Summary of the June 2025 Board Meeting

This is the 15th meeting of the Local Area SEND Partnership Board.

Updates from the Board’s subgroups

1. Continuous Improvement Group

• A plan to improve SEND services was submitted and accepted by Ofsted and CQC.

• Leaders were assigned to key areas like speech therapy, EHCPs, and neurodevelopmental support.

• A workshop will be held to help elected members understand how progress is measured.

• Next steps include checking data accuracy and creating a risk log.

2. Home-to-School Transport

• The service helps around 1,900 pupils with door-to-door transport and 650 with bus passes.

• Costs are rising, with the budget now at £12.5 million.

• Five key areas of work:

  • New transport policies for school-age and post-16 students.

  • Public consultation starting in autumn 2025.

  • Independent travel training to help young people travel on their own.

  • Better procurement to get value for money.

  • Digital systems to manage transport more efficiently.

• The goal is to make transport more consistent, cost-effective, and supportive of independence.

3. Performance and Impact Group

• A new dashboard will track how well services are performing.

• Monthly reports will cover:

  • Participation and feedback

  • Quality checks

  • Complaints and disputes

• A simplified parent survey will be used every 6 months to check if services are improving.

4. Strategic Communications Group

• A review is underway to improve how the board communicates with families and partners.

• A marketing company will help assess current methods and suggest improvements.

5. Delivering Better Value (DBV) Project

• This project has ended, but its work will continue.

• Five focus areas:

  • Improving how schools support children with SEND.

  • Training and sharing best practices.

  • Reviewing health services in schools.

  • Creating more specialist school places.

  • Helping young people move into education or work.

• Progress will be tracked using specific measures like fewer EHCP requests and better inclusion in mainstream schools.