SEND Local Authority Ofsted Revisit

The chance to have your experiences of services heard.

We have received 10 days’ notice of Ofsted/Care Quality Commission (CQC) SEND revisit on 23rd - 25th May. The purpose is to decide whether the local area has made sufficient progress in addressing the areas of significant weakness identified by the previous Ofsted/CQC inspection in December 2018 and detailed by the Written Statement of Action. The areas they will be looking into are set out below:

• To embed our Strategic plans and the local area’s SEND arrangements and ensure they are widely understood by stakeholders including schools, settings, staff and parents and carers.
• Improve communication with key stakeholders, particularly with parents and families.
• Improve the timeliness and quality of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) so they consistently capture a child and young person’s needs and aspirations and become effective support in the planning and implementation of education, health, and care provision
• Improve the identification, assessment, diagnosis and support of those children and young people with autism spectrum disorder.

One of the ways Ofsted will gather views of parents and carers is through an online survey. For those who would like to take part in the survey, it will go live on Monday 16th May at 12 noon and close at 12 noon on Friday 20th May, you can access it through the link below.

Devon County Council LASEND Re-Visit Survey (smartsurvey.co.uk) 

Inspectors will also seek the views of young people and parent carers through a series of meetings during the visit.

Initial feedback will be provided at the end of the visit and the visit report should be made available by Ofsted/CQC to the local area approximately 33 days after the visit but sometimes this takes longer.

Ofsted Letter to Parents re: Devon County Councils SEND Revisit 

To view the letter from Ofsted to Parents regarding Devon County Councils SEND Revisit click here.

Parent Carer Forum Information Session

With the upcoming OFSTED and CQC inspection in mind, the Parent Carer Forum are holding a parent information session to enable families to learn more about the revisit process and understand how they can feed in their experiences of services across the wider local area.

There is more information here on their facebook page but you can register for the information session here.

2022 Year 8 HPV Vaccinations

The Devon Immunisation Team are now inviting Year 8 aged children (date of birth 1st September 2008 – 31st August 2009) to consent and book for the HPV vaccination. Children outside of this age range may still be eligible and parents are able to contact us on 0300 247 0082 to discuss further.

This is currently a two-dose course that is recommended to be started in the academic year 8 (after the child’s 12th birthday). There needs to be a minimum of 6 months between the first and second dose.

If you would like your child to receive this vaccine, please complete the link below putting in ‘home educated where it asks for school.

https://schoolimms.hcrgcaregroup.com/hpv/2021/devon

Once you have done this, please contact the team after 31st March 2022 on 0300 247 0082, when we will be able to book your child into a clinic appointment.

If you have an older child that has not received this vaccine and you would like them to, please contact us on the number above as the process may be slightly different for them.

Electively Home Educated Students in Higher Education Project

Exeter University recognise the importance of supporting home-educated young people to access their courses and secure a place at university. They would like to know about the experiences of home-educated young people who have applied, or have considered applying, to university.

Can you tell them about any challenges you have faced, any ways in which the process of application is easy or difficult to navigate? What has encouraged you or put you off applying to university? Has any organisation or individual been supportive, or presented a barrier to your plans?

The aim of this study is to share the real experiences of home-educated young people with the University of Exeter admissions department, and to review the application process in light of these experiences. The project is run jointly by the University of Exeter Centre for Social Mobility and Graduate School of Education.

Are you a student aged between 16 and 20, currently or recently educated at home and with an aspiration to attend university? If so, they would like to hear from you. Please use this link to let Lou Graham know your interest in the project.

They would also like to hear from university students who were home educated. Please get in touch with Lou Graham at l.a.graham@exeter.ac.uk if you have any queries/questions or need further information.

Thank you for supporting the Electively Home Educated Students in Higher Education project.

UCL Elective Home Education Study Recruitment

UCL are currently recruiting parents of 5 to 15 year-old autistic children and/or children with a learning disability who are home educated to investigate the experience of Elective Home Education.

The study looks at the arrangements parents have in place for their children’s home education, how satisfied they are, and, if they recently switched to home education and the reasons why. The study is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

The survey is entirely anonymous and takes around 10-15 minutes to complete. It was co-produced with parent advisors.

Please complete the survey by clicking here.