We have received 10 days’ notice of Ofsted/Care Quality Commission (CQC) SEND revisit on 23-25 May. The purpose of the visit 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 that 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. They will also explore the area’s understanding of the impact of the pandemic on children and young people with SEND and their families in their area and on the local SEND system more widely.
One of the ways that 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 16 May at 12 noon and close at 12 noon on Friday 20 May. You can access the survey here.
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.
View the letter from Ofsted to parents regarding Devon County Councils SEND Revisit here.