Bedford council sets out special needs and disabilities priorities

The council’s response follows a series of questions submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) after Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver’s keynote speech at the national SEND and Inclusion Conference (March 12).

In the speech, Sir Martyn said: “If you get it right for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable, you get it right for everyone.”

The borough council told the LDRS that support for children and young people with SEND is managed through a Local Area Partnership and driven by the Joint SEND Strategy 2022–2027.

A council spokesperson said the plans for this are scrutinised at the council’s Overview and Scrutiny meetings, which are open to the public.

“They were also scrutinised as part of our recent Local Area SEND Inspection, with areas for improvement identified,” they added.

“One of these areas included working with our mainstream settings to improve support for children and young people with SEND.”

To improve the early identification and intervention for SEND children, the council said it has recently coproduced a refresh of the SEND Support and Provision Guidance.

“We have two dedicated teaching and learning advisors for SEND, who provide a wide range of CPD [continuing professional development] and professional study groups for SENDCOs [special educational needs and disabilities coordinator] and other school staff,” the spokesperson said.

“We are part of the Whole School SEND project and undertake a lot of work on improved early identification of SEND needs, taking part in a number of pilots to explore future system improvements.

“The council has advisory teachers that are available to all schools to support with observations and reports on pupils as well as advice and guidance to schools,” they said.

Funding constraints have been acknowledged by the council, so it was asked how SEND funding is being allocated to improve outcomes for children while maintaining financial sustainability.

It said over 75 per cent of its High Needs Block is used for direct support, including specialist placements and top-up funding.

“As stated at Schools Forum, the council will continue to prioritise funding for provision for children and young people with SEND,” the spokesperson said, noting that this focus was positively recognised in a recent SEND inspection.

And to reduce the use of costly out-of-area placements, the council said it has delivered the Rivertree Free School and increased the number of commissioned specialist places in state-funded schools by “more than 30 per cent” in the past five years.

The council said it now places fewer children in independent special schools than the national average and is developing new local placements based on identified gaps in capacity.