Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director, Education and Inclusion

The Assistant Director Education and Inclusion submitted a report (previously circulated) updating Members on the Ofsted/CQC inspection on the provision of Special Educational Needs (SEND) support in Darlington and the subsequent development of a Written Statement of Action (WSoA).

The submitted report stated that the local area of Darlington was inspected by Ofsted and CQC between January 2022 and 1 February 2022; the inspection assessed how well Darlington Borough Council, Schools, Academy Trusts and all parts of the Health Service identified and met the needs of children and young people with SEND and the outcomes achieved; the Lead Inspector identified a number of strengths in the local area and the two areas of significant weakness identified across Darlington were outlined.

The Council, together with Health was required to produce a WSoA; this was created by the local area partnership, involving a number of co-production approaches; the SEND Assurance Executive would have strategic overview of the WSoA and the implementation of the agreed actions; the WSoA was approved as fit for purpose by Ofsted on 9 September 2022; and the delivery of the WSoA would be subject to quarterly monitoring by DfE/NHS England, and the first monitoring visit had taken place in January 2023 with positive feedback received.

Members were informed that Darlington would not subject to a full reinspection on the WSoA and any future inspection would be under the new Area SEND Inspection Framework; reference was made to the criteria for the new framework; and that the next steps included the development of a dataset.

RESOLVED – That the written statement of action be noted.

REASON – The recommendation is supported as the Written Statement of Action is a statutory requirement of the SEND inspection framework.