Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have today published
guidance for the next series of thematic visits looking at how
well children with special educational needs and/or disabilities
(SEND) are being supported.
Ofsted and the CQC carry out annual visits to consider a
particular aspect of the SEND system. This year's visits will
take place between spring and summer and will look in depth at
the experiences of children with SEND who are of compulsory
school age but are not registered at any type of independent or
state-funded school.
The visits will also consider the experiences of children who are
on a school roll but are flexi-schooled (noted as a growing
phenomenon in Ofsted's most recent Annual Report), on a part-time
timetable, receiving education otherwise than at school, or are
severely absent. Ofsted and CQC will look at how local area
partnerships are working to meet the needs of these children and
the availability of universal and specialist health services.
Inspectors will also consider the reasons why children are not in
full-time education and what is being done to support them to
attend school.
The visits will explore the extent to which information is shared
with key partners and the barriers that local area partners face
when trying to support children not in school.
Evidence will be gathered from key stakeholders to understand
their experiences, including children and young people with SEND
and their families.
The visits will not result in judgements about individual local
areas. Instead, an overarching report will be published in autumn
2025 and will highlight examples of good practice as well as
identifying any systemic concerns.
Lee Owston, Ofsted's National Director for
Education:
“We know from our inspections that the number of children with
SEND who are not in school has been growing to a concerning
extent.
“It's vital that the most vulnerable children are not out of
sight and that they continue to receive the support they need,
even when they are not at school. I hope these visits will help
us to understand the experiences of these children, as well as
the barriers local areas are facing in trying to deliver
improvements for them.”
Lucy Harte, Deputy Director of Multiagency Operations at
the Care Quality Commission, said:
“We need to understand what the impact is on children and young
people with SEND when they are not educated at a school. This
includes their access to education, health, and care
services.
“Working with Ofsted, these visits will allow us to look at the
relationships between local area partnerships including health
care services in order to help understand how they can best meet
the needs of children and young people with SEND."
