Here is a summary of the agenda for the Family Friendly Sub-committee meeting on 4 September 2025. The meeting included discussion of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Self Evaluation Framework, SEND strategies, reading in secondary schools, and the committee's work programme. The purpose of the Family Friendly Sub-committee is to scrutinise matters relating to schools, education, and children's services in North Tyneside.

SEND Self Evaluation Framework

The Family Friendly Sub Committee was scheduled to review the Special Educational Needs and Disability Self Evaluation Framework (SEND SEF). Mark Mirfin, Head of Service, Commissioning, Partnerships and Transformations, was expected to present a report outlining the arrangements for children and young people with SEND[^2], the impact of these arrangements, and future plans to improve outcomes for this group.

As part of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Area Inspection Framework, local area partnerships are required to provide inspectors with a self-evaluation framework (SEF), setting out our arrangements for children and young people with SEND, the impact our arrangements are having, and what our plans are for the next 12 months to improve the experiences of and outcomes for children and young people with SEND in the Borough.

Item 5 - Agenda 1.1 - FF Covering Report SEND SEF

The report highlighted key strengths of the local area SEND partnership, including strong leadership, robust governance, a focus on continual improvement, and examples of engagement with children, young people, families and other stakeholders. The report also noted the challenges that the local area faces. The Sub-committee was asked to note the strengths and areas for improvement identified in the report, and to provide feedback.

The SEF noted several strategic developments, including:

• The Early Years Partnership, which launched in October 2025, is a multi-disciplinary single access point to a range of services, with the ambition to identify and meet the needs of all children who have or may have SEND.
• The number of Additionally Resourced Provisions (ARPs) and SEN Unit places have increased by nearly 20% since 2023, rising from 110 to 171.
• The local area co-produced with children, young people and families the SEND Graduated Approach, launched in 2024.
• The Authority has invested a £0.990m capital allocated, locally known as Funding for inclusion, to strengthen inclusion in schools; 44 schools have benefited from this investment.
• The establishment of the SEND Preparation for Adulthood Team in 2023.

The SEF also reported on the voices of parents, carers, children and young people. Challenges that parents and carers reported experiencing included:

• Children not meeting criteria for services.
• Levels of available support for parent carers, and their ability to work
• Challenges around their caring commitments
• Parent carer mental health and burnout
• Children's emotional regulation and behaviour
• Availability of respite / short breaks
• Availability of suitable school places
• Post 16 offer
• Home/school transition
• Reasonable adjustments in schools / settings
• Access to therapies and waiting times.
• Post diagnostic support.
• Children and young people's mental health and self-harm
• PBS Sleep

The SEF also set out the local area partnership's plans to improve the experiences and outcomes for children. These included:

• Co-producing the local area partnerships refreshed Joint Commissioning Strategy, informed by the SEND Needs and Sufficiency Assessment.
• North Tyneside's Parent Carer Forum leading the co-production of the local area partnerships SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy.
• Embedding the local area partnership's refreshed SEND Quality of Practice Framework, a systemic framework to evaluate the quality of practice and understand the impact of service delivery for children and young people, and their families.
• Effectively assessing the needs of all children within the 20 week statutory timescale as set out in the SEND Code of Practice 2015 when completing Education Health and Care Needs Assessments.
• Effectively assessing the sensory processing needs of all children and young people in the borough.
• Effectively identifying and meeting the needs of all pre-school children due to waiting times on the autism assessment diagnostic pathway, and for children and young people on the neurodiversity pathway, due to the length of the CAMHS waiting list.
• Ensuring that all children and young people's Annual Reviews of their EHCPs are completed 60 weeks following the previous Annual Review or initial EHCP.
• Establishing the Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health collaborative embed a single access point for the triage of requests for support for children with needs relating to their emotional health and wellbeing, and who are neurodivergent.
• Delivering the NHS England Mental Health Support Teams in Schools programme.
• Following the establishment of Early Years Partnership, identifying all children who have or may have SEND, so that their needs are met, promoting strong transitions when starting school.
• North Tyneside's PCF leading the co-production of a single access point to services to schools, aligned to the principles of the Early Years Partnership.
• Delivering the partnership's All-Age Autism Strategy.
• Ensuring there are effective transition planning arrangements in place into Adult Social Care and those with continuing health care (including those with an EHCP who are not open to Children's Social Care).
• Effectively finding homes for all children with the most complex needs in the local area.
• Developing and embed strengthened systems to forecast SEND school places planning need across the local area.
• Delivering the SEND capital investment programme, including the Funding for Inclusion Capital allocation
• Delivering the expansion of Additionally Resourced Provisions and SEN Units in the Borough.
• Leading a review of the Authority's strategic arrangements for Alternative Provision , including the alternative provider framework.
• Coordinating a full review of Moorbridge Alternative Education Provision.
• Coordinating a review of special school designations, providing assurance that special schools meet the presenting needs of children and young people in the Borough.
• Coordinating the review of high needs block school funding mechanisms.
• Strengthening careers, education, information, advice and guidance from primary school to post 16 to ensure that there is an appropriate awareness of the pathways and range of routes available to young people
• North Tyneside's PCF leading a review of current post 16 pathways for SEND students, ensuring sufficient high-quality post 16 progression pathways, including those with SEND, in the local area.
• Embedding the SEND Graduated Approach, supporting all schools and settings to offer an enhanced and consistent educational offer for children and young people with SEND, including those who are neurodiverse and with complex SEMH.
• Working with schools to develop a high-quality curriculum offer for all pupils which will improve academic outcomes and progress, maximising opportunities to improve attainment for children and young people with SEND Support Plans and EHCPs.
• Delivering on the attendance action plan.
• Reducing the number of suspensions and permanent exclusions for those with SEN Support Plans and EHCPs.
• Delivering phase two of the Whole School SEND Audits programme
• Maximising every opportunity for the Local Offer to be clear and enhanced, which is easily accessible and well used by families and the people who work with them.
• Delivering the partnerships Neurodiversity Transformation Programme, creating a need led approach with the right support available at the right time, across education, health and care.
• Maximising opportunities for participation and engagement, supported with a calendar of participation and engagement activities on the Local Offer, for children, young people, parents and carers.
• Developing what's available in the local community to support children and young people with SEND, including short breaks for younger children, so they have the same opportunities as those without additional needs.

SEND Strategy and SEND Joint Commissioning Strategy

Mark Mirfin, Head of Service, Commissioning, Partnerships and Transformation, was also scheduled to present a report providing an update on the development of a new Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Strategy and a new SEND Joint Commissioning Strategy in North Tyneside. The Sub-committee was asked to note the co-production and engagement activity, the four strategic priorities, and to consider providing feedback.

The report stated that the local area SEND partnership is in the process of co-producing North Tyneside's next SEND Strategy, to agree what is important and to set the direction for how the council will achieve its shared priorities. The local area SEND partnership is also co-producing the next SEND Joint Commissioning Strategy, which describes in further detail how the Authority and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) will discharge their joint commissioning responsibilities and work together with schools, providers and partner agencies to deliver on the priorities of the next SEND Strategy.

The report stated that the strategies are underpinned and influenced by legislation and national guidance, as well as other local plans and arrangements, and that the Authority and the ICB have been working closely with the North Tyneside Parent Carer Forum (PCF) to ensure that the views of children and young people, parents, carers and partner agencies have been captured in relation to SEND.

The report also stated that the Authority and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) have prepared a joint Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Needs and Sufficiency Assessment in January 2025, which provides a comprehensive analysis of SEND needs and provision in North Tyneside.

The report stated that the information gathered has shaped four emerging strategic priorities:

• Developing a person centred, needs led system
• Inclusive Education
• Preparation for Adulthood
• Commissioning the right services and support

The report also stated that three emerging principles have developed:

• Early intervention
• The voices of children, young people and families
• Good, effective communication

The draft strategies, priorities and commissioning intentions were scheduled to be considered at the North Tyneside SEND Strategic Board and at the North Tyneside Parent Carer Forum Annual Conference in September 2025, with final sign-off expected in October 2025.

Secondary Reading

Lisa Ramshaw, Head of Service Education and Inclusion, was scheduled to present a report on reading development in secondary schools. The report was requested to inform members of how reading is developed and monitored in North Tyneside secondary schools. The Sub-committee was asked to note the contents of the report and decide if any further exploration of this issue is required.

The report stated that secondary schools in North Tyneside adopt a multifaceted approach to support the development of reading, and that there is no way of collecting reading data in English Secondary schools. The report also stated that Ofsted inspectors will ask schools what they do to support the 20% of readers in each year group with the lowest assessed reading abilities.

The report described how secondary schools support reading development through:

• Whole-School Disciplinary Literacy
• Targeted Vocabulary Instruction
• Reading for Pleasure Initiatives

The report also described how reading development is measured through:

• Regular Standardised Assessments
• Screening and Diagnostic Assessments
• Norm-Referenced Scores
• Reading Age vs. Chronological Age
• Data Analysis and Reporting
• Reading Risk Registers

The report also described how schools address barriers and targeted interventions, and provide staff professional development.

The report concluded that there is a lot of work in secondary schools in relation to reading development, but that there are no local or national mechanisms or associated measures for demonstrating reading attainment across schools, other than external examinations.

Work Programme

The Sub-committee was scheduled to discuss its work programme for 2025/26. The report set out the continued approach to work planning for the Family Friendly Sub Committee for 2025/26, and advised the Committee of potential topics which the Committee may wish to utilise in considering and deciding on its outline work programme for 2025/26. The Sub-committee was asked to note the work programme as it currently stands, identify outcomes and objectives for the topics, and note that all Scrutiny members have been invited to contribute ideas for the work programme via a 'scrutiny suggestion sheet'.

The report stated that scrutiny tends to be most successful when it sets clear objectives for its work, and when it focuses on strategic matters which are likely to make a real difference. The report also suggested that one way the Committee could consider items to be added to the work programme is to take note of the Council's Forward Plan in identifying potential topics.

The report included the Family Friendly Sub-Committees current work programme, the Scrutiny Topic Suggest Sheet, the Terms of Reference for the Sub-Committee, and the Scrutiny Support Arrangements.

The current work programme included the following agenda items:

• TOR & Work Programme
• School place planning
• School attainment
• Ofsted improvement plan
• Family Friendly Task and Finish – Committee Discussion
• SEND Self-Assessment
• SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy
• SEND Joint Commissioning Strategy
• Secondary Reading
• National Social Care Reforms (Families First)
• Youth Justice Plan
• Corporate Parenting Forum Annual Report
• Children Wellbeing and Schools Bill
• Home to School Transport Review/Mitigations
• Education Attendance update – Including suspensions and PEX
• Children and Young People Plan update / development
• Post 16 update – including NEET/EET
• Children in our care annual report
• Annual Scrutiny Report
• Education Attainment update
• Expansion of Additionally Resourced Provisions and SEN Units
• Review of post 16 pathways for SEND students