Good Education

Suffolk

• Between 2015/16 and 2020/21, the number of pupils receiving special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support in all schools in Suffolk increased from 10,803 to 12,670 (a significant increase from 9.9% to 11.4%). Although increasing, the current proportion in Suffolk remains significantly lower (statistically) than England (12.2%) and Suffolk’s statistical neighbours (13.0%).
• The top five most common primary needs among pupils receiving SEND support in Suffolk in 2020/21 were: speech, language, and communication needs (19.8%); social, emotional, and mental health needs (17.6%); specific learning difficulties (17.4%); moderate learning difficulties (13.7%); other difficulties or disabilities (10%).
• In 2021/22, 4,327 pupils in Suffolk had a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care (EHC) plan in Suffolk (3,964 excluding pupils at independent schools). Among pupils with a statement or an EHC plan in Suffolk (excluding pupils at independent schools), the most common primary needs in 2021/22 were: autism spectrum (25.0%), speech, language, and communication needs (16.2%), and social, emotional and mental health needs (14.0%).

Source: State of Children in Suffolk

Essex

• Whilst the all-pupil school population has increased by 6.7% (2015/16 to 2020/21), the number of pupils in receipt of SEN Support has risen by 14.8% and those with an EHCP by 15.7%.
• The nature of needs among these pupils has also shifted. There have been significant increases in pupils with Autism (+81.8%), Social, Emotional & Mental Health needs (+39.3%) and Speech, Language & Communication Needs (+29.7%).
• The age profile has also changed. This is most pronounced among 16-19 year olds where nearly one in five of all EHCPs are held by young people in this age group. In addition, around one in twenty EHCPs are held by young people aged 20-25. Collectively, 22.8% of the EHCP population was above the age of 16 in 2021.
• Looking at newly issued EHCPs since 2018 shows that Essex is placing fewer pupils in mainstream settings than across England. Of all newly issued EHCPs during the 2020 calendar year, 32.2% of those in Essex were placed in mainstream compared to 37.0% nationally.
• The number of requests for Education, Health and Care Needs assessments has increased by 66% from 2015/16 to 2020/21, which equates to an additional 1084 requests a year.
• Over the past 5 years, exclusions and suspensions for children displaying persistent disruptive behaviour have been steadily increasing. The number and percentage of children and young people permanently excluded from school for persistent disruptive behaviour has risen from 14 pupils (26.92% of exclusions) in the academic year 2014/15 to 29 (39.19% of exclusions) in 2019/20. Suspensions (fixed term exclusions) have risen across the same period from 1438 to 2469.

Source: My Life, My Rights: Essex Local Area SEND Strategy 2022-2027

Indicator	Suffolk	Essex	East of England
% of 16-17 year olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) (2020)	4.3%	4.3%	4.3%

Source: OHID

An overview of research by Ofsted in 2021 highlights a range of issues that impact on pupil’s health and wellbeing:

Expectations and assumptions about pupils: Teachers may have differing expectations of pupils based on their ethnic, gender and background, giving more time and attention to those they expect to achieve highly, and allowing lower-expectancy pupils to behave worse, receive more punishments and fewer rewards.

Bullying and discrimination: Children and young people may be targeted in particular on the basis of their race, religion or sexual orientation. Bullying can be reduced by creating a positive culture, strong social cohesion and equality of opportunity, good parent-teacher and pupil-teacher relationships, and consistent application of bullying policies in practice.

A healthy school environment: Schools can support pupils’ health and wellbeing by including healthy behaviours in the curriculum, providing a healthy and safe environment, involving parents, health services and the community, a strengths-based approach to wellbeing, and a respectful and warm environment that creates a feeling of belonging.

Ofsted’s review of SEND support in 2021 noted that the Children and Families Act 2014 and subsequent guidance placed an emphasis on involving children, young people and families, inter-agency collaboration, and the provision of support until the young person reaches 25. However, their inspections since then have found:

• A lack of joint commissioning
• Lack of clarity on who was accountable for services and provision.
• Problems with the identification and assessment of children and young people’s needs.
• Poor-quality education, health and care plans (EHC plans)
• No co-production, or co-production that was not working properly
• A continuing lack of ambition for pupils with SEND.
• Attendance at school for this group remained below national averages and exclusions were often high.
• More opportunities for further education, supported employment, and training, but only a tiny minority ended up in sustained employment.
• During the pandemic, healthcare such as physiotherapy and speech and language services stopped, leading to a worsening of children and young people’s health. Social care and respite ceased, leaving parents exhausted and at times in despair. Some pupils were told their care needs could not be met, and those who were able to attend school had a reduced curriculum.

Office of National Statistics data shows:

• People who grew up in income-deprived households in England have lower average earnings aged 30 years than their peers, even when matching educational level and secondary school attainment.
• Part of this gap in earnings is because of people from income-deprived backgrounds being much less likely to go on to higher education.
• But even among those with the same qualification level and similar attainment in secondary school, disadvantaged pupils went on to earn less than their peers.

NICE guidance highlights:

• Only a quarter of looked after young people achieve 5 or more GCSE grades A* to C compared to three quarters of all pupils.
• Reasons include instability of care and school placements, inadequate support, low expectations and aspirations, lower starting levels because of earlier adversities, poorly informed teachers and social workers, and carers not sufficiently engaged in the child or young person’s education.
• An effective personal education plan (PEP) and avoiding disrupting education where possible should be an integral part of the care planning process; the PEP should be regularly reviewed and updated.
• Teachers and carers should understand the impact of abuse and neglect on learning, and the likelihood of looked after young people entering higher education.
• Carers and social workers should provide learning support at home and encourage social and leisure activities to develop the child or young person’s interests and talents, improve their self-esteem and confidence, develop their social skills, and build up support networks.
• Access to education and training, good careers advice and opportunities for work or apprenticeships, with financial support, help young people to develop their self-belief and prepares them for adult life.

Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education incorporates relationships, sex and health education. It is influenced by Ofsted’s Review of Sexual Abuse in Schools and Colleges, published in 2021, which found:

• Sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are for children and young people are so prevalent that for some children, incidents are so commonplace that they see no point in reporting them.
• Nearly 90% of girls, and nearly 50% of boys, said being sent explicit pictures or videos of things they did not want to see happens a lot or sometimes to them or their peers.
• 92% of girls, and 74% of boys, said sexist name-calling happens a lot or sometimes to them or their peers.
• Sexual violence mainly happened in unsupervised spaces outside of school, such as parties or parks, but some girls experienced unwanted touching in school corridors.
• Children and young people, especially girls, do not want to talk about sexual abuse for due to the risk of being ostracised by peers or getting peers into trouble, thinking they will not be believed, or that they will be blamed, and once they disclose to an adult, the process will be out of their control.
• Relationships and Sexual Health Education was too little, too late and did not give them the right information and advice, so they turned to social media or their peers to educate each other.
• Some teachers and leaders underestimated the scale of the problem, and consistently underestimated the prevalence of online sexual abuse.
• School and college leaders needed greater guidance on how to proceed when criminal investigations do not lead to a prosecution or conviction.

The review recommended a multi-agency approach, with partners acting as though sexual harassment and abuse is happening, even where there are no specific reports.

• Pupils speak out about UK child poverty – YouTube
• Healthy schools and pupils | The King’s Fund (kingsfund.org.uk)
• How do our education and skills influence our health?
• The role of education in reducing health inequalities – Health Action Campaign
• The influence of education on health: an empirical assessment of OECD countries for the period 1995–2015 | Archives of Public Health | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)
• The Causal Effects of Education on Health Outcomes in the UK Biobank – PMC (nih.gov)
• Education: a neglected social determinant of health – The Lancet Public Health
• fair-society-healthy-lives-full-report-pdf.pdf (instituteofhealthequity.org)