Campaign success: Local authority funding for SEN safeguarded

The NAS has welcomed the Government’s announcement that local authorities will continue to receive funding for SEN services, no matter how many academies they have in their area.

This commitment follows successful campaigning on this issue by the NAS and our colleagues in the Special Educational Consortium (SEC) during the passage of the Academies Act 2010.

This decision has two important implications:

- A local authority should not now cut SEN support services on the basis that a number of academies have opened in that area. Where there are academies in a local authority area, that local authority will now retain the money to keep SEN support services available;

- As they are retaining the money for SEN support services that was previously being delegated to academies, local authorities should provide these services to children in academies.

We know that many local authorities are currently setting their budgets. We would urge these authorities to consider any decision about funding SEN specialist services in light of this new information.

NAS and SEC continue to work with the Department for Education to ensure the wider changes to school funding do not disadvantage disabled children and children with SEN.

In the meantime we welcome the Government’s continued protection of specialist provision for disabled children and children with SEN through these support services.

'Achievement for All' achieves great results

A Government-funded pilot of a new scheme to improve outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has produced excellent results, according to an independent evaluation carried out by the University of Manchester. Because of this, the Government now aims to fund its implementation in schools across the country.

The Achievement for All scheme has been running in 450 schools for the last two years, and has resulted in children with SEND make greater progress in attainment, behaviour and attendance than other SEND children outside of the pilot. The report also finds that the scheme successfully narrowed the attainment gap between SEND and non-SEND children, with some children in the pilot even exceeding the progress of children without SEND.

Key findings of the report include:

• 37% of children achieved or exceeded expected levels of progress for all pupils nationally in English. The figure was 42% in Maths.
• There was an average reduction in persistent absence of 10%
• Teachers reported fewer incidents of bullying and behavioural problems
• A big rise in schools reporting excellent relationships with parents – from 12% to 48%

The report found that the most successful schools shared several key factors. Good results were built on strong leadership from the head teacher, regular conversations with parents about educational outcomes and targets, and the sharing of results between schools. The report also found that children with free school meals, English as a second language, or complex needs made progress that was good but slower than their peers. It recommends focusing resources on additional support for these groups.

The Government is now providing £14 million for the programme to be rolled out across the country, and estimates that 1,000 schools will have signed up for the programme by next April. Children’s Minister Sarah Teather said:

"It's fantastic to see that Achievement for All has had such impressive results. This shows just what can be achieved for children with SEND with strong school leadership, innovative thinking and close working with families.”

The programme is being delivered by a new charity, Achievement for All 3 As, supported by PwC. Brian Lamb, who headed the enquiry into SEN and now chairs the new charity, commented:

"The evaluation totally endorses Achievement for All's approach. For the first time we now have a proven intervention that can improve outcomes and change the lives of children and families. By adopting this approach schools can ensure that children with SEN have the chance to reach their full potential."

If you’re interested in finding out more about these brilliant results, you can visit Achievement for All’s website at www.afa3as.org.uk. The full report into the scheme’s progress is also available here.

Pupil Premium

On Monday the Government confirmed details of its Pupil Premium, originally announced back in July.

The level of the pupil premium will be £430 per pupil and will be the same for every deprived pupil, no matter where they live. The total funding available for the pupil premium will be £625m in 2011-12, rising each year until 2014-15 when it will be worth £2.5bn.

In 2011-12, the pupil premium will be allocated to those pupils eligible for Free School Meals, and from 2012-13 it will be extended the reach of the premium to those who have previously been on free school meals too.

Looked-after children will also receive a premium of £430, which will rise in line with the premium for deprived pupils.

Children with autism will benefit from this measure as they are more likely to be eligible for free school meals (although interestingly less likely to be eligible than those with other Special Educational Needs). 18% of children with autism as their primary need, who are on school action plus and 22% of children with autism who have a statement are eligible for free school meals compared to 14.2% of children with no Special Educational Need.

Both mainstream schools and (in the case of local authority maintained special schools) local authorities will have discretion as to how they respectively spend and distribute the funding, in line with the current localism agenda.