Category: National Impact

  • Dingley’s Promise SEND Review Response

    Dingley’s Promise SEND Review Response

    Dingley’s Promise Response to the SEND Review –  

    Government consultation on the SEND and alternative provision system in England, March 2022

    Dingley’s Promise welcomes the much-anticipated SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) Review Green Paper and its commitment to bringing about major change in the current SEND system – a system that as the paper states, is currently failing to deliver improved outcomes for children and young people, is seeing the decline of both parental and provider confidence and is financially unsustainable.  

    Overall, there is an encouraging amount of focus on the early years, both in this paper and also in the Schools White Paper. Research from this paper shows that ‘high-quality early years provision for children significantly decreased the likelihood of a child being identified with SEN (Special Educational Needs) in later years.’ Stressing the important of early interventions to ensure the best long-term outcomes for children – and yet the early years remains hugely underfunded in comparison to the rest of the education system. MP Steve Brine called for early years professionals’ pay to match reception teachers’ pay in a recent debate in parliament. We would like to see more discussion around committing greater resources to the early years as much of the core investment described in the paper starts from the primary stage, with the exception of investment in training and CPD. 

    The paper recognises that the process is currently adversarial and parents fear being blamed for the needs their children have. Certainly, at Dingley’s Promise we have experienced parents being initially advised that they need parenting courses, rather than being listened to and trusted to know their children. This immediately tests the relationship between parents and professionals when they feel their voices are not being heard and their parenting skills are being challenged. The focus on the new plan on family hubs is therefore a positive one, which will hopefully establish a system of information and support around families. However, care must be taken to engage and really listen to family’s needs in this environment rather than purely imparting training. The commitment to having parents on local multi agency panels is welcomed, as in some areas this is still not commonplace, but to be effective this must include a diverse range of families and that their inputs being valued and acted upon.  

    The key area of concern remains around funding of the SEND system, new research released by the Early Years Alliance that showed 92% of early years settings have had to fund the cost of supporting children with SEND themselves – with 53% doing that on a regular basis. 28% of settings have declined a place for a child with SEND, and 14% expect the number of places for children with SEND to fall because they lack the funding to provide the right support. Dingley’s Promise have raised the issue of funding for early years send at the All Party Parliamentary Group for Childcare and Early Education, and we hope that the plans to simplify the SEND system and access to funding across the country will go some way to addressing this issue. The green paper states that there is recognition that early years’ settings are heavily impacted by local funding decisions, which they often feel they have minimal influence over.

    There will also be analysis of the use of inclusion funding in the early years addressing its ability to enable settings to provide the right support. The statistics above would certainly suggest that this in not working. Settings report specific difficulties where children are too young to access funding or are only able to access 15 hours of support when their entitlement is for 30 hours. If we do not resolve the funding issues for children with SEND in the early years, it will continue to drain the early years sector of funds at a time when it is already struggling. 

    We welcome the green paper’s plan for a simplified, standardised EHCP process that is digital and can travel across local authority boundaries. While only a small number of the total EHCPs in the country are in the early years, this will simplify the process for settings who often struggle with the administrative demands on this process. In turn, this will hopefully lead to more capacity in those settings to accept children with SEND who want to attend. It will also greatly help families who are either living on a border, or who need to move local authority area during the early years or at transition time. 

    The focus on increasing training in the early years for working effectively with children with SEND is much needed, but it should consider ensuring that every practitioner has an understanding of working inclusively with children with SEND, not purely focusing on a Level 3 qualified SENCO. Parents have expressed concerns about the impacts of only one person in a setting holding all the SEND expertise. For system-wide change, we recommend an approach that looks at raising the base knowledge levels of all practitioners around SEND, and ultimately this means that the standard Level 3 qualification should have a greater focus on this type of content. 

    Inclusion dashboards and local inclusion plans are in line with all the work we have done through the Early Years SEND Partnership, which suggests that to give children in the early years the best start and the best transitions to primary school, we must track key local data and really understand how inclusive we are. We look forward to sharing our learning on this through the consultation, and helping to shape what these dashboards look like, so that parents and professionals alike have a clear picture of what is working and what is not locally. We are committed to ensuring that every child who would benefit from accessing the mainstream in the early years has the opportunity to do so with the right support, however we must ensure that the mainstream is effectively trained, funded, and guided to support them effectively. Only once this investment is made will parents consider that mainstream education is a viable route for their child. 

    Taking into consideration the suggestions for changes to the current system, a few areas stand out across the age groups as needing more detail and consultation: 

    • Introduction of mandatory mediation. First impressions suggest this means an extra layer of bureaucracy for families rather than streamlining the current system. At worst, it could lead to exhausted parents being unable to go through another draining part of the process and not getting the right support for their children.
    • Lists of available schools tailored to parents. Rather than make the process simpler for families, this could mean that they have reduced choice and are discouraged from applying to settings not on the approved list. The reasons for adding settings to the approved list must also be very carefully assessed and completely transparent so that parents trust they are still going to get the best setting for their child. In addition, there needs to be careful planning on how to ensure decisions are not diagnosis-led but are tailored to each individual child and their specific needs and situation. The report states that there must be ‘flexibility’ in all of this, but careful planning and monitoring is needed to ensure clarity and accountability with this process, putting families at the heart of decision making.

     

    In conclusion, the Government green paper gives hope for real change to the current SEND system and reinforces the key role of the early years in achieving the best life outcomes for children with SEND.  

    For children with SEND in the early years to get the best experiences of early education and have the best chance of accessing the right provision, there must be significant improvements in resourcing and funding systems. Only with this level of investment will settings be able to offer the high-quality early intervention, support and transitions needed. We hope that this area is fully addressed over the coming months and years.  

    Standardised SEND systems have the potential to reduce issues across local authority borders and between various stages of the education system – issues that have especially affected the success of early years transitions to school, but these must be carefully developed, placing family’s needs at the centre of all planning. 

    Dingley’s Promise will strive to gather the views of families to feed into the consultation and ensure that the final document is fully reflective of needs and concerns on the ground. For any of this to make a real change, it is parents who must feel that it is transparent, and trust that the system is working in the best interests of their children. Without that trust, the fundamental issues the system is grappling with now cannot be resolved, and children and families will continue to have to endure exhausting processes to access their legal entitlements. 

     

    Read the full report here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063620/SEND_review_right_support_right_place_right_time_accessible.pdf  

     

     

  • Dingley’s Promise CEO calls for increased funding at APPG

    Dingley’s Promise CEO calls for increased funding at APPG

    Dingley’s Promise CEO calls for increased funding for Early Years Sector at All Party Parliamentary Group Meeting.

    Catherine McLeod MBE, Chief Executive of Dingley’s Promise, was a key speaker at the latest meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Childcare and Early Years Education, which called for the Government to use the Spending Review to address shortages in early years funding. 

     

     

    Catherine spoke about the stark reality of the lack of easily accessible funding in the mainstream for providing support to children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) across the Early Years Sector. Shockingly, 81% of settings report having to fund SEND costs themselves, with 49% doing so on a regular basis (EYA, 2020). With the cost of specialist primary school places being almost six times as expensive as mainstream places, the long term costs of not giving children the right early intervention in the early years is not only damaging to the child, but also builds more expensive cost liabilities in the primary school system. 

     

     

    The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have exacerbated existing issues within the sector. Social isolation and delayed access to services have been the most extreme for children in the early years (Disabled Children’s Partnership, 2021) meaning that this group are more in need than ever before. Vital early intervention cannot be provided to all the children that need it unless settings receive sufficient funding. Without that, settings are left in the impossible situation of having to choose between the sustainability of their business and inclusion of children with SEND.  

    The group, chaired by Steve Brine MP, have collectively called for increased funding for the Early Years Sector as a whole, asking the Government for almost £3000 per child to address funding shortages. Within this ask, there is a call to effectively fund support for children with SEND in mainstream settings to take this extra cost pressure off the sector. 

    To read the full press release, click here: https://connectpa.co.uk/early-years-catch-up-premium-needed/  

    Dingley’s Promise is a proud member of the APPG, representing the needs of children with SEND in the early years alongside key national partners. This shows that even though we are still a small, local charity, we can have a large impact on increasing inclusion in the Early Years Sector on a national scale. Our role within the group is to ensure that the voices of children with SEND, and their families, are not forgotten or left out of national conversations about future policy.  

    To hear Catherine’s full speech, watch the video (Catherine’s speech takes place from the 19th to the 26th minute): APPG for Childcare and Early Education – Early Years and Spending Review 

     

     

    To learn more about the positive difference Dingley’s Promise is making on a national level, visit our UK Impact webpage. 

     

  • Dingley’s Promise sponsors APPG on Childcare and Early Education

    Dingley’s Promise sponsors APPG on Childcare and Early Education

    Dingley’s Promise has become a sponsor of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Childcare and the Early Education in order to ensure that the national conversation about the value of the early years sector includes the voice of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their families. In the wake of the pandemic, the vital importance of the early years has never been more clear. In recent months calls have increased for greater investment in the earliest years, and just last month the Government launched their new early years review, led by The Rt. Hon. Andrea Leadsom MP. ‘ The best start for life: a vision for the 1,001 critical days‘ outlines the importance of giving every child the best start in life to minimise inequalities, and is in line with increasing calls for greater focus on the earliest years.

    The charity runs specialist early years settings in Berkshire and a national training and consultancy programme, focused on transforming the early years for children with SEND. As a member of the Disabled Children’s Partnership and a delivery partner in the Department for Education-funded Early Years SEND Partnership, Dingley’s Promise has been increasingly involved in bringing about change. The charity has worked to raise awareness among MPs of the need for excellent early interventions for children with SEND, therefore when given the opportunity to join the APPG it was a logical next step.

    The APPG on Childcare and the Early Education is Chaired by the Member of Parliament for Winchester, Steve Brine MP, who is passionate about the early years agenda in particular child development in the first 1001 days and the quality of the settings in which they receive early education. The group’s other sponsors include The Early Years Alliance, the National Day Nurseries Association, the Montessori Group, CACHE, The Foundations Stage Forum and Tops Day Nurseries.

    Chief Executive of Dingley’s Promise Catherine McLeod MBE said: ‘We are thrilled to have been accepted so warmly by Steve and welcomed by the other sponsors, reflecting the recognition that an early years conversation cannot be complete without consideration of how to be inclusive of children with SEND. We are committed to raising awareness nationally and among parliamentarians of the lack of sufficient early years provision for children with SEND throughout the country, and we hope to see real progress on this in the coming year.’

    The first APPG meeting of this financial year will be held virtually on 27th April on the topic of ‘Parent Perspectives on Early Education’, with the Chair presenting the results of the survey carried out in Childcare and Early Education week. Practitioners and families are invited to attend the session and should contact Connect PA, the APPG’s Secretariat, [email protected] to secure their place.

  • CEO’s Blog: Learning from lockdown

     

     

    What can we learn from lockdown about how to best support children with SEND in the early years?

     

    Lockdown has been hard for everyone – but particularly for children with SEND and their families. Research from the Council for Disabled Children highlights how the early years sector is concerned about transitioning children back to settings, as well as transitioning them on to school in light of the long absence from settings. The research also raises concerns about the social and emotional impact of lockdown for children, and an increase in challenging behaviour as children struggle to cope with changes to routine and the loss of usual social interactions.

     

    As children started returning to our Centres in June, we were surprised to find that few of them had difficulty in returning and in a relatively short time they had all resettled well. Once settled, we focused on working with them and their families to understand what the impact of lockdown had been on them and their learning. What we found was that in general, the higher the needs of the child, the more they had fallen behind, which leaves us with concerns about those children who are still self-isolating with their families and are clinically vulnerable. For children with higher needs that experience a longer period of absence, the return to settings is likely to be more challenging.

     

    For those children, we have put in place a plan to focus on the therapy they have missed while in lockdown when they return in September. Our teams have identified activities and strategies for each child who had a Physiotherapy, Speech & Language, and Occupational Therapy Plan to ensure they can access as much professional therapy as possible. In addition, we have started planning activities for each of them that will complement that therapy whilst in the setting. We are also continuing to support children and families remotely through the summer holidays and are doing our best to ensure that they have a sense of belonging, structure and continuity in their lives.

     

    Specifically, the key learning areas that we discovered to have suffered the most during lockdown, among all of our children, are ‘health and self care’, and ‘listening and attention’. In order to help the whole cohort of children, we have planned a range of activities linked to these skills for all the children in our Centres in September so that we can contribute to recovering lost progress in these areas.

     

    Of course, all of this will be done very carefully so that children are not overwhelmed, and we are aware that it is unlikely children will fully catch up to where they would have been had lockdown not happened.

     

    More surprisingly though, we also found that some children had thrived during lockdown. The lack of pressure to conform to daily routine, the familiar surroundings and faces of home, and parents with much more time to support them, has meant that for some children lockdown has been a gift and they have developed fast. Our research showed that for 40% of our families, learning and communication actually improved for their children during lockdown.

     

    As education providers, we must pause and think about what all of this means. It gives us the opportunity to restart our settings with a greater understanding of what helps children thrive, with the recognition that all children are unique. It is so important for all of us to consider which strategies used in lockdown will continue to be important in the future – and certainly for Dingley’s Promise this will mean more remote support that enables us to support and empower families more than ever before.

     

    – Catherine McLeod MBE, CEO of Dingley’s Promise

     

     

    If you would like to support our recovery programme for children with SEND, please donate to our project on the Good Exchange. 

     

    If you donate via The Good Exchange this Friday, the 24th of July, your donation will be trebled by the Greenham Trust as part of Double Matched Funding Day. 

     

    Learn more and donate here: https://app.thegoodexchange.com/project/18286

  • 30 hour childcare entitlement – Dingley’s Promise lobbies central government

    Last week, the Chief Executive of Dingley’s Promise, Catherine McLeod MBE lobbied members of Parliament on the accessibility of the 30 hours provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

    Recent statistics released by the Department for Education show that children with SEND are less likely to access their entitlements in the early years compared to their mainstream peers.

    Only 6.3% of 3 and 4 year olds accessing their 15 hours entitlement have SEND

    Only 2.6% of 3 and 4 year olds accessing their 30 hours entitlement have SEND

    Our research undertaken in 2017 identified a training and development need in settings in order to increase their capacity for children with SEND.  68% of settings felt they needed more support and advice, whilst 63% felt they needed better training in order to take more children with SEND.

    Our own research with families found only 4% are taking up the new 30 hour offer for their child, whilst a whopping 45% still weren’t sure if they were entitled.

    Catherine McLeod MBE attended the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Families in the Early Years campaign day.  Catherine met with Richard Benyon; MP for West Berkshire to discuss the issue, gaining his commitment to raise this with the Minister.  She also spoke with Tulip Siddiq; the Chair of the APPG on Childcare and Early Education, and Tracy Brabin MP; the Shadow Minister for Early Years, both of whom were very interested in the latest research findings, and strategies for ensuring every child is included.  After the event, Catherine also met with Windsor and Maidenhead MP Adam Afriyie in his offices to raise awareness about the same issues.

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    Our recommendations to MPs include a duty on Local Authorities to ensure SEND early years sufficiency, increased training and support for early year’s settings and further support for families to help them understand and access their entitlements.

    Catherine McLeod MBE said “It was heartening to see so many MPs attending the lobbying day, and I do believe there is a strong will to ensure inclusion for all children in the early years.  However, in order to achieve this, there needs to be a clear focus on enabling children with SEND to access their entitlements, using direct actions and support for both settings and families.  Without this, the gap between children with SEND and other children will continue to grow and the life chances of children with SEND will continue to be limited for many.  We cannot let this happen in our society and must take a stand now to ensure equity for all of our children.”