News and Events

ETF news, events and courses

News

The Centres for Excellence in SEND newsletter

The monthly Centres for Excellence in SEND newsletter brings you all the latest news and activities from the three Centres, as well as highlighting the Foundation's SEND CPD opportunities. You can access editions of the newsletter below. You can sign up to receive the newsletter by email by visiting our newsletters page and filling in your details, making sure you tick the ‘SEND’ box.

Events

The ETF Events

Centres for Excellence in SEND

Free events and in-house offers delivered by our three Centres for Excellence in SEND (CfE) are available including:

21 April, Imaging better outcomes for learners with SEND EHCP Series, online 13:00 - 15:00
23 April, Understanding what employers need to work with and employ learners with SEND, online 15:00 - 15:45
29 April, The language of inclusive curriculum webinar, 16:00 - 16:45
7 May, Understanding what employers need to work with and employ learners with SEND, online 15:00 - 15:45

For more details or information on how to connection with a SEND Community of Practice please visit the Centres for Excellence pages.

Ambitious about Autism

The following webinars are held monthly by Ambitious about Autism, more details can be found on their website.

Courses

The ETF's in-house offer

The Essential SEND Managers, Everything you need to know about funding and specific needs programmes are now all available to book as in-house courses using the Foundation's online booking system. Information and additional resources associated with the individual programmes can be found by following the associated programme link.

To learn more about the ETF SEND offer take a look at our SEND Brochure.

And don't forget the professional development opportunities available on Foundation Online Learning. Do take a look at the Education and Training Foundation's (ETF) wide range of courses, many of them relevant to those supporting learners with SEND, together with our bespoke SEND offer

SEND CPD Framework

Are you looking for specific training? As part of a mapping exercise of SEND CPD training and qualifications available from the ETF and a wide range of other organisations we have produced a SEND CPD Framework. The information is provided to raise awareness to the SEND workforce of the variety CPD opportunities available. The inclusion of information from other organisations does not indicate a recommendation by the ETF of this offer.

We cannot guarantee the quality of any events not organised by or on behalf of the Foundation.

Publications, reports, research and resources

New publications

Planning, commissioning, funding and supporting post-16 high needs students

In January 2020, the Local Government Association (LGA), the Association of Colleges (AoC) and Natspec commissioned a review of arrangements for planning, commissioning, funding, and supporting provision for post-16 high needs students. The published report, Planning, commissioning, funding and supporting post-16 high needs students, identifies opportunities for local authorities and providers to use existing practice to develop a stronger and more robust approach to post-16 high needs provision. It makes recommendations not only based on what is possible based on what is already in place in the sector but also what could be possible through its radical change suggestions.

If you'd like to further your knowledge, the ETF's Everything you need to know about SEND funding for FE learning course, is being run online.

Tomorrow's leaders: a world beyond disability

Tomorrow’s leaders: a world beyond disability is a publication featuring young people who are all achieving great things in their own lives, in their communities and wider society. The Education and Training Foundation worked with the Council for Disabled Children to develop and publish the resource.

The publication contains inspiring stories from young people who are achieving their goals in:

arts, sports and leisure
campaigning, advocacy and inclusion
entrepreneurship and employment

The publication is written for those learning and working in education. It highlights the importance of having the highest aspirations for our young people and supporting them to achieve them.

New resources

Making the SEND reforms work

Commissioned by The ETF, The National Development Team for Inclusion (NTDi) have produced two case study videos showcasing how local authorities and FE providers work together to support learners with SEND achieve their aspirations inclusing progressing into employment.

The first case study video shows how Greenbank College in Liverpool and its local authority worked in partnership to promote independent living and the second case study video shows how several learning providers in Nottinghamshire and the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire local authorities worked successfully together so that learners with SEND gained employment.

New research

READY

The University of Manchester are leading on a long term research study funded by the National Deaf Children's Society, READY (Recording Emerging Adulthood in Deaf Youth) following young people who have a hearing loss as they become independent adults. They are looking to engage with young people aged 15-18 who have a hearing loss or see themselves as deaf. For more information, see the project website or email: ready@manchester.ac.uk.

New reports

Inclusivity and intersectionality

The Women and Work All Party Parlimentary Group (APPG) have published a new report, Inclusivity and Intersectionality. An image of the Inclusivity and intersectionality report 2019Women by the Women and Work APPG In 2019, the Women and Work APPG’s theme was Inclusivity and Intersectionality. Throughout its work over the past four years, the APPG has recognised and highlighted the fact that women are not a homogenous group, and that a focus on gender alone can sometimes be misleading. They heard evidence from witnesses as to how different aspects of identity such as age, race, disability or income can affect an individual’s experience of recruitment and employment.

Out of this work, they have produced a toolkit of practical suggestions and strategies for employers to support an inclusive workplace and to put intersectionality into practice. This report aims to equip employers with the tools to create more inclusive workplaces which benefit employees at all levels.

Gatsby benchmarks

The Gatsby Foundation, has published a new resource using the Gatsby Benchmarks with students with SEND. The resource, Good Career Guidance: Perspectives from the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities sector, can be downloaded from their website.

Research Study

In July 2019 the AOC published a research report, Meeting the needs of students aged 16-19 who were not in school for part or all of Key Stage 4: The contribution of general FE (GFE) colleges. The aim of the research to understand better how GFE colleges are working with young people, aged 16+, who ceased to attend school during Key Stage 4 and went on to enrol at college aged 16+. The research project focused on four colleges of different sizes and locations to learn about numbers of such learners, their needs and circumstances, the provision offered, the challenges, and to learn from providers what high-quality provision for those students should look like and how it might be achieved.

Work experience for young people with SEN

The Department for Education published a Work experience and vocational/technical provision for young people on SEN support: A rapid evidence assessment report. The aim of the rapid evidence assessment was to identify evidence on the benefits (or otherwise) of work experience for these young people as they prepare to enter paid employment. The report highlights a number of principles of good practice for post-16 providers in finding work experience/placements for young people with less complex special educational needs.

DfE Announcements

Face coverings

The Government announced yesterday (6 April) that face coverings should continue to be worn in college classrooms when students return after the Easter break to help limit transmission and enable continued monitoring of the effect of college returns, as twice weekly testing of students is established and embedded. It is important to note that those who rely on visual signals for communication, or speak to or provide support to those individuals, are currently exempt from any requirement to wear face coverings in schools or in public places. It is expected that face coverings will no longer be required to be worn in classrooms, or by students in other communal areas, at step 3 of the roadmap, which will be no earlier than 17 May. At that point, the next stage of easements, including increased social contact indoors, will be confirmed following a review of the latest data on infection and vaccination rates.

The Government have also published updates to the following guidance to reflect this announcement:

Shielding Guidance and Supported Internships Returners Announcement

The Government have updated the document, Additional operational guidance for special schools, special post-16 institutions and alternative provision. The main reason to convert it into HTML format to make it more accessible and more searchable.

Shielding

From Thursday 1 April, shielding guidance will be paused for clinically extremely vulnerable people (CEV). From that date they will no longer be advised to shield and must continue to follow the national restrictions that are in place for everyone.

From Thursday 1 April:

all CEV children should attend early years provision, school, college, wraparound childcare and out-of-school settings, unless they are one of the very small number of children under paediatric or other specialist care and have been advised by their GP or clinician not to attend.
CEV students who are enrolled in practical, or practice-based (including creative arts) courses should return to in-person teaching.
CEV staff are advised to continue to work from home where possible, but if they cannot work from home, they should now attend their workplace.

There is guidance to assist school leaders in actions they should take to minimise the risk of transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19) in their setting. This includes public health advice, endorsed by Public Health England (PHE).

Where staff and students are undertaking asymptomatic testing at home, this should continue over the Easter period. It is important for staff and students to keep testing through the Easter holidays to manage the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), as part of a regular habit of testing at home every 3-4 days (twice a week). NHS Test and Trace will be supplying sufficient test kits to colleges to enable this to happen. A letter template has been added onto the colleges document sharing platform to support communications to parents and carers. This covers testing for students over the Easter holiday and reporting results, as well as a reminder of the offer of parent and household testing.

Supported Internships Returners

Supported interns who were not able to meet the core aim of their internship in the 2020 to 2021 academic year may continue their internship into the 2021 to 2022 academic year. It is not envisaged that all Supported Interns will need to extend their internship for a full year. Providers should determine the length of time that a learner will require based on the needs of the individual, and in agreement with the Local Authority. Please note that the legislative and funding arrangements for EHC plans do not allow for a plan to be extended beyond the age of 25. Where necessary and appropriate, priority for accessing work placements in the 2021/22 academic year should be given to Supported Interns who were enrolled on a Supported Internship in 2020/21. The FE operational guidance is being updated accordingly.

Open letter 5th March

Vicky Ford MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, to children and young people SEND, their families, and those who support them published an open letter on the 5 March 2021. The letter covers a return to education settings on the 8 March 2021 and covers information on a number of topics including: attendance, testing, face coverings, vaccinations, and mental health and wellbeing.

Return to FE on the 8 March 2021

On Monday, the government set out its plan for the return of all students to colleges from 8 March. Alongside this announcement, they published updated special post-16 institutions and alternative provision This guidance should be read alongside the main guidance: Actions for FE colleges and providers during the coronavirus outbreak. In parallel, they published the following updates to Coronavirus (COVID-19) contingency framework for education and childcare settings.

Evidence summary: COVID-19 - children, young people and education settings

The Government have published a report, Evidence Summary: Covid-19 - children, young people and education settings. The summary sets out the evidence relevant to, and in support of, the Government’s decision to lift restrictions on education from 8 March 2021 – focussed in particular on schools, colleges and early years settings.

Consultation on arrangements for awarding grades in summer 2021

The Department for Education and Ofqual have launched joint consultations on arrangements for awarding grades for GCSE, AS and A levels this summer and on awarding arrangements for a range of vocational and technical qualifications. They are interested in your views on the consultation proposals, in particular, the equality impact assessment of the proposals. The deadline for responses to both consultations 11:45pm on 29 January 2021.

PPE Portal

On 19 January Special Schools and Special Post-16 Institutions (SPIs) across England were sent an email invitation to register with the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC’s) PPE Portal. Using the PPE Portal Special Schools and SPIs you can place a weekly order of PPE (free of charge) to meet their Coronavirus (COVID-19) PPE needs. The email invitation from: ppe.dedicated.supply.channel@notifications.service.gov.uk was sent to the email address which your organisation registered with on the Get Information About Schools database. This is the only email address which is eligible to register. They ask if you have not received the email invitation, check junk mail and then contact the Customer Service team at 0800 876 6802 who will be able to help support you in registering with the portal. They request that you wait until close of play on Wednesday, 27 January before enquiring about not receiving an email invitation. To confirm the eligibility of the setting you will need to provide the organisation's Unique Reference Number (URN). Please note, Residential Special Schools and Residential Post-16 Institutions received an email invitation in August 2020.

Additional guidance on restricting attendance

The Governemnt published additional guidance on 14 January for special schools, specialist post-16 providers, and alternative schools (including hospital schools) during the national lockdown period. It should be read alongside the main guidance document: Restricting attendance during the national lockdown: schools and the Further education guidance for restricting attendance during the national lockdown, which covers the main operational issues.

Mass asymptomatic testing in specialist settings

The Government have published guidance on mass asymptomatic testing in specialist colleges.This guidance supplements the guidance in the Testing handbook for schools and colleges, recognising that there are distinct issues for settings in the special school, specialist college and AP sectors. It is part of guidance and resources for schools and colleges to support preparations for coronavirus (COVID-19) testing in education settings which begins January 2021.

Covid-19 announcements

EHC plans legislation changes update to document

The Department for Education announced that Section 42 of the Modification notice: EHC plans legislation changes expired on 31 July 2020, it follows the Secretary of State’s announcement on 2 July that, unless the evidence changes, they will not be issuing further national notices to modify this duty. The focus will increasingly be on supporting local authorities, health commissioning bodies and education settings as they work towards full provision being restored for all young people with EHC plans. The Regulations made to provide additional flexibility over the statutory timescales for various EHC needs assessment and plan processes remain in force until 25 September 2020. The change is reflected in the Education, Health and Care needs assessments and plans: guidance on temporary legislative changes relating to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Special Educational Needs and Disability

Meeting the needs of learners with learning difficulties and / or disabilities

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