SEND and inclusion news
The Children, Young People and Learning (CYPL) SEND and Inclusion newsletter is a publication for professionals and parent carers who champion SEND in West Sussex.
This issue’s spotlight is SEND and inclusion within the new Ofsted framework. Contents also include:
- SEND project updates
- working with our partners
- events
Read the November 2025 SEND and Inclusion newsletter.
Update from Claire Hayes, Assistant Director of Education and Skills (2 December 2025)
Dear parent carers,
I wanted to share what’s been happening this year and, most importantly, what it means for you and your child. We know the SEND system is under pressure - more children need support and funding is stretched. These challenges make it harder to deliver the ambitions we all want for our children.
That’s why we’re being open about the current situation and working with partners to make improvements that are needed.
What’s changing and why it matters
We’ve heard from families and we know from the recent Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection, that experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND are inconsistent. We are working to change that by helping your child.
We are providing more help in mainstream schools. We’ve expanded outreach from special schools and updated our Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice (OAIP) guide, so schools have better tools to support children and young people.
We are providing earlier support by working with schools to develop whole-school approaches to enable them to support children earlier and more effectively.
We've joined-up services in Crawley, Southbourne and Midhurst, where we will be testing a new Local Inclusion Support Offer (LISO) that brings education, health and care services together, so we will be working in a more efficient, joined-up way.
Have Your Voice Heard
The Head of SEND and Inclusion and I have attended Have Your Voice Heard events, facilitated by the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum. We met with parent carers and answered your questions about SEND services in West Sussex.
We thank you for taking the time to talk to us and for your honest feedback. We have listened carefully and used your feedback to influence our strategic priorities, which will be in our new SEND strategy launching in the Spring term 2026.
Looking ahead
We’ll continue to attend the Have Your Voice Heard events and we will get better at communicating with you about how your feedback is shaping our strategic direction and our ways of working.
We have also taken the opportunity to review how our services are structured and delivered, to ensure they are fit for the future and align with national SEND reforms. We are doing this through the Education and Skills Transformation programme. This includes engaging with staff about what we do and how we do it and will be completed by Spring 2026.
We are currently recruiting to key vacancies, particularly in the SENAT service and we will share more details about these in the new year.
I want to assure you that we are committed to working with our families, schools and local area partners as we build an inclusive and effective SEND system.
We want to create a bright and inclusive future for all children and young people with SEND in West Sussex and know that to achieve this, we need to listen, care and act.
Best wishes,
Claire Hayes