This briefing is to give parent carers a guide to what the pilot inspection is about and what will happen as part of this process.
What is a SEND Inspection?
Area SEND Inspections are jointly carried out by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) who inspect health services and look at all services in the area not just those within the Local Authority. Warwickshire had an Inspection in July 2021 and is currently working on the Written Statement of Action to make the necessary improvements.
Why a Pilot SEND Inspection?
Ofsted and CQC are in the process of developing a new Local Area SEND inspection framework, to focus more on the impact of SEND arrangements on children, young people, and their families. They are now testing different aspects of this methodology in pilot inspections and will combine the learning from these pilot visits with information from key stakeholders to inform the development of the framework and the public consultation.
The purpose of the pilot inspection is to test the ways in which inspectors will gather evidence, and whether the evidence collected would allow them to fully gauge the effectiveness of local SEND arrangements in improving the experiences, progress and outcomes of children and young people with SEND.
Everyone involved in the pilot inspection will be given the opportunity to give feedback on the process and this information will be used to shape the final inspection framework.
As it is a pilot inspection there will be no judgements or report published after the visit however feedback will be given to the Local Authority and Clinical Commissioning Group.
What does this mean for Warwickshire?
Warwickshire has been asked to take part in one of these pilot inspections and this visit will take place from Monday 13th June for 3 weeks.
This visit is not related to the previous inspection and will not impact on the next inspection (due next year after the period of the Written Statement of Action).
What does this mean for Parent Carers?
The main way for parent carers to provide input into the pilot inspection is by completing an online survey. There are surveys for parent carers, children and young people and practitioners to share their experiences. The pilot surveys are available at www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/YourViewsWarwickshire/ (and close at 9am on Tuesday 21st June 2022). We ask for as many parents as possible to provide feedback of their experiences as these will shape the lines of enquiry for the pilot inspection.
The inspectors will do some “tracking” with a small number of families looking at a child in depth (who will be chosen by the inspectors from a longer list provided by the Local Authority). This will involve meeting (virtually) with the parents and carers, the child or young person (if this is appropriate) and the practitioners from education, health and social care who are working directly with that family. You will be contacted directly if your child’s case is one of the ones that the inspection team wish to look at. The team will also visit a number of settings and providers across health, social care and education and will meet with representatives from WPCV and other community groups.