The Council for Disabled Children (CDC) is pleased to publish Phase 2 of the SEND Improvement Board Toolkit just one year after completing Phase 1. This toolkit was commissioned by CDC and funded by the Department for Education (DfE) as part of the Research and improvement for SEND Excellence (RISE) programme. Much has happened in that year with the ongoing SEND and Alternative Provision inspections and a significant number of Local Areas receiving a judgement of widespread and/or systemic failures. By March 2025, there were 15 out of the 56 (37%) inspections with that judgement.
This toolkit presents a set of 5 documents including exemplars and case studies to use and adapt as is useful and impactful within different Local Area Partnerships. This toolkit has been developed by Dame Christine Lenehan and Deborah Glassbrook and involved significant consultation and co-development with key multi-agency stakeholders. It was developed with colleagues working within Local Area systems who are now experienced working on the improvement journeys in systems that were judged to have widespread and/or systemic failings.
This toolkit develops the specific enablers identified previously in Phase 1 (Data and Performance, Quality Assurance and Communication Strategy) further using both specific case studies from the areas and materials which have arisen from broader discussions. The toolkit is not intended to provide all the answers but to provide the documents and exemplars that can form scaffolding for the Improvement Board to function within.
CDC aims for this toolkit to further demonstrate that SEND Improvement Boards are successful in supporting and challenging partnerships to bring about consistent improvements so that children and young people can have the best services and support to have their additional needs met, in realistic and reasonable timescales, so they can reach their potential.