SEND Written Statement of Action

SEND Written Statement of Action 

In June 2021, The Tower Hamlets Local Area was inspected by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in relation to the support and services provided to children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or a Disability. 

The inspection found that much of this support is of good quality and that area leaders are aware of what works and what doesn’t. The report also highlighted four “significant areas of weakness” and as a result we are required to produce a “Written Statement of Action (WSoA)” to address these four key areas. 

• The poor quality and oversight of Education, Health and Care plans including the annual review process. 
• The lengthy waiting times for an assessment and diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder. 
• Fragmentation in the provision of speech and language therapy which means that too many children and young people do not get the specialist help and support they need. 
• Weaknesses in communication between area leaders and parents leading to misunderstandings. Many families are not aware of services that they could access and have no knowledge of area’s plans to improve.

View our Inspection letter

Our Written Statement of Action (WSoA), developed following engagement with parents through Let’s Talk SEND sessions last November, has now been approved by Ofsted and is published below.

View our Written Statement of Action.

View the Ofsted response letter.

We will be working hard to deliver on our WSoA over the next 18 months and we will provide termly updates on progress which will be published on the Local Offer website, Family Matters magazine, other social media channels and through Let’s Talk SEND meetings with local area leaders.

Work has already begun to progress the four areas of focus (called workstreams) for improvement. We will update the website and update stakeholders and parents each term. The independent parent carer forum which is represented on the SEND Improvement Board will also keep parents/carers informed on a regular basis. We will update on what we have done and what we are doing next.

We are aware that when we were talking to parents and carers to understand their experiences and how the SEND system needs to improve, some of the issues were not included in the Ofsted areas of weakness and are therefore not included in the WSoA. These other areas for improvement are included in the SEND Improvement Plan. The WSoA though is solely focused on addressing the four areas identified as requiring significant improvement by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Further details of these improvements will be communicated through the SEND Improvement Board.