AGENDA ITEM 6

BOROUGH OF POOLE

CHILDRENS SERVICES OVERVIEW GROUP

31 JANUARY 2006

REPORT FROM HEAD OF PUPIL, PARENT & YOUTH SERVICES

EDUCATIONAL INCLUSION IN POOLE

BOROUGH OF POOLE INCLUSION POLICY

PART OF PUBLISHED FORWARD PLAN:YES

  1. PURPOSE

1.1To inform the Learning Overview Group on the content and rationale of the document Educational Inclusion in Poole.

2.DECISION REQUIRED

2.1That members recommend that cabinet endorse the policy.

3.BACKGROUND

3.1A range of recent legislation and guidance in relation to children’s education, care and health has emphasised the well being and involvement of all children. This is reflected in titles such as Excellence for All Children and Every Child Matters.

3.2The notion of inclusive education was often seen in the past as synonymous with the placement of children with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. This definition of inclusion is no longer appropriate. The borough’s vision of and commitment to inclusive practice warrants a policy in its own right, rather than being a thread within the Special Educational Needs Policy.

3.3Ofsted and the DfES view inclusion in the context of the participation and achievement of various groups, for example, girls/boys, children looked after, refugees, gifted and talented children, children with disabilities. Children may belong to more than one group and do not necessarily have special educational needs. Schools are now familiar with this notion of inclusion, which is relevant to mainstream and special schools, and is a feature of schools self evaluation requirements for Ofsted.

A number of Poole schools have achieved the Inclusion Quality Mark/Poole Inclusion Mark which recognises this broad notion of inclusion.

3.4There are national and local moves towards more ‘joined up’ working between professionals working with children and their families/carers. This document seeks to give the local authority’s position in relation to inclusion and to emphasise that the support of all partner agencies is needed to promote and improve inclusive practice. The Children’s Act 2004 (Every Child Matters) set the agenda for all services working towards the Five Outcomes for Children. It was noted that these matched closely with the Borough of Poole’s five priorities set out in 2004 and this link was emphasised in the document.

3.5In line with nationally recognised guidance on good practice (eg the Index for Inclusion) educational inclusion is defined as a process rather than a fixed state:-

‘Identifying and removing barriers and building bridges to learning, across the curriculum and in the whole range of learning, play and leisure activities, to increase participation for all’.

Thus inclusion is seen as working to maximise the participation and achievement of children and their families and is a far wider concept than just support for children with disabilities or special educational needs.

4.CONTENTS

4.1The document is set out as follows:-

  • National and local context
  • Definition of Inclusion
  • Principles
  • The five outcomes for children and Poole’s five priorities
  • Examples of inclusive practice in Poole.

4.2The aim was to produce a readable and meaningful document that outlined both vision and practice in Poole. The process of writing the policy was as follows:-

  • A working party consisting of staff from schools, Pupil, Parent & Youth Services, School Advice & Support and Children & Families met over autumn and spring terms 2004-2005 and agreed on what an inclusion policy should cover.
  • In the summer term 2005 two members of the educational psychology service drafted the policy drawing on the recommendations of the working party and policy documents from other local authorities.
  • Schools and other agencies/settings were consulted and asked to contribute examples of their inclusive practice.

4.3The draft policy was presented at briefings for head teachers, chairs of governors and governors during the autumn term 2005, and comments noted.

  1. CONCLUSION

5.1Poole is required to have an Educational Inclusion policy. The draft document has been consulted on and contains many examples of the excellent inclusive work that is happening in Poole schools.

Background Papers

Excellence for All Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs

(October 1997), DfEE

Every Child Matters

(December 2004), DfES

Officer Contact

Mary Chamberlain – Principal Educational Psychologist & SENISS Manager

Email:

Tel:01202 262259



DRAFT

This policyhas been developed in consultation with Elected Members School Advice and Support and a range of educational, health and Social Services representatives. It was approved by Council on………….

Signed……………………

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the following people who took part in initial working group consultation meetings in the autumn and spring terms of 2004/2005. Meetings were chaired by Sandra Dickson, Educational Psychologist:

Sammy Boyle, Secondary Behaviour and Attendance Consultant (SASS).

Jan Lever, RPSHCE Adviser, SASS.

Ruth Angel, Health Promotion Lead.

Sally Pratten, Head Teacher, Turlin Moor First School.

Peter Cotton, Education Officer, Study Support, SASS.

David Gillespie, Children’s Manager, Children and Families.

Trish Copelin, Manager of Learning Support Service, Pupil, Parent and Youth Services (PPYS).

Peter Read, Local Children’s Services Development Officer

Christine White, Principal Youth Officer.

Meryl Morton, Area SENCo, PPYS.

Angela Yonwin, Head Teacher, Turlin Moor Middle School.

Jan Sayers, Policy Planning and Performance Manager, Children and Families.

Patricia Di Capite, Minority Ethnic and Traveller Achievement Service Adviser (SASS)

Additional discussions took place with Di Mitchell, from SASS. Mary Chamberlain, Principal Educational Psychologist and Sandra Dickson worked on the final draft. Thanks to Rosemary Tong, Head of Quality Services/Chief Inspector, Southampton for her help and advice. Thanks must also go to Wendy Wells who typed the minutes of the first meeting as a Power point presentation and to Jane Gray who worked on typing and presentation of the document.

Educational Inclusion in Poole

The National Context

The benefits of inclusive practice in educational settings have been recognised as essential for the well-being of healthy communities since the UNESCO Salamanca Statement of 1994. This landmark document has at its heart the principle of equality of opportunity for all children: that children have the right to membership of the same groups as everyone else, the opportunities and experiences thus created being of mutual benefit.

We aim is to raise the overall school achievement of all children and young people and to provide them with the fullest possible access to social and academic life. The underpinning principle is that raising achievement is compatible with inclusion.

Schools do not exist in a vacuum but reflect the diverse cultures of societies and of the people who inhabit them. As a Local Authority, we have a duty to ensure that everyone has the right to equality of opportunity in their access to education in the broadest sense of the word.

The Poole Context

Since becoming a unitary authority in April 1997, Poole has striven to promote high quality provision and educational opportunities. Supporting young people is one of the Council’s five key priorities.

In Poole there are currently:

  • About 31,350 children between the ages of 0 and 19, attending a range of Early Years and Educational Provision.
  • Forty one Maintained schools and a Learning Support Service / Pupil Referral Unit (PRU).
  • Approximately 63 early Years providers, 25 Day Nurseries, 34 maintained Nurseries as well as registered child minders.
  • There are 9 Youth Centres in Poole as well as the Quay Advice Centre. Financial support is provided for Parkstone Sports and Arts Centre.

Recent restructuring has seen the appointment of a Policy Director with responsibility for the newly created, joint Pupil Parent and Youth Services. There are plans to promote and structure closer joint working with Social Services and Health. In 2005, Poole became a Children’s Service Authority working jointly with Social Services and Education.

Why do we need a policy for inclusion?

Children and young people can encounter difficulties for a variety of reasons, at any time in their lives, and this can create barriers to learning. Difficulties can occur despite the hard work and commitment of significant adults, be they parents, carers, professional staff or policy makers.

Such barriers may be wide ranging and rooted in physical, social, behavioural, emotional, geographical, cultural, linguistic or religious factors.

An over-arching inclusive policy, adopted by educational providers, will place emphasis on finding ways to overcome these barriers. Whilst this is an Educational Inclusion Policy, we work in collaboration with other agencies to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people in Poole.

Inclusion in education is the process of increasing the participation of children and young people in, and reducing their exclusion from, the cultures, curriculum and communities of local schools.

Schools are central to the communities in which they are situated. Promoting inclusive practice in schools will have a positive impact upon developing more inclusive communities. Inclusive education should allow all children to achieve success in their particular, and individual, areas of strength.

There is an interface between schools and the many agencies who are involved in supporting young people, both in the school and the community. The school and the agencies should work hand in hand to promote inclusive practice. For example, the Healthy Schools Initiative has four main aims, one of which is to promote inclusion. An increasing number of schools have achieved, or are working towards the Poole Inclusion Mark.

We aim to recognise and disseminate good practice that has been identified in individual establishments across the Borough.

What do we mean by inclusion?

Poole Borough believes that all children have the right to attend their local mainstream school, but we recognise that for some children, special provision may be both necessary and desirable in order to meet the complexity of their needs.

We are adopting a broad definition which sees inclusion as an ongoing and dynamic process which promotes increased opportunities for all members of a community. Here, education is interpreted in a broad multi-dimensional sense of personal development which will contribute to healthy communities.

In an educational context, we see inclusion as identifying andremoving barriers and building bridges to learning, across the curriculum and in the whole range of learning, play and leisure activities to increase participation for all.

Principles

Inclusion is concerned with the learning participation and equal opportunities of all children and young people, all of whom have a right of access to education. It has wider implications than the identification of children with special educational needs. Inclusion could apply to any or all of the following:

  • Girls or boys where there are gender issues.
  • Minority ethnic and faith groups, Travellers, asylum seekers and refugees.
  • Children who need support to learn English as an Additional Language.
  • Children with special educational needs including those considered to have emotional, behavioural or social difficulties.
  • Children with physical disabilities.
  • Children who may be gifted and talented.
  • Children in need including those in public care.
  • Other children, for example, sick children, young carers, children from families under stress, pregnant schoolgirls and teenage mothers, children who are at risk of disaffection and exclusion from school.
  • Children whose families may be seriously disadvantaged by poverty.

The change triangle provides a useful model for identifying the key areas we need to address in order to develop inclusive practice and provision.

Attitudes - Are the fundamental set of beliefs that people hold relating to inclusive practice. It will be crucial to develop people’s belief in the benefits to individuals and communities of an inclusive philosophy and approaches.

Skills – We need to recognise that adults involved in working with children and young people will need opportunities to enhance and develop their talents, knowledge and understanding of inclusive principles and practice.

Provision and funding – We need to understand that inclusive practice may require materials, building modification and other resources. The local authority schools need to carefully plan the efficient use of resources to ensure that inclusive practice is promoted.

Where are we now?

Inclusive practice is currently in evidence in educational and community settings and we include a wide range of examples later in this document.

To enable access to education

In addition to the provision of transport, there are a number of out of school learning projects. Buildings have been audited for accessibility and, in some cases, modified to facilitate mobility.

To support individual pupils

There are well-developed Outreach services available from three special schools, Montacute, Winchelsea and Longspee. Special school staff work closely with mainstream colleagues sharing expertise and developing practice. The Minority Ethnic and Traveller Achievement Service provides support and advice for individuals or groups of pupils and teaching staff. The Early Years Service provides support to children with special educational needs and advice and support to staff and parents/carers. The Connexions Service, Youth Service and Youth Offending Team all offer support for individual young people. Pupil, Parent and Youth Services offer a wide variety of ‘wrap around’ interventions for pupils with special educational needs, pupils who are out of school or at risk of exclusion, and Children Looked After. These services include Educational Psychology, specialist teachers (SENISS) the Learning Support Service and Monitoring and Review Officers. Education Welfare Officers actively promote attendance and inclusion. The School Advice and Support Service (SASS) helps schools to improve their inclusive practice.

To ensure appropriate provision

The Special Educational Needs review has considered present and future needs in the Borough and its findings will inform planning for future provision. There is a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) for those pupils who are out of school where a wide range of educational provision is available. Early Years settings are developing their inclusive practice in supporting pupils’ needs. They are developing flexible approaches to diversity to ensure equality of opportunity.

To support schools in becoming more inclusive

There are a number of initiatives which focus upon the development of inclusive practices in schools. Training is available for all teaching staff and Higher Level Training is available for learning support staff (or teaching assistants-LSS or TAs) and newly qualified teachers (NQTs) on the development of:

  • Emotional Literacy
  • Citizenship
  • Personal and Social Education
  • Minority Ethnic Achievement
  • Safe Schools
  • Healthy Schools
  • Emotional Health and Well-being
  • The Poole Inclusion Mark

Five priorities: five outcomes

The Borough of Poole published five priorities in July 2003, which closely match the Government’s five Outcomes for Children as laid out in ‘Every Child Matters’ (2004).

Borough of Poole Priority / Every Child Matters Outcome
  • Supporting young people
  • Clean, green and safe
  • Health and well-being
  • Strong sense of community
  • Vibrant economy
/
  • Enjoy and achieve
  • Be safe
  • Be healthy
  • Make a positive contribution
  • Economic well-being

How can we work to increase inclusion across these five priorities?

1. Supporting young people to enjoy and achieve

In Poole, we want all children to enjoy the experience of growing and learning and to achieve personal and academic success to the best of their abilities.

In Poole, we are working towards:

  • Enabling children and young people to attend educational settings in their own communities, wherever possible. These need not necessarily be mainstream provision but wherever possible, links should be established between special and mainstream provision.
  • Ensuring that high quality educational and leisure facilities are available, and in which people constantly strive to meet the needs of all learners.
  • Supporting parents and carers so that they have the skills and resources to help children and young people to achieve.
  • Actively working to remove barriers to learning and promoting participation for vulnerable children. This encompasses, some minority ethnic groups including Travellers, some children who have English as an Additional Language, children who are looked after, children with disabilities and children, who are unable to attend school.
  • Ensuring that there is high quality early years provision which can meet the needs of all pre-school age children in the borough.

2. Growing up in a clean, green and safe environment

Children and young people have a fundamental need and right to be safe from physical and emotional harm. A child who feels safe, secure and loved will have a firm foundation upon which to build their emotional well-being, social skills and learning.

We aim to :

  • Ensure that existing Child Protection arrangements are rigorously followed and monitored.
  • Support schools to prevent and deal with bullying.
  • Teach all children and young people, including those most at risk, how to stay safe and reduce risks.
  • Support parents to provide a safe environment for their children as well as protecting their children from harm.
  • Promote safe communities where everyone feels valued.

3. Promoting health and well-being