Webchat with Ofsted’s lead inspector for special educational needs, Charlie Henry, on Wednesday at 12.30pm

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Hello

We’re pleased to welcome HM Inspector Charlie Henry for a webchat on Wednesday 2 December, for an hour at 12.30pm.

HM Inspector Charlie Henry is a qualified teacher and has further advanced qualifications in the education of pupils with special educational needs and in educational psychology.

Charlie has worked in the field of special educational and disability for more than 30 years as teacher, special school manager and educational psychologist. Since joining Ofsted in 2004, Charlie has led many school inspections in mainstream primary schools, secondary schools, special schools, pupil referral units and specialist colleges. He has held responsibility for leading Ofsted’s inspection policy development for disabled children and those who have special educational needs.

Do join us on Wednesday at 12.30pm or post your question in here in advance if you can’t make it on the day.

UPDATE: Just to let you know that there is a consultation on Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission's proposals for inspecting how effectively local areas fulfil their responsibilities towards disabled children and young people and those with special educational needs.

Please click here for more information about the consultation.

Thanks

MNHQ

Hello, thanks for the complaints lists. What do you expect SEN children's parents with SEN to do? There is no support for them to make complaints as public funding cuts. What reasonable adjustments have ofsted put in place for Sen parents complaints in your process?

@howtorebuild

Hello, thanks for the complaints lists. What do you expect SEN children's parents with SEN to do? There is no support for them to make complaints as public funding cuts. What reasonable adjustments have ofsted put in place for Sen parents complaints in your process?

Hi

Ofsted does not have the power to look at individual complaints about SEN because there are other legal ways by which these can be dealt with. However, I have also said that if the concerns being raised by a parent suggest there might be a broader, rather than an individual child issue, then we will consider these carefully.

Charlie

What help will you practically give as an organisation, to a SEN parent in order for them to make a clear broad concern to you? I am sorry if I was not clear, I have SEN myself.

@ClashOfUsernames

What about illegal exclusions where there is no paperwork?

Hello

Inspectors will take a rigorous approach if they find there are examples of illegal exclusion practice. I can recall one instance when this was a substantial concern, not only because they were not following proper processes, but also because it left vulnerable children unsafe. This was a significant part of the evidence towards the school being judged to be inadequate.

Charlie

@howtorebuild

What help will you practically give as an organisation, to a SEN parent in order for them to make a clear broad concern to you? I am sorry if I was not clear, I have SEN myself.

Hello

If you have concerns, then please use the form in my previous link about pursuing a complaint. Ofsted will the be able to look at the information you provided, to see if there is a suggestion of broader issues in the school.

You mentioned that you have special educational needs. You may want to seek assistance from your information advice and support service (previously called the parent partnership). You will find this within the Local offer that I mentioned earlier.

Charlie

@zen1

With the abolishment of the old NC levels, my child's school is now using a system whereby every child is assessed at the beginning of the school year as 'emerging' or 'developing'. My child is performing roughly about 18 months behind their peers, yet with this new assessment, will appear to be on the same 'level' (i.e 'emerging') with their much more able classmates. How is meaningful progress meant to be measured for children with SEN, so that adequate provision can remain in place? Also, could you tell me whether p-scales have also been abolished?

Many thanks

Hello - thanks for your questions.

There will be some important information coming out to parents and schools from the Department for Education at the end of the year, or the beginning of next year. This will be the interim report from a working group that has been set up to give guidance on exactly this topic. The working group includes a parent carer forum representative and headteachers.

If you want to find more information, then you could look at the Department for Education website for the Rochford review.

Charlie

@zen1

Hello

Ofsted very recently carried out a pilot inspection of my LA's implementation of the Children and Families Act 2014. The inspection looked at how agencies are working together to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. As a pilot inspection, there was no formal report. However, Ofsted identified a number of 'strengths', and commented on the 'strong statutory compliant pathway and EHC Plan'.

I find this absolutely flabbergasting and wonder whether they actually look at any of the final plans drawn up by the LA? Following on from GruntledOne's earlier question and comments, I have to conclude that the inspectors can't have received adequate training in SEN law, particularly with regard to the LA having a duty to specify and quantify educational provision, since the only parents I know who have such detailed provision contained within their children's plans are those who have been to SENDisT and fought for it.

I have to say that my child is very well supported in mainstream (with full time 1:1 and weekly therapies). However, at our first AR, the LA tried very hard to reduce this provision, and eventually one of the therapists admitted this was down to cost and not need, so it concerns me greatly that this culture was not identified by Ofsted in the pilot inspection, since the Children and Families act states that

'LA's must have regard to...the need to support the child and his or her parent, or the young person, in order to facilitate the development of the child or young person and to help him or her achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes. (Part 3, para 19 (d))

Hello

Thanks - I cannot comment, I'm afraid, on the outcomes of the recent pilots. As you say, there are not any published reports. These pilots have been carried out to help develop the new inspection process which will begin in May 2016.

These inspections are the subject of the consultation that I mentioned earlier, and again I would encourage Mumsnet users to give their views. The consultation is open until 4 January.

Charlie

@dizzydori

Having problems with a school in London my son used to attend. I have another child still there. My son since leaving the school has been diagnosed as autistic. It was never spotted in primary school as he is high performing quiet child, He was racially bullied by another child 'n' word. The school dealt minimum punishment to the bully and my son was abused again. Because my son is not outwardly emotional the school presumed he was ok. I've appealed to the head, governors and LEA all formally. In fact the one of the headteachers and 2 governors called the racial word used 'a rap term'. I have issued a formal complaint with OFSTED and the Secretary of State. My son was not protected whilst at school and I am concerned . This could happen to another child. It is a greater London school who should know better. My SEN son was not diagnosed whilst at this school or protected, appalling. Where do I go from here?

Hello

I am sorry to read about your experience.

I want to repeat what I said earlier about using the Ofsted guidance about complaints.

Charlie

@sickofsocalledexperts

Hello, I wonder if Ofsted have heard of ABA which I have found is an excellent and evidence-based way of teaching kids with autism (like my beautiful boy) a whole range of skills - from talking to toileting. It seems to me that amateurism and a sort of patronising 'ah bless' attitude reigns in our special school provisions, which is a pretty coverlet over low expectations.

Hello

Yes, I am aware of ABA, along with other specialist approaches. We do not make judgements on the basis of any particular approaches, but seek evidence about how effective they have been.

Charlie

I have to admit I am finding this very frustrating, sorry.

We know about the complaints procedures but many parents still feel they are getting fobbed off.

If ofsted cannot make sen a priority as evidenced by the sheer number of the above posters complaints, who can? Who is holding the schools accountable if not for ofsted? If they got graded down on their handling of sen then perhaps the number of complaints wouldn't exist!

Sorry for a rant. I think I will bow out now.

But just to add, perhaps the number of home educated children who have sen due to schools not meeting their needs should be looked into. Some sen parents home ed through choice but a lot feel they cannot send their children into a school as they will not be adequately catered for.

@2boysnamedR

I wonder who is ultimately accountable in all this? The senco, deputy head and head of my commuter belt rural middle class school know they don't implement a legally binding statement, I complained to the governors who said it's the head job to run the school, I took it to the LA but it's been well over a month and still have no answers. The law doesn't protect these kids. There's just lots of layers and box ticking. Who has the balls and weight to stop this? Ofsted at our school is all about getting back to outstanding level. You can't be outstanding with Sen kids bringing your grades down. Therefore when I as I parent dare to hold people to account I get told to leave. I don't think there is any real reason to abide by the law is there?

Hello

Thanks - you've raised a really important point. When inspectors look at the achievements of a school, they take full account of the age and starting point of individual children and therefore the progress they have made while in the school. In this way, no school is judged negatively for having children with special educational needs. So the way we look at a school's achievement data is particularly important where the school has a designated SEN resource base.

Charlie

@ClashOfUsernames

I have to admit I am finding this very frustrating, sorry.

We know about the complaints procedures but many parents still feel they are getting fobbed off.

If ofsted cannot make sen a priority as evidenced by the sheer number of the above posters complaints, who can? Who is holding the schools accountable if not for ofsted? If they got graded down on their handling of sen then perhaps the number of complaints wouldn't exist!

Sorry for a rant. I think I will bow out now.

Hello

Special educational needs is a priority for inspection, and its importance is threaded throughout the evaluation schedule that guides inspectors on making their judgements. If you want to know more about how we make judgements, you can see our inspection handbook: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-handbook-from-september-2015

Charlie

@enterthedragon

Hi, my questions are simply how do you propose to make local authorities abide by the current legislation when it is blatantly obvious that they are not doing so, and the same applies to schools really?

How are you going to ensure that statements/EHCPs are adhered to (assuming that there are no weasel words to hide behind)?

Have not read the thread, work and a currently stressful homelife due to LEA failures mean I am exhausted and still waiting for an EHCP that we should have had by the end of the last academic year.

Hello

I mentioned earlier the development of new inspection of local areas' responsibility for SEN. These inspections will look carefully at both the quality of EHC plans and the timeliness of these. As part of this, we will seek parents' views and the views of young people.

Charlie

Charlie, hello
I don't think that is always the case. Anecdotally in my local area a lot of the 'outstandfing' schools are known to not handle sen well. It isn't that they have manage the sen children well (and wouldn't entry level data work better when it's a low attaining cohort as one or two sen pupils in a high attaining cohort might get lost in the stats) it's that they discourage parents from placing their children there at all if they have known sen. This is illegal of course but it emphatically does happen. And there is no way for Ofsted to know or track it because the sen children aren't there in the school data because the parent got such a negative reaction from the head that they went somewhere more welcoming. Like I said on my other post, no school that dfoesn"'T try to meet the needs of as many of the local children as it possibly can should ever be outstanding.

@bialystockandbloom

Hello Mr Henry. You are brave coming here! I hope this will be useful for us, and you

This is all interesting.

My question is related to mainstream school, and I'm actually echoing the very good question inappropriatelyemployed asked earlier:

Why does Ofsted sideline rather than mainstream SEN issues? It frequently talks of 'SEN specialists'. If Ofsted expects all teachers to be 'teachers of SEN', why aren't all it's inspectors 'inspectors of SEN'?

Please could you explain how the inspection works? Does each Ofsted inspection of mainstream school include separate, or integral analysis of SEN provision? And how is provision analysed? Is the type and quality of support evaluated? Whether schools are providing what is specified in a Statement/EHCP? How does all this count towards the general Ofsted rating of a mainstream school?

The last inspection of my son's school (mainstream primary, he has ASD and a statement), gave it a Good rating. The report had barely a mention of SEN provision (despite it having a larger proportion than normal of SEN pupils of varying nature). This school has not implemented my son's statement for a year. He has not had an IEP for two years. I wonder whether such statistics are ever part of the Ofsted inspector's analysis of a school?

I would hope, frankly, that thorough SEN inspection would be an integral part of every single Ofsted inspector's remit. But I suppose that's like hoping that satisfactory training, awareness and understanding of SN is part of a class teacher's remit, isn't it

Hello

Firstly, about inspectors - all inspectors have received training about inspecting special educational needs. Again, as I mentioned earlier, this topic is included throughout all of the judgements that they make. There is a specific requirement for them to report on the achievements of pupils with special educational needs.

If the school has a designated resource base, for example for deaf children, then there should be clear reporting on this provision in the inspection report.

Charlie

Exactly the school that permanently excluded one of my sons now tells prospective parents they are not the best place for a child with SEN. True, but hardly a good attitude. It now means all the children with an ASD end up at the other primary in town which is overloaded as a consequence.

@Squashybanana

Charlie, hello I don't think that is always the case. Anecdotally in my local area a lot of the 'outstandfing' schools are known to not handle sen well. It isn't that they have manage the sen children well (and wouldn't entry level data work better when it's a low attaining cohort as one or two sen pupils in a high attaining cohort might get lost in the stats) it's that they discourage parents from placing their children there at all if they have known sen. This is illegal of course but it emphatically does happen. And there is no way for Ofsted to know or track it because the sen children aren't there in the school data because the parent got such a negative reaction from the head that they went somewhere more welcoming. Like I said on my other post, no school that dfoesn"'T try to meet the needs of as many of the local children as it possibly can should ever be outstanding.

Hello

As you say, it would clearly be wrong for schools to adopt this approach. The new local area inspections should more easily be able to spot such a pattern. One of the really important parts of the new inspection is to gather as wide a cross section as possible of parents' views and if the practice that you describe occurs, then I would expect it to come from these parents' views.

As part of this inspection, the inspection team will be looking for any differences in the published SEN identification rate for different schools. Again, this may provide evidence if your concern is found.

Charlie

I guess what it boils down to, is that there are a lot of sen parents here who have issues with the way a school is measured by Ofsted to be outstanding. Either we are all coincidentally wrong, or something in ofsted's measures are. I hope you will hear this :)

Charlie I don't think it would show, because the parents are not there, they left and took their sen children elsewhere :)

@wannabestressfree

Hello Mr Henry

I won't be able to join the web chat as I will be teaching and the school we are currently 'helping' has HMI in today :/
My question is more a statement. Please can we do something more for teens with mental health problems: I have vast experience of this both as a parent and teacher. Too many are falling through the net and pushing families to the brink. I want to help, I have ideas...... We need to do something.

Hello

The new code of practice has changed the descriptions of the main types of special educational needs and now specifically mentions mental health. This is very helpful.

When inspectors discuss with the local area about how they are meeting the area's needs, then the topic of mental health provision will be raised.

Charlie

@Squashybanana

Charlie I don't think it would show, because the parents are not there, they left and took their sen children elsewhere :)

Hello

I am sorry, I don't think I was clear enough in my earlier reply. When we come to inspect the whole area, then parents will be able to give their views about what they found from the whole area, and not just from the school which their child attends. So, if a number of parents in an area raise the concern that you have voiced, it will provide the evidence for inspectors to dig deeper.

Charlie

My time is now up - I'd like to thank you for your comments and questions. I do expect that the new inspections, from May 2016, will over time improve special educational needs provision.

Thanks again.

Charlie

Thanks very much for coming in Charlie I appreciate the opportunity to speak to someone influential, you were very brave.
!

Thank you for the information and answering questions.