SEND Update November 2025
Welcome to the latest edition of the SENCo Noticeboard. In this issue you will find lots of information and updates, in particular the review of the school age OAG and opportunity to showcase good practice in your setting.
This update includes
- Feedback from SENCo Briefings: November 2025
- Ordinarily Available Guidance: Updates and Next Steps
- Parent Reference Group Updates
- Latest News Around the Early Years OAG Action Research Project
- Coming Soon: Stories from the OAG Transition Action Research
- Educational Psychology: Traded Services Delivery 26/27 - New Ways of Working
- Lived Experience Survey
- Speech and Language Therapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Building Parent Carer Confidence Around Autism
- Early Years and Childcare ISEY Review
- Birmingham Parent Carer Forum Update
- City-Wide Development Day for Professionals working with CYP with Vision Impairment
- Equipment from the Birmingham Community Equipment Loans Service (BCELS)
- The Knowledge: Navigating the SEND Landscape
Feedback from SENCo Briefings: November 2025
The briefings this term were attended by 240 SENCos from across the sector and focused on:
Revised OAG - Exploring implementation in practice and sharing what’s working well
This agenda item considered the journey to date and shared feedback around the work to date revising the School Age OAG – please see the OAG item below for further details.
Supporting the graduated approach and response for SEMH
This agenda item was led by Annie Kent and Deb Benjamin from the Educational Psychology service, looking at the revised Framework for Intervention and the toolkit for SEMH support. Schools are invited to take part in a pilot project using this framework before this is rolled out wider across the system.
If you are interested in taking part in this project then please contact: Anna.Partridge@birmingham.gov.uk
Ordinarily Available Guidance: Updates and Next Steps
The OAG was launched in November 2023 and there has been a significant amount of development and implementation work across the whole Local Area Partnership (schools & settings, education partners, parent carers, health, social care) in working towards a shared understanding around what ‘could and should be ordinarily available’ – the visual below highlights some of the key activities and milestones to date.

Working Together - Reviewing the School Age OAG
As seen in the feedback from SENCo Briefings above, the focus this term has been on reviewing the Ordinarily Available Guidance in preparation for the Online and interactive version being launched in April 26.

Over 70 people from across Birmingham’s Local Area SEND Partnership came together at Hollyfields Sports & Conference Centre on 14 October 2025 for a review of Birmingham’s School-Age Ordinarily Available Guidance (OAG). The event was part of our ongoing partnership work to co-produce and embed inclusive practice. It was shaped by feedback from the OAG Action Research Projects, the Parent Carer Reference Group, and partners across education, health, and social care.
The day was described as “a real example of partnership in action”, “inclusive”, and “full of shared learning.” A mix of whole-group sessions and smaller breakouts clearly worked, helping everyone feel heard and able to contribute equally.
Feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive:
- Over 90% of participants rated the workshop as useful and said they felt fully engaged.
- Nearly 80% left feeling very confident explaining the OAG to others.
- Two-thirds said they now feel confident to support implementation within their own setting or service.
- Four out of five (79.5%) said they want to stay involved in the next stage of development.
Participants said:
- “Really inspiring to engage with like-minded people to help shape the future of SEND provision.”
- “Excellent to meet so many people from different backgrounds, experience and settings. I gained real insight into the OAG and what it looks like from the viewpoint of different professionals.”
- “As a parent, I found it really fulfilling working towards something that will eventually help all SEND children, not just mine… all children learn differently, whether they’re neurodivergent or neurotypical, so there can’t be one teaching approach that fits all.”
- “I’ve gained confidence in Birmingham City Council’s system for working together with not just SEN children but with schools to make overall inclusion better.”
Parent Carer Guides: Parent carers also took part in a hands-on workshop to help design the new OAG Parent Carer Guides. These short, easy-to-read guides will explain what families can expect from inclusive schools and how parents and staff can work together to get the right support in place.
What happens next: Feedback will directly inform the next stage of OAG development. The comments, suggestions and reflections shared on the day will be collated and used to refine both the updated guidance and the way we communicate progress with families and partners.




Reviewing Section One
At SENCO Briefings this week, we initiated a short poll inviting colleagues to review the titles of the Section One principles. The aim is to gather an early indication of which suggested titles feel most clear, most accessible, and most reflective of inclusive practice in Birmingham’s schools.
Building on earlier engagement with partners, including the Hollyfields event and SENCO consortia meetings, SENCOs are being invited to compare the original titles with the updated suggestions emerging from this wider collaborative work. The initial responses are already providing a helpful snapshot of preferences and highlighting where refinements may strengthen the clarity and coherence of Section One.

We are now inviting all SENCOs to share their views and help shape the final wording of the Section One principles. If you have not yet voted, please submit your preferences and take part in the ongoing review.
Reviewing Section Two
As seen in the Hollyfields event above, partners have been working together to update the strategies and resources contained in section two of the OAG. The focus at SENCo briefings has been on how SENCOs as leaders within their school/settings have been supporting their staff in understanding and using Section Two in the classroom. Using ‘A School’s Guide to Implementation’ (EEF -Education Endowment Foundation) SENCos have been considering and sharing practice around how they have engaged and united staff in their setting in order to implement the OAG in a way that changes people's behaviours and has a positive impact for C&YP.
Below you will find a link to a few diagrams showing some of the feedback to date from these sessions. These will be collated and shared across schools and settings as part of next steps.
Showcase Your School’s Inclusive Practice
We know that Birmingham schools are doing fantastic work every day to support children and young people with SEND. As part of the development of the Ordinarily Available Guidance (OAG), we’re inviting schools and settings across the city to contribute short, simple examples that share inclusive approaches and whole-school practice.
Examples could take the form of a short video clip, photos with captions, or a recorded conversation, whatever best captures how you’re implementing aspects of the OAG. The aim is to celebrate and share what’s working in Birmingham’s schools. All contributions will be credited and form part of the online OAG resource and future training materials.
By taking part, your school will be able to celebrate the work of staff and pupils, while offering practical demonstrations that can inspire colleagues across the city. Your contribution will be credited and shared as part of the OAG resource, helping to build a collective picture of what inclusive, ordinarily available provision looks like in Birmingham classrooms.
If your school is interested in being part of this, please contact David.w.hill@birmingham.gov.uk for further information.
Parent Reference Group Updates
We continue to work closely with the Parent Reference Group (PRG), a citywide group representing Birmingham’s parent partner organisations. Their contribution is central to ensuring that the OAG reflects lived experience and uses language that is clear and accessible.
It was brilliant to have PRG members join us at the OAG School-Age Review Day at Hollyfields Conference Centre on 14th October, where they continued co-designing the Parent Carer Guides, our one-page summaries explaining each of the Section 1 Principles of Inclusive Education from a parent-carer perspective.
The PRG are now taking this blueprint out to their wider networks, and we are keen to gather feedback from as many parent carers as possible. ]
Our ask to you and your parent carers
If you have a parent-carer group within your school or setting, we invite you to share these draft guides in any workshops or sessions coming up. Please invite parents to reflect on:
- Is the language right?
- Titles, section content, tone and clarity. - Is anything missing, unclear or unhelpful?
- Any suggestions to strengthen accuracy, accessibility or usefulness. - From the “What you can expect” section:
- Do you have positive examples of this in practice?
- What happened, and what difference did it make for you or your family?
How to return feedback
- Feedback can be sent directly to David.w.hill@birmingham.gov.uk
- or shared through the Microsoft Form here: https://forms.office.com/e/9EyjGRUtHT (Submit one MS Form per guide)
Thank you to you and your parent carers for supporting this important co-production work.
Latest News Around the Early Years OAG Action Research Project
Following the successful launch of Birmingham’s Ordinarily Available Guidance (OAG) for Early Years in the summer, 11 early years settings, including childminders, PVI nurseries, maintained nursery schools and nursery and reception classes, have now joined our Early Years OAG Action Research Project. This collaborative project explores how the OAG can be implemented and used in day-to-day practice across a range of early years settings.
Each setting has identified a specific area of focus linked to the OAG (for example, social skills, expressive language, or emotional regulation) and has completed a baseline review of current inclusive practice. All 11 settings have now shared their Action Research Plans.
From November 2025 to February 2026, settings will test and evaluate new approaches, supported by their local area partnership leads and the SEND Advisory team. The group will come back together in December for a mid-point review, sharing achievements and reflecting on challenges, before publishing their Stories of Implementation later in 2026.
The learning from this project will also help shape the Online OAG, showcasing real examples of inclusive practice from Birmingham settings. The project will help illustrate what “Ordinarily Available” looks like in action and showcase practical examples of inclusive practice.
You can view the current Ordinarily Available Guidance documents on the SEND Local Offer website.
If you’d like to find out more about showcasing best practice, please contact:
David Hill – Assistant Lead for OAG Development
david.w.hill@birmingham.gov.uk.
Coming Soon: Stories from the OAG Transition Action Research
During the Summer term, 11 settings participated in the Transition OAG Action Research project focusing on phase transfers for Y6-7 and Nursery – Reception.
Settings included a childminder, PVI nursery, LA nursery, primary schools, Secondary school and a DLP project. All were looking at developing an area of transition within their setting either with a focus on processes, staff awareness, parent carers or child engagement using the Transition OAG document.
It allowed the settings to address parental and child anxieties, working on the concerns raised at the start such as, “I scared in the big school” and, “That he will find it too overwhelming and not want to go.”
We are now collating the feedback from staff, children and parent carers in order to evaluate the impact and share implementation stories.
Feedback so far has included:
- “Good knowing some of the staff before coming and I made new friends. Last Monday I went in the wrong classroom, but it was OK.” (child)
- “I see a big difference in him. He’s a lot more confident with Reception kids and adults.” (Parent)
- “Pleased nursery organised extra visits to the new school.” (Parent)
- “[I liked the] opportunities to visit the school and meet teachers who would be involved in Y7 as a reference point really helped with transition for my son.” (Parent)
- “Reception have settled really well.” (SENCo)
- “I believed it has offered structure to our transition activities that usually happen, this year in a more succinct way.” (Early Years practitioner)
- “The children seemed more confident in the receiving schools and this led to staff's confidence in the transition process.” (Nursery)
Many of the settings have already started to develop their transition offer this year based on the work completed in the project and are starting the process earlier. The implementation stories will be on the local offer. If you have any questions about this project, please get in touch with Natalie.Cooper@birmingham.gov.uk.
Educational Psychology: Traded Services Delivery 26/27 - New Ways of Working
The Educational Psychology Service has been reviewing its traded service delivery to schools and wants to share thoughts and proposals for new ways of working for our new traded year 26/27 starting April 2026. We are hosting webinars to share this information.
The dates and registration links are available below.
Lived Experience Survey
Please share with your parent carers and children and young people
We want to hear from young people and parent carers of children with SEND.
Two new Lived Experience Surveys are now open on Birmingham’s Local Offer, one for young people with SEND and one for parent carers of children and young people with SEND.
We’re asking you, as professionals working with families, to help us reach as many people as possible by sharing these surveys with the young people and parent carers you support.
For young people:
We want to know what life is like for them in Birmingham, at school, at home, or in their community to get a sense of how they’re feeling and what matters most to them.
For parent carers:
We want to hear about their experiences of support and services for their child or young person. Their insight helps us understand what families are experiencing and how things could be better.
Please share these links with the families you work with:
The surveys are multiple-choice and hopefully won't take up too much of their time, but the feedback will make a big difference to improving services for children, young people, and families across Birmingham.
If anyone has questions or needs support completing a survey, they can contact localoffer@birmingham.gov.uk
Speech and Language Therapy
Targetted Intervention Training Offer
Did you know that Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy Assistants can support you to develop your targeted offer to support children with SEND? The time offered from is part of the SEND OT offer and in addition to Link SaLT time allocated to schools. See the OT/SLT Group Poster for more information.
Training for Speech, Langauge, and Communication Needs
The NHS SaLT team have updated the Training for Schools to Develop Provision for Speech, Language and Communication document in collaboration with colleagues in education and independent SaLT services.
Developmental Language Disorderd (DLD) Awareness Day
It was great to see DLD awareness day being celebrated on 17th October in Birmingham and across the world. Want to know more about DLD? Go to DLD Awareness Day - RADLD
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) TOgether Parent Carer Course
SaLT and LLSS are running another DLD Together course for parents/carers of secondary aged children with DLD at Ninestiles Academy on Wednesday 26th November 9.15 – 15.00, with a follow up session online on Thursday 4th December 9.15 – 10.45. If you have any parents/carers who would benefit from attending, please share the DLD Together Parent Information.
Concept Cat
Have you heard of Concept Cat? It is an evidence-based whole class approach that supports Early Years children’s vocabulary and language development, teaching important early concepts such as ‘next’, ‘equal’ and ‘between.’ A recent Educational Endowment Foundation (EEF) study found that children in settings who used Concept Cat children made two months greater progress with learning concepts and greater progress with early numeracy skills. Want to know more? Go to Concept Cat – Thinking Talking
Occupational Therapy
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 a webinar, please visit our Eventbrite page, or scan the QR code availble in our newsletters.
To book onto one of our SENCo advice meetings or to 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:
If you would like to subscribe to receive our newsletter via email, please join our mailing list by emailing us or contacting your OT.
Sensory Circuits at Home
Are you an early years setting or a mainstream school in Birmingham who wants to host a ‘sensory circuits at home’ session for your families?
In the SEND Occupational Therapy team, we understand the importance of delivering face-to-face training to families to support the work that is being delivered in schools at home. Upskilling families to be able to support their children at home with regulation and understand the importance of the right sensory input at the right time.
We can deliver a sensory circuits at home session within your setting to up to 20 parents.
If you are interested in hosting this FREE training session within your setting, please email us on bchc.sendtherapy@nhs.net to join our waiting list.
SEND Occupational Therapy C-SENSE
Book an OT for FREE to complete a C-SENSE in your school or nursery.
The Checklist for Special Education Needs - School Environment (C-SENSE) has been put together to help you evaluate the environment used by children with sensory processing differences.
This assessment tool can be used whilst completing a journey through your setting. Use the checklist right from the school entrance and make your way through the school one room at a time with your OT. You do not have to enter every classroom. However, you can complete an assessment of how classrooms are set up in general or identify the classroom where you feel the most sensory challenges may arise. The checklist is designed to work through the main senses affected in each area of the setting. It asks questions about the environment which have a yes or no answer.
Following this, we complete a report of recommendations tailored to your setting to help your children.
New for the 2025-2026 year: Spill the Tea with OT
Join our waiting list to book in a session at your setting.
An OT from the SEND team will come to your school and run a coffee morning, present on your chosen topic and answer questions from parents.
Our new topics are:
- Feeding made easier: practical tips for mealtimes
- Bedtime balance: creating calm, consistent sleep routines
- Ready, set, go: practical toileting tips
- Play, draw, write: developing mark making skills through play
- Play matters: learning through play & communication
- Play outside: how to support motor and sensory development
- Self-care solutions
- Little steps, big adventures: helping children to access their communities
Email bchc.sendtherapy@nhs.net to joint the waiting list.
Building Parent Carer Confidence Around Autism
CAT AET Toileting Presentation for Parent Carers
This session is designed to share knowledge, skills and strategies, to enable parent carers to further support their autistic child around toileting. See below for details on venues, dates, and times.
- Drop-in workshop session face-to-face
- Highfield Junior & Infant School -
- 25/11/2025
- 09:15 -10:45
CAT Parent Carer Drop- in Workshops | Emotional Regulation (Autumn 2)
These sessions are designed to share knowledge, skills and strategies, to enable parent carers to further support their autistic child around regulating emotions. There is a total of two sessions taking place. See below for more information.
- 17/11/2025
- 09:15 - 10:45
- 20/11/2-25
- 09:15 - 10:45
Secondary CAT PAC Parent Carer Awareness Course | Autumn 2 (Six sessions online)
CAT PAC is our parent autism awareness course designed to share knowledge, skills and strategies to enable parent carers of young people on CAT caseload to further support their autistic child. Please share the following information with parent carers.
Autumn 2 2025 – Secondary CAT PAC online
- Sessions: 11/11/25 - 08/11/25 - 25/11/25 - 02/12/25 - 09/12/25 - 16/12/25
- Each taking place from 09:30 until 11:30
Autumn 2 - CAT Parent Carer Advice Sessions online
Parent carers who have a child/young person on CAT caseload, are able to book a bespoke advice session with a CAT to discuss their individual child and ask questions.
Please share details of dates, timings and booking information with parent carers. They can then book via the localoffer after receiving the information into school via their CAT.
For further information, speak to your CAT representative and look out for CAT Flyers containing information and booking details for more Workshops, CAT PAC’s and Advice Sessions in the Spring Term.
Early Years and Childcare Content ISEY Review
Thank you to all those who joined us for the sector consultation sessions to review early years special educational funding. In Birmingham this is known as ISEY: Inclusion Support In Early Years.
It was particularly good that some from primary schools with nursery classes came along as, from December, applications will be welcomed from these providers of early education.
We had such an encouraging number, of those who attended the sessions, volunteer to participate in working groups to review the ISEY application form and associated scoring process. You will already have received an invitation, and we look forward to working with you going forward.
Once the form has been agreed , it will be shared widely so that all eligible providers use this for December applications. We will also offer a specific session for primary schools with nursery classes that are new to the process.
Please find below links to the PowerPoint slides that were presented at the sessions over the past fortnight.
- Review of Early Years Inclusion Support (ISEY) Sector Consultation - Session 1 | Birmingham City Council
- Review of Early Years Inclusion Support (ISEY) Sector Consultation - Session 2 | Birmingham City Council
Birmingham Parent Carer Forum Update
Birmingham Parent Carer Forum are excited to announce we have recently acquired a new office space. We will be based at the Jericho Foundation 196-198 Edward Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, B12 9LX. The new space will allow us to host drop in sessions for parents and professionals in the future and we will be hosting the SEND & AP board in December. Please keep an eye out for our future updates and get in touch if you would like to talk to us about using the space.
City-wide Development Day for Professionals working with CYP with Vision Impairment
On Friday 24th October 2025 we held a City-Wide Development Day for Professionals working with CYP with Vision Impairment (VI). This event was jointly planned by Suzy McDonald Senior Habilitation Officer from Priestley Smith Specialist School for Vision Impairment and Charlotte Hollis Assistant Service Lead for Sensory and Physical Support Team and was held at Priestley Smith school. Thank you to Jo Garvey Head Teacher at Priestley Smith for hosting the event.
Over 70 attendee’s came together from teaching staff from Priestley Smith school, Vision Support Team staff, Worlds End Junior and Infant schools and Plantsbrook Vison Impairment Resource Base, a small number of mainstream teaching assistants and also specialist teachers from surrounding local authority vision support teams, who support Birmingham children and young people with visual impairment who attend schools in their local authority.
Attendee’s heard presentations from Joe Abbott, Clinical Lead Ophthalmologist at Birmingham Children’s hospital on childhood Glaucoma’s and Hester Richardson, from the University of Birmingham on Multi-sensory impairment.
They went on to choose workshops which covered a variety of topics from: Independent Living skills- preparing for life at University (Habilitation Team), Early Years play (SENSE), benefits of having a guide dog (Guide Dogs), IT and PE for visual impairment (Priestley Smith teachers) and practical ideas for functional vision assessments (Vision Support Team VI teacher).
The day also gave staff the opportunity to network with each other, share ideas and link up with other third sector charities in the world of visual impairment.
The development day was an exceptional day at bringing professionals together from across education, health and third sector in the world of vision impairment and we now have more ideas on what to incorporate into our next one!
To end on some feedback from the day
- 'Great day - really welcoming and positive atmosphere’
- ‘It’s been great to catch up with all staff. It has been informative and interesting listening to the speakers’ presentations.’
- ‘excellent’
- ‘fabulous’
- ‘Thank you to both presenters for an informative and thought-provoking session. Thoroughly enjoyed both and found them useful.’
- ‘Both speakers’ presentations were incredibly informative and useful. I feel I have a much better understanding of both areas.’
- ‘They were both great. It was really useful to hear from Joe as we read a lot of medical letters but aren't medically trained. I would like to have more of this kind of information about different conditions and what the info on the medical letters means in more detail.’
- ‘It’s been great listening to the speakers and learn from all their knowledge and experience they have in their fields.
Equipment from the Birmingham Community Equipment Loans Service (BCELS)
BCELS provide specialist equipment to mainstream schools to support children to access Education and to participate in daily therapy. Items may include specialist chairs, standing frames, walking frames, toileting equipment and manual handling items, such as hoists and slings. All items are ordered through the child’s Occupational Therapist/Physiotherapist and are delivered by Medequip into school. The equipment is provided on a loan basis and school retain responsibility for it over the loan period. Any adjustments needed to equipment should be arranged via the child’s Occupational Therpast or Physiotherapist.
Medequip are able to support with repairs caused through general wear and tear.
School must ensure appropriate care is taken of items and all items must be returned after use.
Collections can be raised by calling Medequip on 0121 503 8850 (the contact number is on a sticker attached to all equipment). Any items which are lost or are damaged will be chargeable, so please take good care of them.
The Knowledge: Navigating the SEND Landscape
Autism Education Trust Courses Delivered by the Communication and Autism Team Available in the Autumn Term
NEW: AET Understanding Anxious Non-Attendance
AET Understanding Anxious Non-attendance Tuesday 18th November 2025 - Local Offer Birmingham
The aims of the Understanding Anxious Non-Attendance Module are to:
- Increase your understanding of the causes and impact of Anxious Non-Attendance.
- Develop your knowledge and understanding of practical strategies and approaches that can support pupils experiencing Anxious Non-Attendance.
- Develop your knowledge of where to find further support for pupils experiencing Anxious Non-Attendance.
AET Schools Understanding Anxiety within Autistic Learners
AET Anxiety Tuesday 18th November 2025 - Local Offer Birmingham
This course focuses on the causes of anxiety and how anxiety may present in autistic CYP. It looks at 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.
AET Autism and Inclusion
AET Schools Inclusion Monday 24th November 2025 - Local Offer Birmingham
This course focuses on exclusion/suspension processes and legal frameworks that settings need to be mindful of. In addition it looks at how we can better support autistic pupils to be included within their settings and adjustments that can be implemented. Delegates receive a 45 page practical support pack which contain links to further AET resources and templates and information to support pupils.
Makaton Training
The SEND Advisory and Inclusion Teams are offering Makaton levels 1 - 4 training courses for all adults working in schools with children who require alternative communication approaches.
Makaton supports the development of essential communication skills such as attention and listening, comprehension, memory, recall and organisation of language and expression.
Dates, Times and Availability:
Autumn Term 2025
- Level 2 - Thursday 20th Nov: Cost £60 + £25 for the Level 2 Manual – LIMITED SPACE
- Level 3 - Thursday 27th Nov: Cost £60 + £25 for the Level 3 Manual – SPACES AVAILABLE
Spring Term 2026
- Level 1 - Thursday 22nd Jan: Cost £60 + £23 for the Level 1 Manual – LIMITED SPACE
- Level 1 – Monday 9th Mar: Cost £60 + £23 for the Level 1 Manual – SPACES AVAILABLE
Summer Term 2026
- Level 2 - Wed 24th Apr: Cost £60 + £25 for the Level 2 Manual – SPACES AVAILABLE
- Level 3 - Thurs14th May: Cost £60 + £25 for the Level 3 Manual – SPACES AVAILABLE
- Level 4 - Monday 18th May: Cost £60 + £25 for the Level 4 Manual – SPACES AVAILABLE
Participants will be required to purchase individual course manuals on the day. This is a requirement of attendance and manuals cannot be shared between participants or reused.
Pupil and School Support - Local Offer Birmingham
Understanding the impact of mild and unilateral deafness
Free online training delivered by the Hearing Support Team for school staff supporting children with mild (this may include glue ear) and unilateral (one sided) deafness.