Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) - Strategies, plans, policies and inspections

This is our local strategy for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The strategy shows how services and the people in them are going to work together to make sure young people with SEND thrive in their communities including home, school and neighbourhood.

You can view the:

• SEND Strategy for County Durham Local Area Partnership (PDF, 1.5mb)
• SEND Strategy for County Durham Local Area Partnership - children and young people's version of the strategy (PDF, 1.0mb)

The strategy has been developed with significant contributions from children and young people with SEND, their families and key partners as part of an ongoing commitment to identify and meet the needs of this part of our Durham community.

At the heart of this plan is the principle that all children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), be given every opportunity to take control of their lives, be as independent as possible and achieve as much as they are able.

This guide is aimed at parents and carers of children and young people with SEND to help understand how children and young people should be supported in schools, and other educational settings, in County Durham.

The information contained is good practice for all schools and settings.

Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND) in schools - A guide for parents and carers (PDF, 1.2mb)

In County Durham we also have a SEND toolkit aimed at staff in schools and colleges, but it also has information for health and social care providers too. This, along with other SEND documents, can be found on the information for professionals and providers section of the local offer.

In June 2022, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) opened a consultation on proposed changes to the way local area partnerships are inspected and in November 2022 the new inspection framework and handbook was published.

The framework and handbook set out the inspection principles, guidance and main judgements that inspections will make when inspecting area SEND. The purpose of inspection is assessing how local area partnerships work together to improve the experiences and outcomes of children and young people who have special educational needs and / or disabilities (SEND). You can view the framework and handbook at Gov.uk: Area SEND - framework and handbook. Ofsted and the CQC will introduce a cycle of area SEND inspections in early 2023 when they commence using the new framework and handbook for their inspections.

Inspections in Durham

In Durham the local area was inspected in 2017 and four key areas of development were identified for County Durham.

The local area worked together to produce a  SEND Written Statement of Action for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) (PDF, 591.5kb) .

The Local Area SEND Partnership responded to the WSoA with an improvement plan which has been approved by the Ofsted's Regional HMI:  Response to Durham revised WSoA -  June 2018 (PDF, 229.0kb) .

A document and summary was produced to show the progress made over a range of services a year on:

• Durham Local Area SEND Inspection - One Year on Progress Report (summary) (PDF, 155.3kb)
• Durham Local Area SEND Inspection - One Year on Progress Report (full report) (PDF, 354.5kb)

A revisit of Durham's Local Area was undertaken in 2020 again under the previous inspection framework. The revisit evaluated how effectively leaders had addressed the areas of serious weakness detailed in the written statement of action (WSOA) from 2017. The revisit identified that services in Durham were improving and that there was further work to do. The inspection reports can be viewed and downloaded from the Ofsted website Ofsted inspection reports for Durham County Council.

Watch the update about the inspection feedback from Martyn Stenton, Head of Early Help, Inclusion and Vulnerable Children:

Send inspection update - video transcript (PDF, 75.1kb)

In March 2023 the SEND and alternative provision improvement plan was published setting out plans to change the SEND and alternative provision system in England.

The plan explains what will be done to make sure children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision will get the support they need. It follows the SEND and alternative provision green paper which was consulted upon in March 2022 and the plan includes responses to the feedback received, improvements to be made as a result of the feedback and the proposals that are going to be tested and reviewed. A roadmap summarises the actions that will be taken to improve the SEND and alternative provision system in England as set out in the improvement plan.

This strategy has been produced in consideration of the significant government reforms to education, health and social care when working with and for children and young people with SEND (0-25) and their families and/or carers.

Locally, we carried out a review of the approach to communication and participation with parents and carers and to implement a Parents Charter. Through engagement, parents and carers gave their views on communication and involvement and those have been used to co-produce the Strategy and Charter.

This strategy will explain what participation is and how best to implement it in your setting or service, by giving useful tips and highlighting practical examples of good practice.

SEND Participation Strategy: Engaging and involving parents and carers (PDF, 1.5mb)

This plan sets out County Durham's key joint strategic commissioning priorities for services for children and young people (0-25 years) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). 

It details how each of these will be taken forward over the coming year.

• Durham Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Joint Commissioning Plan 2017/18 (PDF, 1.2mb)

We are currently working on a new joint commissioning plan and this is due to be published in March 2020.

The Think Autism strategy is a local strategy for children, young people and adults on the autism spectrum. 

It provides focus and clarity on the priorities for improving services and opportunities for these people and to improve support during the transition from childhood through to adulthood.

The strategy is currently being reviewed and is expected to be published from April 2023 onwards. The previous strategy can be viewed on our Think Autism in County Durham Strategy page.