Developing Local Provision Newsletters
We are delighted to publish two Developing Local Provision Newsletters.
Developing Local Provision is a two-year project which aims to develop and improve provision, progress and outcomes for children and young people with additional needs or Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in mainstream schools across Birmingham. The project is producing encouraging results – you can read more here.
WHAT IS DLP?
Developing Local Provision (DLP) is a key part of the SEND improvement programme in Birmingham. It is a two year project which aims to, track, monitor and improve progress and outcomes for children and young people with additional needs or Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in mainstream schools across the city.
Additional funding over 2 years, has been provided to enable schools to work together to proactively identify the needs of children and young people across partnerships of schools and provide resources and support required to meet those needs earlier.
Schools can share or buy in resources which help to meet the needs of children with additional needs in their school.
For example, speech and language therapists support groups of children, train staff in speech therapy and supply speech and language programmes across the partnership of schools.
Primary School outcomes
DLP has been running for over a year in Birmingham and the projects already in place are increasingly showing a positive impact on the progress and outcomes for children and young people.
29% increase in SEND pupils achieving the expected standard – Year 1 Phonics screening
12% increase in SEND pupils on track to reach a ‘Good Level of Development (GLD)’*
16.5% increase in SEND pupils reaching early learning goals in Communication and Language
18.6% increase in SEND pupils reaching early learning goals in Reading
*An assessment made for each Early Years Foundation Stage child at the end of the Reception year. It is a measure of attainment, not progress. Achieving a good level of development will help a child to make a good start in Year 1.
Secondary School outcomes
14% improvement in social thinking and problem solving (57% – 71%)
1 Year 8 month increase in reading age and comprehension age (Accelerated Reader)
37% increase in receptive and expressive language scores (16-53%)
0.9 grade increase in parental satisfaction for SEND provision
Developing Local Provision in Early Years
This project replicates that of schools, with Early Years providers working together in their districts to improve the outcomes for early years children with needs.
STAY AND PLAY GROUPS
Stay and play groups is one initiative which has already received some very positive feedback. Parents can socialise and share ideas whilst their children experience play and learning opportunities with others of similar ages.
‘This has been an amazing opportunity for my son to socialise with other children, do other activities and be in a nursery setting. The staff were very helpful and welcoming, and I will highly recommend this group to other parents.’
‘We had no access for our daughter to meet other children. We’re also getting support to get access to other places we didn’t know existed. We’re getting lots of information we otherwise would not have.
‘I was observing the group of children enjoying the singing activity, which included children with a range of strengths and challenges. It was a really lovely demonstration of inclusivity. I thought it was so great to see children, at an early age, exposed to the idea of difference and how other children might be different from them, but they can all be together in one place and joining in and sharing an activity – and having fun!’ – a community speech and language therapist
Find out more here about DLP — Birmingham Early Years Networks
Developing Local Provision for POST 16 Year Olds
Post 16 DLP is an innovative project involving Aston University, schools and colleges. As part of the project a Birmingham Directory of Good Post 16 Practice has been produced and a Post 16 SEND quality mark initiative developed. These will enable young people and families to identify the provision that best meets their needs.
Other DLP Projects
Special School Outreach Service
The DLP has also funded the Special Schools Outreach Service which enables schools to ‘buy in’ specialist SEND support from other schools. It can be accessed by all schools through a jointly managed referral system run by the special schools and the Local Authority.
‘This needs to be the normal mode of working. The link between mainstream and special schools is vital It has greatly improved the provision we provide and the confidence of staff.’ – Primary Headteacher
The DLP ‘Fair Access’ project
The Fair Access project is designed to help schools understand the requirement for them to take a child who is currently out of school. The results have shown a significant improvement in children and young people finding places far more quickly in schools.
Project Results
17.9 decreased to 9.4 = the average number of days between Fair Access referral and placement
37.8 decreased to 12.45 = the average number of days between placement and starting the school place
10 decreased to 0 = the number of challenging cases waiting for more than half a term to be successfully place
This project needs to continue it has made such a difference to a very vulnerable child and the care and level of support was excellent!’
-Headteacher
‘This project has helped us to understand the process and see that children are understood fairly.’
-Headteacher
Improving Progress and Outcomes
Alongside the DLP, a new initiative across Birmingham is being implemented to improve the progress of children with additional needs.
‘Improving Progress and Outcomes’ will provide all schools (special and mainstream) with data that looks at the progress of children and young people accessing SEND Support and those with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).
This data shows performance
- in their schools
- compared with other schools in their locality
- and across Birmingham
This will enable schools to work together to:
- share what works
- support each other with expertise and resources
- identify gaps they may find in their provision or in the performance of their pupils
Already a third of all Birmingham Special Schools have returned their progress data committing to this development which is a very positive response and a step forward for monitoring and improving the performance of children and young people with additional needs.
From October 2022 you will be able to find out more about what is going on near to you on the SEND Local Offer website.