Plan to transform SEND provision in Cornwall tops agenda at meeting
The Cornwall SEND Reform Plan has been approved
A plan to transform health, care and education provision for children and young people with SEND has been approved at Cornwall Council’s Cabinet meeting today (Wednesday, June 17).
The Cornwall SEND Reform Plan outlines how the council and its partners intend to incorporate the government’s sweeping reforms to the SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) system.
It focuses on identifying and responding to children’s needs at the earliest opportunity meaning they are then less likely to require costly specialist intervention later in life.
In line with the new Education For All Bill, the plan also stresses the need to strengthen SEND support in mainstream schools.
The government requires all local authorities to submit a SEND Reform Plan to secure the High Needs Stability Grant, which will pay off up to 90% of their historic SEND deficit.
Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families, Councillor Hilary Frank, said: “We want to move from a system that reacts when needs have already escalated, to one that identifies and responds to needs earlier, before children and families reach crisis point. We want support to be available because a child needs it, not because a family has successfully navigated a statutory process. And I want to be absolutely clear that this is not a plan to reduce support. It is a plan to get support to children earlier and more effectively.
“If we get this right, fewer families will feel like they are having to fight for help. More children will be supported in their local communities. Every child educated closer to home is a child spending less time travelling, more time learning, and more time enjoying family and community life.”