State of SEND in Shropshire 2022

29/09/2022

In 2019 PACC created two surveys to help us understand how families in Shropshire experience SEND services. In November 2019 If The SEND Inspection Was Today...... (paccshropshire.org.uk) was launched, this fed directly into our SEND Local Area Inspection feedback in January 2020. The State of SEND – Shropshire Report 2020 (paccshropshire.org.uk) was published to raise awareness of families experiences and highlight PACCs position in readiness for the inspection. The report also draws on some themes we explored with families during the development of the Shropshire SEND Strategy Draft Shropshire SEND Strategy - What do you think? (paccshropshire.org.uk).

There has been substantial progress in many areas across the SEND agenda since 2020’s Local Area SEND Inspection outcome, which required a Written Statement of Action. Our response to the initial report PACC Response to Shropshire SEND Inspection Report (paccshropshire.org.uk) explains how we felt families views were heard and understood throughout the process. Our journey as Parent Carer representatives within this process has been recorded on our SEND Inspection pages The Shropshire SEND Inspection (paccshropshire.org.uk).

While progress has been made, there is still a clear gap between the internal strategic and operational developments and genuine impact for families on the ground in their everyday lives. To help us understand the landscape today, we sought feedback from families again. While our ongoing conversations and relationships in the community provide invaluable insight, a survey provides richer information about more specific topics and themes. Our SEND Survey was tailored to provide us the intelligence needed to reflect the impact of the WSOA development and any progress to date.

This survey has provided us with a snapshot of what families across Shropshire, who navigate the SEND system daily, feel about the care and support they, and their child / young person with Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities, receive.

You can read the full report and survey response data and transcripts here. You can also see a Summary Report here.

PACC attended a Written Statement of Action Monitoring Visit on 28/09/2022 to explore progress made to date and discuss how the Shropshire SEND System is preparing for the potential re-inspection that is expected to happen soon. PACC have fed back that families are still yet to see tangible impact in key areas, including the delivery of an adequate Neurodevelopmental Pathway that offers pre and post diagnostic support, as well as a fit for purpose assessment process that provides person centred care. You can see the presentation we delivered here the summary report and the data and transcript report have also been shared with Shropshire senior leaders and the DFE advisor.

We understand that PACC as an organisation is in the position of being able to see change happening internally within the SEND sector, as we inform and influence this as much as we can using your lived experience to demonstrate need and impact. We also understand that while the system is developing positive change at a strategic level in some areas, this is far from the experience families have at home, caring for their child or young person with SEND. We hope Parent Carers feel our reports have reflected your experiences as you have shared them with us. If you would like to further contribute, please contact us via info@paccshropshire.org.uk or via our Facebook page.