An inspection of specialist education services in Northumberland has found that some of the county's most vulnerable young people face "inconsistent" experiences and outcomes, according to the education watchdog Ofsted. While some children have their needs identified and addressed "promptly and accurately," others must wait "too long" for assessments.
Inspection Findings and Delays
Ofsted carried out an area inspection in Northumberland in February. Their report warned that delays for diagnosis can "prevent" children from receiving the "right help at the right time." A recovery plan has been established to tackle "significantly long" waiting times for neurodevelopmental assessments. However, there is a "lack of capacity" to deliver the plan, and the impact has been "limited" as a result. Ofsted recommended that the implementation of this plan be accelerated.
The inspection was the first full look at SEND services provided by the county council and the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) since "significant weaknesses" were found in 2018.
Official Response
Speaking at Thursday's meeting of the council's family and children's services scrutiny committee, director of SEND David Street said: "We couldn't say that everybody was getting the experiences that they required. The inspection agreed with us. There were lots of effective areas of practice, but there was also some development areas - all of which we had identified prior to Ofsted coming in. We still have work to do, but we have identified the pathway."
Strengths Identified
Strengths identified by Ofsted included access to "valuable" family hubs. These hubs, which act as a successor to sure start centres, provide support for families from a child's birth onwards. Children and young people with SEND were said to usually feel "secure and valued" in communities. The majority of children benefit from "a well organised programme of support" from health visitors and school nurses.
Director of children's services Audrey Kingham said that while the issues identified by Ofsted had been anticipated, there had been disappointment that the areas of focus for the inspection did not look at some of the more positive aspects of the service. She said: "We were disappointed that they didn't look at some of the areas we would have liked them to look at. They focused on some of the areas that, if we were going to guess them, we wouldn't have chosen. They were not areas that, in our view, should have been an area of focus. The team work really well."
