Annual Family Impact Survey 2020 Essex Family Forum

Full Report January 2021

1 Contents Introduction ...... 3 Methodology ...... 4 Participants ...... 4 Consent ...... 5 Disclaimer ...... 5 General Information ...... 6 Identifying your Child/Young Person’s needs? ...... 8 Statutory Process ...... 9 Education, Health and Care Plan Needs Assessments ...... 9 Support received during the EHC Plan process ...... 10 Appeals and Tribunals ...... 12 EHCP Support your Child/Young Person receives ...... 13 Annual Reviews ...... 15 SEN Support your Child/Young Person receives ...... 16 Communication and Support with your child/young person’s educational setting...... 18 Other sources of Information and Support ...... 19 Conclusion ...... 22 Significant Areas of Weakness identified in the OFSTED/CQC Local Area Inspection ...... 22 Identification of Need ...... 22 Quality of EHC Plans and Joint Commissioning ...... 23 Overriding Themes ...... 23 Exceptional Concerns ...... 25 Children & Young People not in Education, Employment or Training ...... 25 Appeals and Tribunals...... 25 Next Steps ...... 26 List of Appendices ...... 27 Appendix A - List of Individual Comments ...... 27 Appendix B - Named Education Settings ...... 27 Appendix C - Distribution List ...... 27 Appendix D - Support Groups Survey Data ...... 27 Appendix E - Learning Points from Survey ...... 27

2 Introduction

Essex Family Forum is the appointed Parent Carer Forum for Essex and it is our responsibility to represent the views and experiences of SEND families living in Essex. We conducted this survey to measure the current levels of parental satisfaction with local services for SEND Families and to gather data on their lived experiences. During the next year we will be expanding the topics we include in this survey to ensure that we capture the full experience of SEND Families. Funding permitting, we will reproduce the full survey annually so we can compare the baseline data gathered in this survey and any other surveys we carry out during the forthcoming year.

In particular, Essex Family Forum will strive to ensure that findings from this survey inform the improvement work outlined in the Written Statement of Action. This is the plan that the local area was required to produce to address the areas of significant weakness that were identified by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission during the local area’s SEND Inspection in October 2019. The Inspectors identified three key areas of significant weakness: 1. The potential over-identification of children and young people with Moderate Learning Difficulties and the need to understand the reasons behind this and the accuracy of the identification figures.

2. The quality of EHC Plans – with particular concern around securing the right advice and providing the right information within the plans to enable high-quality outcomes for children and young people. This led to Inspectors concluding that the strategic oversight of plans is not effective.

3. There is poor joint commissioning of services between the Local Authority and their health colleagues in the various NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).

Certain sections of this survey will be repeated periodically to monitor progress and impact for SEND Families of the improvement work.

We also sent a separate brief survey to a number of Support Groups in Essex to understand the priority concerns of the parents that they support. The number of responses to this was lower than we hoped, but we appreciate that these groups are under tremendous pressure during the current pandemic and are therefore having to prioritise their services in supporting parents. This data does not form part of the Annual Family Impact Survey but is included in Appendix D, for information purposes.

3 Methodology The Survey was open from 5th October 2020 to 2nd November 2020. The survey was conducted via Survey Monkey and was designed with both qualitative and quantitative questions. We have included within the main body of this report a sample of the individual comments received in response to specific questions with the survey; the full list of comments are included in Appendix A. In some sections of this report we have presented the data by “quadrant” area, based on the district or borough council area that survey respondents’ selected as the area they live. The survey was sent to all members of the Forum, advertised on our Facebook page and through our Family Champion network. In addition, as we do not hold the names, addresses and contact details of all registered SEND families within Essex, we asked our various contacts within Essex County Council’s education and social care teams, along with contacts within the CCGs to circulate families. We contacted all special schools and alternative provision within Essex separately, along with a number of the SEND support groups in Essex for sharing with their networks.* The link to our survey was not included in the Essex Schools Infolink newsletter until week beginning 19th October 2020 (just before half-term) and, based on anecdotal evidence from parents, we believe a large proportion of mainstream schools did not share details of the survey with their parents. We shared 15 posts regarding the survey on our Facebook page throughout the open survey period. Posts were published at different times of the day to reach a maximum number of people. In total our reach was 20,269 people. We accept that this will include some duplication with some people seeing multiple posts. Our posts attracted 1,210 engagements (reactions, comments, shares and post clicks) on our posts. It should be noted that we had to change the question order after 10 days. We asked participants if they would like to name their child/young person’s school/setting in the General Information section and found that a significant proportion left the survey at that point. We then moved the question to the end of the survey and made it clearer that this was purely optional.#

Participants The survey reports 655 participants clicked to participate in survey. It should be noted that there will be some participants who have two or more children with SEND and as such were invited to complete one survey per child. Therefore for the purposes of this survey they are counted as separate participants. Participants were not required to answer every question and, depending on their responses to certain questions, would have “skipped” questions that would not have been relevant. There were very few “forced” questions which inadvertently allowed parents to skip question but still respond to subsequently related questions. ~

4 * Appendix C – Distribution List # Appendix B – Named Education Settings ~ Appendix E – Learning from the Survey

All participant comments included within this report have been recorded verbatim and may contain missing words and typographical errors. As of December 2020 there were 10,188 children/young people with Education, Health and Care Plans and 22,518 pupils in receipt of SEN Support.

Consent Out of 655 responses to the question of consent, 638 consented to their data being used and shared with relevant organisations for the purpose of improving SEND provision within Essex and England. The data from the 17 participants who did not consent are not included in the published results or shared with our partners. Essex Family Forum however have duly noted the detailed feedback that they have provided.

Disclaimer The information and comments presented in this report and appendices are the views of the survey respondents and in no way, express or implied, should be construed to represent the views of Essex Family Forum CIC. Essex Family Forum's purpose is established under the legal requirements of the Children and Families Act 2014. We therefore have a duty to faithfully relay the views and experiences of parents and carers of children and young people with SEND aged 0 – 25 years with regard to the services they use. Essex Family Forum aims to work co-productively with services to improve the users’ experiences and to recognise good practices. Essex Family Forum accepts no legal liability for the personal accounts, views, or opinions that survey respondents shared.

5 General Information

This section asked general information about the families who were completing the survey. Our survey reflects the national picture in respect of the gender of children with SEND and the ethnic background of families completing our survey is reflective of the general population of Essex.

Participants Gender Age of Child

Largest proportion: 97% - parents 68% - Male child/young Primary School Age 3% - Grandparents, foster carers person 57% and a special guardian Secondary School Age 24% Ethnicity Reflective of general population of Essex - 89% White British Background

6% Mixed Ethnic Backgrounds / 2% Asian and British Asian /

1% Black/African/Caribbean/Black British

2% Preferred not to say

Every area within Essex was represented within the responses and the proportions for each area were roughly in line with the size of the general population.

Number of respondents: 601

6

Education Settings: 54% Mainstream Primary 17% Special School 11% Secondary 8% Nursery 1.9% Mainstream College 2.5% Specialist College (e.g. Thriftwood College) 3.1% Home Schooled 3.6% stated None and these are broken down further in the chart below.

Home School: 81% of parents state they do so as they feel there is no other option

Sadly, the majority of children in the “None” category are not in education, employment or training. Twice as many children are not receiving their allocated tutoring than those that are – most of these are awaiting a school placement.

We received 38 individual comments to this section and the main themes were: • Child unable to attend/no placement • No Tuition being received • Post 16

“EHCP ended so no college will even offer an interview”

7

Identifying your Child/Young Person’s needs?

In this section, we wanted to find out who raised initial concerns about the child/young person’s needs/development and who families first spoke to about their concerns. Due to the Local Area Inspection Area of Significant Weakness relating to the potential over-identification of children and young people with Moderate Learning Difficulties – we felt it was pertinent to establish what understanding/viewpoint parents have of their child/young person’s primary area of need and their awareness of the school census entries. As evident from the chart below, nearly 44% of parents specify an Autistic Spectrum Condition as their child/young person’s primary area of need.

64%

Indicate they are unaware of their child’s school census entry.

Number of respondents: 551

We received 64 comments by those respondents who selected “Other” and 20 of those specified ADHD as the primary level of need, with a further 13 citing a combination of primary needs, predominantly ASD/ADHD/Sensory. 3 parents/carers highlighted medical conditions as a primary need for their child/young person. 64% of parents/carers are unaware of the school/setting’s entry in relation to their child/young person. Of those who state they are aware, an overwhelming 92% say the school’s opinion does not differ to their own view. It is less clear whether the school’s opinion matches the school census entry.

In this section we also asked parents who raised the initial concerns about their child/young person’s development/progress and with whom they first discussed their child’s SEND. 75% of parent/carers raised concerns themselves. People that parents were most likely to first speak to were: family and friends; health visitor; speech and Language therapist (some self-referred); Class Teacher; Pre-school and their GP.

8

Statutory Process Education, Health and Care Plan Needs Assessments

64% of respondents to this question have had a Needs Assessment for their child. Over 80% of Needs Assessments were requested jointly with the child/young person’s educational setting or recommended by the professionals involved in their care.

Number of Respondents: 544

The two main reasons participants were given for a refusal to assess were:

• the child’s needs can be met at SEN Support/One Planning and

• that there was insufficient evidence or reports not received.

Way Forward meetings were only offered to 38% of respondents, but the majority of those who said that they found the meeting useful. Of the respondents to this question, those living in South least likely to be offered a Way Forward meeting and those in North Essex were most likely.

The next two questions were only open to those who were granted Needs Assessments after 2019 – Did the assessment result in an EHC Plan? and Were you offered an outcomes meeting?.

92% of Needs Assessments

resulted in a EHC Plan

9

Outcomes meetings were offered in 80% of cases. Four parents advised that the outcomes meetings did not take place due to COVID restrictions. 10 out of the 23 individual comments received about the outcomes meetings were positive.

“Very Helpful” “It was useful” “It was helpful to ask questions and understand the purpose of the EHCP.” “Yes they talked me through the whole report and make sure that I understood and could ask questions” “xxxx, our caseworker was lovely from the start in explaining the process to us.”

“LA refused to include recommendations from professional assessments. Detail was not specified or quantified in the draft – LA insisted it did not need to be. LA caseworker told me she did not support the EHCP and failed to make the agreed changes or provide me with a copy of what was sent to the panel.”

Support received during the EHC Plan process

Going through the application process for an EHC Plan can be very stressful time for parents – it was described in the Education Select Committee’s SEND inquiry report1 as “Navigating the treacle of bureaucracy”. Our survey results seem to reflect that sentiment – although parents said they felt supported during the process – their overall experience was not particularly positive, with 59% reporting it was just OK or Poor.

Overall experience was rated as OK or

Poor by 59% of parents

Number of respondents: 312

10 1 - House of Commons Education Committee Special educational needs and disabilities First Report of Session 2019

We received 195 individual comments around the support received by families during the application process. The common themes were:

• Parents/Carers felt they needed an advocate/support worker to guide them through the process. • Timescales not being adhered to • ECC Process and Policy not following legislation and guidance, not including professional advice and losing documents. • Desire for better communication when delays incurred, explanations for decisions, parents want to feel they are listened to. Empathy from SEND Operations team • Schools not supporting applications / SENCO and School Leadership not working together

“I am educated to degree level and I found this extremely difficult” “Parents are experts on their child and should be treated as such” “I find the whole process very emotionally draining as it’s so focused on what my son can’t do. I understand the need for this but it still doesn’t sit well.” “The process is exhausting.” “Feeling there was a desire to get the correct support in place for my son” “The Local Authority appearing in any way to care about the needs of my child instead of just funding” However, there were some comments that were positive about the support they’ve received – mainly from schools and pre-schools/nurseries. “We were fortunate to have an amazing nursery manager guide us through the process but it is a scary one…” “Nothing every was done very well. ”

11 Appeals and Tribunals

We wanted what next steps families take if the Local Authority refuses to carry out a Needs Assessment or refuses to issue an EHC Plan and, if they do challenge the decision, whether that challenge is successful.

Number of respondents: 60

76% of survey participants who appealed were successful. Where an appeal was not successful, 67% of parents issued Tribunal proceedings.

88% 6% of Tribunal cases of Tribunal cases were conceded by ECC before the found in favour of ECC hearing

We received 46 comments on this Tribunal and Appeals section and accept that respondents to this section have experienced significant challenges in obtaining support needed for their child(ren) and their comments were likely to reflect those challenges. There were 3 common themes throughout:

• LA refusing to implement the recommendations of the tribunal / returning to tribunal • LA conceding prior to the hearing (usually within days of the hearing date) • Child not in school (either waiting placement or unable to return due to MH needs)

12 Comment by LA on health professionals advising an EHCP was needed “We do not tell brain surgeons how to do their job, so why are they trying to tell us how to do ours” “As a family we were traumatized and the scars …. still there.” “It was awful. The fact a decision was being made about my child’s future without any one from the local authority ever having seen her seemed absurd and cruel”. “Seemed clear to me was done to prolong the process and hope we gave up” “In a time where we desperately needed help we were refused and told there wasn’t a problem, only to then be awarded the highest level of need after appeal. It felt like it was a test” “I feel I am fighting a losing battle. The procedure is so complicated. The only people I believe who get the EHCP is people that pay the £65 an hour for help with forms. This is not about the child no more. “

“I was not made aware I could appeal the decision made.”

EHCP Support your Child/Young Person receives

This section was open to anyone whose child/young person currently has an Education Health and Care Plan, and respondents were asked the date their child/young person’s first EHC Plan or Statement was issued. The majority of respondents to this question had their first plan issued after the SEND reforms of 2014. Two respondents had their young person’s Statement first issued in 1999. The remainder of this section was in relation to the quality of the EHC Plan content delivery of the provision. 72% of parents say that the plan accurately reflects their child’s education, health and care needs. We received 88 comments to this section. The common themes coming through from the comments were:

• Plain English / simplify language • Plan needs updating – overdue • Does not reflect needs / report recommendations not included “The word ‘adult’ is used a lot…. but they do not specify which adult. A teacher? His 1:1? The cleaner, perhaps?”

13 Most parents reported that they understand the provision and Number of respondents: 216 adjustments described within their child/young person’s plan. However, when it comes to receiving the provision only 26% report that their child receives all of their provision.

97 comments were received and common themes were:

• Therapies not being delivered / school and therapists not working together • Not specific in the plan or missing from the plan • Schools not following the plan and delivering the provision outlined “Reasonable adjustments are often lost as teachers are apparently too busy to do them!” “We were informed that if the provision wasn’t provided as agreed in the plan there is not anything that could be done to actually force those services to provide what is agreed….. If this is wrong advice then there needs to be a lot of training and education to services. This just makes you think the EHCP is just a paper exercise.” “School seem think it’s optional. And there is no accountability. They can just do what they want” “Has not had any SALT input for 4 years - have never managed to get a response from the service despite calling, emailing and writing letters.”

When asked about outcomes in the plan, the majority of parents felt that either all or most of the outcomes were clear, measurable and achievable. Whilst 53% of parents felt they were involved in planning the outcomes, only 11% felt that their child/young person were involved in planning the outcomes in their EHC Plan. Many of the 62 comments related to not understanding the outcomes or how they can be measured. There were also a number of comments about parents being listened to and being more child-centred. 63% report there is also a One Plan in place for their child/young person’s short term goals, but 26% do not know how frequently the One Plan is reviewed which suggests to us at Essex Family Forum that these families are not involved in the child/young person’s One Plan.

14 Annual Reviews

This section was not applicable to 18% of the respondents as the EHC Plan had been issued within in the last 12 months. 17% responded that they had not had an Annual Review. Half of the participants felt that all the relevant professionals either attended or contributed to their child/young person’s Annual Review, and half reported receiving a response from the Local Authority within 4 weeks. Again, parents generally felt they were involved in reviewing the outcomes for their child/young person, but only 10% felt that the child had been full involved. Overall experience of the Annual Review was thought to be Good or OK by 66% of families. The themes that came through from the 52 comments made were:

• Not taking place because of COVID • Excessive delays to or non-issuance of revisions/amendments • No input/participation from external professionals such as SALT

“Meeting was on 26th November 2019 and I am still waiting for the LA to issue the revised plan (26th Oct 2020) in spite of multiple calls by the school and myself. Now about to start the review for 2020 and struggling to engage with the process. The service level provided by Send Ops is appalling and this has nothing to do with Covid.” “Transparency of entire process, clear roles and who's accountable for what, what parents rights are.” “External specialists invited for the process did not participate in the review” “…… the actual review meetings have not been the problem. It is everything else. The Council simply never complies with their legal obligations. In particular, they never provide a draft plan within the statutory time frame; they do not amend the EHCP in accordance with amendments that are agreed at the annual review meetings; they refuse to discuss anything after an appeal has been lodged. Obviously, as the most recent annual review was in September 2020 I am answering the above questions on previous review”

15 SEN Support your Child/Young Person receives

Number of respondents: 382

What parents told us about their child’s One Plan

One Plan accurately reflects child/young person’s needs 55%

Understand well/very well the provision, support and adjustments 76% described in the plan

Outcomes are clear, measurable and achievable 61%

I/We Involved/Fully Involved in planning the outcomes 67%

My child/young person was only slightly involved or 70% not involved at all in planning their outcomes

My child/young person’s plan is reviewed termly 57% No Advice/contribution is sought or I do not know whether advice/contribution is sought from health 59% care professionals involved

16 We received 178 Individual Comments on One Planning/SEN Support and the overwhelming themes are:

• School not providing support outlined in plan or following external advice • Poor quality of One Plan (outcomes not measurable, provision not specific) • External Professionals not involved Some comments made by parents paint a very worrying picture of the challenges and lack of support faced by SEND children within their educational setting. “…..It has been freely admitted by staff that they do not provide the provision detailed and it has now even been written into my child’s One Plan that he is responsible for requesting SEN provision or it will not be provided.” “Teachers should stop passing comments such as “You will never do well in life”….. it is not kind or acceptable to tell the parent that “your child’s needs are better than others” Mild or severe, support is needed because every child matters.” “We have three one planning meetings a year, they are always rushed and people looking at their watches.” “woefully inadequate” “Support is questionable example: Had to ask for differentiates for 3 weeks - child was scoring 0/10 and say was a failure. Eventually a TA asked me what spellings I would like to issue her..... (not sure that is a high quality teaching strategy!)”

“Teachers are amazing meeting, discussing and planning the one plan. I sometimes feel the senco isn't involved enough. Al lot of my child's issues happen during break times when her teacher is not there. So I feel sometimes the one plan is a little pointless when my daughter doesn't get the same level of support when her class teacher isn't physically there.” “…..recommendations were not followed..some teachers were amazing others beyond appalling and to be honest damaging.” “Access to other input from relevant professionals and notional sen funding actually being sufficient for school to provide additional support. Access to educational psychologists doesn't seem to be clear. Structure of who we can talk to in ECC seems to be almost a secret since restructure. Clarity and openness about how to get help, who to talk to and not having to be reliant on school to interpret or be the go between would help.” There were some very positive examples of when SEN Support/One Planning is delivered well: “Our school is great. The head/senco is amazing” “All good to date” “They are a great exercise for documenting my child’s needs with the school setting, meetings are held regularly to discuss my child’s needs and whether they have been met or ongoing.”

17 Communication and Support with your child/young person’s educational setting.

The majority of families reported that Teaching and Support Staff in schools and settings understood their child’s needs, well or very well and had good or excellent knowledge and training in effectively supporting the child/young person. Only 27% of parents reported feeling well support or not support at all by their child/young person’s teaching and support staff. 35% of parents do not feel that the professionals involved with their child/young person communicate well with each other. The section was open to all respondents; 199 individual comments were made – the most of any free text question. There were three overriding areas of concern that came through from the comments:

• Poor communication between setting and therapists/external professionals • Poor communication between setting and families • Training needs of staff “I would be happy with some sort of communication.” “If school would respond to therapists attempt to communicate with them.” “School have refused to communicate with the professionals involved and have not even read reports they have been provided with.” “My son isn’t allowed in but I still received a school report with all subjects blank and a class allocation letter. I found both to be offensively insensitive.” “It all seems very separate.” “The system is too fragmented meaning different departments do not communicate, if a child has complex needs covering different hospitals , therapists and school settings it’s difficult to bring all the information together. You’re made to feel like a big nuisance just for raising questions or concerns on a child’s basic needs.” “…. We get no feedback from the SALT. it is almost as if the parents and home don't exist.” “….. School told me they don’t have the money to support children with SEND – I should join the SEND marches (2019) and then asked if I had looked at other schools.” “If they communicated.”

18 There were some very positive comments: “teaching staff fully understand my son, they even known when his not himself, they have taken the time to understand his doing very well and supported” “LSA that supports my child is very good and knows him and his needs well. “ “Overall, the communication between me and my daughter’s present SEN school is very good” “I feel lucky with the school and senco my son has. I know this is rare from discussions with other parents.” Some comments delivered a mixed picture, with examples of the efforts of individuals but being let down overall “The SENCO and deputy SENCO are great, I believe the LSA’s try hard. However, it often feels as though SEN gets overridden by Mainstream…. I often feel bullied by mainstream. I feel, SEN have the knowledge but are not given the respect to make things effective by Mainstream” “The school does a great job. The ‘professionals’ don’t actually listen to your needs.” “The school is amazing but the transport for SEN is not joined up with the provision and does not reflect the needs of the child. There is no collaboration or joint working with the parent and it like getting a 5 star hotel that meets your needs but you have got to get there by donkey and really rough it.”

Other sources of Information and Support

54%

are aware of the Local Offer

65% of this 54% have used the local offer; of those that have used the Local 59% were able to find the information and the vast majority reported that the information that the information was up to date and useful. Some parents reported searching for services that don’t exist – it is not clear whether this because they are not on the local offer or do not exist at all. Individual positive comments received about the Local Offer included that it shows information to support older children and the 16-25 year old age groups, which can be a forgotten group, and that although the information is there it needs to be presented more clearly. This comment in particular does reflect one of the most common themes running through the comments – that the site needs to be easier to navigate.

19 The other most common theme was in respect of the information available on the Local Offer – e.g. that services they were looking for do not seem to exist. Some parents would rather speak to a person or, at the very least, be shown how to use the website. Details of internal ECC structure and contact details of departments were also mentioned by respondents.

We asked parents who/what they consider to be main sources of information and support for them and their child/young person. After family and friends, online/social media groups were highlighted as a main source of information/support, followed by their child/young person’s education setting.

Child/Young Family and Person’s Friends Education Setting

Online Social Media Support Groups Charities

Parent Social Support Shortbreaks Care Groups Provider Essex Child & Family Wellbeing service

Teams and individual organisations that were named by parents included: SNAP, MAZE, The Multi-Schools Council, Specialist Teacher Team, SENDIASS, Families in Focus, Ace, Sunshine Support, Specialist Health Visitor, Megacentre, Positive about Downs, Young Epilepsy, EWMHS, Crystals and, finally, Google! Families in Focus have been contacted by 62% of the parents responding, SNAP have supported 43% of the parents responding, PACT 18%, MAZE 16% and Takiwatanga 11%.

20 There were parents who had no knowledge of any of the support groups or how to contact them. Individual comments about the support received: “Families in Focus have been a life line to my family. They have supported and guided us whenever we have needed them.” “Families in Focus have offered invaluable support, as a family we would have really struggled without them.” “IASS have been absolutely amazing” “Takiwatanga have helped with a relaxed and comfy approach to support and information.” “Families in focus were brill helping with DLA application and short breaks are good” “PACT have been invaluable.” “Did not know any of the above exsisted let alone how to contact them !” “…..There is nothing (that I have found) for children who are neuro-typical with physical SEN unless you then cross over into those with much larger needs. A huge cross-section of parents are unsupported because of this.” “A very lonely difficult road to walk alone.” “The good beginnings course for parents of children with autism. I attended this course around 4 years ago and it was incredible not only the information learned but the chance to connect with other parents. All of those who I still have daily contact with.” “Extra 21. Is a great charity helping and supporting families with children/young people with Down syndrome. “ “Candles in colchester is a little local group that was run by early years teachers (until funding stopped) I found this very helpful and supportive. And we met up once a fortnight at a children’s centre. The group is still running, by parents. providing help and support. Mainly online now but hopefully we can do some more meet ups soon.” “Maze group was the lifeline for me and familys in focus xxxxxxx my son wouldn't be where he is without them nor would I and my family”

83%

of survey respondents are already members or want to be kept informed of our work at Essex Family Forum

21 Conclusion

We very much appreciate the number of families who were able to find the time to participate in our first Annual Survey, especially as this was conducted in the middle of a pandemic, with all the additional pressures that has brought to families, but especially to SEND families. In the first part of our Conclusion we are linking the findings of the OFSTED/Inspection to parents views highlighted in our survey results, the second part of our Conclusion will cover the overriding themes that our survey revealed, along with the areas of exceptional concern to us as the Parent Carer Forum for Essex.

Significant Areas of Weakness identified in the OFSTED/CQC Local Area Inspection

Identification of Need

• A large percentage of parents are unaware of the school census entry for their child/young person and parental opinion does not necessarily match the school census entry.

• Autistic Spectrum Disorder is, by far, the most common overriding primary need according to parents.

• Many parents do not feel that one need overrides the others, e.g. a number of respondents identified a combination of ASD/Sensory/ADHD as their child’s primary need.

• A high proportion of the individual comments state ADHD as their child’s primary need which is not currently a condition separately recognized by the school census.

It is important to note that the school census categories are set by the Department for Education not Essex Council Council and individual schools are responsible for determining which primary need is recorded on the school census.

As parents are largely unaware of the child/young person’s school census entry it will be difficult to use this as a basis for measuring the impact of the work being undertaken by Essex County Council to address the potential over-identification of moderate learning difficulties by schools. The impact for families will be need measured by other areas within our survey, such as their child/young person receiving the right support at the right time to meet their needs.

22 Quality of EHC Plans and Joint Commissioning

In summary our survey found:

• Children and young people were not considered to have participated in reviewing and setting their outcomes. • Parents stated that provision, support, and outcomes outlined in EHC Plans were not specific and that the language contained within the plans need to be simplified. • High number of parents reporting that provision outlined in the plan is not received: o therapies not being delivered o failure of school and therapists to work together o provision not being specific in the plan o school’s not delivering the provision. We believe these two areas of weakness are intrinsically linked with the Inspection highlighting that the joint commissioning arrangements between the Local Authority and the (NHS) Clinical Commissioning Groups is not working well enough and has too much variation. This, in our opinion, contributes to EHC Plans that do not consistently secure the right professional advice or contain specific details of provision, impacting the likelihood of securing high quality outcomes for our children and young people. Essex Family Forum are already involved in many of the workstreams that have been set up to address the areas of weakness and although progress has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, work has continued throughout albeit at a slower pace than originally planned. We will be issuing a separate Progress Report for the Joint Written Statement of Action plan in February 2021.

Overriding Themes There were a number of themes that consistently appeared in most sections of our survey, with similar frustrations being reported over and over again. • Poor communication between: • Advocate/Support worker to guide parents o families and setting • EHCP processes and policies not following o families and Local Authority SEND teams legislation, guidance or timescales o between families and professionals/therapists • Schools not providing support / following o individuals within school/setting (e.g. SENCO / professional recommendations Senior Leadership) • Training and knowledge of school/setting staff o settings and Local Authority SEND Teams • Training and knowledge of Local Authority SEND o settings and professionals/therapists Teams o Local Authority SEND teams / Professionals Therapists

23 Parents describe feeling overwhelmed by the “system” itself which can be so complex that families often feel unequipped to navigate alone. At the beginning of their journey and, indeed, at many different points throughout their child/young person’s life, SEND parents find themselves in a world they are unfamiliar with, have received no prior training for and have no colleagues to lean on for support and guidance. It is apparent from the survey figures and comments that parents and carers find the EHC Process an extremely stressful and overwhelming experience, even when they feel supported by Schools/Settings, SEND Inclusion and SEND Operations Teams. However, many parents also describe frustration at poor communication with the SEND Operations team, lost documentation, difficulty in actually contacting personnel, inaccurate advice being given and a lack of empathetic understanding by staff.

The largest number of individual comments we received were in the SEN Support/Communication with schools section and paint a sometimes worrying picture, when the majority of children with SEND do not have the legal protection of an Education Health and Care Plan and need to rely on high quality teaching and arrangements at SEN Support to remove their barriers to learning and plan and achieve high-quality outcomes. Our survey respondents report that schools are sometimes unsure of how, unable or unwilling to support the needs of their children and young people with SEND. At the simplest explanation, communication appears to be the key component which is felt by many families to be currently missing. There is poor communication reported at every level, from between individuals within a school setting, between services, and all the way up to strategic level. We are of the opinion that if improvements in the implementation and delivery of SEN Support and One Planning in Essex schools is achieved, there should be a corresponding increase in parental confidence that the right provision and support is being provided to our children and young people at the right time to meet their needs. We strongly believe that the improvements and adjustments to working practices that need to be made have to be shaped co-productively with families and children and young people with transparency around the progress being made (including both the challenges and the achievements). We know that these are areas that Essex County Council and the Clinical Commissioning Groups are committed to improving and a number of these inter-link with the improvement work arising from the Joint Written Statement of Action plan. We are also working closely with them on the development of number of different projects and strategies through our dedicated Family Champions network and the groups of SEND families they represent. The progress of this work will be shared with our families via regular emailed updates to our membership and via our Social Media pages. Essex Family Forum now has a Virtual Graffiti Wall on our website – where SEND families can share their lived experiences all throughout the year. The data gathered will be anonymised and presented quarterly to the SEND Improvement Board. We will be seeking feedback from the SEND Improvement Board on what we present, which we will also communicate to families.

24 Exceptional Concerns

These are the issues that, whilst not affecting large numbers of parents responding to our survey, we feel have a hugely disproportionate impact on the lives of the families concerned.

Children & Young People not in Education, Employment or Training

• 81% of parents who home school their child/young person stated they do so because they have no choice. • A higher proportion of children not receiving the Home Tutoring they have been allocated than those that are receiving tutoring.

There is clearly a need to gain a better understanding of the challenges faced by parents who decide to home-school their child/young person, as well the reasons that led to that decision, given the high proportion of parents that feel there is no alternative option.

The situation regarding the home tutoring arrangements not being in place has already been flagged to Essex County Council and needs some further exploration.

Appeals and Tribunals

High percentages of appeals (76%) and tribunals (94%) in Essex find in favour of the families, leading to the perception among parents that it is a deliberate test of parental determination by the Local Authority in a bid to save money as many parents will accept the Local Authority’s initial decision. What seems particularly incongruous is the number of tribunal cases that are conceded before the hearing. This situation is reflected nationally and is not just limited to Essex County Council, although their refusal to assess rates (42%) are much higher than the national average of 26%.*

As the parent carer forum for Essex, we are concerned about the significant negative impact this must have on the well-being of families that reach this stage of the process. We would like to explore further how learning from these cases is shared with the SEND services within Essex and how it influences future decisions.

25 * National SEND figures 2019 Next Steps

• The full Annual Family Impact Survey Report and Summary Presentation will be shared on 1st February 2021 to our Social Media pages and circulated via email to: o our Membership; o Support groups in Essex o Essex Special Schools and Alternative Provision providers o SEND Improvement Board members

• The summary presentation of our first Annual Family Impact Survey was presented to the SEND Improvement Board on 28th January 2021.

• The next SEND Improvement Board meeting is 25th March 2021; where the full response to families is expected to be provided.

• A Progress Report on the Joint Written Statement of Action will be shared with families by end of February 2021.

• Ongoing data collection via Essex Family Forum’s Virtual Graffiti Wall.

• Additional surveys on the experiences of SEND families to be conducted throughout 2021.

• Annual Family Impact Survey to be repeated in October 2021 in order to measure whether families are experiencing positive effects from the JSWOA and other improvement work to SEND services being undertaken in the Local Area.

26

List of Appendices

Appendix A - List of Individual Comments

Appendix B - Named Education Settings

Appendix C - Distribution List

Appendix D - Support Groups Survey Data

Appendix E - Learning Points from Survey

27

Appendix A

Annual Family Impact Survey 2020 – Individual Comments by Question

Contents Annual Family Impact Survey 2020 – ...... 1 Individual Comments by Question ...... 1 Question 7 – Setting ...... 2 Question 18 – Refusal to Assess ...... 3 Question 20 – Outcomes Meeting ...... 3 Question 26 – Appeals and Tribunals ...... 5 Question 31 – Support during Process ...... 8 Question 37 – EHC Plan Support ...... 17 Question 40 – Provision in EHC Plan ...... 20 Question 44 – Outcomes ...... 24 Question 54 – Annual Reviews – what would improve your experience? ...... 27 Question 64 – One Planning/SEN Support ...... 29 Question 69 – Support & Communication with your child/young person’s educational setting ...... 40 Question 71 – Local Offer – Additional Support/information ...... 50 Question 76 – Who do you consider to be main source of support and information for you...... 53 Question 77 – Other ...... 54

Appendix A

Question 7 – Setting Grammar school Asd specialist provision out of county Asd Specialised provision out of county. Signed off from gp since February. No help whatsoever  Child currently at home waiting for tribunal for specialist placement. Not currently able to attend school due to lack of support and provision On roll at enhanced mainstream but not allowed to attend since July 2019 due to inability to meet need. Awaiting response to my email of 28/09/2020 from SEND-Ops regarding moving to specialist provision Awaiting specialist school Specialist independent school Independent specialist school Reception School unable to have him awaiting ehcp one-one tutor after exclusion Child is too young He went to Children,s support service until 16 then tried Seevic. All educational support was stopped and EHCP ended so no college will even offer an interview. We have never been offered anywhere for him to go to. Still waiting for a school place Nursery within Sen school also supposed to be getting LA tuition waiting for school space after tribunal hearing non mainstream college Independent Boarding School Awaiting placement following tribunal hearing BFI supposed to have tution but not happened Supposed to have tuition waiting for placement following tribunal. Not happened Awaiting placement following tribunal supposed to have tutors but not happened College for 2 years but left due to autism discrimination My sons have been waiting for provision and nothing been provide SEMH Unable to attend school at present. EOTAS - Currently fighting for this to be made a permanent option rather than a temporary one She is waiting to hear if she has a place in a mainstream college on a SEN course. Day centres Tutoring 15 hours per week Care Farm - Rainbow Rural Centre (Gt Dunmow) C.I.C. Independent autistic school I wish someone can teach my child how to speak. Nursery was our last option but due covid- 19 was really scary and also afraid he will be afraid with out me witg othe kida and teachers he never saw School closed Independent school

Appendix A Question 18 – Refusal to Assess Was referred by GP but didn't hear back. Chased it myself and was told G and T children are no longer assessed or offered SEN support They just said they would not assess at it didnt seem indicated. School were not providing all the support that they could Needs to fall behind further They asked my son if he felt needed support and he said no - the whole process is terrible. A 11 year old has no idea what he ‘needs’ and requires the school to know what interventions and supports would help before any assessment has taken place. They basically scoffed and said why would I need one if my son is no longer in college School had not evidenced the regular meetings as One Plan meetings They did not have evidence that school had implemented external professionals advice School hadn't spent enough money before requesting help and assessment.

Question 20 – Outcomes Meeting Just to clarify, xxx was granted an EHCP by the the London Borough of xxxxx, where we used to live. We’re currently awaiting the final version since it was converted to the Essex format. This has been ongoing since the summer. Due to covid all professionals and parents spoken to individually by case worker, therfore felt that there was no discussion about needs and outcome and we as parents have not been given the opportunity to view the document sent to panel. We are not at that stage yet. The request was going to appeal and then the LA agreed to assess. Because of COVID, we are awaiting the report from the EP but they are unable to visit schools. My son has not yet returned to school and is under the care of a medical professional. I am homeschooling him for the time being. LA refused to include recommendations from professional assessments. Detail was not specified or quantified in the draft - LA insisted it did not need to be. LA caseworker told me she did not support the EHCP and failed to make the agreed changes or provide me with a copy of what was sent to the panel. Yes it was useful but feel my child needs a sen school More advice about appropriate schools needed. Said that appropriate to attend mainstream, which proved entirely unsuitable I would have preferred it but due to Covid it was not possible This was not useful to me it was an extremely difficult and stressful time for us and we did not have the correct support or information from the local authority Yes was very helpful My outcomes meeting was cut short as we were told that they had other appointments that afternoon. Because of this we didn’t get to go through the provision section. I was told I could review this following the meeting and produce any edits in writing but the next thing I was provided with was a banding level which was three bands below what was stated in the meeting by professionals. I had no SLT representation at the meeting and wasn’t told until I arrived at the meeting. I was given the draft EHCP the day before the outcomes meeting to review it. No minutes were taken at the outcomes meeting. The meeting was attended by the case worker who was not specialised in the area and made it clear that she was the messenger between the council and the parents. I felt misled during the meeting regarding the process. Many of the things we discussed were not included in the draft EHCP produced following the meeting. I was entirely dissatisfied by the process and to this day feel that my son’s needs have not been adequately addressed. Would have been good to have an advocate with us as we did not fully understand the process and what wording should have been used in the ehcp Was productive Appendix A But due to lockdown this didn’t happen and we were informed of outcome via call with a letter confirming. Xxx was our caseworker and was lovely from the start in explaining the process to us. Only recommendation would be possible getting the dreads for the outcomes meeting issued earlier to give every ya chance to read through it. Waiting in final

Document following sign off on draft Yes, everything was fully explained Yes meeting was very useful It was pointless as the EP had made up his mind and wouldn't listen to us at all Absolutely pointless It was helpful to ask questions and understand the purpose of the EHCP Very helpful and full of information from me as parent and from education and other professionals During covid lockdown. Therefore conducted differently, useful with respect to getting expected outcome. Yes they talked me through the whole report and make sure that I understood and could ask questions The decision was sent to me via an encrypted email that I couldn’t even open. The school informed me in the end that my daughter was denied an EHCP. I would have liked to have had the decision sent to me in the post.

Appendix A Question 26 – Appeals and Tribunals I know that G and T may not considered as urgent as some other SEN issues but I feel let down that as my son was doing 'better than average' he was ignored. Fortunately he has has excellent support from school staff to stretch and challenge him but could have been otherwise had they not been so passionate about helping him. I felt that the assessment service made me feel like there wasn't an issue an I should be glad to have a 'clever' child. However having a child with a reading age of beyond 10 at the age of 5 and is excelling is maths and science comes with other issues like boredom and frustration which can result in behavioural problems. Statutory assessment refused to assess x 3, but Autism Anglia helped us overturn the decision. It was hugely stressful as it was b evident that she met the criteria for assessment. Eventually we were told they refuse all initially on the hope parents will give up. We were disappointed mainly because most of the professionals we spoke to at Great Ormond Street agreed an ECHP was needed including her medical consultants yet it felt like these considerations were not taken into account. In fact one of the conversations I had, I was told that ‘we do not tell brain surgeons how to do their job so why are they trying to tell us how to do ours.’ We did not feel supported by Essex in fact we feel entirely let down, and annoyed at the attitude of the staff dealing with our daughter. However we are lucky to have the support of our school who offered additional support, despite the fact they were baffled by the ‘no’ decision. Still awaiting tribunal decision Tribunal came back and agreed he needed assessing. Once assessed an EHCP was put in place, but I'm having to go back to tribunal as the EHCP doesn't match the needs described by professionals. All in all a very lengthy process with lack of support from the LEA. The initial EHCP meetings were all around Social and emotional nothing to do with education, luckily I know the law and SMART objectives. Found the LEA trying to avoid as much as possible when it comes to their responsibilities, so have had to get my Local MP involved We was offered to IPRA funding for my daughters transition to secondary. The primary school were positive he would get one as they had so much evidence but as they were going above and beyond to help him, it was deemed it could continue which it did throughout primary school but now he is at secondary school its clear all the help.he was given was fantastic but now can't be done in secondary setting. We appealed both against a refusal to assess and then again for a refusal to issue a plan. We also tried mediation in response to the first appeal and they conceded at that point. The assessment then concluded that no EHCP was needed and we appealed and started tribunal proceedings. Less than a week before the hearing was due to take place they conceded on everything. The whole process took 21 months and was very cruel for my son who had to start an unsuitable 6th form college which we knew would cause him major stress and convince him that he was a failure, just to prove that it was unsuitable. When that broke down he was without ANY education for a year before starting at a very expensive residential special school. As a family we were traumatised and the scars have taken still there. Was basically told to gather more evidence and reapply as appealing will get turned down First tribunal upheld my appeal but just sent it back to LA as they had failed to follow SEN COP and refused to include SLT and OT despite recommendations. They still refused to issue and now say they do not agree with the OT report saying daily provision required so we are going back to Tribunal. son 1. I was told I wouldn't get Statement, but won, no support from school. but school was very happy to have the funding

son.2

again turned down 3 times, home schooled for half a year then school changed, no school for the whole of sch year 7, EHCP obtianed, specialist sch placement obtained year 8 No Felt very disappointed as we went to the mediation and submitted what was discussed but it was still thrown out Appendix A I was put off by the Refusal....and not sure what to do so asked for advice from another mum and she gave me some good advice about maybe going two terms with OnePlan in new school and than maybe try again. We were told at mediation that we should wait for school to put in further support and reapply, but she was year 6 and I didn’t expect her to cope in mainstream secondary and wanted EHCP in place before she started transitioning. After talking to someone we have realised the care plan doesn’t go in-depth enough and doesn’t state what my child needs in school It was awful. The fact a decision was being made about my child’s future without any one from the local authorities ever having seen her seemed absurd and cruel. School governors panel complaint I am still awaiting the outcome of the decision on my appeal. To date Essex has not conceded so it is looking like it will go to tribunal. no It was a circular argument, frustration on how many needs does my child require and how far behind is accepted by the council before they grant a ehcp. Still unsuccessful and have to start all over again. Council stating we can always try again is exhausting when we should be concentrating on getting children with special needs the help they deserve. We have just reapplied following refusal 3 years ago We did not appeal because enough evidence had not yet been reported. Unfortunately when covid happened my son no longer went to nursery and his ASD assessment was postponed, so nothing else can be done yet. Awaiting mediation meeting It was so obviously an incorrect refusal to assess and seemed clear to me was done to prolong the process and Hope we gave up. Our sons ehcp request was put to the LA and given to the panel extremely quickly in just 1.5 weeks. The school sadly lacked massively with supportive evidence so although medical evidence showed the possible need for an ehcp the schools one plan etc only contains help which the school are happy to provide. He requires some one to one support but when I talk to the school about it being put into the one plan my reply is “we don’t have enough funding for that” but this doesn’t change the fact he still needs this so they are not meeting his needs they are making his needs fit the school instead. We were told we could no appeal, as a way forward meeting would cover everything and the school did not want to support an appeal. They did not really want to fill in the original EHCP forms, it was only because we pushed for it. They did not understand the extent of our child's medical conditions ( even after extensive discussions with parents and all medical documents).

Transitioning to secondary school was therefore a nightmare as no one understood and the Send paperwork and support was not there to back things up. The decision was made to home school to relieve the stress on the child and family. Having to go through the appeal process was an unnecessary stress and emotional drain on us as a family. In a time where we desperately needed help we were refused and told there wasn't a problem, only to then be awarded the highest level of need after appeal. It felt like it was a test. The support for Asc is appalling, it's focused on children who have a higher need. The school are not doing enough. No support for older children and groups for teens, specific Asc children. Lots of younger groups. The whole process was extremely difficult. Essex broke the law many times by not following the correct process and not assessing my child accurately. Was told not to appeal as school would keep applying The LA conceded but they should have issued a consent order for me to sign and instead just withdrew my appeal with tribunal! THey did this twice as they also refused to issue and then conceded again.

We went all the way to a hearing with BFI. The LA Behaviour throughout was awful. Our Appendix A consultations went AWOL, they submitted a report full of lies which I disproved but they did not withdraw, they encouraged to enter into a joint position statement when they knew they were going to submit this terrible report. They engaged a barrister a couple of days before the tribunal date when we were self-representing. They withheld information claiming it had not been sent to them. It really was awful conduct/ We did not appeal as we got decision just before lock down. We are currently adopting awatch and see approach as started new school year. Really Disappointed with the process. I know my son but I am not with him in school and have no idea as to the supports that are available or how they could help. He was refusing school and getting suspended as becoming over whelmed. The fact that he was denied a plan because he did not want assistance is appalling. He was 11 and needs to be reminded to deal with his basic care needs. He is a bright boy but needs support to keep him focused and to understand what he is being asked to do. (I only know this from experience in home schooling more recently). He is super conscious of being different from his peers and is constantly trying to fit in. Constant low levels issues for child. Local schools pursued no extra support, assigned a dyslexia then behavioural issues. Due to escalation in behaviour issues (incl. self-harm) paid to see Psychiatrist privately. Child has met all prelim markers and is about to have full assessment for ASD. Feel thoroughly let down by local services, unable to access EWMHS or any escalation. Child in desperate need not needy enough. The LA should have provided a consent order instead they just told tribunal I'd withdrawn my appeal Essex conceded and withdrew my appeal. They should have sent a consent order (found this out after the fact) My son was in college. He has been failed by education and teachers many times. My sons tutor kept changing the schedule with no warning and my son struggled with this. When he raised the issue he was told by his tutor “well, if you can’t handle change then this isn’t the place for you”. My son was so upset he didn’t go back and refused to leave the house as a result ever since. I spoke to the tutor and she stood by her comment and we had words. I complained further but her colleagues protected her and the only answer we kept getting was “it’s just her approach” not one member of staff or anyone else for that matter seemed to care. My son has been struggling ever since. The school submitted again, refused again. Appeals made and requested a tribunal. LA reversed the decision on the day the tribunal date should have been set, and the needs assessment proceeded I was told that it was clear that there was more that the school shpuld have done, yet there was no backnup when the school continued to delay implementing external professional advice, to the point that I was told by the CETR that the schools managemnt meant that attending school was placong him at risk of 'severe psychological harm' The response to my initial needs assessment went over the deadline to respond. Ollowing appeal, they then waited until the very last day they had until then saying they would assess. It is widely known that Essex routinely refuse requests to assess because they have a backlog and want to bit themselves time. I feel I am fighting a losing battle. The procedure is so complicated. The only people I believe who get the ehcp us people that pay the £65 am hour for help with forms. This is not about the child no more I was disgusted to find out that the LA had 6 weeks to request more information, plus they should have contacted us to hear both mine and my child's views. They did none of this. The evidence sent to Tribunal would have been available to them, had they requested it, at the time of application. We had no new evidence or reports in the time between applying and the tribunal application. Completely disappointed and upset that we were out through the appeals procedure unnecessarily. They never acknowledged the request for mediation either, so we had to start tribunal proceedings. We are now going to Tribunal to contest B,F and I of the Plan Conceded all points just before original tribunal date. Process was stressful but absolutely necessary in order to get my son what he needed. I was not made aware that I could appeal the decision that was made. I am considering reapplying again. Appendix A Just reapplied and assessment agreed We decided not to appeal as were advised to wait until we had gathered evidence in a primary school setting as when we applied my son was at preschool. We plan to reapply soon as only have 2 terms of IPFRA funding in place. School is supportive and gathering evidence. The school feels my son will need a specialist school setting after his reception year.

Question 31 – Support during Process

A support person or place to go for someone to breakdown, what each area of the Plan meant. They could have talked with us first and been more practical like does his chair fit, let’s try it vs waiting 9 days before after my suggestions inviting us in to try. Not a ton of common sense coming through There was no real feedback from the service on why he was rejected for assessment and I had to chase them up only to be told they didn't do it anymore and that was that. More help understanding from the professionals more direction on what is needed to make the decision and not have to jump through hoops to get an assessment Lots of language that was bewildering at the time, lots and lots of paperwork and disorganisation from the statutory assessment service Not having to fight for the assessment and subsequently the EHCP actually being followed He had started school before ANY provision was looked at despite the Nursery school highlighting that support would be needed. We had to fight and as on as possible the EHCP was reduced to a One Plan. Please note we went through the initial assessment/plan process with London Borough of xxxx and found it fairly efficient. Since moving to Essex we’ve noticed things are taking a lot longer to put in place. The final ‘converted’ plan is yet to be sent to us. We moved late June. Perhaps it’s due to Covid but every process with Essex SEND services seems extremely slow. Honesty and listening to school and us. They lied outright throughout the whole process, they lost documents repeatedly then lied about it. Fortunately we keep photocopies of everything. I appreciate the system is stressed but dishonesty is unacceptable We had to apply for a needs assessment 3 times resulting in my son not having the support that he needed during primary school and resulted in self harming and a terrible lack of support to his needs They caused confusion More clarity around the process of application and also next steps on refusal. Better training for staff who lacked empathy and people skills. Having someone to help me through the process Giving the opportunity to prepare for EP assessment which was over the phone and I wasn't given any notice, just a random phone call one day. The opportunity for a virtual meeting with the professionals for his outcomes meeting or at the very least a conference call. An overhaul of an antiquated system which seems to be focused on avoiding the whole purpose of its genetics... which is to help children with SEN. The LEA is providing unlawful strategies to SENCO's about process, waiting until a child is 4 years behind before an EHCP is considered is unacceptable Pre school specialist teacher arranged everything for us for a statement. If my school had listened to me before it was too late and done the EHCP request Easier access to progress and resources to support the process Appendix A It took a long time to get the plan. Prior to a start at school I could never get a GP to refer us to a Paediatrician, so I could not understand how to best support my child and address his needs before we started school for a few years. If nursery had more support in the process. I wasn't confident they knew what they were doing and had the backup so decided to manage the process myself. Theres not a lot of information given to you. If you dont know how things work you can end up with a very vague plan I am currently going through EHCP assessment so couldn’t answer all the questions provided. But all this could of been avoided if help was available to children! We are now in a place where she is self harming and been signed off from school because of her mental health. Open discussion Not having to fight and the LA realising my son's needs. Different outcome to the decision The timescale could have been better. The whole process took much longer than needed and my son could have had extra support earlier. Local authorities listing more to the pre school or mums and dads as they know the child best.

This is not something you should have to fight for,

Without the the amazing help we had from xxxx pre school i dred to think where my son would be! Now he has got a Ehcp one to one support his flourishing and has a bright future. Making it easier to contact statutory assessments constantly told person is not in the office and will get back to me, this would not happen. The ehcp was issued while my child was in mainstream school both staff and myself agreed she would need to attend a special needs school. County pressure parents to take the mainstream route and give no clear guidance on the whole special needs school process. Local authority and the school could have listened to us rather than colluding with each other to fight against us. Only now at secondary school are we finally being listened to by the school and our son’s actual needs are being recognised. Support and understanding. If they had followed the law instead of their made-up rules. More support when filling in the application. As a parent who has never had to do anything like this before it was very daunting and felt that there was no support and lack of information. Was under a xxxx council at the time, took an excessive amount of time to receive final report Having an advocate for the parent & child to make sure they understood the process & implications of the financial plan Needs assessment initially turned down even after mediation. SAS agreed to assess just before tribunal. Being more parent friendly. We do not work I. Education and it is an impossible system to navigate. I am educated to degree level and I found this extremely difficult. It has has a massive impact on my mental health. This should be about the child not money, or how well a parent can complete the unclear paperwork. Totally bias towards the response being a no I did not get any support and did not even know those teams existed. LA made it clear they went into the assessment with the view they would not issue. stop returning the paper saying no EHCP awarded, it would be much better asking for the extra information needed, more support for the children who aren't coping. this does not show in school When my child initially transferred from a statement I requested a speech and language report and educational psychologist report. We ended up paying for a SALT report as one was never provided. We also ended paying for the Ed psych report as the one provided by the LA was very poor. Essex could have done their job properly Appendix A A seperate form with helpful tips Being believed at the first EHCP meeting, when I told statutory assessment that mainstream school was not a good fit for my son. Instead he was moved from one mainstream school to another (with some specialism, but still with a view to integrate into mainstream full time) leading to school based anxiety, distress, challenging behaviour, self injury, being unofficially and unlawfully excluded from education, socially isolated and with little to no hope for his future.

Parents are experts on their child and should be treated as such. It seems like pot luck and doenst make any sense whether an assessment is granted or not Better communication from school to parent and school to local authority and local authority to parent/school all VERY slow and went weeks over deadlines We used an independent supporter for the process and she was the most supportive person involved. The Senco helped to identify all of the support school were putting in place for her. The Educational psychologist was very helpful as was the specialist autism teacher. Despite this not all of her needs were identified in the EHCP. ours was transferred over from a Statement it was all very new and o one really knew what to do with it, however school seemed to do a good job. the process is very complicated and we were never offered help from an "Inclusion partner" 2 years wasted of my child’s education because the school followed the LA “policies” which were in fact not law. Too many hurdles to cross before even being allowed to ask for something only impacts the child who’s fault it is not . It would be helpful if a GP has a clear instruction/referral system as to how to get a diagnosis for a child where a parent has concerns about their health (when a parent could identify some symptoms indicating that the child might have ASD) The Council refused to assess my daughter so I appealed. Just before hearing they agreed to assess. Then they took over 6 months to produce a plan that did not comply with their legal obligations so I appealed. The appeal took over 6 months to be heard by the Tribunal. I succeeded. The following year I appealed again and succeeded and the year after that. Each time the Council refused to discuss the appeal until the last minute. They kept arguing that it was their policy not to provide children under 5 years' old an EHCP. The only way to improve my experience would be for the Council to be advised by a highly experienced and competent lawyer at the earliest stage. I suggest that local authorities do not have in-house lawyers but instead use a centralised legal service provided by the Government because at the moment each local authority is trying to invent and re-invent the wheel. The Council did not understand the new legislation passed in 2014. As far as they were concerned they would continue as before just amending headings on forms. There were too many failings so it is not possible to set out in detail what could improvie my experience More involvement at the beginning of the process with review meetings rather than feeling like I joined the process at the end. Actual advice! Reports and feedback is done but no advice or guidance given. During medical examination the paediatrician will read out forms completed by preschool. No medical input (in fact no examination or interaction with child). In effect it seemed the school was tasked with diagnosing autism. Following the first visit I asked the paediatrician how to proceed with educational setting (it was my understanding they'll refer to the department of education)and his response was that he isn't a teacher. Who is advising? Less paperwork. Being made to feel important and knowledgeable of my childs needs. I often feel dismissed and too many occasions where educations setting has not followed the EHCP All of the needs in section F have not been covered with correct funding resulting with my child only being in school for 2 hours making it not inclusive. It took us 3 requests and an appeal before we were granted an EHCP this caused un due stress and left our son unsupported for quite some time hindering his progress and causing regression Appendix A It took way to long for the ehcp to be put into place. No support or guidance, needless forms sent to fill out by our 10 year old with Special Needs. Very off putting to apply. Everything We feel the school are not putting the things in place to support my child. He is in a part time timetable and we feel he needs a 1 to 1 More help with the application. More advice on what to put in the application The SLT assessment undertaken by xxxxx for my son wasn’t adequate. It contradicted a case load of evidence provided elsewhere and the provision stated wasn’t detailed, substantiated and appropriate for my son’s needs. I asked for re-assessment but was turned down. I would like for this area of his learning to have been better represented in his Plan. I felt that the Statutory Assessment unit were unclear with me regarding the process. I was always given information last minute with little or no time to review documents, and a tight turn around time to respond with any edits. I was told I could provide a number of edited versions to ensure everything was captured but when it came down to it, they gave me one opportunity to respond. I felt as though they weren’t on side. The EP that they brought in to assess my son as part of the Needs assessment made it very clear that he needed a high level of support, and said we would be looking at Band 4 in the outcomes meeting For any provision to be adequately assessed, but we were given Band 1. The process was soul destroying and feels as though you’re fighting against the council which is counter productive. We were fortunate to have a few private assessments to help provide recommendations but I left the process wishing we had sought additional private assessments as I felt we weren’t fully supported and my child’s needs not adequately assessed and represented. Not having to start the appeal process and have it delayed! SENCO NOT EFFECTIVE TEACHERS FRUSTRATED More communication and responses made in a timely fashion The main difficult was getting the correct information from the professionals involved in care.

The information provided wasn't always up to date During the time they were deciding if he should have an assessment we lived from London to Essex. Essex refused twice to assess him as they said they didn’t have any information for him even though our previous London borough had emailed everything over. I then had to email everything to them again. The service after, monitoring how the school used the funding and implemented the plan He should have seen an EP years ago. I asked and asked. Once I finally got to speak to her she was wonderful. Luckily I had fantastic support from Families in Focus to push through the application. Better communication, understanding the process, explain my rights to me, how to appeal if I'm unhappy. There was no joined up working or clear plan for moving forward/structure given. Not having to go to moderation and then to tribunal. It was very nerve racking going through all the meetings and dealing with lots of things I had never experienced before. However this was the first time. With my second EHCP application for another son i understood the process and jargon and it all felt smoother. Should have been accepted the first time. My child's real needs are still not reflected on the ehcp Put my boy into the right school for his needs instead of leaving him in mainstream school. It’s not working for him. Having to chase up the pre-school Make it easy to understand for each step what the process is. What you need to produce at each stage in straight forward terms and clear language. And what to do if unsuccessful and what support you can go to, to help. The wait was too long The school mainly dealt with the EHCP. The process was mainly conducted by the school. Appendix A I had to go to mediation for my son’s EHCP as it just kept being rejected. I had no support during this process and it was the start of my SEN journey and a very scary time as I didn’t have the knowledge I have now We were fortunate to have an amazing nursery manager guide us through the process but it is a scary one that I think I many people are intimidated by. We seem to spend our lives filling out forms The process dragged on for two years plus and we had to attend a tribunal. Speaking with other parents autism/aspergers seem to take priority over other disability such as Dyspraxia which has much the same symptoms within the education environment. Time frame has been ridiculous Nothing, everything was done very well I find the whole process very emotionally draining as it’s so focussed on what my son can not do. I understand the need for this but it still doesn’t sit well. Listening to the professionals, SENCo, parents and child himself that there was a need and not refusing to assess and therefore allowing him to struggle for another 3 years effecting his enjoyment of school and emotional well-being. More communication Very complicated and long winded. Request was declined so it went to tribunal. Essex County Council were adament an assessment was not needed then backed down 2 weeks before the hearing date which to us felt like a waste of time and a delay tatic The deciding board to take into account that his school had informal data for over a year. We had to chase EHCP for the appeal paperwork as this was not sent An acknowledgement of the condition dyslexia This covid situation has stopped everything in its tracks The process is exhausting . No part suggests help for parents of send children . Pda not recognised xxxxx SEN leader wanted to push for an EHCP but the leadership team didn't support this at all..the head teacher actually has disallowed xxxx official diagnosis of severe dyslexia stating he didn't need any help in class at all. xxxx also struggles to sit still, remain focused and concentrate..his one plan is very indepth. His needs were not supported at all at senior school with there only being a functional sen dept from September 2019 - The start of xxxx year 10 The school was not proactive in seeking the EHCP and an unreasonable decision to refuse to assess meant several more months without proper support for my son. Replies to emails more information and notwithstanding over a year and still no school for my son and going backwards and forwards to and from same school thats says no when I want a a school that is going to help my child. Some guidance on what to expect and what should happen. A key person keeping in touch throughout the process. I believe this happens now, but didn't when I applied. Contact More communication Inclusion partner told the school to upload application to egress which was no longer being used. Due to summer holidays I then had to submit the application via 8 e-mails. Was then rejected as information to too old (information was submitted as advised by inclusion partner) and as some files couldn’t be opened. This was then changed as the send ops realised that they had not uploaded the files to the panel correctly. Chase is a lot of stress The plan being better put together and being more specific. We’ve just had an annual review. The plan needed to be more specific and quantified. It wasn’t. A more thorough assessment and more information Not having to discuss embarassing things like skiing and self harm in front of him. More support for us in primary school where we were treated as pariahs and no one thought he had a real problem. He was only diagnosed with Asperger,s and ADHD when we saw a tier 4 child psychologist privatly. He should have had more help but did not have learning difficulties and the school view was he was bright so could sortitouthimself. When I initially spoke to the school senco about applying for an ehcp she completely back up the decision so when I said I could apply myself if she wishes her response was “yes that Appendix A would be brilliant and we will back you 100%” when I discussed with the head teacher separately about doing this his reply was “yes that’s great then we can get more money for him” not very appropriate response but there you go. We had a meeting with the head teacher and senco the day after decision was made to which the headteacher started the meeting with “let’s be straight what are u wanting for ur son an ehcp?” No I want his needs met. I discussed what sensory breaks he was getting saying with the whole class is not a sensory break it needs to be just him to which senco said “yes but we only have one teacher in the afternoon in the class so that can’t happen” yet again my child’s needs not taken into consideration it’s all about meeting the schools needs. And considering when I intitally said about trying for an ehcp they both backed the decision yet after both stated it wasn’t required so why waste my time? Not having to appeal every decision made by SAS. Not having to constantly go over everything that had happened in the past as a we didn’t have the same person at meetings. When plans were agreed they never actually happened. Help from the school or help from outside organisations. Clarity of the documentation needed and more support given to medical needs of a child, not just educational needs. A child can achieve well but still need support. Much better communication and listening! My child has his ECHP completed by another council before I moved to Essex. So above answers about process are for another council and not Essex. The school to have worked with me, to provide proper evidence. I had a few appointments from Sendias but I had to make the appointment weeks and weeks in advance and they were rushed. No other support at all, took me a year and a half, I was refused. Correct process and accurate and timely assessments Joined up thinking My child was recognised to have difficulties at 2 years old, when he started school at 4 he was two years delayed, four years on at 8 years old he is now four years delayed and still no ECHP has been given... School did not understand the process or what they needed to do. They were defensive about showing how they had spent the £6k already allocated and because they were not up front with this information ? It resulted in the request being declined on first pass. I wasn’t kept informed of what was happening and I struggled to find any information about what I needed to do. The EP could have assessed my son instead of refusing because he had Specialist Teacher involvement. it was the specialist teacher who said he needed assessing and it was a statutory requirement of the statement to EHCP transfer process The process could be very overwhelming for some and the process needs to be explained better and more user friendly. As no one outlines the full process in good detail and what their options are. the LA could stick to the law and that way they would have assessed my child rather than refused! More help and encouragement. It always seems like it’s Essex County Councils aim to NOT give help. When the first-named school was a no (Marketfields), I would have liked to receive a more detailed explanation on why, not just, "due to your son's needs." It was very frustrating. Communication with the people that you mention above would probably be a good start. Also an assessment to identify needs and useful supports rather than expecting the school to pre determine what would assist. We are still waiting for an assessment for over 18 months For the school not to have withdrawn his place saying they couldn’t meet his needs once EHCP was done The SAS team were not very friendly. The EP had limited knowledge about hearing loss and how it presents behaviourally if extra information is needed, this should be requested, not feed back to parents as not going forward with ehcp, many parent aren't aware that all they need to do is obtain extra information to move forward. Many parent find this to upsetting and just don't understand what Appendix A needs to be achieve, it doesn't help when school state they don't have the money in the budget's to fund another ehcp School taking child’s needs seriously. Answering of emails in a timely manor and actually listening and reading what my child needs rather than a blanket approach More communication I feel like as a parent you are left to find information out by yourself The law is very simple and I don't know why the LA can't stick to it The law is quite simple but the LA choose to ignore it Grant ehcp plan to families that really need it and have plenty of information to support their application. Rather than refuse the application and make parents go for the stressful process to appeal. None The stress over schools lots of schools were not welcoming to a send child or said they couldn’t meet his needs The awaiting time was very long. Would prefer it was faster, but I understand there are many families awaiting results and this may cause delays. Sendist process was very clear. An assessment being carried out would have improved things.. A strange experience that it was assessed whether my child needed an assessment.. unmet needs still remain. My daughter is ignored as she masks her autism at school and behaves, this takes a lot of effort the school are amazing but unable to give her the support she needs because of the red tape involved in getting an echp application accepted by the conical its ridiculous her mental health is declining and she's desperate for support her brother is diagnosed with asd and adhd the same as her and its unfair that just because she has no bad behaviour she is left to struggle. Its impacting the whole family we had to fight for her diagnosis because she's a girl and now fighting for her echp because she internalises her struggles leading to self harm. And her brother is supported because he externalizes his. She's desperate but gets turned down not fair at all Support/Advice from school

Guidance through process The coordinator never replied to emails. The coordinator sent information for outcomes meeting only 2 days before the meeting. There was a lot of information to get though and process whilst looking after a severely aduriste child.

The information sent was in the wrong order and disorganised. The draft was poorly put together and did not have SMART outcomes. Being listened to would be great rather than being lied to with excuses and out of date policy quoting. Being listened to. Having everyone involved in a joint meeting rather than having to attend many separate meetings. Less waiting time. Provide help in writing the application I had no help from essex no visits no help all no one came to my sons nursery no meeting just left .only the nursery helped EHCP is utter garbage. Essex does banding 1-10 which is very arbitrary and minimal. Highest banding without special need school is 4* wouldn’t even cover half a teaching assistant let alone reasonable equipment and the like.

The plans are full of waffling information but no real plans and professional input was via our independent appointments. Essex SLT literally copy and pasted our independent’s report and still turned in report late. Appendix A

SLT service not fit for purpose. They provide no help, assistance or therapy. They will blame covid but they were execremental pre covid. It would have been good to have an agreed EHCNA from the first application. The evidence was there, just not in the format they wanted. It caused over a year delay Information being shared and being updated more frequently Better communication on how far the process was progressing - constantly had to chase EP in particular Feeling that there was a desire to get the correct support in place for my son- the delaying tactics have caused immense difficulties and needlessly taken away a significant period of gis schooling. Less paper work Time consuming, took a long time but worthy The length of time it took Being able to speak about what I think my child really needs and maybe actually receive that! Have meeting with the professionals that are dealing with the EHCP like the educational phycologist. So they can understand the child as a individual, not just a name on the paper If the higher rate had been awarded to begin with. It would have saved a lot of time and paperwork as everyone was already set out to what was required. Knowledge. There seems to be an expectation that parents are fully appraised of the process and we’re not. The EHCP is far too complicated a process and the resulting plan is too long and arduous to affectively take in. Facilities available for children excluded from previous school, awaiting EHCP Was never asked my views as parent and main care giver I was worried the whole time but the system doesn’t support u apart from offering a leaflet which is not what a parent wants

I needed someone to guide me in a telephone conversation I wasn’t properly involved with the initial gathering of information. It could have been made clearer to me that we were completing the exercise at the time prior to the first EHCP meeting. My sons EHCP was done through xxxx Juniors & they were very unsupportive

Mainstream schools need more training & I believe all Senco in schools should be fully qualified to deal with Sen When my son had his assessment more support from his primary school and support for my own mental health .. the schools in mainstream fight you all the way which affects the whole family unit . My sons school he is in now langham oaks is the most supportive I've ever had in my sons life they care about the whole family not just numbers ! More feedback from the SEND team, the EHCP plan was at first refused for xxx it was quite a stressful process at the time, he now attends a SEN school just felt at the time the education psychologist was trying to say that my child at the time (4yr old) would be ok going to school with a school action plus in place (12 hours of support) My child was still in nappies, not much speech and behind in all 7 areas of development. functioning approx at 2yrs old. we fort with the local authority to get an EHCP which we did. My child was in mainstream until the end of year 2 and now goes to an MLD Sen school. Just felt they wanted to send her to school to see how she would get on and then decide if she needed support, when we knew as parents this needed to happen before she started school so she had the best chance of fully accessing the curriculum and her care needs were being meet. Simplicity, honesty and a good understanding by all concerned on what was actually required Speed Appendix A Lack of support in primary setting. I wasn’t taken seriously regarding my concerns i’d raised about my child. Wasn’t told he needed a statement, yet went on to have multiple diagnoses which were impacting his life daily that required support. School were supportive, Paediatrics was useless. understanding terminology and what support can be offered For professionals to be more honest about my son’s level of need and what they felt would be the best educational setting instead of it ‘being the parent’s decision’. They could have carried out their legal duties in the first instance. They also lied in their letter about why they refused the assessment application, they told me over the phone that it was due to lack of money spent by the school. I asked if they would be confirming this when they wrote to me and she said yes. The letter had absolutely nothing in it that we spoke about over the phone. Absolutely appalled. I would have thought they were trying to improve based on their Ofsted inspection, the same way a school would have to. More communication if delays arise. No one listened to us about our son so we had to pay to see our own psychologist. I found that the EHCP, took longer than would be expected. Therefore everything was rushed through at the end of the Summer term. It took years to get a echo plan, very long process, Sen team say one thing & do another Listen to parents more More communication between departments and home would be the first step . We often felt we gave 100% for our son making sure everyone had all the relevent information on him and on time but we were made to feel he was was just another case the other end to sort out. Trying to get a statement in the beginning then change to EHCP with little or no support was a very emotional time. We were at xxxx Primary whilst these changes came into place and i feel we were not supported as well as we could of been to make a difficult time easier for everyone. More explanation, support with the form, a better form or way of communication my child’s needs no help whatsoever. A reluctance to act despite asking for assistance for 8 months. Complete lack of information. Experience was good Better communication. However this happened in 2015 and was the school’s first EHCP If they truly listened to parents and worked with them rather than trying to save money! ECC Giving my son what he needed and was entitled to without me having to go to mediation/ appeal at each step. Support from professionals The time it took, my child should of had a ehcp before end of year 4. She fell so far behind, and has never really recovered Refusal to assess initially when SEN was so obvious in the child. I was not aware that a SEND team was meant to support me with my application. I received no such support at the time. My son only had limited hours 1 to 1 support in pre school, so missed out on half a week, and I felt pressured to look into mainstream primary schools which I knew would not be suitable. It was only after getting an advocate that the LA agreed to a sen school. LA's should be more supportive and listen to parents, who are the experts on their child's needs rather than making them jump through hoops. It's difficult to answer this because 2 applications for and EHCP were made (1st refused/2nd granted). I was astonished the school could not identify my daughter's needs and classified her needs as 'bad behaviour.' Statutory Services need to employ people with a brain! None had the best support from my sons school Glenwood A School being allocated that is willing to understand and accept my child. The delays were horrendous with the process and didn't meet legal timescales. My child is still not in School and has numerous tutors he is very far behind in education Communication and explanation of the process Appendix A This was 13 years ago so, hopefully, not relevant to today's experience. But I remember being daunted by the mountain of paperwork, and the information I was giving needing to be exactly right to granted the assessment and then statement. It wasn't clear whether I could call Stat. Assessment for help or guidance. The council refused to have mediation when requested. The council should be more accessible I didn’t get any response to queries I made. Unlawful refusal to assess and flagged as 'Local Policy'. Corrected the LA representative at the Way Forward Meeting. She could not respond, because I knew the law, but parents shouldn't have to fight. The procedure should be lawful from the outset. Timescales went drastically over. Covid 19 didn't help, but actually should have that much impact as was waiting for a decision following Outcomes meeting in early February - didn't get a decision until mid May, but that was only after chasing on four occasions and threatening to make a formal complaint on the last occasion. Started sooner The local authority appearing in any way to care about the needs of my child instead of just funding

Question 37 – EHC Plan Support

Social care needs have never been looked at I don’t know if we have one? Be more readable by others not just professionals but everyday making it clearer I feel my son’s learning difficulties are down played in the plan/subsequent review. I also feel his sensory needs are not sufficiently addressed. By working together better Not sure yet I can't comment either way as I haven't seen the document sent to panel for a decision to issue. A understanding of what SMART means and how to translate this in to a document. More specifics on professionals work with child. Too vague & too much time allocated to paperwork rather than child. I think the process should involve other professionals like - educational psychologists, external SEND specialists, etc. not only school SENCO and staff. We are still currently going through the assessments. If it was updated to include asd diagnosis. Been waiting nearly 2 years for amendments. A better Senco It was accurate at the time given that no proper assessments were done (eg the medical assessment was from a child development doctor/paediatrician even though he was already 19 at the time and she started the appointment by saying the assessment was outside her area of expertise). We had to obtain reports privately on physio and sensory issues as there was literally no one in the county who was competent to do these in the NHS/social care. We spent months trying to persuade the SAS to look for the right people and without saying they couldn't find someone they just sent us back to our GP for a series of pointless NHS referrals - everyone either said no straight away, or when we turned up they said they hadn't understood what we were asking for and their advice would be limited as e.g. they only dealt with under 18s. Child has never had 1:1 assessment by Educational Psychologist and current plan has no plan from a psychologist despite complex EMH needs son 2. the EHCP is very accurately updated for him as his form tutor spent time working on it with our family.

son 1. I'm very confused as things just done look quite right Appendix A son 1 . needs more care and funding . More support and a better education setting This was drafted by my barrister so its quite accurate. This was prior to tribunal. The process needs to be streamlined so we dont wait 18 months for paperwork which is then out of date. Needs a full review. Everything needs to be re-examined. The emotional and anxiety my son suffers is not represented in the plan very well EHCP was reviewed at meeting in June- still not updated to simplify the whole process and stop using "Buzz words" and abbreviations In question 23 you ask for the date of the first EHCP then in question 24 you ask how well 'the EHCP' accurately reflects educational needs. However, it is unclear whether you are still referring to the first EHCP or whether you now wish me to answer the following questions based on the most up-to-date EHCP. I have assumed the latter. However, with regard to the first EHCP, the Council stated 'none' under the heading 'social care needs'. They argued that they were only obliged to insert the conclusion of the social care assessment carried out over a year ago. However, I pointed out that this had never been accepted and was the subject of a complaint. Indeed, I had complained in September 2014. The Council failed to deal with that complaint properly, so I complained to the Ombudsman. He also failed to deal with the complaint properly and after two Judicial Reviews he eventually upheld my complaint and recommended that the Council pay me compensation. However, he decision was material flawed, which amongst other things meant that the amount of compensation was too low. Eventually, in March 2020, after 6 years, the Ombudsman settled and paid me a significant sum of money. So, in answer to your question, the Council could improve their service by ensuring that they understand their obligations under the law. This means that they should out social care assessments in accordance with the law. In my case, they did not. Also, the person compiling the EHCP simply inserted the words 'none' into the EHCP despite my protests that there was no up-to-date social care assessment. Eventually, when the law changed allowing the Tribunals to recommend social care provision, the Council suddently provided appropriate social care, ie direct payments. Indeed, they settled outside of the Tribunal Court room, having taken advice from independent Counsel. Make it breifer. Make it so that it actually filters through to the education environment. Too many occasions where mainstream do not apply the EHCP. Needed to be more specific in terms of actions and time. More information should be in there regarding toileting needs and the support required Need more time with the child to really be able to know what he needs The care plan doesn’t state how many hours a day my child needs support in school. It’s hasn’t been made clear enough Better structure and subheadings would make the document much clearer. Currently awaiting amendments The word ‘adult’ is used a lot when describing who should be assisting my child with certain activities but they do not specify which adult. A teacher? His 1:1? The cleaner perhaps?? Amended yearly with expert input, not all SENCo are experienced enough The first plan was not fit for purpose therefore I appealed and had new EHCP drafted Put him in the right school Providing a full reassessment considering the last one was in 2016. Everything has changed considerably since he was 4 and a half and we need to start planning on preparing for the next stage. This is only accurate because I went through a tribunal process and had the whole thing re- written because it was so outdated Emotional well being of the child does not seem to be addressed fully; child cannot cope with peers leading to being pushed and picked on, low self esteem, social isolation, meltdown everyday to go to school. Helping my son to receive a plan Appendix A I have an EHCP meeting in November -

Once it was agreed that the authority would assess fir an EHCP the process was very well handled . I am due an annual review so this should be addressed then. X By being more specific. The learning needs are out of date by five years. By being much more specific Have asked for his plan to be rewritten to reflect his needs but this has not been reflected. Because of his high verbal ability and intelligence people tend to underestimate his difficulties. Often if he was introduced into a group by a mentor he would soon be alright but he has totally lost confidence in his ability to be part of society and needs active encouragement. Having an echo that covers the child s health and medical needs would be a good start. My child’s ECHP was out of date abs needs to be reviewed. Need to wait u too he is in school setting to get this done as he has a tutor visiting us at home for the time being. It has not been updated since 2016 by Essex and no one has attended her review meetings Educational Psychologist states he needs specific provisions but school cannot access them Listen to me as a parent about what my child needs. Child needs should be the Start point , not what the school want to offer it wasn't accurate when issued but I didn't really worry about it as he'd got the setting I want. In hindsight he should have been properly assessed so that it reflected my son. Sencos in some schools require a lot more educating in EHCPs and how they can help families with them. As they know how the child needs support within a setting and can assist families in bridging the gap. We've just been to tribunal and the process massively improved the EHCP. it's not been issued yet. Sad that we had to go that far to get a proper legal document N/A Reviewed as he has matured a lot Full assessment for EHCP never done It hasn’t been updated since he was Tanglewood. He’s now year 3! This year had to be reviewed over the phone. More specific examples No complains. Equal access to echp and fair allocation as its a disciminate process Could be more detailed / specific and less open to interpretation by school. I requested it be updated but the lady on the phone just tutted and said “why do i want it updated and said they won’t do it” By social care actually providing support It is okay. I didnt get any help.or met with anyone not even a hv re the echp no one at all from essex council NO HELP OR COMMINCATION MEETINGS AT ALL I only got this correct because I provided 70 plus pages of indisputable evidence. I pity those who couldn’t. The other professionals in my child's care should have attended the meeting and should have been aware of how important is a full and detailed report. I have asked for support with horse riding etc and more active things that have worked in the last to help with his behaviour, but I not being listened to It’s fine and we are all happy with it. The report needs simplifying. Occupational therapy was not given

My son has sensory needs and this support Appendix A

Speech and language was basic and he needs more support Simplify. Use Plain English

HAve had annual reviews but EHCP not been updated to reflect the chanages The LA on occassional don't enter the exact information from EP or other health proffessional. Even though it clearly states on reports. Which is unhelpful and not accrate. So as a parent & young person you are repeating yourself verbally to teacher and other settings. The plan was slightly more accurate because we had to amend a lot of inaccuracy's when our sons statement moved over the the EHCP but we have had another diagnosis of another condition for our son but this has not yet been added to the EHCP so we feel it does not give a fair representation of the condition or the support needed for our son . I worked hard to add all his health needs & other information on the plan I’m now happy with our revised plan but we wrote our own plan following support from others who had been through the process. Before the plan didn’t reflect all his needs None My daughter does not have an EHCP! Collabitating with behaviour at home, which often differs in the school setting. I believe it is measured accordingly to previous school experiences, and to what realistic prospects they can achieve, not to what should be possible in all areas of need. We have never had social care involvement - always been discouraged. Health, I don't understand. It seems to only apply to medical needs - my son language processing difficulties will exist whether or not he's in education. We also had OT and Physio input historically - always fell under education. Perhaps having a noticeable difference in social care at school and home.

Question 40 – Provision in EHC Plan

It to read less complicated. For it to be more individualised to the child, Currently battling if he can be in school as told wheelchair is difficult to accommodate and may affect others learning More emotional support for him To be in a school that can follow the EHCP My son has recently started a special school, which we wanted. However, I’m not yet completely clear of the specific support he’s getting or whether he has a one plan. However, it’s early days & I hope this information will be forthcoming soon. Funding. She has band 1 yet the matrix essex used suggested band 3. SA said to te school to really when they run out of money. Its a shocking system Not sure yet, since this is the first year of EHCP and it may need adapting to fit with vivid restrictions The plan could be written much better and simpler! Experts working with school. School identifying when help needed. Mandatory training in mainstream for ASD. Targets clearer in regards to how many hours support! Where the support is and what it looks like in regards to how the money is spent. It would be good to have consistency and stability in support provided, my son did not receive all the sessions he was assigned with a Psychotherapist at school it was frustrating as he was getting improvements in addressing his irrational fears he developed. If school liaised with my child's speech therapist. Communication

Appendix A Senco to access LA provisions

Actually spend the money on my child The EHCP is no longer relevant as he is in advanced education (university) but the residential special school was brilliant. The only problems we had were on health, where he needed psychological therapy and even at the school this was in short supply and others needed it more - the therapy was not in the EHCP as at that point there was nothing on the NHS which would have helped except medication. which was being given. The other area was academic - only certain courses were available at the special school and he was not able to do eg computer science as well as physics. However they were as helpful as possible including providing tuition for him to re-take an A level. SPLD not adequately addressed, specifically dyslexia & dysgraphia.

As an Autistic child have not put proper routines in place which have exacerbated EMH distress None due to the LA not agreeing with my named school. As a result she had been at home since September without an education which we wait for a tribunal we may not win. There is no other suitable school for her. It’s been very difficult due to the covid 19 situation. School supportive but may need to move to specialist provision and cannot have meetings about this. Informal reviews and annual review all behind if a child is more able they should be included more, ask them what they need. He is at a OOC specialist private school. The provision just kept getting delayed and then covid. I have spoken to the LA but no-one gets back to me. Better communication. Schools within Essex that provide therapy and education for children aged 16+. Especially when The LA has spent most of there time delaying this processess so my child received next to nothing during Secondary school. So EARLY CONTINUED INTERVENTION IF NECESSARY, BETTER COMMUNICATION and BUILD MORE SCHOOLS. Don't make a parent choose between an education for their child and therapy. Any kind of indication that my son is not just being ignored or abandoned would be a good start. I feel if the provision was being met effectively my son would manage more than an average of 2hrs a day at school Some needs are not included if we were better informed we would have made sure that a certain specific number of weekly hours were included in the document for example for physiotherapy and speech and language - as these have almost disappeared - we now have to pay a physio-therapist privately to provide a physical support guideline within school as the previous provision is now very scarce, we have heard from the physio only once during the last year The Council refuses to accept that it is legally obliged to provide the provision set out in the EHCP. It believes that the schools are legally obliged to do this. So, in my case previous EHCPs have stated 'hydrotherapy or swimming' but the Council fails to do anything It often feels as though SEN department and EHCP are in place but mainstream just wont do it. Often there are many ideas put forward during meetings but often these get lost and it reverts back to expecting him to stick to mainstream and be like everyone else even though his disability does not allow that. Reasonable adjustments are often lost as teachers are apparently too busy to do them. No communication from school I don’t even know what they provide. Asked for a meeting one year ago still waiting It is hard to say at the moment due to Covid He could have been found a school He is part time and I think he wanders around a lot. I find his teacher and the senco aren’t on the same page at the moment Appendix A The provisions out lined in my son’s plan involve far more hours than the allotted banding provides for so it’s not possible for it to all be implemented. Secondary school providing what is on the plan. Provision interrupted (withdrawn) for six months in 2020 owing to coronavirus lockdown and school closure. Apart from a maths and reading app, we were unable to access any daily/weekly online learning materials - whether general or targeted - as the school did not provide them. Parents were very much left to their own devices. This was a challenge for all parents, and we're still surprised that children with SEND were left in this situation. The plan states the provision from physio and OT, SALT.

This has not always been provided and is often a very stressful and long "fight" to try to get what should be agreed.

Also when we were doing the plan. We were informed that if the provision wasn't provided as agreed in the plan.

There is not anything that could be done to actual force those services to provide what is agreed. it seems to be purely on the good will of that service whether they provide it or not. This is deeply upsetting.

There should be something statutory which ensures that it must be provided or there will be consequences.

If this is wrong advice, then there needs to be a lot of training and education to services. This just makes you think that the EHCP is just a paper exercise. He receives most of the provision because there is not provision in the plan. This is due to the LA using reports which were incomplete due to covid Better monitoring LA have striped away provisions set out in EHCP, Covid has meant zero provisions during March to Sept and since school started they have only SALT not OT or physio If the school staff used her EHCP more to guide their teaching and strategies to help her. If he was in the right school Focussed handwriting lessons everyday starting from scratch Specific dyslexia support We are only in the very early stages as just started chill and only signed off on the EHCP this week Learning could be more specific for his needs Tailored support from specialised individuals in helping someone like my son to read and write given his SEN. More speech and OT assistance We are still going through the diagnosis process. Helping him to be properly diagnosed Transition support was effected by Covid and needs have changed recently so awaiting annual review. X The provision could be better specified but Essex won’t provide it. The provision is not specific enough. Essex don’t want to pay for outside services so the plan is woolly and poorly written. The school being held accountable for the actual provision they gave verses what the plan states He is getting help from the mental health team now but has not been out of the house for nearly two years, stays in his room and is dependent on cannabis . He occasionally self Appendix A harms and is lonely and bored. A pity more help was not forthcoming and a suitable school with an autism unit available when he needed it and it could have helped. He should have been gives scoop place as soon as we moved to Essex. Have waited since June and still not in school. To ensure some of the provision stated in the EHCP was implemented we had to go back to tribunal Additional support/therapies are impossible to access School following the plan. It’s a legal document and should be followed. School seem to think it is optional. And there is no accountability. They can just do what they want to be fair the provision is just not relevant to my son, e.g. he hates rewards but the EHCP says he should be given them. so It's better he doesn't get it as it would be detrimental to him The LA could issue the revised EHCP asap as per tribunal directions and my child could start attending school Better support in SAL and OT He needs a full time school place The school keep changing routine/classroom and taking lockers away from the boys. Resulting in anxiety and behaviour for which they are then sent home Schools support and understanding of girls’ with ASD All staff to have access to his plan If the school provided a explanation of how the provision was being used. Everything More communication around how the school is implementing the plan specifically. No complains. She has not got one despite 4 years of trying Specific details in provision My sons plan was last updated in 2016/17 My son being provided with social care support to enable him to access community outside of school. The school could be better at implementing the ehcp. Insufficient funding available for true 2-to-1 support as requested by the school, and funding for 1-to-1 was not sufficient for a full time equivalent member of staff No salt or ot still ? That it continued regardless of covid SLT, occupational therapy, additional staffing. Sadly, covid has restricted some of the social support. Also, I feel some of the teaching practices recommended and included by the EP, are not being used with my child. Access to a speech therapist has been intermittant More help to support him to access sports and more activities There not being a coronavirus! Staff not being over worked with dealing with school, pupils, parents, sick teaching staff and on top of that dealing with Coronavirus precautions. Physio and OT support rarely given.

Visual perception difficulties not understood or communicated properly. Occupational therapy and more speech and language session sometimes have to chase speech and language to make sure she get s the required visits that are stated on her EHCP Plain English stop professionals using buzz words and abbreviations Regular reviews into schools on a quarterly basis to ensure plans and therapies are being delivered. Regular meetings with parents and professionals to ensure needs are met. needs to be updated Not enough speech and language support If the occupational therapists did not keep leaving and the SLT Appendix A we feel even before COVID the support that our son was ment to be offered from his plan was very inconsistent. if a service has been recommended then it should be provided. To continue A school that provides class sizes of 4-5 for complex needs Genuinely feel sorry for the school, but my son is not receiving all the provision in section F - I think primarily due to COVID challenges. reinstatement of services post covid It would be better if it was more personally set, and with more opportunities to develop all my sons areas of need in his health, social and education. Has not had any SALT input for 4 years - have never managed to get a response from Provide despite calling, emailing and writing letters. The provision outlined in the plan is pretty generic and not specific to my son. School would benefit from being paid a higher banding. The support the school gives my son has been costed out at nearly £14,000, but he is only given a band 1 for support, yet school are spending nearly £8000 over the initial £6000 they are responsible for. Disgusting that the LA can get away with this. What chance of support do schools who do not have such healthy budgets have or supporting their SEND children if the LA aren't paying what they are responsible for?!

Question 44 – Outcomes

Involved in planning now but very let down and feel he’s being left at hone instead if with friends be wise it’s easier on school. So much red tape and he is 5 with a ton of questions on why he can’t go in for an hour or two Communication...our issue was they were late on time so decided to issue a not fully great plan. Professional involvement. More basic terminology used that can be understood.

I do not fully understand how the outcomes could be measured and they are mainly identified by school setting. There is no communication between the school and myself

I don’t know what happens daily

Therefore can’t really be involved to a degree of planning if I don’t know what’s happening or simply being told “good day” If the SAS actually aimed to provide resources rather than avoid spending any money - I felt that if all else failed, from their point of view just deferring the expenditure into the next year's budget would represent success to them. They did not appear (as an organisation - the people we spoke to were normally lovely and very well-meaning but could not deliver anything) to have any interest in providing education for my son, just getting him to fit into what was already available. The exception was the educational psychologist who trod the narrow line between advising us and advising the council very well, educated and helped us as parents, and actually listened to my son and to us. An advocate to help and advise me with only the best interests of three child in mind If they could actually provide the placement that suits the measures stated in the plan. Would be better if you felt as though you were having a discussion about the best interests of our child with all involved rather than it being a constant fight. question 38

son 1 not involved at all, i wish i had more say, his school updated where very good college Appendix A not so good son 2, form tutor is amazing and work with us to make the plan work, this really supports our son. If this could be done without going to tribunal and spending 17k Being believed and taken seriously It should be child centred and take into account the holistic needs of the child. As the process was new when we did it no one really understood it, the whole thing in my view was an excuse to take her off her statement and give her less support, but by drawing out the process and confusing, rather than trying to improve things. The Government could provide better guidance for children who fall into the category of my daughter, ie severe global developmental delay along with physical disability from CP. In such cases, it is impossible to know what the child is capable of. Also, such children learn through intense repetition. This means that 9-3 schools cannot provide all the education required. This DOES NOT mean that they need residential schooling. It means that they need education to continue outside of school. The law allows for this, but the Council refuses to accept this and treats education outside of school as social care. Of course, now that COVID 19 has prevented children from attending school full-time, Councils are arguing that education provided at home is now education! Historically xxx isnt interested in it so he doesnt always contribute. I contribute but often dont know why I bother. Often feels as though the whole process is a waste of time, School will do what schoo wants, there are no other choices. I do not consider turning up for meetings, being listened too then everything I have said being dismissed as being involved. Not much point in me going to any meetings. As said nothing is measurable. Not clear what they are trying to achieve and how We tried to prepare the outcomes for what was actually important but I think it’s difficult to have outcomes that are measurable in order to assess the effectiveness of the provision put in place. Arranging to have a n advocate who is able to explain things to you and be able to speak on your behalf when maybe you are not fully aware of what all the provisions mean Overseen by educational psychologist LA and school looking to blind me and not following the Law or what the EHCP states. If my child had been more involved If he was in the right school I think it is too easy to give up on an ASD child, if it was a neuro typical child more of an effort would be made in getting them to write To be updated and the plan reviewed more often. This was only because I was in a tribunal. My daughters EHCP is still out of date More funding. This part of the process worked very well . Sen school The plan needs to be better written with outcomes and provision that are more specific. Essex tried to take the plan away as he was not in education . As far as we know it is still at the mediation stage but ECC is not engaging. He is getting help but it is as a result of inadequate provision for his autism that he is now being treated for the resulting mental health problems. Needs to be updated as out of date The school involve us well, they are not supported by Essex My child struggles to acheive the outcomes as insufficient support given as unable to get ECHP Nothing. The school are incredible and I let them guide me. I have only been C's foster carer for approx 16 months due to covid we had no communication college for update this on ehcp, at the time we had a family death and by the time i read the document id missed the reply date. Appendix A Some support To be honest No complains. Needs to be given one as she's already mentally impacted by being left with no ehcp and the schools hands are tied as she's already far behind and mentally suffering but they can't get one if she's being a good girl holding it together at school then coming home melting down self harming because she can't understand the work and she is trying so so hard to do her best. Its heartbreaking the whole process is about conical saving money and its ridiculous as she's a person and she should be getting the support she's intitled to Detail It was okay. At that time we had a good team around us. Had this happened in secondary school I dont feel it would be as positive. Everthing Outcomes are not as achievable now with his plan not being 100% followed The only part that is valued in the plan is the authority’s appointed educational psychologist who is very much biased. If school could have sought the views of my child. I endeavoured to represent my child's views, but was aware that much was not understood by them. Staff not being over worked with dealing with school, pupils, parents, sick teaching staff and on top of that dealing with Coronavirus precautions. This is where knowledge of the process comes in. I need to know the process better to understand my rights as a parent.

Also, I’m asked each year what’s working/not working - it’s a pointless question when I’m not involved in the school day - if I could observe lessons etc, I’d been able to clarify that, but I can’t. Listening more to the parents needs Simplify and speed up the process I wrote my child’s plan with my SEND quadrant manager. Discussions were both ways and `I personally have had a better experience as time has gone on. In the beginning when I applied for a statement, the support, involvement and understanding of my child’s needs were falling way short . I din’t believe I was supported at all and trying to get the diagnosis were difficult. If and when it is reviewed I feel we have a better understanding of xxxxx needs and support needed LA need to listten to young person, parents and teachers not put standard or too wishy washy outcomes Making sure current information is updated and allowing more changes and discussions about the outcomes. when we were near the deadline for our sons EHCP i felt like we were being rushed and had to keep stopping and checking the paperwork to see if it reflected our sons needs accurately. My husband and i scanned the paperwork with a fine tooth comb otherwise we would have had a lot of basic and disappointing outcomes with not enough information about our son. we had to call a meeting to adjust a lot of information and make it more true to our child . To continue This section was dictated by the lady from statutory assessment. Nothing, as my husband and I ended up writing the bloody thing ourselves as Statutory Services were unable to Probably more time to find-out what is on offer, and to be able to work closure with the school and other supporting agencies. The outcomes outlined in his plan don't completely reflect what was agreed with us and college. Again, it's using generic terminology and not being specific. More emphasis put on parent voice. Still comes across as parent has the least gravitas, even though they know the child best.

Appendix A

Question 54 – Annual Reviews – what would improve your experience?

Making it similar to understand for parents with out big professional words No covid 19! We only have One Plan meetings via the school - we are not involved in an annual review of EHCP? The annual review was done in April 2020, while we still lived in the London Borough of xxxx. It happened during lockdown so was not ideal. It was done over the phone, a conversation between myself and the school SENCO. I’m hoping next year’s annual review in Essex will be better. Have notice, have the la attend...it was 2 weeks ago so awaiting to hear back Specialist involvement. I am not sure about the fact that I received a response from the Local Authority within 4 weeks. The dates of review were not consistent and the external specialists invited for the process did not participate in the review. Meeting was on 26th November 2019 and I am still waiting for the LA to issue the revised plan (26th Oct 2020) in spite of multiple calls by the school and myself. Now about to start the review for 2020 and struggling to engage with the process. The service level provided by Send Ops is appalling and this has nothing to do with Covid. Still waiting for annual review notes from may 2019 A video meeting would have been better, rather than a 4 way phone call. It was difficult to follow and manage son 1 wasn't included at college, I was sent paper work to read once it arrived late in the post it was after the cut of time to make any changes

son 2, i was invited to a zoom meeting, where everything was discussed but some changes can't be support due to covid, I feel to many issues out comes are changed and everyone is using the comment sorry no due to covid ! One plan should be reviewed termly but very behind due to covid. Annual review of EHCP due now but not yet scheduled due to covid Not be on zoom during Covid crisis. The review took place in June 2020. I have still not heard anything. To have them on time and not wait months afterwards for the paperwork Receive a copy of any minutes or at least action points with timeframes for responses Annual review was done over zoom, I didn’t feel able to contribute as I was often talked over, we reviewed the one plan from an old EHCP not the EHCP that should have been in place not had one There have been 5 annual reviews and the actual review meetings have not been the problem. It is everything else. The Council simply never complies with their legal obligations. In particular, they never provide a draft plan within the statutory time frame; they do not amend the EHCP in accordance with amendments that are agreed at the annual review meetings; they refuse to discuss anything after an appeal has been lodged. Obviously, as the most recent annual review was in September 2020 I am answering the above questions on previous reviews That what is said in the meeting actually happens Hasn’t happened yet! Was due in October 2020 but didn’t happen Having one N/A This year our Annual Review was conducted by the school SENCO over Zoom, owing to coronavirus restrictions. This was fine, though it is a pity we couldn't also meet with the class teacher and teaching assistant too, as we normally would. Appendix A It was only part review due to COVID. Also we were concerned that what the school had to achieve has been "watered" down due to covid. There were no other services involved - just the school. We basically hear nothing from the virgin healthcare who provided physio and OT and nothing from SALT. The provision of care from VIRGIN care is appalling and it is deeply worrying that this service won a contract. It seems this decision was purely based on money and had nothing to do with the care provision for those who need it. Lack of input from LA Transparency of entire process, clear roles and who's accountable for what, what parents rights are. We’re very lucky the school are so patient and supportive. To have more time to discuss with Educaton still awaiting review decision.

More external professional involvement The school's input was fantastic the LA's was awful no deadlines met, tried to reduce support after missing out half the needs and didn't get final draft for 7 months More communication and input from teacher/school health professionals Communication. Essex don’t want you to know that paperwork needs to be submitted two weeks after the review. That they actually make changes If they actually did what they agreed to do. At present, as we are in our seventies we would not wish to attend any meetings. Better communication By having one. Can’t be done until child is in school setting Essex to comment or attend Involvement of professionals. It’s 6 years since my son has seen educational psychologist and the input needs to be updated. No representation from outside school even though we requested this. The LA should send a representative when the CYP has not had any LA input for some years. My son really needed to be re-assessed which I have now requested. This really should have been picked up before Imo. And they didn't do anything for the last 2 ARs and blamed it on Business Support! For just his school to make the descisions as they are the experts face to face meeting are needed even if they are zoom, then everyone can be include To have a template on what you would like changed. Open conversation and opportunity to discuss progress 1. Being seen by someone who clearly was a conflict of interest, but every year they made me sit with a lady who’s sister used to be my previous employer. Said employer owes me 2 months wages from 10 years ago. I feel my sons reviews were doomed from the start because of this.

2. Actually update my sons very out of date plan.

3. Or at least agree to! More input, being able to speak to everyone that's helping him and making the decisions Due to covid it was conducted over the telephone with myself and my son this year first review at college in May but not had any paperwork from SEND services. Am currently happy with it. Honesty and simplicity. Less paperwork tha Appendix A Having one! Very overdue. Cancelled due to COVID and not rescheduled. Due to have first review this term

Question 64 – One Planning/SEN Support

I personally have had an OK experience with One Planning as i am a pro active parent and initially took almost 2 years out of work when he was diagnosed to try to put things into place. I wish though that i/we had regular communication or check ins (well being from agencies involved) We have moved during COVID from junior to senior school we are still awaiting a delayed full assessment so are totally in limbo after waiting for 5 years and now everyone is dashing as they realise how they have let us down totally so far within education. As a parent I am tire of the fight. We are in southend! Early days yet. This is the first one plan so yet to see how effective it is. I have also funded a diagnostic assessment for more specific information on learning difficulties and how to overcome them. Early days yet. First one plan received so early in the process. Waiting on a diagnosis which I have funded myself for more specific advice on learning needs which will then be discussed with the school and revised on the one plan. Takes too long and has not been much help to date apart from having a plan with the teacher I have had to take both my sen children out of main stream school and home educate until I can find them a school which can meet there needs which is hard as one has ehcp and one doesn’t! I don’t know. Due to Covid we only had the first termly meeting in Y7 and nothing since. My instinct is that because he is meeting/exceeding expectations we will be a tick box for “job done” but the issue is that he is not performing as well as he could be. More of an understanding at a county level that a child can both be academically high achieving and in need of support. More explanation at the initial stages of the process, understanding the language used can be confusing I don’t feel I get enough feedback about my child. Meetings are always rushed and not enough meetings to discuss my child and his education. I generally have to ask for a meeting before I get one. I haven’t had any support via senco since March when we went into lockdown.

Because my son doesn’t have the E.H.C.P this meant he had to stay at home and not go into school and this was an extremely tough time for my child and still continues to be so.

The support my son does receive from his L.S.A is amazing but unfortunately without the E.H.C.P I fear my child will be thrown in at the deep end when he leaves primary school and heads to secondary school without any extra support.

I don’t feel enough is being done for my child as he is very quiet and a content little boy. But this does not mean he is not affected and is coping with everything that is happening around him, he just comes across as okay, but I know he is struggling and it is getting very hard for me as a parent to help as I am not around at school and with COVID have even less communication with the school.

My son has problems with his throat every year and the school have been informed about this every year, yet the co head didn’t know anything about this issue as I stated and sent him home anyway. As a parent I was not at all happy as I felt he was being singled out for having Appendix A a disability that cannot be helped.

My son needs more support from the school in general not his L.S.A when she is around she is amazing and does everything she can to make sure she gets the very best out of him, but she is only in the class with him some of the time.

My son struggles with play times and says no one will play with him. He is fearful of things that most children are not afraid of and homeschooling is particularly tough and I felt a lot of pressure to make him work all throughout lockdown.

Overall I am not happy with the support or lack of support we have received for my son. As I said the school do provide some help on the form of an L.S.A which I am truly grateful for and always will be, but by having this amazing L.S.A means he is achieving good enough skills that are required of him at the age that is expected but without that support and special way of teaching that no other child would get in the class he would not do the work and therefore wouldn’t be to standard level. This is where I cannot understand as he will not be able to take his L.S.A to secondary school with him nor will he have special breaks to unwind after doing such great work that has been taught to him in a different way to the other children in the class. These are all facts I have stated yet doesn’t seem to be helping him to achieve the E.H.C.P which I feel he will need to have in place before he moves to secondary school. I get the impression that the school are reluctant to apply for this. Reviewed with Teacher, SENCO, LSA, TA with input from outside resources. It took a while to understand what level of support he was accessing, he is on tier 3, just below one planning. Better communication of what level upon attending school, or knowledge of what a one plan was etc. Through the process from transition from primary to secondary school we cannot fault the process xxxx was fully supported as he is dyslexic the efforts to get him where he needed to be be were outstanding from the school, we have had contact with the senior school and xxxx is being seen on a weekly basis and offered homework classes to fill any gaps as well as extra tuition during the school day. The plan put together needs to have more clearly defined timescales - it’s all a bit wishy washy. Things have improved over time and progress has been made however it is unclear whether this was due to lockdown and him having more one to one time to support his learning. Our school is great. The head/senco is amazing Speed. We feel that we, and the school are constantly waiting on professionals to come in and assess our child. An example of this is the wait for a specialist teacher. This does not help when you are trying to gather evidence, even more so when your child is preparing for the transition to secondary school. To actually be included in the planning process My daughters one plan was initially set up within Primary school. I do not feel the school helped her academic difficulties! I am hoping now that my daughter is in secondary school, year 7 that the SENDCo will achieve great things for my child! Our child's class teacher fully explained process to us and we had an hour discussion about provisions proposed to aid my son within the classroom. A draft copy had been formulated prior to the meeting so we could build on factors already mentioned. At the present time, as our child is only in reception year and this is our first one plan, we are not in the position to comment further on what could be improved. My children have just had one “one plan” written up , Iam awaiting a copy of this It's a pointless document, outcome are rarely SMART, parental and professional views are rarely adhered to and to date I have only ever received evidence once that a provision has been carried out. I've collated so much evidence to the contrary over the years but the school don't seem to care. They always try to withdraw the little support he has rather than support him as he is quiet in school. The system is poor, time consuming and ultimately a drain. LEA's seem to avoid doing as much as they can by limiting EHCP to bare minimum where possible Appendix A More professional involvement. Less rushed meetings. I think sencos and teachers on general need more training. Too many schools put it down to bad parenting/homelife. Constantly having to chase senco aswell In these times of covid, the support is very poor, to the point my child is stillnot back in full time education since sept 3rd, his attendance is 31% on a transition plan, school are trying to get an ed psych assessment but they are not going into schools in essex but an EHCP has been started involving written reports from all professionals involved. But little has changed and the school are not convinced they can meet his needs and I may have to look into special schools, but with the wait on an EP assessment, it looks like I will not be able to get him the education he needs anytime soon and he is falling behind every week he misses. I Home schooled the whole time in lockdown. But there is no real support in getting him back into an education setting with everything on hold and its very hard work. Never heard of it More funding to enable extra clubs for support to run I would like to see more details of what we can expect in terms of support. Proactive rather than reactive. I would like to see more support for anxiety and sensory issues rather than simply classroom based difficulties. I don't always feel the class teacher understand the one plan and the support issues. I think the class teachers need to be more involved. I think it is more like a technical process - all parties involved try to follow a complex process by deadlines and a child and his needs are left out in the process; many outcomes from the individual plan are difficult to measure and sound more like a theoretical idea and not a very practical achievable and measureable milestone. I think that one plan should work well but the school have to juggle support as no LA funding. Heathcare ie O/T is a complete joke have not seen one for a year at least. I have raised this abandonment as a complaint before the complaints procedure is a joke. They are not intrested in improvement but merely try to cover their backsides. The physiotherapy has been very good but now have not seen one since February . The appointment system is very poor and thus is not linked to oneplan a clear failure to do the best possible for disabled children as heathcare ' professionals ' do not attend these meetings. Ive not had a review yet for this term More training given to SENDCo and staff about how outcomes should be created with young person at the centre and fitted from EHCP into One Plan Somebody should take responsibility for progressing plans so they are issued within a reasonable time - project management seems none existent. We have only met once with the school during his Reception year to discuss his One Plan. We are due to meet again after Oct half term. The school is very supportive but they lack the funds to fully help him. A more realistic awareness of my son's needs. At primary and secondary he did have a one plan but primary school wasn't great in keeping to it.

College he is on a life skills course but not on one i believe if on a plan it should be kept to otherwise whats the point of them. In this survey I am basing my answers on my experience in autumn term 2020. For the academic year 2019 - 2020 we had no contact with the SENCO and had no meetings regarding my son's SEN or his one plan, if indeed he had one at all. Following our concerns about our child's academic performance in the year 2019-2020 and complaints from his teacher to us about his behaviour, one plan meetings have now been reinstated as of September 2020. Not reviewed often enough, not enough input from a range of teachers, I feel I have to push for ideas in plan, Senco lovely but progress is slow to meet my sons 'hidden' sensory and processing needs. School needs to promote 'best practice' more, it seems the ideas we add to the plan should already be there as a school has the resources but is slow to implement, such as lap top to help my son get his ideas down more quickly as he has trouble with his processing. Feels like a battle to be the expert, rather than the school just being ahead of the game and offering choices to support his learning. Appendix A The one plan seeks to be swept aside now that my child has an ehcp Parents should have been involved to give some input so there is a lot of missing information. The school spoke to my child briefly without me being there so I don't know what he said, only the one sentence was written down. Feels like it was rushed through. Was told she would have a one plan before covid I have no been told she is doing wonderful in school Absolutely abysmal. He has a diagnosis, refuses school at times, extreme anxiety and VCB at home. Masks at school and is academically in line with peers so school refuse to acknowledge the need for adjustments/ support. SEN support was provided before the new code in 2014 and before autism diagnosis so not relevant. No longer in place. I feel that I’m chasing for one plan meetings. Sen overworked and not sure my child gets support she needs in class one plans need to be treated probably. eg follow the information, so many teachers just don't read them. Our child’s plan was changed once moved to Essex County council. Any of the good support received is 100% due to the current school. Unfortunately the specialist input that was previously given has now been removed due to a restructuring by the council. Outside provisions from speech and language, occupational health and physiotherapist not carried out at all in 2020 due to covid. Woefully inadequate. Our experience of the education process for our child with SEND, has been nothing but negative, making me distrustful of all in every educational setting There is no point to One Plan when it is not specified or in line with the recommendations of those who have assessed the child’s needs and the school are simply allowed to remove provision as they feel fit or say they refuse to provide. It has been freely admitted by staff that they do not provide the provision detailed and it has now even been written into my child’s One Plan that he is responsible for requesting SEN provision or it will not be provided. Those involved need to understand that to the parents and the child its incredibly important. Just because the schools and in particular the professionals deal with them regularly doesn't make them any less important to the parent. First time completing one plan. Had a zoom meeting after filling in form. Child filled in too. Haven’t actually seen copy since and due to ‘transition’ after school closure there are no specific goals in place at the momenr Our one plan meetings at primary school were always tacked onto the end of parents eve and always felt like an after thought. The previous targets were never discussed as met or not. We are awaiting a one plan review with new secondary school. I believe it will be next half term or early 2021. I don't have any experience and can't offer any suggestions I dont think my son is getting all the support he needs and behavioural problems i feel are related to his asd and being overwhelmed but school always seem intent on punitive punishment even though it is counterproductive for an asd child in my opinion My daughters one plan currently in use was from an old EHCP and should have been rewritten but wasn’t. SIMPLIFY THE WHOLE PROCESS, IEP, JUP, CIN plans Annual reviews (think this is what the team around the child TAC meetings have morphed into) EPIC review, Little Havens annual review, CHC applications - everyone is exceptionally good at form filling and box ticking but there is very little actual support or practical help out there There is alot of paperwork, it can feel overwhelming. More frequent reviews and better communication. The support from the school itself was awful. In the end we decided to take our child out of school because all they were worried about was attendance and numbers!! We as a family were absolutely appalled by the behaviour of the school. Towards a child with clear sen problems they even wrote out the letter for us to sign to de register our child so they had no interest in our child being part of the school what so ever. my son has just gone upto secondary school and take his one plan with him. his primary school wrote the plan and invited the secondary school to take part in his meeting for moving Appendix A forward but they didn't attend. other than a quick email to get his computer set up as of yet I have had no communication from the school regarding his plan or what they are doing to support him We have only had involvement this year as thensenco we had only worked one day a week and we met her once. So no help came from her. Our new senco seems to have a better view on ot My experience has been that the Council asks the nursery/school to complete forms as part of the 'One Planning' process and then transfers the information into the EHCP. My opinion is that this 'One Planning' process is confusing and creates unnecessary duplication. The EHCP legislation sets out a process that is comprehensive, so there is no need to carry out a separate process and call it 'One Planning'. To find out what my child actually has and if their is anything else she may have by doing different sen tests I have been overall happy with the schools help. But as the school swapped over senco I dont feel the support was there. Not calls have been made and this term no meeting or catch up regarding my child. Shouldn’t have to take so long to get evidence to apply for EHCP If a child is seriously behind that should be apply to apply sooner not get more behind before they think about applying should be easier to apply for EHCP SENCO very supportive and interventions made very useful Ignores our son's attachment disorder and developmental difficulties, only focuses on academic outcomes. I only have support from my preschool I don’t feel supported by any other. Feedback- I never receive feedback since year 1 started. I do understand with the current covid issue but I do not receive email/written feedback at all like I'd hoped.

The school SENCo needs to be more involved and proactive I've had to ask school to do it they don't tell me the needs if child or if concern unless I bring the matter up ive had to ask school to do a echp plan Preparation for his return and handover could be done. The one plan happens when things crumble The One Plan is okay. Both the nursery and now the school have kept up the meetings and the reviews. Sometimes it isn’t clear if there is any input from specialist services other than the ones we pay for privately. I don’t think anyone with autism specific training has ever given any input for example. We are angry and disappointed that apart from the school and private OT we have no support from any local authority services. Once we got our diagnosis nearly two years ago, we have not had any contact with local services. We get a paediatrician appointment once a year but that’s it. We have never heard from OT, SALT etc about possible help. Even though our daughter doesn’t have an EHCP, she still has quite a lot needs/issues that we get no help,for. We feel totally abandoned by local services. I think the Prescriptive One Plan Process can sometimes get in the way of what you’re actually trying to achieve - it becomes more of a paper pushing exercise than something that should be meaningful. The success of the One Plan in my experience is as good as the teacher that prepares it. We have been very fortunate that our teachers really understand my son but even so, the process I don’t always find that useful and becomes something that has to be done with attention taken away from some more important discussions. We are given half an hour for one plan meetings which is never enough. All experiences from the school side of things has always been fantastic with great information support and involvemnt. Local authority involvement had been good up until recently I do some of the activities at home, as school have lost funding and can't provide a teacher to support my daughter. Therefore they give me the work to do at he with her. Not all parents would be able to do this for their children it's a shame more money and TA aren't available. More time spent with individual, focus on positives as well as negatives and proof reading before sending out Appendix A -Better monitoring of schools

-More input from LA/Experts

Schools don’t use funding appropriately and this is not always checked by LA The meetings are very useful to discuss progress and areas that need more work. It could be improved by involving health professionals such SALT or OT My experience has been very positive I have been really disappointed with my child’s progress and needs being met, he has been under Senco his whole primary school life and I have been asking for an assessment for years, I was always told there is no support there is no funding that their hands are tied etc etc now he is in year 6 and has the capabilities of a year 2 child! I have now looked into in more and applied for an EHC plan myself as he needs this to get into the specialist dyslexic unit that he needs for secondary. The One plan is not linked to the EHCP its all a paper pushing exercise and no real measure of development. It feels outdated. Not all needs can be categorised and broken into targets. Not all conditions can improve and resources are out of date. Daughter requires more help. We discuss the one plan every term, although a meeting is always something I need to ask for. I had to persist in getting a One Plan for my child as he is seen as needing minimal support.

I do not feel that his needs are taken seriously (and he does have a number of needs that if not supported with will effect his health, wellbeing and happiness).

Schools/Sen teams need to support our children who have 'subtle' needs and not just push them to the 'back of the queue' because they are not disruptive etc.

Training should be given to support teams/schools to work more effectively with children who have the type of diagnosed/undiagnosed asd that is considered 'high functioning' eg support in developing friendships, reading social queues, executive functioning, flexibility. It has taken a new Senco lead to follow the needs of our child seriously, i believe this was also as she was his teacher for 2 years so understood his needs and abilities. No issues in my experience so far My child moved to secondary school in September 2020 and since then we have had to initiate every communication about her needs and we haven’t yet been offered a One Plan Meeting I am still waiting for her One Plan to be reviewed since January 2020. No action has been taken on it and I keep being fobbed off by the school. I have had to pay for my own EP and OT assessments as no-one seems to want to help my child so clearly has specific learning difficulties as well as ASD and ADHD. It’s often dependent on good communication and cooperation between the parent and the school.

Fortunately, in this case we have just that so we are very happy. The SEN seems to promise much and deliver little, the teachers never seem to read the one plan. This is very evident when we raise an issue, the school have admitted that they have let our child down and failed to deliver on their promises Lack of planning, support and acknowledgement of his needs... mainly labelled as :immature", unsupported by advisory staff due to lack of funds and not being deemed a priority..basically failing him! Appendix A These needs should be identified early. Parent's concerns and worries are often ignored. When a child is presenting problems teachers should share with the parents not to fail the child by not carrying necessary assessments.

Assessments needs to be done early, not to be left until the child is about to go to a Secondary school. Teachers should stop passing comments such as " you will never do well in life " to a child who is presenting problems. It is upsetting to both the child and the parents. When highlighting to staff about the difficulties the child is experiancing, it is not kind or acceptable to tell the parent that " your child's needs are better than others." Mild or severe support is needed because every child matters. Held more often, brake down of time spent on child in one to one when in groups. Teachers being honest about how behind your child is, rather than stating they are improving. It doesnt help parents. Telling us what they are actually using to help our child rather than parents being in the dark when the school is helping. The council being honest and that when a child with special needs is supposed to have 12 hours a week, what they really mean is that its ok to have less in fact. 10mins a day 1 to 1 is ok too!

I didn’t have a clue what should be in a One Plan but recently paid privately for a dyslexic assessment on my child and I discussed with them what should be in a One Plan - so then became apparent that the plan was not specific or measurable. I had been told my child was progressing well at school but I had no way to be reassured of this as the plan was very vague. I have now requested that it be more more specific and measurable and that they include on the plan what interventions they are using so I can see if they are working. Disappointed that I was lead to believe my child was progressing when really they were not measuring anything. I mainly feel this is due to the senco being over stretched so she didn’t have time to be involved with my daughter and left it to the teacher - who is not a specialist! I feel more resources are needed at school. Teachers are amazing meeting, discussing and planning the one plan. I sometimes feel the senco isn't involved enough. Al lot of my child's issues happen during break times when her teacher is not there. So I feel sometimes the one plan is a little pointless when my daughter doesn't get the same level of support when her class teacher isn't physically there. Not applicable Nursery age. No specific interventions such as hours/minutes of physio/SALT intervention etc. More general ideas and targets More funding for one to one with children that need it most My daughter is dyslexic, the lack of support abs understanding is non existent. She try’s so hard. The lack of one 2 one support is shocking. I think school need to do the recomendations that are set by speech and language consistently and not just every now and then I would like to know that support will be available for longer than 1 year at a time. To think his support may be pulled next year is daunting so I wish it could be recognised my sons needs will not go away and that this is likely to be needed for the foreseeable. More needs to be listed about the struggles and barriers and interventions need to be consistent by any member of staff covering the teaching. More input from external professionals in mainstream schools Lots is written and suggested but never is implemented. Zones of regulation has been on my child's one plan for 3 years and is still not fully implemented in class He had one in nursery, but since he has started reception I have not been made aware of one. More one to one support in the classroom. We were getting somewhere and then lockdown for schools happened , we are back to the beginning Demand avoidance not know about so didn’t work child now not in school xxxx and myself were part of the planning. The Sen Lead at school was fully supportive of xxxx and his needs, as his needs were more diverse than just dyslexia I asked if he needed a diagnosis of add/adhd for example. The sen lead was adamant she worked with the child not Appendix A the diagnosis..recommendations were not followed..some teachers were amazing others beyond appalling and to be honest damaging. There was no sen department in year 7 & 8..it was up and running by year 10. the sen lead wanted to push for an EHCP for xxxx..this was not supported at all by senior leaders who excluded him for small low level behaviour. He has been out of school since December 2019 I feel as though we have been asking for years for a more thorough investigation into my daughter’s difficulties, and we are continually told that there is no funding to do so. We are now in the last year of primary school and we are going to have to go down the route of a private assessment so she can start secondary school with a diagnosis. We don’t have a one plan

Would help if we did have one so could understand what interventions are in place

Support is questionable example:

Has to ask for differentiates for 3 weeks - child was scoring 0/10 and say was a failure

Eventually a TA asked me what spellings I would like to issue her..... (not sure that is a high quality teaching strategy!)

Complaint In writing - now have spelling at her level

We believe she is dyslexic - her year one teacher suggested she was and said she needs to learn to read via sight phonics does t work for her

Year 2 - refused to do anything other than phonics

Year 3 - refused to do anything other than phonics

Year 4 - put on an intervention - toe by toe by now reading level is year 1/ early year 2)

We are now paying for a dyslexic screening as we have no confidence in the school supporting her

Due to review termly. Vary rarely happened

Provision listed is not provided in the classroom

Interventions duplicated with different frequencies

Language is not parent friendly

Outcomes are the ones the school wanted not what we wanted

Appendix A

School only focus on education - no interest in wellbeing Nobody seems to know what they’re doing Could be reviewed more often

Last review was last year It’s poor. The school tend to write badly written and badly formatted plans with no specific targets. The nursery have been amazing helping guide us in this area. I had no previous experience with any of this and they have helped me understand and fully support my child and myself. The outcomes not being only academic, my sons problems were SEMH and I have no idea if they were met or not. xxxx was fantastic with ongoing advice / guidance and support . We feel we would of struggled through the process without her . Needs to be more in depth and thought about, medical notes need to be included and added into in some way.... needs more communication with family & child, support needs to be outlined and explained that is going to be carried out in class... It takes forever. The quality and format varies between schools. Children are missed. We have not had any so we cannot say. Involve professionals School have denied there ever was a problem and talked me out of getting a diagnosis and said it wouldn't get my child any extra help Has only recently been diagnosed. Diagnosis should have been pursued by junior school, but they denied there was a problem. The primary school did not know how to handle my son with adhd, as he did not typically fit in all the boxes he was quite often isolated him. Which has imparted him in secondary school setting I think one planning should be based solely on what the child needs to be happy and thrive in a school setting. Sadly for my son this is not the case his one plan is solely about what support the school feel he needs and what support the school feel that can provide to fit his needs. He can’t have 1:1 sensory breaks because of lack of staff so his “sensory breaks” are with the whole class. He has to have “small group” learning because they don’t have enough staff to give him any 1:1 learning opportunities . It states in his one plan spelling will be done with just him and 1 other child with the LSA but he’s told me there is a group of children he does spellings with. His one plan although “gets reviewed” there is never anything put in the review section they just amend the previous by removing goals that have not been met and replacing which makes it appear like he’s achieved when he hasn’t not and isn’t able to. Child has an individual health care plan that we had to write in the end as the school send didn't understand the health needs, so it was easier for us to write it and the school aprove it. It was only reviewed annually, we had to send in amendments if things changed. No goals were set as it covered health more and no outside organisations had input into the final plan. The SENCO is great but not all staff seem to comprehend her needs. Some staff are excellent however so overall things are OK. Communication for support available for children with high functioning autism...If a child is academically achieving they get lost along the way....G.P refused to send for assessment within a 10 minute meeting! Senco said G.P must do a referral ... Child goes on in further education setting with no ECP...so no support for emotional wellbeing and could potentially fail.... despite being academically "gifted" Better communication during these times, last one plan meeting was last December. Far improved communication Unfortunately, we have no experience of One Planning/SEN Support. We have had discussions with the school previously about our concerns around our son's needs, emailed the school during the lockdown listing the difficulties we observed he was experiencing with the work being set - are yet to receive an acknowledgement to our email from his head of year (although a couple of his subject teachers have contacted us), school received the report from the ADHD nurse service confirming his diagnosis in July, along with a report on Appendix A strategies to be put in place, but, again, we have yet to have any acknowledgement from the school. It feels more like a form filling exercise, than something that actually benefits child. Not convinced the support suggested is given. We have three one plan meetings a year, they are always rushed and people looking at their watch.

I fight for basic things for my son, things I shouldn't be fighting for, like teaching him how his brain is wired.

I have to ring charities and ask for support and then they ate fully booked weeks in advance. The whole system is a shambles and appalling. Health to be involved. They are invited but never attend. Access to other input from relevant professionals and notional sen funding actually being sufficient for school to provide additional support. Access to educational psychologists doesn't seem to be clear. Structure of who we can talk to in ECC seems to be almost a secret since restructure. Clarity and openness about how to get help, who to talk to and not having to be reliant on school to interpret or be the go between would help. The Educational Psychologist and School Senco agree my child needs one-2-one help but we cannot access funding for this so my child's learning is become more delayed Dependant upon the ability of the Senco. Sometimes good. Sometimes not so good. There are too many untrained Sencos out there that can do a lot of damage in a short period of time You need more staff. The individuals in the send team I feel have too many case loads per person.

More care and time and family support could be given if they had more time

Not the case with my Send officer but I know of families that don’t get supported enough through the process I only found out he had a one plan when reserved rejection of the EHCP. My comments re this are much the same as before. I know my son but I am not in an educational setting and I have no idea what he ‘needs’ to thrive. Too much emphasis is placed on parents being able to expertly identify what can be done that will help. More support is needed What my child has supports her well however the paperwork has dropped away in secondary school. So harder to gauge provision. Awful. We had to ask for it and write it ourselves. Area support team said they could not make the pre-school implement it even though our child had SEN premium. It was never implemented at pre-school. Waiting to see what will implemented/taken from it by the school. Feel annoyed that everything the the school needs is there, one-plsn, reports etc, yet our child has not recieved additional support yet and was not granted IPRA funding. We are still waiting for a written one-plan and care plan for school. In the mesn time our child suffers and her experience of school is currently a negative one with refusal to go and meltdowns. The school started off badly with my daughter but mid-way through her One Plan it seemed to get better. More achievable goals were set and I felt more confident inputting information. fell that it does not take into account her abilities, school write what they think not what will help my child and dont always follow through with things until i push for it. I think it is too vague and teachers only prepared to record items they can resource which is minimal support and doesn't reflect true needs of ADHD symptoms. More overarching support a cross schools Planning is not inclusive of child/parent. Updated information is not used to inform one plan. The school are doing their best but the ehcp process needs to be more accessible to those who need it lots of red tape and evidence that is difficult to obtain as she masks her autism. More assessments need to be carried out not just a few observations by people who are conforming to reducing numbers of ehcps allocated but actual reflective assessements that are child centred and will stop the detrimental impact of mental health issues and the child's Appendix A future prospects.

Its not fair that she is ignored if she was a boy this would be done already and she would have saved 4 years of masking and having to struggle and our family can feel reassured that we are getting the support we need Dyslexia is not recognised in Essex but has been diagnosed elsewhere. This is disability discrimination. If Essex refused to diagnose someone as not being able to walk who clearly couldn't walk, they still couldn't be penalised for failing PE! Whether you acknowledge is not, dyslexia is a real disorder Clear measurable targets and then renewed targets if not achieved. I’m very envolver with one planning however the staff are inexperienced and do not know how to write them very well. The inclusion patented has attended meetings but not supported the nursery. No plans or minutes get sent and targets set are not being implemented very well. External staff, such as S&L do not check in with the nursery to make sure targets they set are being implemented. Funding isn’t applied for. My sons one plan is only a list of outcomes, nothing else and we never review how they've gone just set new ones. The support nursery give is good but very poorly documented. It would be useful if they did it in a non condescending way. I think they try, but the school doesn't seem to place much importance on it. Also, I wonder if the plan is viewed before the next review. I would like my child's thoughts to be sought to feed into the planning as it would prevent much to-ing and fro-ing by me. My child has limited communication but that is no excuse, there are many ways of seeking their views. For information given to parents is needed. Communication is key between school and parent sometimes that is not the case in my experience My experience has been to feel that one planning is a chore for the senco and that I have had my concerns repeatedly ignored- other professionals working with my child have also voiced their concerns and frustration All good to date. Simplicity do you really need this much paperwork?

One planning wasn't done properly, the new Senco had to go back and put the information into proper documents but outcomes were not measured and not all interventions were noted. The school has had a few new sencos who have trained on the job. There really needs to be a standard template for all schools to use and sencos should really be able to access best practice on how to complete paperwork online, if they don't yet have the experience or knowledge in one planning. School conduct it and give it to me for my thoughts and then share with my daughter for her thought and views. It’s not collaborative as the school have stated what support they will offer and how it will be delivered without full consultation. There is no offer to review collaboratively and feels like an admin exercise rather than a document to support Son has now been at his school just over 1 year and we have only had 1 very poor one plan review. To have a one plan done by the school means my self and my husband have to take time off work to do it would be less stress if it could be done remotely

I also feel the one plan is that ok but sometimes not possible to meet standards of the school . This was a few years ago as my son is now 23 years old. I was aware that everyone was trying their best, but things could and should be done better. I hope things have improved by giving parents and school's the support their child/adult needs in good time? The school seemed more concerned with just making the one plan literally one piece of paper my son has not only physical disabilities but also mental disabilities as well and suffers a high form of anxiety although I have continuously been made aware that my son is behind educationally for the entire 3 years in maldon primary they still advice against an EHCP and I Appendix A think this is only because they do not wish to lose the funding they currently receive for him knowing full well with an EHCP I would get him a placement in a special needs school Preschool carried out regular one plan sessions although most of the suggested actions didn’t appear to take place. I’m currently waiting for a planning session at primary school my son has only been at school 4 weeks. So far I haven’t had any feedback on provision for my son even though it’s been requested. I’ve yet to meet the senco. Often the plan for the next term is decided before the meeting with us, so we comment on the previous plan and agree to the new one. Sometimes I'll ask my son about aspects of his plan and find out that these do not take place. They are a great exercise for documenting my child’s needs with the school setting, meetings are held regularly to discuss my child’s needs and whether they have been met or ongoing. Over the years it was decided my child would need a ehcp then it wasn’t now we are in the process of applying so it can be quite frustrating at times. More time for teachers to be involved and other staff, such as LSAs, who actually tend to provide the provision as per the plan. More time. So hard to get teaching staff enough time to attend meeting. Also, LSAs provide a lot of support but are never at the meetings. For the school to recognise the issues My daughter is now in year 7 at secondary school. The answers I have given relate to her time at a junior school. I feel her needs were dismissed as not bad enough and that she would not get an EHCP so there was no point applying. I was told there was not enough funding to give her more support. My daughter is behind academically and has speech and social communication difficulties with Adhd. I had no difficulty in having a one plan completed by the senco.. due to be reviewed. However the need for communication beteeen school and gp would be helpful to help with ongoing problems getting assessment for asd Her current educational setting is good at updating the One Plan & speaking with myself & professionals involved. However I’ve had to push them to do this at times to ensure her needs are not overlooked.

Question 69 – Support & Communication with your child/young person’s educational setting PT work with school but there’s no other so dial needs required prior to his hip surgery 15 Oct Again, COVid had given us a standstill. Everyone is now fighting and listening but the services around this are not joined up and not helping the specialists! It sometimes feels as if no one cares and we as parents are to find the specialism. Salt services No Covid! Parents being treated with more respect and belief they know what their child needs As a female child with ASD there is massively less understanding of her difficulties than of her Older brother with ASD that was at the same school! ensuring all teachers are reading individual student notes and adhering to them. Full time senco is needed for a school of this size.

More meetings. Regular communication between parents and teachers about the child and the child’s well being as we have to trust that our child is in safe hands and happy to be at school without us.

My son always appears to be happy and content at school but tells me he doesn’t not want to be there and wishes he could be with me all day. Better communication on what interventions are happening and monitoring of the efficacy Appendix A For therapists to be involved in the One Plan. For school staff to be properly trained in the effects of the disabilities the children are coping with, so they understand fully the needs and the reasons why. My son has only been at his new special school a number of weeks. Speech therapy at the setting in yet to start for him. It’s too early to judge with this question. More professionals available to support schools and a coherent and fair process on age, that everybody understands. A process which provides clear feedback at every step. If they communicated More contact If there was actual communication between the professionals rather than through the comments of the parents. For example a paediatric comment in a plan "mum says support from school is....". It would be nice if the paediatrician had time to liase with the other professionals 1st hand rather than hear just through me how he is getting on. Consistent Regular communication

Home education book. Less passive aggressive response to questions. An understanding that our child is our number one priority. TAC meetings with all professionals included. I had to ask family solutions to arrange a TAF meeting to improve communications. I do feel their should be some sort of online system that allows professionals and schools to communicate more effectively, as this is often left down to the parent to make sure everyone's upto date. Which is more stress placed on a parent who is already struggling with special needs children. Some of the support staff she has appear knowledgeable in girls that mask. I think teaching staff should have more knowledge in her needs. Being a secondary school it can very frustrating. I hear briefly at the end of each day how my child got on at school, but I can't stand there and listen properly as I need to watch my son - he can run to a road, etc. he had a transition to a junior school so all teaching assistants and SENCO is new for us. Maybe a Zoom call at the end of the week would provide more feedback from the school so that I could understand what challenges my child faces in order to look at them and address them. Offering more support. For example my son can't walk, has been at nursery 11 months and still Physiotherapy have not done a session for them, in person or virtually. New management that is organized and professional that stop passing the buck till it is lost in the fog. Clearly defined responsibilities and these are explained to the parents . School has own therapists who should be at reviews to work with teachers to see how they can support the outcomes in the plan. Not just assess the up and come up with things they want them to work on To be honest I am not sure how often outside teams speak with the school. SALT have been and observed him in school on more than one occasion. I believe they are planning on Ed Phsyc observing him soon. More of an understanding of my son's needs. I feel they are not communicative with me as a parent and that they don't seem to see the same issues my son has as I do. College to provide parents with advice and help and up to date on course information.

Know where to get help to advise student/parents

Keep to the timetables times. We raised concerns about concentration since year 2. It took us until year 6 to get to formal diagnosis done. In the mean time our son has been left behind in key areas of learning. A more open line if communication between nursery and our sons therapists, in order for his therapists / medical professionals to understand more about him, and for nursery to understand more about what they can do to support him. Better training in dealing with children with SEN. Awareness sessions for teaching staff by professionals in the field. Appendix A Mainstream were just too stretched for time, resources, sensory breaks. My child required too much time If school would respond to therapists attempt to communicate with them. Doctors letter details my sons 'issues' rather than looking a solutions. His diagnosis is all the things he struggles with like low self esteem or Sensory. Why doesn't each area for example low self esteem link in with a solution based approach? My son says his memory is bad so it is not worth him revising, the teachers say revise, use PowerPoint cards to record key points after each lesson, but my son isn't able to do this. He believes he can't remember, he knows he struggles to achieve and teachers find it hard to know how to help him build up his memory bank with an ADHD brain.

The school has a sort of online system and uses email alot, but the technology is not being used to provide quicker ways of communicating. I still use phone calls and emails but I feel an interactive system where parents/teachers/pupils can exchange ideas and information would save time and frustration. While some staff at my child’s school are fantastic the senior leadership (the head teacher in particular) is poor. Communication is poor with outside agencies. It all seems very separate. We see the pediatrician once a year with an update. We have only had 10 minutes with Send lady once and that was a year ago. Information is all over the place and we use Facebook forums for help and understanding One says one thing another say different and struggle to get hold of SENCO Recognise the coke bottle effect and masking. Understand that home is not the problem but the pressure of trying to fit in and not knowing what is happening/ changes to routine etc has a massive impact. At university the EHCP does not operate although it hasn't yet been ended. Instead he gets Disabled Student Allowance and support is available (non-medical helpers etc) which is good. It does rely on the student asking for support which my son hates doing, but when he needs it, it is available and tailored to his issues. son 1, was not being supported correctly, nothing written was sent home, everything was verbal information, son didn't enjoy collect, we had no feed back. changed form tutor, we had written communication and son fully understood what was happening and why, forum tutor seemed better qualified. son 2 teaching staff fully understand my son, they even know when his not himself, they have taken the time to understand him, his doing very well and supported teachers need to understand the students they are meant to linked with. plans don't work if the communication and support isn't there Despite great advice from the therapist the school did not take it on board in it’s true form - creating confusion & inconsistency for Autistic child - the strategies he was developing with therapist were not being consistently enforced by school /teachers School has not had a senco for almost a year due to illness and temporary staff. This has lead to a complete breakdown in communication. LSA that supports my child is very good and knows him and his needs well Inclusion School have refused to communicate with the professionals involved and have not even read reports they have been provided with. LA EP said 2018 staff needed specific training but it has never been done and school simply removed it from the One Plan. More appointments and follow ups I have had to ask for communication and agree that emails can be shared to discuss ongoing issues etc rather than be left in the dark Primary school was awful. Cannot yet comment on secondary school. My son isn't allowed in but I still received a school report with all subjects blank and a class allocation letter. I found both to be offensively insensitive. Appendix A Some teachers are good, but some dont have a clue to be honest I have still not received a copy of the my child’s One Plan I have emailed the school and they assured me he has one that has yet to be sent to me. Contact with the Senco was good in the beginning but my child’s are not being met in school. LLD detention issued due them not understanding him and picking up on his sensory needs. It seems that services are disappearing, school are not getting support from SALT and Physio and OT's like they once did. We requested an eye gaze trial for our daughter over 4 years ago now and nothing has been done, we are exasperated and just give up - it seems there really is no point in hoping that someone will actually do their job, as they are probably waist deep in paperwork anyway. We have never had such great means of communication but people are actually communicating less than ever. They could communicate with me when things start to not work at school I have had to push for a home school

Diary, they are not writing a true reflection of his time in school ie... coped very well... if he coped very well why would he become shut down, not talking or engaging and have to come home The school does a great job. The 'professionals' don't actually listen to your needs. I feel like we are going round and round in circkes. The system is letting our special needs children down.

I always gave to initiate communication with the SENCO. Only get a review letter once a year. The school needs a lot of attention The system is too fragmented meaning different departments do not communicate, if a child has complex needs covering different hospitals , therapists and school settings it’s difficult to bring all the information together. You’re made to feel like a big nuisance just for raising questions or concerns on a child’s basic needs. there seems to be no communication at all Because xxxx is a clever girl I think sometimes it is forgotten that due to her dyslexia she struggles with lots of aspects of academic life Overall the communication between me and my daughter's present SEN school is very good. The SENCO and deptuy SENCO are great, I believe that the LSA's try hard. However, it often feels as though SEN gets over ridden by Mainstream and it often feels as though it gets forgotten that he has a disability. I have raised several complaints about this. I often feel bullied by main stream. I feel, SEN have the knowledge but are not given the respect to make things effective by Mainstream. Enforcing the EHCP appears to be the biggest problem. I would of liked support enforcing the EHCP. I would be happy with some sort of communication I think some teachers could do with more training regarding my child needs. Sometimes the level of understanding is not met by class teacher, I feel they push my child aside It’s difficult with COVID but maybe monthly/termly updates nothing I feel they have no communication really other than me giving the preschool the information The school needs to actually do their job. They have undermined the whole process by not completing forms accurately, underplaying his issues, not filling in forms for consultants when asked and losing forms (having not photocopied them). I have been consistently disappointed (I am a teacher in another setting so am aware of what they should do) Feedback. If there's a problem with a child the school should approach the parent and not let the child go on with out suport they should of picked up that my child needed a echp plan and not me during lockdown A.s.d champion would be great help Inconsistent

Appendix A Head teacher not understanding at all. Some staff are wonderful and others are very much not. I’ve been told by staff he is misunderstood They need to listen to the parents, it took 6 years for us to be listen to Myself the senco and teacher don’t seem to be on the same page. Teacher feels my child struggles senco feels he is doing well. I get confused I would like the school to get help from autism specialists to give more autism specific support to my daughter. As far as I know this has never been done. We have no additional support outside of school. My son’s needs assessment took place during the school holidays and so the EP has to assess him at home rather than in an educational setting. He was also seen by the SLT out of the school setting. We have had no further input from these bodies following the needs assessment. The only in school assessments that have taken place have been private and any continued support, although necessary, costs me. One plans where never followed More frequent communication. More proactive communication. I only find out what sort of day she's had if I send an email. The school need more funding so my child needs can be met at school and I'm not doing the work at home as school don't have the staff or money Without corona being an issue I think it would have been less clunky! Training The provision of care from therapists is appalling. I do not think they understand our daughters needs. They provided very little communication with us. We have to chase then for everything. Our daughter need a new feeding chair. They said they would order 4 months ago. We checked last week and the chair wasn't actually ordered so who knows when it will come. We are going to make a formal complaint as this impacts our daughter basic need in that this effects her ability to feed herself. The services that provided the therapies are appalling . We get no feedback from the SALT. it is almost as if the parents and home don't exist. If the school he attends to can help pinpoint any areas of concern on my child’s needs or development need..could be physical, emotional, and even mental. This way they can help us parents to involve the professionals if there’s any concern. Check ins on a weekly basis with teachers, support staff, due to Covid 19 face to face is unable to happen, so more communication needed, positive or negative No one plan has been discussed this year at all More support more funding more results! More information on the expected progress and pathways Available Parents need to be listen to and involved in all process. They need to be clear in whats happening More visits, my child has been seen by the EP once in over 4 years. It's too easy for the professionals to default back to the school. They need to be more present and involved. . Formal meeting Acknowledging and actioning when a child needs additional support. The communication between the SEN team and parents is particularly poor. Primary school supported well but there has been little communication from secondary - I have no idea if he has a one page profile anymore or what adjustments are being made by most teachers (1 or 2 have made mention at parents evening) although he is clearly identified as K support on teachers lists/registers etc Communication and an understanding of ASD and sensory processing. Not constantly changing teachers every year, so a consistent message is delivered Acknowledgement of needs.

Awareness by all staff

Regular communication with SENCO

Appendix A Additional support given

Starting One planning

SEN not seen as an inconvenience

SEN can still be there even if child is academically able

Some changes/ awareness needs to be made in code of conduct for this. If he was in the correct school For Sen services to actually implement advisory services and support the code of practice and enable my son to get access under the equality act. Sharing of relevant information from all

professionals is very important. School being able to use the techniques and methods mentioned in the various reports for assisting your childs education. But lack of budget or resource hinders them being able to do it. We feel very supported at this school. My daughter has anxiety badly which needs dealing with as well as her dyslexia as I feel her anxiety is another barrier to her learning and overall well-being. The school is amazing but the transport for SEN is not joined up with the provision and does not reflect the needs of the child. There is no collaboration or joint working with the parent and it like getting a 5 star hotel that meets your needs but you have got to get there by donkey and really rough it Nothing. The school is outstanding. I am so glad that he is a pupil there. I feel that my LG masks at school and has only started so they are yet to see her drop the mask and be the child that we and her previous setting SENCO have described Actual communication, as to many people within the classroom (7 staff members) Covid has made it v challenging for therapists to go into setting Some staff are better than others and as they have increased work loads and high levels of SEN at the school it can take longer or get lost in translation/missed. The staff overall are fantastic but I am concerned that mY child additional SEN were not bought to our attention sooner. sometimes it feels like our children struggle when the school try to enforce neurotypical communication on them or via them. The school ran a dyslexic profile on my son in yr3. They ran a 2nd one which both stated, severe dyslexia. He is now in yr5 and only this month have they even mentioned a one plan. Not that one is in place! Their communication is poor and the current Senior works only 2 days a week!. Sticking to the one plan would be a start ! Having an understanding of dyslexia and empathy for my child’s needs as set out in her dyslexia report. School don't take any notice of recomendations for my child from speech and language and OT More sessions SENCO needs support More one to one with my child, He has not had any more help since lockdown and closure of schools We haven't got anything in place yet, although my son was self harming while the lockdown was in place Sen departments should have more power - Power to make decisions without senior leaders. The leaders at the xxx academy dealt with xxxx’s inability to access certain classrooms as pure disobedience and poor behaviour no matter what the SEN department tried to do. He was treated differently and had little to no support. He had a full IEP at junior school and was supported in the classroom and with 1-1 help and group help. He was happy and successful getting 2/3. of his SATS. At The Ongar Academy...he had NO HELP AT ALL until year 9. His Appendix A inability to complete work and concentrate was treated with discipline...in Year 9 he had a little help by a TA who insisted on sitting next to him which with peer pressure made xxxx’s life difficult. In year 10, the sen department was meant to be up and running. He had a little help..one ta he loved as she was aware of how to treat teenagers in the classroom by making it look like she was there for the class rather than just xxx. she was taken away from xxxx and he had the other ta who insisted at 14 she would sit next to him and make it clear she was there for him. therefore he refused to attend one class...standing outside the classroom for the entire hour...of course he got in trouble for this. The senior leaders put xxxx in 15 days of exclusions in two months and then illegally excluded him..for reasons like...not putting on wet school shoes, getting 2 x 4's on a school report, burping...He has been damaged by the treatment of the school...I truly believe if the SEN lead had more power to run the money and could work without leaderships approval xxxx would of been supported..she had no power at all to implement what xxxx needed - She wanted in September 2019 to push for a EHCP - This was denied by the leadership team A more consistent and regular contact, as opposed to when we are pushing for an answer We haven’t had a full meeting yet so can’t answer until we have the plan Contact between each other A one plan!!!!! Relationship is broken down beyond repair

Often asked if o have considered other schools (trying to off roll me)

School told me they don’t have the money to support children with send - I should join the send marches (2019) and then asked if I had looked at other schools!

No understanding of how ASD presents in girls, what masking is

No understanding of sensory needs

Little understanding and provide no support for mental health (child self harms and school refuses)

Child refusing school - school liaison stopped me and told me that they will have to report attendance as unauthorised and “that you know comes with implications” what about supporting my child? Providing work to do at home?!?! When in normal school setting they were limited of what they could do due to lack of funding they revive The tutoring company has never had a meeting with health professionals or complete a one plan since they have been teaching him. More meetings, phone calls, keeping up to date with regular reviews, speaking to the parent more frequently, taking into consideration the child’s actual progress Centralised point of organisation. Too many referrals onto someone else and nothing happens. He is not in an educational setting so none of this page is applicable. Appendix A A complete change of attitude towards children with SEN throughout the school, starting with Academy Head There was no knowledge about adhd meds and how they work. No real support apart from silly things that caused more harm like allowing him to walk around the school on his own where he got up to more trouble. Therapist and health care specialists can advise the school anything they like but it doesn’t mean the school will follow this and they go on a “We will make our own minds up” approach. Health care specialists at great Ordmond street and others have stated he would benefit from a needs assessment so the schools reply to us was “well they can file for it themselves if they feels it’s needed” All staff to respond when the SENCO asks for reports and the additional support the head promised after lockdown to be forthcoming would also help. Better links with ot See previous answer - as far as we are aware there has been no communication with the ADHD nurse service Has a tutor at moment We aren't allowed to phone and talk to teachers, we have to email then they call a few days back. We don't even have parents evening with the teachers any more, it's with the form tutor.

There should be one support person, independent of the school, to just help the parents and child.

I have little information on who I can call for support, Families in Focus is one I contact.

I've had no support from Pact, our local charity.

Who is there to help me?

Excellent support given Knowing what is available. I feel lucky with the school and senco my son has. I know this is rare from discussions with other parents. Joined up approach with school, relevant professionals from LA and parents would help feel like we have a bigger picture, enough support and not feel the need to apply for an EHCP. My son is not in education, he has had no support since leaving school. I dont really no much as hes only been there since September. My answers are based on what we've experienced so far. Educational Psychologist is difficult to contact and asks Senco to provide things they cannot, so my child receives very little support Teaching staff outside the learning support team ate not trained in autism and this leads to regular issues for my son. They don’t understand how to teach him. I think the mental health service and the school could benefit from having a regular (termly etc) interaction. My son has only recently had EWMHS input but I feel it is important school and EWMHS work together. If there was one database. So educational settings can log in and share documents and files with others like with send services and salt services My son is not currently attending a school though is still on his old school's roll. My son does not have any professionals involved apart from the community paediatrician (no SALT OT etc) Staff have very little, if any, mental health training. They cannot recognise a child in crisis. They need to understand that a high achieving child might mask illness at school because of the stigma. They need to help pupil catch up with missed work, not rely on them asking classmates for missed work These questions are difficult to answer. Some of the teachers and support staff are very understanding and others not so much. I think that the school want to help but I get the impression that like me, they can’t quite get to grips with my sons needs to be able to identify what would help. They need help. Senco to be more involved and to actually communicate Appendix A In respect of irlens there is mixed understanding across staff. From those who read the information about a child and those who dismiss information and impact my childs well being. Timely communication, often wait months for reports or feedback. Schools need to listen parents and professionals, learn from them. Even if those professionals are independent, parents have little choice but to see independent support now. Getting my daughter the help she needed required me to make a fuss. I had to get outside help to get her what she needed. It shouldn't have to be like that. class teachers work well with myself but SENCO dosnt communicate with me or seem to care about my child The school SENCo could be better in the approach they have to the specialists involved with my child. The SENCo has not always taken on board advice at the first instance and therefore there has had to be repetition of what needs to be in place for my child on numerous occasions. Staff to be honest and not say what they want me to hear. Nothing The communication and support are very good.

Due to Corona Virus outbreak the speech therapy was very affected and the communication was not great then. More asd training for staff. There is a lack of understanding of sensory, masking and anxiety related difficulties connected with asd. Salt need to stop taking children off if support because they don't understand that context effects a child's communication they just say well ye mechanics are there she/ he can talk and that's it but all is done in a unrealistic controlled environment where autism and adhd is not effected as they are alone in a quite room more needs to be done.

Professionals need to stop changing as different professionals are being used and the children are not being consistently observed by the same one therefore their observations are not showing the full extent of their struggles. The school are doing their best but they have to put forward the most behaviourly extream children for safety because of lack of provision leaving kids like my lilly left in the gutter.

Acknowledge his diagnosis There should be a team at the local authority that check to make sure the nursery are managing SEN pupils well. Instead they would rather OFSTED to turn up and label them a nursery that “requires Improvement” More contact between them. Its just not frequent enough Teaching staff listening to parents They could listen to my sons Psychiatrist and act on her recommendations, instead of saying they can't accommodate due to time or staffing. Change of class / requirement for bubble during COVID-19 response has meant staff most familiar with our child's needs have not always been able to work with him I have no idea whats going on with salt or OT If they communicated anything would be a start. I find everything out afterwards It used to be good but covid had meant extra pressures. Child centre staff seem to forget now Either defecate or get off the pot. Fund therapy services such as SLT adequately and force them to meet their charges face to face or disband them entirely. Authority and lazy therapists aren’t fooling anyone. Waiting to hear if my daughter will need speech therapy As some of our support is external to education, it is overlooked. I am currently trying to sort a meeting with the therapists and the school and the school doesn't seem interested - despite the imminent annual review They only seem to do something when said child is having a difficult day. I have to approach them on multiple occasions on when I think something is not right to then be met with a apology. Sometime I feel like I'm fight a losing battle because no one will or wants to listen Appendix A Include parents more in the day to day learning, be much more open with communication. Think of parents as part of the team around the child. Listening to the parent do what they say they will follow up and to atcaully understand adhd asd cm1 or if they dnt know ask questions instead of pretending it doesn’t exists stop blaming the parents and for them to research what masking is Over years EWMHS, CETR, have attended meetings, tried to engage with the school, offered advice and phonecall to the school, advice was not acted upon causing the first refusal of needs assessment. The school nerds to change its mindset to accepting help and advice from outside agencies. Even the engagement officer offered help but received little response I don't know how much they all communicate as I have never been told that information. Things will improve as the virus gets more controlled More staff to allow them to deal with everything, bearing in mind on top of that dealing with Coronavirus precautions. Communication must improve between the SENDCO and teaching staff. Support/learning must be given to the teaching staff about individual needs.

We have absolutely no NHS input whatsoever (physio/OT) and so the school are reliant on private reports paid for by myself.

Better fluency with County Hall in preparing the EHCP.

Langham oaks has been amazing with my son We seem to wait a long time for other professionals such as physio to get in touch after a request. We have just moved schools so are not fully up to speed how well the school works yet. So far it has been good and is far better and safe compared to my son;s previous school. Paeds doctor at school keeps changing and recently telephone consultation was done with a locum that has never meet my son and this made it difficult to have a medication review Possibly better staff training, but in honesty the school have been very good and are quite child centered, which was been a huge advantage for us over a more academically focused school. Main stream schools are not supportive of children with special needs, since being at Thriftwood school/collage he has come on leaps & bounds, this due to the staff & Thor dedication to the children More direct communication between professionals would be helpful School do things they feel will help to support and then tell us later rather than ask our thoughts and what would help first They don't meet or discuss my child, what his common needs or requirements are. Nothing as it is working perfectly I’m happy with the provision communication is very low They need to communicate more to the parents Early days, as my child has just started this school Better up-to-date training for all concerned with the child/adult including the family. The communication & support we receive with the school/college has historically been very good. COVID was challenging. See previous comments re: the SALT provision from Provide If they actually had a real understanding of disabilities and the effects they have not only on the children but their every day life at home and school I would appreciate time to discuss my sons needs with the teachers and senco so far I’ve not had much interaction with the staff who support my son. I’m hoping this will change soon. Previous years have been better, but Covid19 has affected communication and we feel left adrift to cope. Only a month into the new term have we finally been able to talk with someone about our son's care. This was on the phone so difficult for both parents to engage or any support network to take part if applicable. Appendix A Use of emails - a lot still done by letter, which is time consuming. Email - everything still seems to be done by letters, which causes delay. more funding and time for teaching staff I think the junior school needs a new SENCO Current professional input has been great.

Question 71 – Local Offer – Additional Support/information Make it simpler and more logical. Things are hard to find I requested a call from the essex local offer and some weeks later no contact. I have spoken to Sendias . I was disappointed to find out a section 23 hadn’t been completed for my children to apply for Sen premium. I found this out by chance in calling my health visitor for support.

Preschool were aware and we’re waiting for speech therapist to complete this December coming . I was saddened that if I did not find out this information my children would have to wait longer before this fund could be applied for as I Hope with this they may get more help ??

I am unsure of what they should and shouldn’t be getting . It would be beneficial to have info on what services are available if your child is struggling and what the requirements are as the school preschool may not always give this info A representative to attend meetings at school as the senco seems unaware of the duties of the school. Although we were allocated a representative the position has been vacant for over a year. Everything needs to be in layman’s terms. I had to search and resource a lot of information myself. Finding what was needed to complete a parent request with the additional information was difficult. Sport Activites for ASD children

Information about sleep medication

A directory of SEND specialists Information on funding and what support is out there. Things for my sons age, alot is aimed at younger children/families. I was looking for a phone number for the PNI team. Don't know I wanted things that don't exist eg social activities for autistic adults within 40 miles. The Local offer did show information to support older children and 16 to 25 years old. the unforgotten group There are a lot of private companies within the local offer so details on how to access this support without spending a fortune would be helpful. I was looking for groups for children not in school.

I was also looking for support services but I don't think we have eligibility To have been able to find something suitable locally, there is nothing that will cater for my daughters complex physical and sensory needs. A conversation with a person, rather than just information on a website. Nobody seems to take ownership of the Local Offer. Nobody seems to understand how it works in practice. In 2014/15 I was referred to the Local Offer. The main problem was finding relevant information. I could not find anything using the search engine and so spent hours looking through 2,000 odd services. The problem was that there was no services available for very young children, ie under 3 year's old. The charity that I eventually found was listed as a service in an entirely different area because someone had listed it under the address of the Appendix A charity's head office. The second problem was that it appeared that anyone could list a service. I found baby massage/therapy services, but these were just private individuals offering expensive therapy for babies, including disabled babies. I also found 100s of services provided internally by the Council, ie training for staff. The second problem is that once you've spent hours going through the Local Offer, how do you know when something is added? You don't. I looked again about a year later, but after that I never bothered. This is so basic. The Council should send all parents of disabled children a list of services that has been added or taken off the Local Offer. The local authority need to enforce/ensure that the EHCP that they agree and fund are actually being used in the way they have been outlined. Any attempt to address this by a parent results in the LA and School buddying up to 'defend' themselves instead of meeting the childs need. I am not able to get any reasonable service from LA and I dont think they support SEN very well either. It would have been useful to have a meeting with someone knowledgable to guide us through the process and talk through the local offer with us. It feels as though the LA are thinking too much about cost than what provision is suitable for the child involved, and so you’re very much left to your own devices to find things out. You need to insure local offers are updated by settings, None Just clear communication and accountability of services.

It seems that the therapies can just do what they want with come back. Having to work with the therapy services especially VIRIN care has actually affected both my wife and my own mental health due to the stress of trying to get the service our daughter is entitled too as stated in the EHCP. Cover all needs. Visual impairments particularly related to children who have very little vision and not those with challenges in which an environment could be adapted. There is absolutely no support for schools for children with visual issues and then the social and wellbeing issues it creates. . It was okay to navigate Lots of the links are broken and some information is either out of date or simply inaccurate Every excuse now is Covid related! Beyond a joke! A mid Essex Down syndrome group N/a Advice on dual placements. There is very little information and you have to do your own research to find this is even an option.

Suffolk CC have their own statement on it, yet ECC don't seem to mention it at all. Better navigation! Have to go down worm holes to find stuff More information of who to contact Localised support, as far as I am aware there is not any support in Canvey Island and we have not been offered any

My child has no support outside of school

More info on the providers. Peer support The website is quite clunky but has improved. The search function needs to work better - you end up with a lot of irrelevant information. Easier to use. More information on groups in Harlow, everything is to far away and the groups we have accessed are exclusion groups, not inclusive. Again not suitable. A simpler set up. Names of people to contact. Clarity and visibility of the structure of send support in ECC. An easy to follow process as soon as possible send is raised. Post diagnosis some solid support through the local gofer to signpost parents so we don't feel alone and Appendix A desperate and reliant on schools and sencos which aren't always as supportive as they should be. just a better organized system better organized in terms of different types of school, their areas of expertise, the age of the child etc. It was just a terrible jumble and some settings don't even exist any more more information to support my son needs, activities, clubs Parents need someone on their and their child's side to fight for them to ensure their child's needs are met. It should not be that way, but it is. Information by schools and agencies needs to be clear and to the point, none of this time wasting and round the houses games that are played. Be straight with parents, if you can't support why, either solve it help parents place their children at the right school for them. SEN children are being failed everyday. n/a An easier to navigate site. Stop signposting to charity's and agency's. Its the practical support we need by getting the correct

1. Diagnossis evidence support by having professionals

2. Not all professionals have indepth knowledge of asd and adhd and they need to listen and work with schools and parents

3. More access to funding for educational provision to get a 1.1 while ehcps are being put together

4. Girls autism needs to be acknowledged as having an internal determent to the child and family

5. There should be a professional that listens to the schools concerns and has more power to distribute ehcps and funding

6. Acknowledgement that parents know their child best and although there are some who try and cheat the system there are subsequently lots more that are denied the proper help they need

7. Any child with sen should not only be supported with education but should be assigned a home school liaison to help manage their balance in life to help family's that are lost and left without a diagnosis (as i was for 6 years) be able to obtain one and help with life after diagnosis because atm there is nothing as CHAMS is non existent unless your child has actually tried to kill themselves or others.

Much more needs doing and the problem won't go away it will cost more in the long run early intervention is the only way.

8. Getting the correct help and assistance opens up doors for you to be able to access more support atm im fighing to get a blue badge we are entitled to but the amount of effort required to obtain one has been ridiculous. We are currently in a house thats too small and still expected to have a home office and room for children to access computers but we cannot get any assistance

9. I had to get a loan to pay for my daughters diagnosis as the NHS did not pick up her autism as they are male focused assessments.

9. No help to provide any social activities I can take all 3 children that does not cost the earth like PARC that as a single mum I can't take the youngest as no diagnosis

Transition to secondary school info Appendix A Contact details of key people to contact. For example I wasn’t aware of how to contact the inclusion partner I had to wait for the HA to do this. I also don’t know who to complain to and who is in charge of what. Site needs a full redesign, preferably with better-defined categories, to be more accessible and easier to use. There is no option to filter search results or sort by certain criteria Appropriate funding. Special needs school that isn’t profit hungry academy trust, and one that is tiered on ability not age. And more of them. My child's needs are quite bespoke and so I struggle to find good matches of support. There should be a helpline / support for those who would benefit from niche services. Information on groups/activities not up to date or incomplete. Really difficult to navigate - get sent to new link, then still can't find the information you need. Be clearer, have tabs or drop down menus so you can find things better. It was very complicated to understand and navigate through the website find the site difficult to navigate on a personal level and now also on a professional level sign posting parents its not very easy to find the information. Easier to navigate website, information was out of date, not all SEND school can be found on the website. Further options for over 19s The local offer is really clunky, even after the apparent improvements. It's difficult to navigate and find the same information twice. I hate using it. I think all the info is there - just needs to be presented more clearly. Navigation around the site, information needs to be sought out/looked for, not the easiest to access IPSEA's site has more detailed information but both work well. Perhaps a wider selection for older children/adults of alternative providers in the community. sometimes you can find what you're looking for but other times - it's a laborious and round the houses exercise and you have to trawl through a lot of irrelevant content. There seems to be a lack of support for 'low needs' SEN in our area of Essex. Despite the fact that this group still has significant needs as they are not 'complex' they miss out for much needed support as do parents From my experience a better way of navigating the site None None Clearer categories, easier ways to search for information

Question 76 – Who do you consider to be main source of support and information for you We have no support as working parents Snap charity Snap Looking into more at the moment. Joining more support groups. Also I have a family solutions support worker who helps me with any issues I may have. Through paying for private therapy and private clinics. Professional knowledge Young Epilepsy speech therapy Specialist private professionals briefing sessions by multi schools council Megacentre My counsellor. My own research No family support at all. Short breaks provision is too expensive Appendix A None of these. If I need something I contact specialist health visitor and hope she can help. She is very hard to get hold of though. None Experienced PAs. My daughter's first PA was very helpful also a self employed teacher at our primary school Private occupational therapy Professionals for information not charity but actaully having to raise our own money. However, it feels to us that this is Essex county council aim is to force all parents to have to raise money to fund the services which our daughters need. This is incredibly stressul and has a huge negative impact on our family. Sunshine Support NA There arent any support groups as the council removed the budget that ran these support groups. Private OT and private autism specialist Families in Focus other parents Private therapist Positive about Down Syndrome charity Private professionals Snap Googling everything myself The Multi Schools Council and MAZE Ewmhs Crystal group, Hadleigh Private autism specialist No support at the moment, waiting for time slot for families in Focus Specialist Teacher Team School are good but can only do so much no other help exists of a practical nature unless u need family's in focus to help fill out forms, all other support is money hungry or admit that there is no provision avaliable SENDIASS Families who have been through the same thing, childminder Friends who work professionally in semh settings, also send IASS have been absolutely amazing throughout and have really worked with me to try and get him better outcomes. next steps to adulthood Langham oaks Families in Focus have been a life line to my family. They have supported and guided us whenever we have needed them. You get the best support from other groups aware of the families dificulties School Ace

Question 77 – Other

I think within the Chelmsford area there could be a lot more provision for children under the age of 9. It seems that there is not much for Children between the ages of 4-9 years of age. Appendix A

Takiwatanga have helped with a relaxed and comfy approach to support and information. At the moment I speak to other parents with children in similar situations. I have a lovely support worker at U.C who helps me lots of different strategies and of course family solutions. I have not heard of a lot of those groups you have listed and will look into those. Online but specific to his condition

Local families with bleeding disorders

The haemophilia society Butterflies, based in Hockley. Both my childrdd Red n have started attending. I did not have anywhere to add this additional comment, so I apolosie for it not being relevant to the above question. One of my main concerns is how long a child has to wait from point of refferal for an ASD assessment to actually receiving the appointment. Our child was reffered in January 2020 and we have been told to not expect to recieve an appointment until January 2022. This will make it difficult for an EHCP to be accessed if we ever should need one in the future. I use a variety of speech delay websites on Facebook .I have contacted The megacentre rayleigh to see if our family would suit one of their SeN groups . Being my boys are not technically severe in their disability ( although have a severe speech disorder) I would like to meet other families with children with a similar issues for support especially the prospect of starting school next year which is a very daunting prospect Parent 4 Parent (P4P) Dunmow Parents4parents ADHD+support I contacted Autism Anglia, National Autistic Society, Family Fund

Did not know any of the above exsisted let alone how to contact them ! SPACE

Parc Essex

Bishop's Stortford Mummies for Additional Needs on Facebook

SENDIASS Essex Sen parent support group on Facebook. Was recently introduced in the last few months to Family Focus as we’re going through an arduous process with son’s 2020 EHCP review, overdue to initial errors between LEA which did not take all the medical paperwork in to account and left the EHCP & school provision unamended ‘due to no significant change’ despite medical professional providing evidence of seriously deteriorated EMH related to school environment. Post mediation we are engaged in amending the EHCP with the LEA but as they won’t commission necessary reports we are delayed queuing for private assessments. Have used Parc but have not found the support very forthcoming. Paperwork for my child was lost. SEND IASS Extra 21

Down Syndrome association Families in focus were brill helping with DLA application and short breaks are good Shortbreaks. Appendix A Sunshine support I would like to point out that the support that I needed when my daughter was very young was respite - practical help. The parent carer forums do not provide appropriate support to parents like me because I have 3 children and I have never been able to sit down at SNAP or PARC and talk to other parents because I am always looking after my disabled daughter or her two sisters. The main drawback is that the support workers do not understand my daughter's needs sufficiently to take care of her. xxxx doesnt access anything beyond school. I have used ADHD support at the mega cente. Generally find these groups difficult to access. I dont have no other support groups I'm in contact with. I would like more help. Essex Post-adoption groups

Adoption UK

Ipsea The Maze course was fantastic. PACT have been invaluable. Nystagmus network We have heard of none of these.

I have never even heard of the Essex Family Forum Braintree autism Facebook page I have had to hire a lawyer to fight for my child's rights as I do not believe the LA or the school have my child's best interest at heart. They are focused on resources and see me as difficult parent. The school want less therapy time and the LA is pushing to reduce therapy. What they fail to understand is if they don't invest in child now then child will be more dependent on state later as an adult. These groups are all too general and seem heavily focussed on ASD type SEN. There is nothing (that I have found) for children who are neuro-typical with physical SEN unless you then cross over into those with much larger needs. A huge cross-section of parents are unsupported because of this. Kids inspired-Chelmsford.

Autism Anglia

SAFE

SANS-Associated with SNAP

Although it is a different county, SPACE Herts is incredibly useful with their training session and online workshops. Really invaluable information and support. I sit on both sides of the Herts/Essex border. Sunshine support are really useful I am no aware of any. SNAP has been an amazing support for myself and my daughter for the last year during her time put of school and helping support her mental health and mine. Autism Girls UK (Facebook)

Undertaken a Navigate course with Scope

Biggest frustration is there is nothing this side of Essex. We can’t use Southend services and everything else is too far away. I don’t drive and work full time. Most support groups etc are weekday and near Chelmsford area Appendix A Parc play and resource centre

Braintree Positive about Down syndrome (PADS) - running online early development groups (PEGS) for parents, especially working on language and communication. Also have advice on early potty training. Lots of information on their Facebook groups Autism Anglia are amazing! Kids inspire. I didn't know half of these were available, as it's early days and we were in the process to get the ball rolling it's all stopped since lockdown Send.iass team have been helping me. They have been brilliant, although they advise that if they had got involved with xxxx whilst he was at school he would of been supported.

My concern is that no one...no one at all has any teeth in schools...that even though the sen department wanted a certain level of support for xxxxxx they couldn't implement it.

The school didn't follow their own Sen policy...the sen lead got an EP to speak to xxxx in the October 2019 but none of the recommendations for xxxx were implemented. the One plan was updated but that was it....when an outside agency comes into a school, no matter who - there should be a follow up and documented evidence that what is recommended is implemented for the Child and parents mental health is actually put in place and to see if it is working.. If this isn't done there should be a way that the agency bought in can escalate this back into the LA and schools can be made to put in support for children. Otherwise, it just ends up as a tick box excercise. Something that can be ticked off when, as we know exclusions are up to 50 a day in England with nearly all of those being SEN children. We are letting a third of our children down in school.....the current system is a disgrace

Would like to understand how you close the only asd specialist school i.e Anderson School and leave us parents with no other schools or options tht are for our asd children

Appendix B

Essex Family Forum Annual Family Impact Survey

Named Education Settings

Moulsham Junior School / Dovedale School Club The Deanes Kegs St peters south Weald South Essex college - thurrock campus Hadleigh infants and nursery Thriftwood college Hadleigh Infants and Nursery School Hadleigh Infants and Nursery - nursery class The King John School Hadleigh Juniors who were fantastic Great tey primary Our Lady of Ransom Primary School Alec Hunter Academy St Teresa's Roman Catholic Primary School Great Dunmow Primary School Great dunmow primary school Chelmer Valley High Lambourne primary Benjamin Clay Great Bradfords Lawford Primary School Hedingham School and Sixth Form Perryfields junior school The endeavour St michaels primary school and nursery Runwell community primary school Oxford Brookes University since 2019. Farleigh Further Education College 2016-2019. Castledon College Cedar Hall School The Belsteads School, Little Waltham, Chelmsford Notley Green Primary School Layer de la Haye primary Theydon Bois primark south essex college thurrock King Edmunds school Lancaster Ramsey academy Brightlingsea primary and nursery school Linton village college Beacon Hill Academy Bromfords Appendix B

St Joseph The Worker Hutton St Thomas of canterbury junior school Brentwood Richmond Preschool Benfleet Cherrytree Primary school South Benfleet Primary Feering C of E Primary School Terling Staples Road Primary Ashdon St Peter’s COE Sible Hedingham Great Bradfords Junior School Bentfield Lyons Hall Primary School Friars grove primary school Felsted Primary Terling School Wyburns primary school SWCHS St Thomas of Canterbury Junior school. Ramsey Academy Halstead Manningtree High School Colchester Royal Grammar School Mayflower Primary Rodings Primary Chancellor park primary school Great bradfords Chancellor park Chancellor Park Primary School Chancellor Park Primary Stebbing primary school Rodings primary Thriftwood School Thriftwood School Exceptional Ideas Lawford C of E Primary School Stebbing Primary stebbing primary Alec Hunter Academy St Lukes School Great Bradford’s infant and nursery school Lawford Pear Tree Mead Pear tree mead Busy bees nursery St Thomas of Canterbury junior school St Thomas Coe primary school St Thomas junior school Lawford cofe Appendix B

Writtle infant school Lawford Primary School Lawford Primary School Lawford C of E school Great Bradford's infant school Thomas Willingale Great Bradfords Infants School Thomas Willingale school Great Bradford Infant and Nursery Great Bradfords Infants Rodings primary school Rivenhall Ashingdon Ashingdon Primary Academy St Giles primay School was The Ongar Academy SEAx (the Loop) Staples Road Staples Road Primary Neeca Pretty gate primary Glenwood Prettygate junior Prettygate junior Mildmay Junior school Market Field Lubbins Crays hill Katherine Semar Junior School Granta school Jack and Jills Nursery Mark Hall Jack and jills On roll at xxxx Acedemy but unable to attend so is tutored by EM Tuition St Michael’s Primary School Hadleigh Junior School Langham Oaks Powers Hall academy Hilltop Junior Beauchamps Moulsham High School Milwards Little Acorns Pre-school Wethersfield primary school Cressing primary St. Benedict's Catholic College St Andrews Halstead ALEC HUNTER Colchester County high school for girls Appendix B

Milwards Primary Milwards Primary school Grow Milwards Milwards The Billericay School Stewards Academy Limpsfield Grange St Joseph's catholic Primary SWF Cherry tree primary school Our Lady Immaculate Noak Bridge Primary School The Bromfords School (Wickford) Doucecroft Marketfields & Lexden Springs Market Fields School Colchester County High school for girls Colchester County High School for Girls BUT currently inpatient at xxxxx Hospital for Anorexia and attends hospital school Notley high school Alec Hunter Academy Langham Oaks Sweyne Park Independent Boarding School Our Lady Immaculate St James Church of England Lambourne end Moulsham Junior School Endeavour Moulsham high school Great Bradfords Junior colchester royal grammar school colchester royal grammar school St Michael's Braintree St Michael’s c of e primary Bromfords ASD Provision St James CoE Trinity road primary school George Blackwell Colchester Royal Grammar School Trinity road primary school St James's CofE Primary School Trinity Road Primary School Trinity Road Endeavour Academy Elm Hall primary

St James Appendix B

St James school Colchester St James COE Colchester St james primary school St James St james St James Colchester St james school colchester Reception The Treehouse Club Bob Columbus school Peekaboo Woodlands South Benfleet Primary Columbus School and College Columbus Thriftwood College Diddydots Nursery Holland Haven Primary School Small wonders nursery Beauchamps Oakview school Loughton Elm Hall Academy Elm Hall Academy Thriftwood College St Christopher's School Moulsham High Thriftwood school Thriftwood school Langham oaks Thriftwood school Colchester Institute Rivenhall Primary School Oakview Springfield Primary Seevic Langham Oaks Oak View Loughton Oakview The Endeavour Langham oaks Oakview Langham Oaks Langham oaks Thriftwood School Thriftwood Glenwood Columbus Appendix B

Bromfords School Glenwood School Thriftwood School Thriftwood School Galleywood Thriftwood school South essex College The Deanes Endeavoyr The endeavour school Thriftwood college Endeavour academy Glenwood school Glenwoods Thriftwood School Trinity road Thriftwood Tanglewood Tanglewood St Thomas More Thriftwood College Tanglewood Glenwood School Benfleet Thriftwood school Thriftwood Barnes farm Thriftwood College The Treehouse Club Thriftwood Thriftwood Glenwood Glenwood Chigwell Primary Academy Glenwood School Glenwood school Glenwood school Thriftwood Glenwood School Thriftwood College NTAS Baston house kent Grove wood primary Thriftwood College Thriftwood school Thriftwood Maldon primary school Thriftwood School Kingsdown The Ongar Academy Appendix B

Neeca None Hilltop Infant School Clacton montessori Holland Haven Primary School Holland Haven Primary School Chelmsford College Edith Borthwick School The Deanes Abacus primary school Bromfords Market Field

Appendix C

Essex Family Forum Annual Family Impact Survey 2020

Distribution List

Essex Family Forum Members

Essex Family Forum Facebook Page

Education Settings:

Special Schools Columbus School & College Harlow Fields School & College Thriftwood School Oak View School Thriftwood College Wells Park School Southview School Edith Borwick School Kingswode Hoe School Endeavour School Langham Oaks School Pioneer School Lexden Springs School Castledon School Market Field School Cedar Hall School Shorefields School Glenwood School Ramsden Hall Academy Grove House School Independent Special Schools Out of Area Special Schools Woodcroft School St Christopher’s School Doucecroft School Lancaster School Treetops School

Pupil Referral Units: Enhanced Provision (Autism): Heybridge Co-Operative Academy Trust Kelvedon St Mary’s Primary Academy North East Essex Co-Operative Academy Honywood Community Science School (NECCA) Hamford Primary Academy Children's Support Service (CCS) Tendring Technology College Merrylands Primary School, Basildon Aspire Academy The Bromfords School, Wickford Milwards Primary School, Harlow Passmores Academy, Harlow Enhanced provisions (Social Emotional & Enhanced Provisions (Hearing Impairment, Visual Mental Health): Impairment, Dyslexia, Severe Learning Difficulties)

GROW Clacton Forest Hall School GROW Colchester Mayflower High School (North) Ghyllgrove Community Primary School GROW Colchester Glebe Primary School (South) Great Baddow High School Lexden Primary School GROW Braintree Mildmay Infant School GROW Chelmsford Mildmay Junior School Acorn Tany’s Dell Community Primary School Appendix C

GROW Harlow The Philip Morant School Phoenix The Sweyne Park School Bentfield Primary School Rainbow Cherry Tree Primary School Atrium Harlowbury Primary School Restart Powers Hall Academy The Arc The Notley High School

Trinity Road Primary School West Horndon Primary School Woodlands School Alternative provisions Sea-Change Sailing Trust Catch 22 SkillForce Catten College Circles Ltd Tute Construction Training Partnership (CTP) Wellies-on (Butterfly Lodge) EM Skills Wilderness Foundation Essex Youth Service Havering College Essex Youthbuild South Essex College Find Your Spark Easton & Otley College Future Gateways Figure of 8 Evolve Intervention Gateway FM Forest School for all Lambourne End Challenger Troop CIC Learning Academies Ltd - iAspire Colchester Institute LOOP Commando Joes Local Tuition Myspace solutions Yeep/1st Staff Rainbow Rural TLG Tendring Rallysport BEP Alternative education Open Box Red Balloon Air

The Salvation Army Hadleigh Farm

Essex County Council Contacts (Education & Social Care)

• Essex Schools Infolink Newsletter (circulated to all Essex education settings)

• Early Years Service

• Youth Services Manager • Children with Disabilities and Preparing for Adulthood Social Care - Service Manager

• Senior Practitioner (SEND Champion) - Social Care

• Essex Child & Family Well Being Service - (SEND Lead)

• Shortbreaks Service

Appendix C

Other Services

• SENDIASS

• Homestart

• Designated Clinical Officer for Basildon, Brentwood & Thurrock NHS Clinical Commissioning Group

• Southend, Essex & Thurrock Children & Young Peoples Emotional Wellbeing & Mental Health Collaborative/Joint Commissioning Lead for SEND (Essex) – Assistant Director

Appendix D

Essex Family Forum Support Groups Survey 2020

Survey Period: 14th October 2020 to 9th November 2020

Responses received from:

• Families InFocus (Essex) • PACT for Autism • The MAZE Group CiC • The Megacentre Rayleigh • Dream The Change, CIC • Southend YMCA Community School

Range of services offered:

Peer to Clubs and Peer Activities Support Advice/ Advocacy Helpline Parent Training & Coffee Workshops Mornings

1

Appendix D

Advice and Support sought by Parents/Carers:

How regularly do parents seek advice/support from you in relation to?

Home Education (e.g. help available and getting back to… Very Regularly Communication & Support - Regularly Schools (e.g. SEN… Somewhat regularly Specialist Provision (e.g. gaps in Not regularly specialist provision, ASD/SEMH…

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

How regularly do parents seek advice/support from you in relation to?

Young Adult Support…

Social Care (access to, carers… Very Regularly

Shortbreaks / Respite Regularly Somewhat regularly Home to School Transport (e.g..… Not regularly EHC Plans and Needs…

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

How regularly do parents seek advice/support from you in relation to?

Therapies (SLT, OT,PT)

Mental Health/ EWMHS Very Regularly

Personal Care (e.g.. continence,… Regularly

Pre and Post Diagnosis support Somewhat regularly Not regularly Referrals and Waiting Times

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2

Appendix D

Positive experiences shared by parents:

• Tends to be mainly access to benefits. Parents share success in DLA and PIP awards where we have helped with the forms. We often get referrals through parents passing on details to other parents.

• I think the positive experiences are not always shared as these are not the primary concern for the parent / carer at that moment in time. People seek support and help when things are not going well.

• Usually individual school staff or health professionals who have been kind, compassionate and listened to them and their children

Negative experiences shared by parents:

• Usually about how schools are dealing with their child's support i.e. through One Plans and the quality of how these are being done. There is good One Planning experiences but not in all schools.

• Education - Lack of suitable training of staff and flexibility within school settings to ensure strategies are in place when that the Autistic / sensory child is not coping well.

Mental health provisions are again inconsistent and I think this comes down to a lack of training and understanding with staff and inflexibility of procedures.

GPs / Health workers not fully understanding the spectrum conditions and what support / information is available.

• Long wait times, difficulties accessing support, lack of communication, quick closure of referrals

• The school's lack of awareness of their child's needs, lack of appropriate SEND support, lack of acknowledgement of parent's own experiences and expertise in relation to their child's additional needs, poor SEND provision, poor SEND leadership, refusal to assess on "trivial" administrative details, almost no access to appropriate mental health support. I could go on

3

Appendix D

Are you hearing of services that are improving:

• This often happens once parents have requested support at meetings at schools. Working together with schools, professionals, parents and LA can result in improved provision and communication with schools. Suggestions at meetings of accessing Engagement Facilitator or Inclusion Partner can be beneficial to improve how schools are supporting children and young people.

• Education settings are improving within some settings, it tends to depend on the school management and how much time and flexibility is considered appropriate. There does seem to be a passion from the county to improve in lots of areas but will take time. Not something that out families have much of.

• Again parents and carers tend to contact us when things have spiralled out of control.

Are you hearing of services that have worsened?

• Usually lack of One Planning especially in secondary schools.

• Mental health provision / Diagnostic pathways where demand has increased but capabilities of services have remained static or reduced.

4

Appendix E

Essex Family Forum Annual Family Impact Survey 2020 Learning Points

There were a number of learning points from conducting this survey that we will be applying to future surveys to improve our data collection and reporting.

1. Positioning and Wording of Questions: We noted within the first 10 days that a significant proportion of survey participants left the survey when asked if they would like to name their child/young person’s education setting. We moved the question from near the beginning of the survey to the end of the survey and made it very clear that this question optional and did not need to be completed. Learning: We will consider more carefully the order of questions within surveys and ensure their purpose is clear in order that parents are not made to feel uncomfortable about the question being asked and it does not hinder progress through the remainder of the survey.

2. Type of Questions a. There were very few questions in the survey that“required an answer from participants. This allowed participants to “skip” (not answer) questions but then respond to some or all of the related questions. This meant the number of respondents did not consistently balance across some sections of the survey. Learning: We will introduce “required answer” questions within a survey where they need to be to ensure for accurate data collection.

b. Some multiple choice/check box questions allowed participants to select more than one response when only one was required or needed. We were unable to report some of those responses where it affected the data collection. Learning: We will ensure selection options are set up to collect responses in the required way for those particular questions when structuring the survey.

3. Free text comments Where we asked participants to share their experiences, there were significant numbers providing responses and were comparative to the numbers completing the quantitive questions. However, where we asked participants to consider what could have improved their experience or made it better – there were significantly lower numbers providing responses. Learning: We believe this may be because it is difficult to for people think outside of their own experience. Where this type of information is sought, it may be more beneficial to adopt a more personal approach and conduct focus groups.