Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will carry out jointly, an inspection of your local area. The Children and Families Act 2014 places duties on the local health, social care and education services that provide for children and young people with SEND. The inspection will evaluate how effectively the local area:

•  identifies the needs of children and young people with SEND
•  meets the needs of these children and young people so that their outcomes     and chances of participating fully in society improve.

The views of children and young people with SEND, and the views of their parents and carers will be gathered during visits to a number of early years settings, schools, colleges and specialist services. These views are critical to the inspection process. During the inspection, Ofsted and CQC inspectors will be keen to speak to as many children and young people and their parents and carers as possible.

We are in the process of confirming which settings we will visited during the inspection, and are in the process of setting up virtual meetings for groups of children and young people, and parents and carers to meet with the inspection team.  We will be in touch with details of these meetings as soon as they have been confirmed.

How can local children, young people, parents and carers contribute their views during this local area inspection?

There are several ways in which children, young people, parents and carers from your provision can engage with the inspection process and contribute their views:

The inspection will include a survey of parents and carers. The survey will be open from noon on Monday, 14 June 2021 until 11:59pm on Tuesday, 22 June 2021.

Parents and carers who would like to take part in this survey can follow this link: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ReadingLasendInspection/

Parents and carers can email their contributions to  Lasend.support@ofsted.gov.uk.

Details about the local area SEND inspection will be available on the Brighter Future for Children’s website and distributed through the local area’s Clinical Commissioning Group/s (CCGs). Information about how children and young people with SEND can share their views about the local area’s effectiveness should be included in the local offer.

During this inspection, the inspectors will collect information about children and young people in the area. They will be looking at local area records, speaking to area officers and leaders at educational settings, and speaking to children, young people and parents or carers. No names will be recorded, but some of the information collected may be capable of identifying a particular child, young person or adult. Ofsted and CQC will use this information to prepare their report, and for the purposes set out in their privacy notices. No information will be published that identifies any individual in the inspection report.

More information is available in the Ofsted and CQC privacy notices which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsted-privacy-notices/social-care-ofsted-privacy-notice#local-area-send-inspections

http://www.cqc.org.uk/about-us/our-policies/privacy-statement.

Ofsted’s Data Protection Officer is the Director, Digital and Information, who may be contacted at informationrequest@ofsted.gov.uk. CQC’s Data Protection Officer is the Head of Governance and Legal Services, who may be contacted at information.access@cqc.org.uk

While we understand that many parents and carers may have views on their experiences that extend back several years, the focus of the inspection is on the effectiveness of the local area since the introduction of reforms in September 2014.

We would also like parents and carers to understand that we will not be able to follow up or comment upon individual cases. The inspection team will consider all communications from parents as part of the evidence when evaluating the effectiveness of the local area.

Information on local area duties toward children and young people with SEND can be found on the Department for Education’s website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-guide-for-parents-and-carers.

Yours sincerely

Phil Minns

Her Majesty’s Inspector

If you would like to see a copy of the letter click here

Further information can be found on the Brighter Futures for Children website - https://brighterfuturesforchildren.org/about/local-area-inspection-of-the-effectiveness-of-send-in-reading/

https://brighterfuturesforchildren.org/services/special-educational-needs-and-disabilities/

Coronavirus ~ Latest advice for all residents (with link to Easy Read information tab)

COVID-19 statement:

Brighter Futures for Children is committed to working with key partners including schools, childcare settings and the voluntary sector to ensure the needs of children and young people with SEND are met and that they and their families are supported throughout this difficult time.

Updated information on all policies, pathways and associated documents during the pandemic can be seen here.

We also have a page which explains what a SEND Local Offer is. The page includes a video and frequently asked questions. It’s useful because it sets out what you can expect locally and what legislation exists to support the availability of certain services locally. You can access it here.

For people who do not have access to the internet, we offer a 9am-5pm telephone service. Call 0118 9373777 (option 2). 

Email - localoffer@reading.gov.uk 

You can read more about what we are doing to improve SEND services in Reading in the links below:

Reading Local Area Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Strategy 2017 – 2022 Refreshed October 2019

Reading Local Area refreshed Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Strategy – Summary October 2019

The Reading Road to Success