The Department for Education’s Change Partnership Programme

Hello to all,

It is hard to believe we are nearly at the end of the Autumn school term. I hope the new academic year has started well for you and your family.

As you will know from my previous articles, we have been working really hard to make improvements in our Special Educational Needs (SEND) and inclusion services to children and families.

Another opportunity has arisen to help us in that work. We are delighted to have been invited, alongside Swindon Borough Council, to jointly lead The Department for Education’s Change Partnership Programme for the southwest region, working with the policy makers in government to look at what can be done to make the SEND arrangements work better for children and families not just in this county, but across England.

So what does it mean being a Local Authority that is part of the Change Partnership Programme?

We are being asked to road test a number of reform proposals that will change the way local areas provide services like Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) assessments, mediation services and alternative provision services. We are being asked, for example, to trial a new EHCP template; one which they are thinking about using across all local authorities so that no matter where you are in England, the paperwork will be the same and can be more easily transferred if a child and their family moves where they live.

We are also going to be helping with the Department for Education’s data dashboard so that they can provide clearer and more easily accessible information for parents and carers about the performance of SEND services in your area. They will be asking for feedback on what the dashboard looks like and how well it works for those who are trying to use it.

We are really pleased to be part of this programme because we will be able to tell the Department of Education directly if their proposed changes will work well and what problems they may have, or the change may cause. Most importantly we are going to be asking parents, carers, and schools to work with us with the road testing so you too, and your schools, can have a say in any future changes before they are launched across the country as a whole. It is not often we get the chance locally to really influence national policy before it comes into place!

We are currently working with the Department for Education and Swindon Borough Council in the set-up phase so we know what we will need to do, and what we need to put in place to start road testing the reforms, so there is much more information to come.

Please be reassured that no statutory rights or provisions currently available to parents, carers and children and young people will be affected by this project work. Everything currently in place remains in place while the road testing takes place and any parents, carers or schools wishing to take part in the pilot work will be asked if they want to ‘opt in,’ so there will be no ‘surprise’ changes to any current arrangements. We really hope you will want to work with us on this project and have your say about any changes to SEND arrangements the government is proposing.

So do please look out for future communications about the Programme, where we will be sharing more detail about what is involved.

Wishing all children and young people an enjoyable and well-earned end of term and Christmas holiday,

Best wishes,

Kirsten Harrison

Director of Education

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