includes details of support services available for all education settings, in addition to details of agencies/specialist services, assessment tools, interventions and training and professional development opportunities linked to all four areas of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The links will be routinely reviewed and updated. The links are for professional’s convenience and are not an endorsement of the service or resource.

• Inclusion and improvement of outcomes for pupils with SEND is a key education priority. The Delivering Better Value Programme is being delivered from 2023 to 2025. This includes –

• Autism in Schools : This workstream has completed its fourth year of cohort training, with a high number of schools participating (54 in total). There has been positive feedback from school settings who have taken part in program, with opportunities to share best practice through peer-to-peer observations. Group parental session engagement has varied, which has impacted reports and feedback but one-to-one support for families delivered by Re:Minds and workshops on Emotionally Based College Avoidance have been successful.

• SEMH Support: The SEMH support workstream is divided into three arms: SEMH Outreach, SEMH Transition (Year 6/7), and SEMH Graduated Approach. The outreach arm has handled 36 cases, with 23 closed and 13 ongoing. The transition arm has been successful, with positive partnership work and data collection. The graduated approach arm has seen positive impacts from peer reviews. Overall, the workstream has shown improvements in attendance, reduced suspensions, and increased confidence among staff and parents.

• Inclusive Education Audit: This workstream is entering its first full year of practice, with a high number of schools participating. This has provided settings with an opportunity to reflect on inclusive education practice by considering views of all stakeholder groups. Support with developing action plans has been received positive and there is a range of support school settings can access. There has been positive feedback from school settings who have taken part in program, with opportunities to share best practice.

• Neurodiversity Training for Parents/Carers: This workstream has delivered various courses, including NFPP, Early Bird Plus, Teen Life, and Cygnet, with a total of 435 parents/carers completing the training. The courses have been well-received, with tailored support provided to families. The transition from Cygnet to Teen Life allowed for more courses to be delivered, and additional funding enabled further course offerings. The workstream has adapted to feedback and needs.

• This area is a priority in the SEND Strategy 2022-2027

Lack of Special School Places and mainstream provision for children and YP with SEND.

• Special School re-configuration provision an additional 278 places for 2026, plans currently in progress. To meet the rise in EHCP’s over the next few years, SCC is working in partnership with Southampton schools to identify locations for new resourced provisions in line with national Government direction of travel.

• We have opened new resourced provisions at Cantell School (Thrive) and Woodlands School (Cove).

CAMHS – Still long waiting lists for assessment and very little support in the interim

• Re: Minds are commissioned to provide New Forest Parenting Programme and Earlybird plus Autism course to parent/carers to support families whilst on assessment waiting lists and to add to family toolkits to support their children.

• Southampton Young Person Neurodiversity Strategy
  The Southampton Young Person Neurodiversity (ND) Strategy aims to increase awareness, knowledge and understanding of Neurodiversity and to support more timely and effective support for Neurodivergence amongst Children and Young People. It seeks to support a culture in the city which celebrates diversity and sees individual differences as strengths.

The current model is not sustainable. Southampton needs to move towards a model that supports the child, families, and schools better, which is based on shifting the following: Moving towards a need led city rather than diagnosis led - linking in with prevention and Early Help strategies.

• From talking about ‘disability’ to ‘diversity’

• To identifying need alongside those that know me best – ‘everybody’s business’.

• Developing an ‘early help’ response to neurodiversity

• A genuine ‘system-wide response’ - NHS, local authority, care providers, education settings

• “Things that help” - enabling easy access to evidence-based resources to help that make life easier.

Southampton Pilot

The ND Profiling Toolkit has already been piloted in three primary schools and their two nursery classes. The Southampton initial pathfinder of the NDPT with Valentine, Mason Moor and St Marys Primary Schools and their two pre-school classes has been supported by the Portsmouth City Council ND Team who provided the training in Portsmouth.

The Portsmouth ND Team have provided the training to the settings and are also providing a single point of contact to support the schools in implementing the tool.

Total 12 completed (during Summer Term 2024 Academic Year).

Narrative feedback has included: -

• "Tool is helping us to co-produce and collaborate"
• Marginal group of children who need something – but unlikely to get an EHCP. Helps support families to do something different."
• "Pilot is going really well. Most positive school use is Valentine Primary School. Helps to look beyond what the behaviour is communicating. Not just wait for an outside agent support

This area is a priority in the SEND Strategy 2022-2027

Lack of Mental Health Services and Support for Children and Young People in the City.

• Improving children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing requires a collaborative approach of all those working with children and young people and is firmly recognised in Southampton as a shared priority across all agencies working in the health, social care and education sectors, public sector and community and voluntary sector, embedded in the city’s partnership plans: Southampton City Strategy 2015 - 2025, Southampton City Five Year Health & Care Strategy 2020 – 2025 and the Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2017 – 2025 and the Children and Young People’s Strategy 2021- 2026 that is being updated in 2021.

• This is specifically addressed in the Emotional and Mental Health Wellbeing plan 2021-27.

• This area is a priority in the SEND Strategy 2022-2027

Local Offer Webpage electronic feedback

Southampton has a hugely diverse community and feedback was received that not all Parent/Carers, Young People and Young Adults have their own translation software automatically installed. Also, feedback around our community that do not have access to technology and IT equipment to access the Local Offer website, how do they access this information?

• A joint survey with SPCF was published in 2023 and there were a large percentage of families that advised that they do not have their own translation software automatically installed on their device/laptop/PC or via google translate etc.

• Chat GPT (AI) – look into this for translation resource and as to how this could be used.

• Work still ongoing as to how we can provide more meaningful accessibility and options being looked into.

Short Breaks Service/The Buzz Network Consistent concerns raised by families and SPCF in relation to this service meeting the needs of families.

• A review of Southampton’s Short Breaks Offer and Statement is currently ongoing. The future of the Max Card forms part of this review. It is anticipated that a revised Short Breaks Statement will be published in May / June 2025.

• Website testing sessions have come to an end but we are regularly obtaining feedback at coffee mornings and upskill sessions to ensure we where we are at with how useful the website is.

• Current feedback is positive and comments that search functionality is improved.

Use of videos and animations to explain key services and processes.

• Work continues around this, due to lack of resources in the design team but also when we get to this point to make sure that the videos/animations are meaningful, informative and useful and not just lip service.

• Plans to create young people content/videos via TikTok in 2025. This will be collaborative with Ryan (our Young adult co-production lead (volunteer).

Young People Engagement/area of the website – how can engage with YP to make this area more engaging, useful and informative for Young People?

• Work continuing with all Service areas and in particular areas that work closely with Young People to look at ways to how best engage with YP. As mentioned above, we are looking into use of social media platforms such as TikTok as we know this the most popular platform that young people engage with.

• Ryan McManus, our Young adult co- production lead (volunteer) in place and working in collaboration with the SEND Local Offer Officer. Approval has now been granted to produce content for the SCC main TikTok channel and publish short videos promoting information and services relevant to our community of YP. Claire and Ryan leading on this piece of work and taking this forward in 2025.

OFSTED/CQC Joint Inspection 2024

The SEND Inspection 2024 report can be found here: 50252575

We were asked to create an action plan to address the recommendations from the report and this can be found here:

Appendix – 2024 SEND post-inspection improvement plan