Kingston Parent Carer forum has recently been involved in reviewing the draft Self Evaluation Framework (SEF) with Achieving for Children. The purpose of this was to review the document which will be published for the SEND Partnership Board in March. A Self Evaluation Framework is a document for strategic partners to consider how they are doing and how they can improve. Part of reviewing the document was considering what parent carers had said about the local services including in education, health and community. The SEND Parent Engagement team ran focus groups last Summer to inform this work and we were able to share experiences that we have heard in our work with parent carers.

One element of the SEF is to provide an assessment of the local area’s “Strengths”, “Emerging Strengths” and “Areas for Improvement”. Megan Francis-Falkner from the SEND Futures team explained “There is always more work to be done! However, having the three categories allows us to reflect where we are with a bit more nuance, as there will be some areas we are further along than others in terms of our progress and the work that’s been done already, and makes it really clear what our current priorities are”.  We held a meeting with interested members of the committee to discuss our assessment. As we were extensively involved in producing the last update to the SEF in 2023, we could also reflect where there have been improvements and there are “Emerging Strengths.”

At this stage we had some comments on the “Strength” regarding the quality of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPS). The SEF provides examples of how the multi-agency approach to audit EHCP quality has made this a strength in Kingston. On the back of monthly meetings, there is also professional development for staff so that continuing improvement is also ongoing for staff. However, we are aware of some concerns that parent carers have around the delivery and outcomes in EHCPS. We are  also aware of concerns around timeliness of response, with many annual reviews in particular being delayed. This category in the SEF was particularly around quality, in addition we can confirm that timeliness is continuously monitored at the quarterly SEND Partnership Board. To look at the statistics about EHCPs you can visit this page on the Local Offer. AfCinfo website – Kingston and Richmond :: Local Offer / Information and advice / SEND Futures and SEND Partnership Boards / SEND Futures Kingston / Kingston SEND Partnership Board

In our discussion of the SEF we thought this topic of quality of EHCPs was more of an “Emerging Strength”. To become a strength it may mean more in-depth work which includes working with parent carers as well as schools to assess the content and delivery of the EHCPs. What is great is that Achieving for Children have already undertaken some work in Richmond around Holistic Outcomes – this term is used to describe the outcomes in Section E of the EHCP. They should be written in a person-centred way and reflect more than educational goals, instead bridge education, health, and social care to support long-term aspirations, independence, and well-being. We now have an opportunity to do some similar work in Kingston and hope this will also help strengthen the quality of EHCPS further in Kingston, allowing this category to be identified as a “Strength”.

Areas in “Emerging Strengths” were also discussed by PCF members. The SEF gives details of some successes, including helping a young person with Emotional Based School Avoidance (EBSA). However our perspective remains that this can be a very challenging situation for parent carers and their young people, including getting support, having access to the right support and navigating the alternative provision offer. We asked to know what action plan is in place for Alternative Provision and were informed this is currently being managed by Sheldon Snashall, Associate Director for Pupil Support. We are aware this is a key area that has been highlighted in the upcoming SEND reform work. The hope is that by looking at this as a priority, and possibly as an area for improvement, the local area will work with families who have been through extremely challenging circumstances, many of whom are still trying to find the right provision for their children.

Also under discussion was the Short Breaks offer that was discussed at the most recent Kingston Parent Carer Consortium. This remains an “Emerging Strength” but there is some work that we are keen to see happen to improve this service, specifically around families accessing the services, particularly in the borough of Kingston, as there is a different provision across Kingston and Richmond. The PCF has requested evidence to show how many ‘unique’ families are accessing short break offers and is disappointed that this data is not available. There are concerns that a small number of children may be benefiting from several services with many children not benefiting from any. The Short Breaks team has been keen to work with parent carers around their service, and this is an area that the Kingston Parent Carer Forum has been asked to be involved in. We very much hope that a genuine co-production approach will be adopted for this work, with parent carers being involved in shaping the short breaks offer going forward.
All our feedback has been shared with Megan Francis-Falkner from the SEND Futures team and we now await the publication of the draft Self Evaluation Framework which we will share with forum members when it is published. In the meantime though it is worth noting that this is a document of continuous improvement and so will continue to be updated. We have already been asked to provide feedback for the coming SEND reforms and it is valuable that we have opportunity to review services and offer constructive challenge to local providers.