From October, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission
(CQC) will be
visiting local areas to find out about their arrangements
for children and young people with special educational
needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
The visits are designed to understand the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on the SEND
system and to support improvement. Inspectors will work
collaboratively with local areas to identify what has
worked well for children and young people with SEND
and their families over recent months, what the challenges
and lessons learned have been, and what the opportunities
are for improvement for the future.
Ofsted and CQC
will be publishing a series of thematic reports on what
they have found during the local area visits. These will
share insights to promote whole-system learning towards a
stronger SEND
system in the wake of the pandemic, as well as highlighting
how services and support for children and young people with
SEND
have been adapted.
Inspectors will not be visiting every local area and
participation in the visits is voluntary.
The visits are not inspections, nor will they replace the
current area SENDinspection
cycle. Rather, they will provide insights into how the
SEND
system is working over the autumn term while the area
SEND
inspection cycle remains on hold. Ofsted will restart those
inspections when it is right to do so.
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman said:
Children and young people with SEND,
and their families, have doubtless been significantly
affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our joint visits to
local areas with CQC will be
collaborative and supportive, designed to support and
strengthen the whole SEND
system at this time, building on what has worked well and
the lessons learned during this disruptive period.
In July, the Department for Education, with the support of
the Department for Health and Social Care, formally
commissioned Ofsted and the CQC to develop a new area
SEND
inspection framework, with inspections beginning once the
existing cycle finishes. More detailed information about
the future of
SEND
inspections was set out in a commentary by Amanda
Spielman at the time.
