When we say ‘we’ in this document, we mean ‘The London Borough of Bexley’ - your local Council.

This plan is about how we will support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is when somebody may:

• need extra help to learn
• have a disability that makes it hard to go to school
• find it harder to learn than other people their age

This plan says what we want to do better to help children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

There are lots of laws about how we support children and young people.

Our big plan will help us to follow the laws

This plan is for all children and young people in Bexley who:

• Are 0-25 years old
• Have SEN Support
• Or have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a plan for a child or young person who needs extra help with education, health or other support

We spoke to lots of children and young people from Bexley and we have used their ideas to write our big plan

We will work with lots of people to help us with our plan:

This will include working with:

• Schools
• Health staff
• Social services

When we work on our plan, we will make sure that:

• Children and young people with SEND have the support that they need
• We talk to children and young people and use their ideas to make things better
• We include everybody in our work

A vision is what we want the future to look like

Our vision is that children and young people with SEND get the right support to reach their goals

There are 3 things we will do to make this happen. These 3 things are called our priorities

Priorities mean that these are the things we think are important to work on first

We will make sure that children and young people with SEND:

1. Get the right support at the right time
2. Have good support and services to live a good life as an adult
3. Are supported by staff with good skills who work well together

• that you want help to plan support more quickly
• you want good plans that are based on what you like and the skills you have
• you want staff to work together to help you think about your support and your future

Make sure that staff know how to tell if children need extra help when they are young

Train staff so that they have good skills to support children and young people with SEND

Make it easier to get good support and an EHCP

We will do this by making sure that staff talk more and share the information they have

Make sure that children and young people have good information to make choices about their life

Make sure that we listen to the views of children and young people when we make plans about their support

Work together on funding for services and support

Make sure we work with children, young people and families in all our work and use things they tell us to make services better

More children and young people:

• Will get help earlier so that they do not need an EHCP
• Can go to mainstream school if they have an EHCP
• Have a good EHCP which is checked regularly

• you want it to be quicker and easier to get the support you need even if you do not have an EHCP
• it is important that your support helps you as a child and when you become an adult

Give support to young people before they become adults.

We want this to start from Year 9 at school

Give people more accessible information about their education and support as they grow up to help them choose what is right for them

Make sure that young people have choices about growing us

For example:

• where they live
• the support they get
• the things they will do

Help more people do a Supported Internship.

A Supported Internship is training to help people learn new skills to get a job.

Support young people to have good friendships and relationships

Help young people to get the skills and confidence they need to be part of their local community

Make sure that young people have good information and support to help them be healthy

More children and young people with SEND will:

• Tell us they are more healthy and have a good life
• Stay in school
• Achieve what they want to at school
• Get a job or do a Supported Internship
• Live independently when they are adults

• It is important that services have the things they need to give you good support
• It is important that staff in services to work together

Make sure that we have good information about who needs support to help us plan services

Keep making joint plans about services with education, health and social care teams

Make sure there is good education for young people who cannot go to school

Write a plan to make sure we have enough staff to run services

Make sure our staff have the right skills to support children and young people with SEND

Make sure that staff have information about what services and support children and young people can get

Make sure that staff have good training and enjoy their job so that they stay in their job for longer

• Staff will stay in their jobs for longer
• We will have less job vacancies
• Our staff tell us that they enjoy their job

We will keep talking to children and young people with SEND to hear their views

We will use what people tell us to make services and support better

We will write a plan about the work we will do every year to help us achieve this big plan

This plan will be talked about every 3 months by the SEND Improvement Board

The SEND Improvement Board is a group of people who are working to make things better for everyone with SEND

Thank you for your time.