28 June 2019 weekly update

Dear Colleagues

SEND - Your Voice online questionnaire

As you will be aware, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) conducted a joint inspection of Kent between 28 January 2019 and 1 February 2019 to judge the effectiveness of the area in implementing the disability and special educational needs reforms as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014

The inspection identified a number of areas of significant weakness. These were set out in a letter published on the Ofsted website on 29 March 2019.

As local leaders from education, health and social care we were disappointed with this outcome but accept that we hadn’t progressed as quickly and effectively in meeting the expectations of the Children and Families Act 2014, as we should have. However, we are committed to working in partnership to make the necessary improvements for children and young people with SEND and their families.

As part of this we wish to fully understand parent, carers and children and young people’s views and concerns to ensure our actions have a positive impact on the lives of children and young people with SEND and their families.

With this in mind, we wanted to keep you informed of the actions being taken and seek your help in gathering these views. Please share this information with your SENCOs to request that all parents and carers of children and young people with SEND; and all children and young people with SEND have the opportunity to complete the SEND - Your Voice online questionnaire

Changes to our safeguarding responsibilities

We recently published our new Safeguarding Children Multi-agency Partnership Arrangements, which sets out how we, as part of a partnership with Kent Police and the Clinical Commissioning Groups, will safeguard and promote the welfare of all children who live in Kent.

This is an exciting new opportunity to look at how we can work with our partners to coordinate and target the right services to children and families in Kent, ensuring the voice of the child is listened to and heard as part of our day to day operations.

These new arrangements will be implemented on 17 September 2019. In the meantime, the Kent Safeguarding Children Board will continue to carry out all its statutory functions, including commissioning Serious Case Reviews where the criteria are met. You can also continue to access training on the website.

Keep up to date with our progress and find out more on the New Arrangements page on the Kent Safeguarding Children’s Board website.

Matt Dunkley CBE
Corporate Director
Children, Young People and Education