9 May 2025 weekly update

Dear Colleagues,

School visit

I was delighted to visit Riverhead Infants school in Sevenoaks on Tuesday. It was great to meet some of the children on my tour of the school and see them at work. We had some interesting and informative conversations about how the school is adapting to meet the needs of children and repurposing parts of the building to create new spaces. A very big thank you to Andrew King and his team for their time and for sharing their views so helpfully.

Post 16

My regular meeting with senior leaders of the three FE colleges took place this week. This is a really valuable opportunity to update on key developments and identify areas for improvement. A big welcome to Lucy McLeod, who has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of East Kent College group, following on from Graham Razey OBE. Graham is now chairing the SEND Partnership Board and we are very pleased the Kent system can continue to benefit from both his expertise and commitment.

I have shared information previously on Pathways for All, our post 16 transformation programme which aims for Kent's post-16 provision is ‘Accessible, Ambitious and Appropriate’ for all young people. Momentum is now growing and a more detailed update is included in this bulletin.

Communities of schools

The last face to face meeting took place this week in Canterbury and again it was packed. There has been a really positive buzz in the room at every meeting and it's great to finally begin implementing this hugely ambitious programme which we have co-constructed. Thank you again for your various contributions to this programme.

And finally...

Local elections took place last week in 23 councils, including KCC. I want to take this opportunity to thank the former Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Cllr Rory Love OBE, who took up the brief post-SEND area inspection in September 2022 when we were still dealing with the Home to School Transport issues. Rory worked tirelessly to drive improvement, navigating through a variety of challenges while ensuring he had a good understanding of headteacher's concerns through regular visits to schools and settings. We wish Rory all the best for the future. Welcome to the new Members and congratulations to Maidstone South East representative Linden Kemkaran who has been selected as the new leader of the Council.

Best wishes

Christine McInnes
Director of Education and SEN