Norfolk County Council believes that children and young people with social, emotional and behavioural needs / difficulties should have the same opportunities for education as everyone else. We believe they should be included in mainstream schools wherever possible unless it is not in the best interests of the child.

We ensure:

• high quality pupil assessment and support services

• training opportunities

• fair distribution of resources to support children and young people with complex emotional and behavioural difficulties

• high quality alternative education for children who are not able to go to school or have been excluded

• an overview of progress for young people at risk of underachieving

• well coordinated planning between different services, such as schools, healthcare, Social Services and Youth Offending Teams

• support to schools to help them achieve high pupil attendance rates

Provision for three and four year olds is coordinated by the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership who believe that young children with extra needs should still be able to go to mainstream schools and pre schools.

Our early years learning document has a Special Educational Needs supplement and we share good practice through our early years newsletter. All pre school providers can access advice and information on behaviour management. Extra support for children with the most complex needs is available through Social Services. Four year olds whose early years education is funded by the Government early education grant can receive support for additional needs through the LEA.

By 2002 all pre school providers will have identified and trained a special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) and by 2004 an information resource centre and outreach facilities will be in place.

Parents are responsible for ensuring their children are registered at a school, attend regularly and are on time. Schools can, and do, promote good attendance by ensuring that both pupils and parents have positive experiences of education.

Norfolk Pupil Attendance Service (NPAS), formed in September 2000, is responsible for pupil attendance, child employment and child protection and has issued all schools with new guidance:

Schools are advised to carry out first day absence checks and to contact parents when pupils are absent. They must contact NPAS when a pupil has unauthorised absence for 10 days or more and they have made every effort to discuss a return to school with the parent and pupil. Where there has been a poor pattern of attendance court action may be used.

NPAS can help schools, especially when attendance is poor, by providing extra staff temporarily, supporting reviews of policies and procedures and targeting groups of children for immediate follow up activities.

We aim to develop a positive attitude in all Norfolk schools and a shared set of positive values with the community we serve, at the same time ensuring safe education of children with challenging behaviour. To this end, we are establishing a framework to support schools in the development of positive behaviour, including comprehensive measures aimed at reducing bullying.

For primary school children, we use specialist support assistants who can give fast and effective responses to potential exclusions.

Secondary schools receive a pupil retention grant (PRG), aimed particularly at reducing permanent and long fixed term exclusions and improving pupil attendance by helping schools develop a positive ethos. As well as supporting the efforts of schools through the PRG, we intend to set up three learning support units, each serving groups of schools.

We develop ‘managed moves’ as a way of giving pupils a fresh start at a new school and to reduce exclusions.

37 high schools across Norfolk are now involved in work-related, alternative curriculum provision. The year 10 and 11 pupils taking part have been identified by schools as being at risk of exclusion and / or showing signs of lack of motivation.

A main strength of the programme has been the partnerships between schools and colleges, the Careers Service and Youth and Community Service as well as local employers, with strategic overview and leadership from the Norfolk Education Advisory Service (NEAS).

Contact: Yvonne Barclay, 01603 224454, e-mail: yvonne.barclay.edu@norfolk.gov.uk

We support schools to help all children access an inclusive education and aim to reduce exclusions dramatically. In the academic year 1999-2000 permanent exclusions went down by 54%, from 176 to 81.

Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) exist for permanently excluded pupils, with the aim of getting children in Key Stages 1 – 3 (four to thirteen year olds) back into the system and, where possible, those at Key Stage 4.

LINKs4 provides an alternative curriculum to Key Stage 4 pupils who have been permanently excluded from school or who are out of school long term due to school phobia or other medical needs. An Open College Network accredited scheme is currently being developed to ensure that all work completed by the young people is being officially recognised. Each pupil has an individually planned timetable, access to work experience where appropriate and a full programme of careers advice.

The Youth Offending Team (YOT) and Norfolk Psychological Service collaborate in providing in-school support for young people and monitoring young people known to YOT and at risk of exclusion. The YOT has developed a comprehensive action plan including a range of targets aimed at reducing youth crime. All children known to YOT and out of school receive education for at least 20 hours a week and regular contact between YOT, PRUs and the Visiting Teacher Service ensure coordinated responses and strategies.

We are committed to ensuring that the education rights of minority ethnic pupils, including refugees and asylum seekers, are upheld.

We have

• a clear policy statement and guidelines for schools on recording and

reporting racist incidents

• a policy for the admission and support of refugees and asylum seekers
• a subsidised translation and interpreting service for schools and parents
• an LEA officer responsible for liaising with other agencies on refugees and

asylum seekers

• a specialist teaching service for pupils with English as an additional

language

Whilst wholly recognising that schools are the key providers to all pupils, including Travellers, we offer individual pupil support where the difficulty experienced by the Traveller pupil is culturally related. This short term support should not disadvantage the pupil from getting help from other sources.

We help schools identify Traveller pupils at risk of underachieving and help schools identify and support the needs of those pupils to improve attendance, minimise the risk of exclusion and raise achievement levels.

We work with other agencies to foster positive attitudes to Traveller pupils and to encourage Traveller pupils to have positive attitudes to formal learning.

We make specialist provision for children with complex and severe needs, to offer the highest quality support and opportunity for maximum participation. We recognise the holistic needs of the ‘whole’ child and seek to work closely with parents and carers.

A review of special educational needs provision has taken place and a new framework will set out timescales, a financial strategy, proposals for consultation and review mechanisms. The role of special schools will be developed, to provide outreach support to mainstream schools for pupils with significant and complex special educational needs.

Resources to support pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties in mainstream schools are provided through Special Educational Needs (SEN) budgets, distributed as part of the school budget share. This SEN funding scheme aims to be stable and flexible, a fair system of distribution based on an objective assessment of need.

A user group of school and LEA representatives meets regularly and schools are consulted annually if changes to the SEN funding are proposed.

The Norfolk Parent Partnership Scheme has produced an information booklet on funding for parents. This is available in schools and is distributed, as part of the Parent Partnership Pack, to parents of children undergoing statutory assessment.

Agencies in Norfolk are fully committed to working closely together to provide for children in need. A Norfolk Children and Young People’s Group has been formed to coordinate cross-agency planning, supported by several other groups and there are established links between Education and Social Services.

We support the education of pregnant girls and young mothers of school age who cannot attend school and aim to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies in Norfolk.

In Norwich and Great Yarmouth, projects linked to the LINKs4 projects offer a variety of educational input to the young women, in liaison with Great Yarmouth Young Women’s Project, Norfolk County Council Youth and Community Services and other agencies. In other areas the County Council’s Visiting Teacher Service responds to need. A joint agency working group ensures the right people are talking to one another and has set targets to reduce social and educational exclusion.

A young carer is a child or young person who is taking care of other members of the family with an illness or disability. We ensure that schools recognise the specific needs of pupils who are young carers and provide information and support to enable them to benefit from their education.

All secondary schools in Norfolk have been contacted by young carer school workers, funded by the Norwich & District Carers’ Forum. Several young carers have been supported through these workers.

We will be providing all schools with guidance on the role they can play in supporting pupils who are young carers.

We aim to ensure that all staff in schools and support services understand and follow the Area Child Protection Committee / LEA procedures and that school and LEA staff work closely with parents and other agencies to ensure that children in Norfolk are safe from harm.

All schools must have a named member of the teaching staff for child protection and internal procedures for all school staff to follow. Likewise, all support services are required to have a named person for child protection and procedures in place.

A senior educational social worker has lead responsibility for child protection - to provide advice and support to schools, keep a register of all designated teachers and manage training activities. All Norfolk Pupil Attendance Service staff can provide advice to schools on child protection.

Schools and LEA services must make referrals direct to social services where there are reasons to be concerned about the safety and well being of children.

The aim is for all children in public care to be able to lead full and positive lives. The local authority aims to act as a good corporate parent and to ensure positive discrimination for children who are looked after; to improve significantly their educational standards ensure full time education which meets their needs.

We are committed to a collaborative approach to supporting and enhancing the educational progress and achievement of children in public care. Interagency monitoring, planning and liaison groups oversee the care and education of the children. Psychological Service education coordinators make arrangements for looked after children with difficulties in education.

From April 2000 there is a designated teacher for looked after children in every school.

We aim to improve information and training for schools on early identification and response to children who refuse to go to school and to reduce the number of children out of school because of non-attendance for health reasons.

We are producing a new multi-agency framework for working with these young people and are developing the role of the Visiting Teacher Service (VTS) to help children get back into school faster. The VTS will be working with school staff, Norfolk Pupil Attendance Service and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to provide early proactive support when children are refusing to attend school.

Developments of particular importance are the introduction of five multi-agency family support teams and new respite care facilities for children with learning disabilities and challenging behaviours.

We aim to ensure that all schools in Norfolk meet the necessary standards to be accredited as healthy schools. A healthy school helps pupils to do their best and build on their achievements. It understands the importance of investing in health to help raise levels of achievement and of providing a physical and social environment that is helpful to learning.

The National Healthy School Standard is part of the Healthy Schools Programme, led by the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health. It provides an accreditation process for education and health partnerships.

As part of a wider programme to reduce the misuse of drugs and alcohol, we seek to ensure that pupils have access to high quality information and support on the dangers of substance misuse. The Drug Action Team works in partnership with Social Services, Health, the Youth Service, the Visiting Teacher Service and Pupil Referral Units, tracking the education and treatment needs of vulnerable young people.

This provides information, advice, guidance and support to 14–18 year olds, so they can access education, training and other support to achieve their full potential. To this end, we will be making a large contribution to the new Norfolk Connexions Service, due to be launched in April 2002 and bringing together services provided by the Careers Service, the Youth and Community Service, the voluntary sector, social services and others. It will link 13-19 year olds with a personal adviser who will give information, guidance and support to enable them to access flexible, individually tailored education and training.

The LEA currently convenes 14+ review meetings for all pupils with statements of special educational needs. These usually involve the young person, parents, the LEA, school staff, the Careers Service and other agencies as necessary.

Youth workers are now linked with each high school and school support team, delivering projects focussed on young people at risk of exclusion.

Youth achievement projects, such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, further enable young people to continue to be engaged in learning during the transition from high school to post 16.

‘Learning Gateway’ projects for disengaged over 16s are happening across the county. Further projects will be developed in partnership with the youth offending teams and are focussed on diversionary and preventative youth work with young people at risk of offending or re-offending.