Introduction
The Local Offer was introduced as part of the national Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) Reforms 2014 to help improve the quality of information about local services and support for children and young people with SEND and their families. Guidance states that the Local Offer should:
- provide clear, comprehensive, accessible, and up-to-date information about support and services and how to access them
- make provisions more responsive to local needs and aspirations by directly involving children and
Developments and feedback
Involving parents/carers, children and young people in the development of opportunity for children and young people with SEND in Brent is very important to us and is identified in Brent’s SEND Strategy.
Since the launch of Brent’s SEND strategy in October 2021, we have been working together to produce an action plan, detailing what the SEND partners will achieve each year. Working groups to drive the actions, ensuring they represent the aspirations of families and young people, continue to take place. The ‘Preparing for Adulthood’ [PfA] website launched in October 2021 and continues to be developed to ensure it remains a valuable resource to young people looking at their next career step. Together with Brent youth Zone, this resource is being accessed by around 4000 users each month.
We have been working hard to improve Brent’s Local Offer by listening to your views. We have added a new section on Local Offer News and Events. You can find news and what’s going on, including information about any consultations, events, or opportunities to get involved with.
Partners in Brent are going to be working with the Council for Disabled Children in February and March 2022 on a series of workshops to help improve the local Neuro- Developmental Pathway. Each of these workshops will bring together parent/ carer representatives and practitioners from across the SEND partners to explore what we know about the pathway families’ experiences, and how the experiences can be improved through a refreshed approach to support children and young people.
Parents, carers, children and young people expressed that they would like Family Wellbeing Centres and Brent have now launched this service. The Brent Family Wellbeing Centres provide a range of community-led services that can support families from the moment you know you’re expecting, through pregnancy and birth, until your child is 18 years old (or up to 25 for children and young people with special educational needs). The Centres offer a wide range of free health, education and welfare services to families and aim to give everyone in Brent the best possible start in life. The Brent Family Wellbeing Centres are free to use by families that live in Brent. If you wish to use the services provided at any of the Centres, you will need to register your family’s details, details can be found on the Local Offer website.
Brent Council have had feedback from parents, carers, children and young people and we have heard you say that you would like an option for Brent’s Local Offer site to translate text into different languages. The SPEAK bar can be found in the top right corner of Brent’s whole council and Brent’s Local Offer website.
The SPEAK bar can:
- translate text into a different language, the SPEAK bar offers over 90 languages
- read the page for you, this can be from top to bottom or a specific selection on the page. This can be read in English and more than 50 languages
- turn selected text into a picture dictionary definition
- download and generate text into MP3
- enlarge the text
- simplify the page (removes colours and images)
Find out more about accessibility on the Brent website.
Local Offer usage
July 2021 – December 2021
- Total number of page views (users): 21,738
- Average number of users per month: 3,623
January 2022 – June 2022
- Total number of page views (users): 14,650
- Average number of users per month: 2,442
Most looked at areas include the Brent health visiting service, Local Offer Directory, getting a SEND assessment and schools in Brent.
- Most visited time of year: September
- Least visited time of the year: April
Future work
Things to look out for in 2022-2023
Right support, right place, right time
The consultation ran from 29 March 2022 at 10am – 22nd July 2022 at 11:45am
The government committed to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND and those in alternative provision.
To achieve this ambition, we want to work with and hear from:
- children and young people
- parents and carers
- those who advocate and work with the SEND sector
- local and national system leaders
The Government encourage you to consider the proposals set out in this green paper and respond to the consultation.
Together, we can ensure every child and young person with SEND and those in alternative provision can thrive and be well prepared for adult life.
A separate summary covering the SEND and AP green paper and responding to the consultation is also available.
Future and ongoing developments
£45m plan to provide the best education and improve the lives for Brent children and young people with SEND are now rolling out. £45m plan to provide the best education and improve the lives for Brent children and young people with SEND are now rolling out. Find further information on the capital work.
By September 2022 Brent will be expanding the Supported Internship and Employment offer across Wembley, taking young people into meaningful employment. This will be an ongoing offer with expectations that the offer will continue to develop year-on-year.
Celebration event
When Brent launched the SEND Strategy plan parents and young people said they wanted to celebrate the excellence of young people in Brent. In 2023, Brent will be holding a week of celebrations where we can showcase our vibrant SEND community of young people. All details will be sent to each young person with SEND and their family via their school or college or if they are educated other than at school via a letter to their family as to how they might get involved.
Implementing the Graduated Approach
Introduction to the graduated approach: The SEND Support Team works with mainstream schools to support the implementation of the graduated approach. Over this academic year the team have supported schools to develop their use of the graduated approach to provide high quality SEND provision through the roll out of the Brent Graduated Approach Framework supported by a comprehensive training programme.
Brent Council is ensuring that every school and over 200 nurseries will support children and young people via the graduated approach.
Short Breaks Statement of Intent
Local Authorities have a duty to produce a short breaks statement. This means that families, carers and young people understand the services that are available, the eligibility criteria for these services, and how the breadth of services have been designed to meet the needs of the families in Brent. The current Short Breaks Statement (Brent Council Leisure and Short Break Services – For children and young people with SEND aged 0 to 25 years old) was co-produced and consulted upon in 2018. During 2022, in co-production with parents, carers and young people the short breaks offer has been reviewed again. It has been important to reshape the short breaks eligibility criteria, which has meant making sure that Brent residents understand what is available to them, who is eligible, and how they can access it. Brent Council will be consulting with stakeholders to gauge their views on the Short Breaks Statement of Intent.
The consultation period will be from the 1 October to 20 November 2022. Feedback indicated that parents wanted more information on the offer.
The Short Breaks Statement of Intent will be available through the Brent Council Website.
Launching ‘What does it mean to be Neurodiverse?’ on the Local Offer
The ambitious capital programme has a focus of expanding the provision for young people who are neurodiverse. This sits within wider offer Brent Council have coproduced with parents/ carers and young people with SEND and young people themselves in designing a new model of support for neurodiverse young people in Brent. Providing opportunities for parents/carers and young people to navigate the system and receive support irrespective of whether the young person has a diagnosis.
Brent Council have adopted the Thrive Framework model, this underpins Brent’s approach to meeting needs. Being Neurodiverse does not mean having a diagnosis, it’s recognising that people require additional support at different times.
Person Centred Planning
Families, children and young people with SEND in Brent have expressed that they would like their voice to heard at their annual review. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 years provides statutory guidance relating to part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 with reference to the need for a stronger focus on the participation of children/ young people and their parents/ carers in decision making at both individual and strategic levels.
The use of person-centred approaches provides the opportunity to fulfil these principles. A person-centred annual review provides an opportunity to engage directly with children/ young people by putting them at the ‘heart’ of the process. All schools, across the borough, should use this approach to annual reviews once it has been launched. Guidance will be developed to support the process. Further information on the person-centred approach can be found on the Local Offer this Includes a booklet for parents/carers and children and young people. Training will take place at Brent’s SENCO forum in the Autumn Term 2022, Further training in the spring term will be available and will be combined with 14+ transition training for parents and SENCO’s.
25 x 25 Challenge
Brent has an exciting new prospect at hand which will be launching in 2023, the 25x25 Challenge. This is aimed at young people with special educational needs & disabilities (SEND) who live in Brent and are aged 16 to 25 years.
The 25x25 Challenge will encourage young people to attend 25 cultural activities by the age of 25 within Brent and across London.
An important part of the Challenge is to attend events with others and have FUN! Doing things with friends, family, classmates, clubs or as part of a bigger group will make the excursion memorable and special.
Accessing the wider community
Brent is now looking forward to 2023 and the expansion of the Brent Council grant funds to support third sector organisations to deliver inclusive and targeted youth activities. More details will be available on the Local Offer and in SEND Newsletters.
In 2022 families worked with the Parks Department to review the accessibility of Brent’s parks and we are pleased to announce that in 2023 King Edward VII Park, Stonebridge Park and Round Wood Park are being renovated with play equipment for children and young people with disabilities.
We are consistently updating our Local Offer Directory and ‘What’s on/events’ page which details any events/ activities for parents/carers, children and young people with SEND.
Continuing to work with parents, carers, children and young people with SEND in Brent
Brent Council will continue to work with families and young people in Brent to expand our offer and services. Brent will hold a parent/carer monthly meeting to ensure families have a voice in expressing what opportunities they would like to see within their community, to express any changes that are working/ not working within services and the Local Offer page. Families will also be kept up to date through Brent’s steering group, the Local Offer website and SEND Newsletters. A training programme for parents and careers have continued though this year.