PARENTS of children with special educational needs (SEN) are to be consulted on proposals designed to improve the services they and their children receive from Beds County Council.
The County Council's executive committee has approved the recommendations of a review that examined the entire range of services provided for children with SEN.
The executive committee has agreed the council will immediately:
Increase the level of support that can be offered by the council's assessment and monitoring team and educational psychology service.
- Provide clearer guidance on the support available to schools and how they can access it.
- Provide explicit information to mainstream schools about funding available for children with special educational needs.
Malcolm Newsam, the council's director of children's services, said: "Our review has examined every aspect of the county council's support for children with special educational needs.
"I am pleased the review found a lot of excellent work is already taking place. It also made a number of clear and specific recommendations that give us a basis to provide the very best care and education for these children."
Parents, carers, staff, head teachers and councillors will now be consulted on further recommendations made in the review. These include linking children's support to their individual needs and strengthening local options so that young people can be educated closer to home.
The review praises the work of the county's special schools. It recommends continuing to offer the same number of places at special schools, and increasing the support that they offer to mainstream schools.
One suggested way of doing this is to create 'local area complex needs schools', which will meet a spectrum of special needs on a single site and provide additional support to mainstream schools.
