SEND Update May 2025

Welcome to the May 2025 SEND Noticeboard! Find updates on the Ordinarily Available Guidance and Stories of Implementation. Book now for the June SENCo Briefings—topics include the Engagement Model, funding updates, and Delivering Better Value insights.

This update includes:

Please book onto the Summer 25 SENCo Briefings

The Summer term SENCo briefings are planned for the second week after May half term. These 90-minute sessions will be hosted through MS Teams and will have a two-item agenda as follows:

  1. Understanding the Engagement Model: As the level of complexity of needs increases in schools, more children are being assessed as not being ready for subject specific learning. The engagement model was introduced in 2020 when the requirement to report on P1-4 was removed.  This session will focus on sharing key messages from the engagement model guidance to support a consistent understanding, as well as addressing some of the myths.

  2. Funding: Dr Pauline Bromfield will be sharing updates from the Delivering Better Value Workstream Two that is  focusing on reviewing funding arrangements, looking at baseline modelling and considering funding option models. The session will also look at trends from the recent spend analysis, looking at the barriers being highlighted and consider potential solutions.

Dates for Network briefings: 

The agenda items and city-wide content of each briefing will be the same. Please choose the date and time which is best for you and follow the link to book onto one of these sessions.

OAG stories of implementation from schools

We are really pleased to be able to share at last a number of ‘Stories of Implementation’ from schools who have been using the OAG as part of an action research project over the last twelve months. These ‘Stories’ showcase what they did, how they did it and celebrates the impact this has had on their provision and practice.

The schools who have been involved in testing the OAG through using it have focused on projects looking at the ‘Graduated Approach’ and ‘Co-produced & Family centred’, as some of the principles of inclusive practice in OAG Section One. Other schools have focused on using the OAG Section Two strategies to support staff when working with learners with autism or cognition and learning needs.

Please download read their stories using the link below and look at these in your local SENCo groups – they will offer genuine support, ideas and creative thinking to support your own use of the OAG.

What's happening with Ordinarily Available Guidance?

Lots of work is happening around the OAG, both within schools and settings and across the wider partnership, and it is great to hear how this is being used by schools to support their SEND provision and practice. It is interesting to see how different groups are accessing certain elements i.e. school leaders and SENCos looking more at the inclusive principles in Section One, with teachers and support staff looking more at the teaching and learning strategies in Section Two.

There are some significant pieces of work happening as part of ongoing development, as well as other pieces being planned in order to further embed the OAG across schools and settings. We have identified these below with an overview of each piece of work that is being co-produced across the local Area Partnership – do please get in touch if you are interested in being part of any of this work next term.

Revision of School Age OAG  Reviewing the content of OAG and revising this based on feedback from schools and settings. This will include one-off focus groups looking at the Section Two learning behaviours and strategies to support for each area of SEND – further details to follow in the next SENCo NB if you would like to take part! 
Development of Section One  Taking the 10 principles of inclusive practice and confirming the shared expectation, with further information and links to resources for all ages –  please see the headline further on in the SENCo NB around 'Co-produced and family centred’. 
Early Years OAG  The Draft version for this has been completed and is being shared across the EYS sector after half term, with action research projects happening to test this during the Autumn term 25 - please see the headline further on in the SENCo NB around getting involved, especially reception and nursery classes in primary schools along with the rest of the EYS sector. 
Post-16 OAG  A working group has been established with reps from across the sector and work is taking place this term to develop the Post 16 version. 
Online OAG  Work is progressing around publishing the updated and revised OAG for EYS, School-age and Post 16 on the Local offer. This will be interactive and enable schools and settings to access this in more manageable chunks, and will include links to resources and videos that showcase good practice from across Birmingham. 
Using the OAG with parents  A parent reference group has been established to work on a number of aspects, such as: the development of 2-page overviews of each of the 10 inclusive principles, identifying what this means and what it might look like in practice; co-producing a short summary version explaining what the OAG is; Section Two strategies to support parents around the different areas of SEND. In addition, we are talking to a number of schools around developing Parent OAG Champions, as well as the action research that has taken place with schools around developing a shared understanding between schools and families of what is ordinarily available.

Calling all EYS practitioners - Have you seen the draft OAG for EYS?

We have shared previously that following our work with the Council for Disabled Children, a draft version of Birmingham’s EYs Ordinarily Available Guidance has been developed. We are really grateful to all of the sector representatives who joined the working groups to achieve this. There will soon be the opportunity to attend an online session where this document will be shared. Sessions will take place in June and further information will follow shortly. We will be offering several dates and times in the hope that SENCOs, early years teachers and practitioners across the whole sector will be able to attend one of these.

In the Autumn term we will be commencing a period of action research to test the draft. It is really important that the document is piloted in all types of early years provision, so will be seeking representatives from childminders, PVI group settings, nursery schools and both nursery and reception classes within Primary Schools.

If you are interested in finding out more about this please ensure that you attend an online session or contact Karen Jones karen.a.jones@birmingham.gov.uk for further information.

Feedback from the survey into how schools are using the OAG

Thank you to those schools who have completed the survey around using the OAG in their school; the feedback around how different staff have used the OAG, what’s worked well and challenges has been extremely useful and was shared with Heads and other partners at the DBV Workstream One meeting on the 8th May - Using the OAG: Feedback Slide Deck.

Feedback from the survey will be used to inform the school age revision of the OAG, as well as shape the online interactive version of the OAG to be launched April 2026. With this in mind, it is important that your views have been heard in order to inform future developments, so if you would like to share your views, comments and ideas then please do us using this link - Using the Ordinarily Available Guidance Survey

Ordinarily Available Guidance – Co-Produced & Family Centred Workgroup 

We’re looking for a small number of schools who have an established parent carer group, to work with us to help shape the ‘Co-produced and family-centred’ inclusive practice principle in Section One of the OAG.

We’d love to work with you and your parent carer group to:

  • Review the current draft of the Co-Produced & Family-Centred section of the OAG, helping ensure it reflects real practice and supports strong, practical partnerships between schools and families across Birmingham.

  • Share examples of what’s working well in your setting, the challenges you face, and how you’ve overcome them.

  • Help us develop the guidance further—including co-designing parent carer-friendly OAG Information Leaflets.

We’re looking for schools that:

  • Already have an established parent group in place.

  • Want to ensure the guidance works in practice, not just on paper.

  • Are keen to work in partnership with their parent carer group and the Local Authority on a focused, practical, and genuinely co-produced piece of work.

If this sounds like something you and your parent carers could contribute to, then please get in touch with David Hill David.w.hill@birmingham.gov.uk by Friday 6th June for further information and/or to register your interest.

Delivering Better Value Workstream Two - Funding update 

The workstream is focused on high needs funding for pupils with EHC plans and pupils receiving funding for SEN Support Provision Plans.

We are completing the analysis on the spend questionnaire returns received from mainstream schools, resource bases and special school in the Spring term. We are now moving into the options development phase of the workstream where through two task and finish groups with headteacher representation there will be consideration and recommendations of different options of future funding frameworks for pupils with EHC Plans including pre-statutory funding for pupils on SEN Support.

Thank you for the response to the SENCO survey that was received last term on SEN Support Provision Plans. We are currently analysing the data and this will feed into the task and finish groups.

Pauline Bromfield, Head of Service-Educational Psychology, the senior lead for DBV Workstream Two will be attending the SENCO network events next half term to give more information on the developments within the workstream, and to invite discussion regarding future solutions.

Calling all Secondary SENCos – exciting opportunity around the 'Autism & Me' project 

The Communication and Autism Team (CAT) are offering an exciting opportunity for Birmingham secondary schools to work collaboratively as part of the Autism in Schools Project for prospective Autism & Me Ambassadors.

As part of the Autism in Schools Project, the Communication and Autism Team have developed ‘Autism & Me’, a programme to support children and young people with a diagnosis of autism to develop a positive autistic identity.

We are inviting schools to identify a member of staff within their setting to work alongside our service and Birmingham Parent Carer Forum to receive training and support to deliver Autism & Me within your setting.

For further information, please see the Autismn and Me Ambassador Flyer, or contact cat@birmingham.gov.uk to express an interest.

Call for Evidence - The Autism Act 2009 Committee in the House of Lords 

The House of Lords Committee on the Autism Act 2009 has shared a Call for Evidence inviting written contributions to its inquiry.

The Committee wants to understand how well the Autism Act, the Government’s autism strategy and the statutory guidance are working so that it can make specific, practical recommendations about what the Government should do next.

The committee is seeking evidence on key questions about how to improve support for autistic people, including: 

  • How can public understanding and acceptance of autistic people be improved?

  • How can the Government improve assessment, diagnosis and post-diagnostic support?

  • How can the Government improve the identification and support of autistic people when they need it (including if they do not have a diagnosis)?

  • How can access to healthcare be improved?

  • How can community support be improved?

  • How can access to education be improved?

  • How can support for autistic people to find and stay in work be improved?

  • How can support for autistic people who are in contact with the criminal and youth justice systems be improved?

The Birmingham Autism and ADHD Partnership Board are compiling evidence to put forward a submission for the Call for Evidence - The Autism Act 2009 Committee in the House of Lords. We are keen to include lived experience voices, parent carer voices and professional voices in our evidence submission.

You can share your thoughts, professional experience and lived experience by completing the following survey: https://forms.office.com/e/amnS94Te7C.

The form has 7 sections:

  • Public understanding and acceptance

  • Assessment, diagnosis and post-diagnostic support

  • Healthcare

  • Community support and inpatient care

  • Education and transitions to adulthood

  • Employment

  • Criminal and youth justice

You don't have to complete every section or answer every question - please focus on the section(s) and question(s) relevant to your specific knowledge and/or lived experience. You can leave the sections/questions you do not wish to answer blank.

Any personal details you share in your responses will be anonymised for the report, as once shared with the Committee, the report will be published on the government website.

 Please share your responses using the link by 6pm on Monday 19th May.

We appreciate it is a short timeframe for responses – this is to ensure we have time to draft and review the report before the Committee deadline of 2nd June.

For further information or clarification please contact Rachel Sadler rachel.sadler@birmingham.gov.uk.

Working together with SaLT

Working Together Agreement

A Working Together Agreement has been coproduced by NHS SaLT and education colleagues, to outline expectations from SaLT and school to facilitate collaborative working. It will be rolled out for use at the start of the autumn term 2025. Please give us your feedback -https://forms.office.com/e/RdcV3F50qa 

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) Together Course

NHS SaLT and Pupil and School Support are working together to pilot a face to face DLD Together parent/carer course at Ninestiles secondary school, for parents/carers of children with a DLD diagnoses in the Summit Learning Trust secondary schools. DLD Together gives parents/carers the opportunity to learn about DLD, what a DLD diagnosis means for their child, and to connect with other parents/carers of children with DLD. Watch this space for updates around future DLD Together courses!

SaLT Attended the SENCO Consortia Leads Meeting

SaLT School Age Coordinators (SACOs) attended the SENCO consortia leads meeting at the start of the summer term. It was great to hear that Link SaLTs are continuing to work collaboratively with schools to support children with speech, language and communication needs. SENCOs shared that Link SaLTs in school are making a big difference and that they like the range of support offered, such as SaLTs working with parents, delivering training, and working directly with pupils both in and out of classrooms. SENCOs shared that they feel capacity within the SaLT service remains limited and that schools feel the impact when they have a gap in Link SaLT allocation. SENCOs offered suggestions around ways of working, which will support the SaLT service when planning for next year, such as offering Link SaLT time in blocks e.g. Link SaLT visiting school weekly for 4 weeks rather than spreading 4 visits across a term. The SaLT service will be sending a survey out to all school SENCOs this term for further feedback.

SaLT Support for EHCPs

Link SaLTs are often asked questions about NHS SaLT involvement in EHCPs.

The responsibility for delivering provision in a child’s EHCP lies with the Local Authority and/or school. NHS SaLT is not commissioned to deliver SaLT provision outlined in section F of EHCPs. However, a lot of the support Link SaLTs provide in collaboration with the school within the Balanced System model supports children to meet outcomes in their EHCP.

The NHS SaLT service is commissioned to provide assessment and advice to contribute to EHC Needs Assessment Requests when children are known to the SaLT service. The SaLT service will recommend provision based on the child’s needs, not the level of provision that the service can provide. Capacity to complete assessment and advice is part of the school’s allocated Link SaLT time.

Please contact bchnt.childrens.slt@nhs.net for support or further information

Updates from the SEND Locality OT team 

Welcome to our SEND Occupational Therapy Newsletter

Our SEND Occupational Therapists and Senior Therapy Assistants deliver FREE universal and targeted support to private, independent, voluntary (PVI) settings, local authority (LA) nursery schools and mainstream schools in Birmingham.

We have a variety of training available; we cover topics around feeding, sensory, activities of daily living and motor skills. We provide family webinars, online training and face to face training for mainstream settings.

If you would like to attend our FREE webinars, please scan the QR code (you can also find this in our newsletters).

ot qr code

If you would like to book any SENCo advice meetings or sign up to any of our face-to-face training (FunMoves, Sensory Circuits, Fun with Food, Ready Steady Reception, OT Champs) please email us at bchc.sendtherapy@nhs.net.

Please view our SEND OT Newsletters below:

SEND OT support at parent coffee mornings!

Invite us to your coffee mornings! We are a team of Occupational Therapists who can discuss with families our SEND therapy offer through face to face and online training.

We can support with advice and strategies around topics such as dressing, toileting, sleep, sensory, feeding and eating. We are able to signpost to helpful resources and organisations.

Please get in touch if you are interested in setting up a coffee morning or if you have one booked, and you would like us to attend. All our support if FREE to mainstream schools.

bchc.sendtherapy@nhs.net.

Ready, Steady, Reception Groups – free training and support from OT

We can support you to set up a ‘Ready, Steady, Reception Group’ in your setting/school. One of our senior therapy assistants who are dual trained in Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy will come and support you with these groups.

The first introduction session is online, with the other 5 sessions in your setting/school working on communication, feeding, toileting, dressing and prewriting skills.

You will be supported to use our skills checklist to identify appropriate children for this group.

All of our training and support is FREE and does not require a referral into our service to support you. We are passionate about upskilling the workforce in Birmingham so please get in touch to enquire: bchc.sendtherapy@nhs.net.

Please see the Ready, Steady, Recpetion Poster for more information.

Training events coming up

Pupil and School Support

Writing Person Centred Outcomes

Due to overwhelming demand last term, and continued interest, Pupil and School Support are offering three further opportunities to attend the free training session focused on writing ambitious person-centred outcomes based on the child or young person’s needs and aspirations. 

Well-written, person-centred outcomes are an essential part of ensuring that everyone can contribute to plans that reflect the strengths, needs, and aspirations of children and young people with SEND. 

By attending this training, you will explore how the writing of good outcomes is reliant on the quality of the conversation with children and young people and their parents/carers. You will learn how to use this approach within a family context so that professionals and local authorities can ensure that children, young people and parents are involved in all aspects of planning and decision-making.

For more information, please contact david.w.hill@birmingham.gov.uk or to book a place, please use the links below: 

PCR Facilitator Training

‘Person-Centred Thinking Tools and Person-Centred Reviews (PCRs) help to involve young people and their parents in the decision-making process and increase engagement at all stages of the graduated approach. The assessment and planning process should enable children and young people and their parents to express their views, wishes and feelings…and be part of the decision-making process. This approach is often referred to as a person-centred approach…’ (SEN COP 2015)

Pupil and School Support will be running a 2-day course which provides the training that enables professionals to facilitate this type of review in their school or setting.

Our next course is on Wednesday 11th June and Thursday 12th June 2025 at a cost of £435.00 per person, with a reduction in cost to £330 per person if two or more participants attend from the same setting.

Increase your skills and knowledge in supporting autistic children and young people: Autism Education Trust Training

The following courses for settings will available to today via the Local Offer by the end of this week. They are designed to increase skills and knowledge in supporting autistic children and young people. Use the following link for more information and too book your place: Autism Education Trust Training | Local Offer Birmingham.

AET Understanding Autism and Anxiety: 2nd June 2025 (pm)
This course focuses on the causes of anxiety and how anxiety may present in autistic children and young people. It explores how staff in settings can reduce and support anxiety. Delegates attending this course will receive a 45 page practical support pack which contains information, strategies and resources for staff to support anxious autistic pupils. 

NEW: AET Transition Module: 23rd May 2025 (am)
This course looks at micro and macro transitions and advises on how to support autistic children and young people with transitions. Delegates receive a practical support pack which includes strategies, information and templates. 

AET Early Years Toileting Module: 23rd June 2025 (am)
This course aims to help delegates to understand the importance of working with others to support children to develop independent toileting skills, and to develop knowledge of how to support children to achieve toileting independence. Delegates will receive a practical support pack and packs to support parent carers within the home. 

AET Early Years Developing Play Module: 19th June 2025 (pm)
This course enables delegates to understand how the three areas of difference related to autism impact on the development of play skills;  the importance of all adults working together to support the child to develop play skills; and will help delegates develop knowledge of how to support autistic children to develop play skills. Delegates will receive a 53 page practical support pack and a 3 part parent pack. 

AET Progression Framework (updated with NEW Progression Framework included for delegates): 10th June 2025 (pm)
This course supports delegates to become more familiar with the AET Progression Framework and how it can implemented effectively to track progress and support target setting. Delegates receive a delegate pack which they can refer back to following the training and a copy of the NEW AET Progression Framework to use with pupils throughout their setting. The AET Progression Framework tool supports the tracking of progress for all ages, from tracking early communication and interaction to Preparation for Adulthood outcomes.

Look out for more courses in the autumn term.

Supporting Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Primary and Secondary Schools (Online Training Events)

Two online training sessions are available to explore what ADHD is and how the traits associated with the diagnosis impact children in schools. There are separate sessions for primary and secondary schools. Delivered by an Educational Psychologist, the aims are to dispel common myths by exploring how the condition is presented in popular media and developing staff understanding through evidence-based information about the condition. This training will provide staff with practical, evidence-based, inclusive strategies which they can use in their classrooms when supporting children who have ADHD. The training will include discussion time and support so that staff feel able to make practical plans for implementation of the strategies presented within their own practice.

The training sessions will place on:

  • Primary Schools: Tuesday 10th June - 13:30pm-15:30pm
  • Secondary Schools: Wednesday 11th June -13:30pm-15:30pm

To find out more, please see following flyers:

This entry was posted by Cartney Wellington on 15/05/2025.