Management Information Sheet

The purpose of this MI Sheet is to update school leaders, SENCos and inclusion leads on the development of the Identification of Needs Descriptors in Educational Settings (INDES) and Inclusion and Provision SEF (IPSEF). These two processes, alongside the Provision Expected at School Support (PEaSS) suite of resources provide the foundation and principles upon which ongoing improvements in SEND provision across Norfolk schools, settings and services are developed, and they will be central to the next phase of SEND transformation over the next six years.

Last term saw the introduction of a revised process for accessing support for children and young people with SEND in mainstream settings. Thank you to those of you who have engaged with the process which has helped us to adjust and make refinements whilst running parallel with the original procedure for accessing Element 3 funding.

Identification of Needs Descriptors in Educational Settings (INDES)

INDES are a framework of standardised terms, co-produced and facilitated by the Inclusion and SEND team, breaking down the broad areas of SEND into seven specific sections which describe need:

• Physical disability (including physical and neurological impairment, medical, independence and sensory)
• Deafness
• Visual impairment
• Speech and language
• Social communication and interaction
• Social, emotional and mental health
• Learning and cognition difficulties (including behaviour for learning)

When identifying a child or young person's needs as part of the assess, plan, do, review process (SEND Code of Practice, 2015), professionals use statements within the above that best describe presentation of need from typically developing to complex.

Currently, we have engagement from 363 mainstream settings and over 7,500 submissions, the majority of which, we are pleased to say, are being moderated within settings.

Support for SEND Triage

When an INDES submission is received and the setting has requested support via the webform, the Support for SEND Triage (SST) process is engaged. Once the submission has been processed, the setting will receive feedback from a panel of SEND professionals, which will range from individual, holistic advice and signposting, to additional funding - it may also lead to an offer of support from a SEND Adviser if wider, more strategic SEND cohort advice is appropriate.

Moderation

In order to ensure these approaches are consistently used and embedded across schools and settings, a programme of moderation provides a robust quality assurance process.

We have recently carried out our first INDES Moderation Panel (IMP) with 26 settings, which is one layer of moderation that review the INDES submissions and supporting information (SEN Support plans, EHCPs, review documentation) with 3 possible outcomes:

Outcome
1	*iLevels evidenced Evidence fully supports INDES iLevels IPSEF shows that setting has capacity to meet need	SEND Adviser support is available to all settings regardless of the outcome.
2	iLevels evidenced Evidence generally supports INDES iLevels IPSEF raises concerns about the setting's capacity to meet need
3	iLevels not evidenced Evidence does not support INDES iLevels IPSEF raises concerns about the setting's capacity to meet need
*(iLevels = best fit scores from INDES submissions in each SEND area)

It is our aim to moderate all Norfolk mainstream settings within 3 years with a view to bring about greater consistency in:

• how SEND is identified, and,
• robust, co-produced SEN provision planning

As part of our planning processes, we will contact schools and settings to invite colleagues to take part in an IMP. Ensuring decisions based upon and the INDES are consistent is critical to developing a stronger SEND system and professionals who have taken part have found these incredibly useful, and it strengthens internal moderation processes within schools and trusts.

Moderators from settings have commented on how the IMP sessions were 'very positive and beneficial' and that they 'found it incredibly useful' - so if you would like to join the moderation group, please get in touch indesipsefsupport@norfolk.gov.uk

Inclusion and Provision SEF (IPSEF)

186 settings have now completed IPSEFs to date with numbers rising every week. It is an essential part of our processes to have sight of a setting's IPSEF and supporting information, eg, costed provision map, so we have a complete picture of a setting's context and capacity to meet need.

Inclusion in a Nutshell tool

Thank you to those who have supported us to test the revised version of the tool and your encouraging feedback : 'I just want to say thank you for your hard work on this. Your team have clearly thought this through and made it very user friendly and useful! Having all this information in once place will be so helpful. You'll be saving SENDCos a huge amount of time - which is a gift!'

The tool has been developed so SEND leads can present all their SEND data in one place for their own reporting procedures. We are not asking that settings complete this but if you decide to, it would be useful context alongside your setting's IPSEF submission. The revised version will be available on our webpages soon.

IPSEF Peer Review

We will be inviting settings to take part in a review of your setting's IPSEF which will be done with peers, ideally from your community. The trial review we ran in the Summer 2022 term was incredibly positive and good CPD for SEND professionals and school leaders.

INDES/IPSEF webforms

We run a continuous programme of testing for the webforms which are the most used of all Norfolk's online forms. The testing periods help us to make revisions and adaptations to the forms from feedback you've given us, so they are more user friendly. Please continue to give us feedback so we can include suggestions in future testing phases indesipsefsupport@norfolk.gov.uk

INDES IPSEF guidance and staff CPD

There is a range of guidance documents that have been developed to support you when implementing INDES and IPSEF processes in your setting. Identification of need and inclusive provision. We have also created a CPD session and resources for you to use with your staff so INDES and IPSEF can be used effectively in your setting.

Element 3 funding

A reminder that the previous process has been phased out and will cease as of 31 March 2023 (end of financial year) to be replaced by the revised process which we have trialled over Autumn 2022 and will continue to trial in Spring 2023. Information is here alongside guidance documentation to support you High needs Element 3 funding.

Bandings and amounts (revised process)

Pilot bands for Autumn 2022 and Spring 2023 are:

Band	Annual allocation	Total per individual
1	£1,350	£7,350
2	£2,240	£8,240
3	£4,044	£10,044
4a	£8,000	£14,000
4b	£12,000	£16,000
4c	£16,000	£22,000

These are allocated to individual CYP who have high special educational needs and are used in conjunction with the school's contribution of the initial £6,000.

Bridging Fund (early years to Year R)

We are pleased that so many of your children were supported within the Bridging Fund process this Autumn and Spring terms - over 500 - and aim to continue this into the next academic year. We will communicate more about this in the summer term.

Those eligible for the fund are children who have received complex or medical needs funding in their nursery setting, or, who have an EHCP.

Ongoing support to settings

Our spring term workshop will be held on 17 January 2023 - booking information is here: Element 3 Funding Workshop (spring term 2023) Revised arrangements for the financial year 22-23.

We are also continuing our surgery sessions for those requiring bespoke support and guidance - booking information is here: Surgery sessions Spring term - E3 funding arrangements for financial year 2022-23.

Many thanks for your ongoing support; should you have any questions/comments, please contact us :

• inclusionandsend@norfolk.gov.uk
• indesipsefsupport@norfolk.gov.uk
• element3funding@norfolk.gov.uk