CASE STUDY · SEND STRATEGY
Better outcomes for 1,000+ children.
£35.5m a year in cost avoidance.
A city council's high needs spend was on track to double by 2030, and demand for specialist places was rising faster than it could build them. We built one evidence base, and a plan to improve outcomes for over 1,000 children.
Objectives and impact
We were commissioned to link school practice, place planning and transitions into one evidence base, with a governance model to act on it.
OBJECTIVE 01
Hold schools to account fairly, with a deprivation-adjusted framework.
IMPACT
196
children a year can have their needs met without escalating, if outlier schools reach the benchmark: 119 fewer plans, 30 fewer special school moves and 47 fewer exclusions.
OBJECTIVE 02
Plan Integrated Resource places where they are needed most.
IMPACT
483
more children with complex needs planned to have a local Integrated Resource or special school place by 2030.
OBJECTIVE 03
Build a combined business case the leadership team owns.
IMPACT
£35.5m
a year of cost avoidance by 2030, around 18% of forecast high needs spend, built workstream by workstream and owned by the leadership team.
How we did it, and what we found
Nearly half (49%) of special school escalations happened at a transition point. We linked school practice, place planning and transitions into one evidence base for the whole city.
Designed tiered support for schools
4
levels of support: locality monitoring, advisory teachers in school, focused support and senior escalation.
Forecast need in each locality
4 of 7
localities need new Integrated Resource provision first, starting with secondary places.
Tracked every Year 6 transition
67%
of Year 6 Integrated Resource pupils moved to special school, and only 8% to mainstream. A new pathway can avoid 13 of these moves.
Designed an early years pathway
4 to 6
year olds offered speech and language support before long-term plans are locked in, avoiding 42 plans.