The London Borough of Bexley has achieved two significant milestones in its work to improve support for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), with the Government approving the Borough's Local SEND Reform Plan and formally lifting its SEND Improvement Notice.

On 2 October, Bexley received a formal letter from the Department for Education (DfE) confirming the lifting of the SEND Improvement Notice and approval of the Local Area Partnerships SEND Reform Plan.

Lifting the SEND Improvement Notice recognises the progress made by Bexley's Local Area Partnership in strengthening leadership, developing a shared improvement plan and taking effective leadership action to address the priority actions from our December 2023 inspection and improving outcomes for children and their families. This decision follows positive feedback from this year’s monitoring inspection and continued engagement with the DfE on our improvement journey.

The Bexley SEND Reform Plan sets out how the Council and its partners will implement the government's national SEND reforms locally, to create a more inclusive and effective system of support for children, young people and their families. It outlines how Bexley will continue to strengthen inclusion, improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND, increase the confidence of parents and carers and ensure services remain sustainable and responsive to local needs.

A key ambition of the plan is to ensure children and young people receive the right support at the right time, enabling more children to thrive within inclusive mainstream settings while ensuring specialist provision remains available for those with the most complex needs.

The SEND Reform Plan includes four key areas of focus:

• The development of Bexley's new "Experts at Hand" offer, providing specialist advice and support to mainstream education settings.
• Ensuring sufficient specialist inclusion base provision across the Borough.
• Strengthening partnership working across education, health and social care.
• Robust monitoring and accountability arrangements to track progress and outcomes.

Further details on our Plan will be published and shared with our families and partners over the coming weeks.

Councillor David Leaf, Leader of Bexley Council, said:

The lifting of the SEND Improvement Notice is a significant achievement and demonstrates what can be accomplished when partner organisations, parent/carers and young people work together with a shared focus on improving outcomes for children and young people. I would like to thank everyone involved in this journey. 

The approval of our SEND Reform Plan gives us a strong foundation to build on this progress and continue improving services for Bexley families. We are committed to ensuring that Bexley continues to work with families, young people and our partners to provide the services and support that young people with SEND need."

Councillor Caroline Newton, Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate Services and Education, said:

This is fantastic news for Bexley and recognition of the dedication, commitment and hard work shown by colleagues across the Council, our schools, health partners, voluntary and community sector partners, parents, carers and most importantly, our children and young people.

The lifting of the SEND Improvement Notice demonstrates the significant progress we have made together, while the approval of our SEND Reform Plan gives us a clear and ambitious roadmap for the future.

Although we are proud of how far we have come, we know there is still more work to do. We remain committed to listening to families and children, working closely with our partners and continuing to improve support so that every child and young person with SEND can achieve their potential and thrive."

This is an important milestone for Bexley's children and young people with SEND, their families and everyone involved in supporting them. The lifting of the Improvement Notice recognises the significant progress that has been made through strong partnership working across education, health, social care, the voluntary sector and local families.

We know there is still more to do, but the approval of the SEND Reform Plan provides a clear framework for continuing to improve services and support. By working together, we can help ensure children and young people receive the right support at the right time, achieve the best possible outcomes and are able to thrive in their local communities."

The SEND Reform Plan was developed through initial engagement with education settings, health providers, the voluntary sector, parents, carers and children and young people, including members of Bexley's Time 2 Talk SEND group.

Through the reforms, Bexley and its partners will continue to build a more inclusive education system, improve early support and intervention and deliver better experiences and outcomes for SEND children, young people and their families.

We will publish a summary of the SEND Reform Plan on the Bexley Council website, the NHS South East London Integrated Care Board website and the Local Offer. We will provide quarterly updates so that families, young people and partners can see the progress being made.

For more information about SEND services in Bexley, visit the Bexley Local Offer website.