A Strategic Approach to Alternative Provision in Wiltshire

Our vision is that Wiltshire is a place where everybody has the education and skills they need, and where great local schools and settings secure excellent results for their pupils.

This Alternative Provision (AP) Strategy introduces a council wide approach to developing a range of fit for purpose Alternative Provision, ensuring access to a broad and balanced, appropriate curriculum for all pupils who need it. It aims to bring together education partners to create proactive and effective intervention that meets the needs of Wiltshire children and young people.

The Strategy supports the Wiltshire Council Business Plan to:

• ensure every one of our children achieves their optimal physical, emotional and mental health
• provide additional support to meet the needs of children who are looked after by the council, helping them to achieve their educational potential and creating opportunities for aspirational next steps in education, employment or training
• ensure all school pupils, including those who are vulnerable, can access a high-quality education provision and are well prepared for their next stage in life
• support schools to implement an effective whole school approach to health and wellbeing
• make sure that the support we provide meets the needs of those who receive it

It sits alongside:

• SEND and Inclusion Strategy 2020-2023
• Wiltshire Attendance Strategy 2023
• School Places Strategy 2022-2027

Alternative Provision Statutory Guidance 2013

Is defined as education provision in which a pupil participates:

• as part of their regular timetable
• away from the site of the school
• not led by school staff or by parents

Every provider of education that is not a maintained school or academy must be registered with the DfE as an 'independent school' if it provides full-time education to:

• five or more pupils of compulsory school age, or
• one such pupil who is looked-after, or
• one such pupil with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

The DfE requires any provider to be registered if it is intended to provide, or does provide, all, or substantially all, of a child's education. Alternative providers that do not meet these criteria are not required to register with the DfE.

Wiltshire Council recommends that commissioners work with providers who are:

• providing short-term intervention or transition plans only
• providing not more than 5 x half day sessions per week, where a half day is a morning or an afternoon
• DfE registered

The DfE SEND and AP Green Paper (March 2022)

This green paper sets out the government's proposals for a system that offers children and young people the opportunity to thrive, with access to the right support, in the right place, and at the right time, so they can fulfil their potential and lead happy, healthy and productive adult lives.
 
The paper seeks to establish a new national SEND and alternative provision system setting nationally consistent standards. It recognises that at their best, AP schools are experts in supporting children and young people whose behaviour or other needs can present a barrier to learning, but, has also identified that too often the role of alternative provision is unclear, and it is used too late or in a way that is not best focused on children's individual needs. To address these barriers the paper seeks to:

• make alternative provision an integral part of local SEND systems by requiring the new SEND partnerships to plan and deliver an alternative provision service focused on early intervention
• give alternative provision schools the funding stability to deliver a service focused on early intervention by requiring local authorities and councils to create and distribute an alternative provision specific budget
• develop a bespoke performance framework for alternative provision which sets robust standards focused on progress, re-integration into mainstream education or sustainable post-16 destinations
• deliver greater oversight and transparency on children and young people's movements into and out of alternative provision

Wiltshire's AP Strategy supports the aims of the Green Paper (2022) and the DfE SEND and AP Improvement Plan (2023), including the creations of a three-tier alternative provision system, focusing on:

1. targeted early support within mainstream school
2. time-limited intensive placements in an alternative provision setting
3. longer-term placements to support return to mainstream or a sustainable post-16 destination

Ofsted 2023

In January 2023, Ofsted published plans for a series of thematic visits each academic year as part of the new area SEND inspections arrangements.
The first theme they will investigate is alternative provision to:

• find out the extent to which AP is meeting the health, care and/or education needs of children and young people
• better understand the purposes for which AP is used
• identify the enablers and barriers to local area partners working together to commission and oversee AP placements
• highlight good practice in commissioning and oversight arrangements for AP

The council has a statutory duty under Section 19 of the Education Act to provide suitable education for children of compulsory school age who, by reason of illness, exclusion from school or otherwise, may not for any period receive suitable education unless such arrangements are made for them.

The government's 'Power to Innovate' led to the Wiltshire Council (Arrangements for the Provision of Suitable Education) Order 2012, enabling implementation of the Department for Education's alternative provision trial, whereby the council's statutory obligations under Section 19 (1) of the Education Act were placed on secondary schools, via the use of devolved funding. The Order and the Trial ceased to have effect on 31 July 2014 and was replaced by a Service Level Agreement with secondary schools, which has been subject to review and continues in 2023.

The devolved funding can be used to enable secondary schools to individually commission and pay for AP for any pupil requiring AP if they cannot attend school because of:

• permanent exclusion from school
• their medical needs

Wiltshire does not have any pupil referral units (PRU) within its school estate. Some Wiltshire secondary schools use devolved funding to make enhanced provision within their school or setting to support pupils on roll to access suitable learning successfully. This does fall not within the definition of AP.

Most secondary schools in Wiltshire also use AP to meet the needs of some of their pupils and commission AP as part of a continuum of support. Schools are recommended to use the Wiltshire Approved
Alternative Provision directory of providers, which is kept up to date and to select provision that best matches the needs of the pupil to create a very personalised timetable.

Schools may commission providers not listed on the council AP directory. In such cases schools are wholly responsible for the quality assurance of the provision.

There are currently 2 DfE registered providers and approximately 70 providers not registered with the DfE listed on the Wiltshire directory.

Suspension and exclusion data

The following statistics provide evidence to support our vision. There is significant work to be done in the continuing development of mainstream inclusion and the holistic support of pupils to maintain low levels of permanent exclusion and reduce rates of suspensions from all settings and, specifically, for children with an EHCP.

For 2019/20 and 2020/21, while suspensions and permanent exclusions were possible throughout the academic year, pandemic restrictions will have had an impact on the numbers presented and caution should be taken when comparing across years.

Data for 2019-2020 will have been impacted by the Covid-19 Pandemic.

During 2020 and 2021, as part of joined work between the council, Headteachers and the consultancy group ISOS, primary and secondary working groups were established and outcomes around supporting inclusion, preventing exclusion, and managing behaviour that challenges were agreed.

Mainstream

• Quality First teaching and in class support
• 5 To Thrive
• OPAL (Ordinarily available Provision for All Learners)

Mainstream Plus

• Additional support for social and emotional wellbeing and development
• Identify barriers to learning
• Additional in school support for learning

Targeted

• Access to swift advice
• Quality Assured Providers
• Holistic family support

The priorities of the AP Strategy are:

1. to create a shared understanding with parents/carers, schools and providers about when alternative provision may be appropriate, what is available in Wiltshire, and how it can be accessed
2. to ensure all pupils experience consistent and inclusive education that is sufficiently informed to meet needs through equitable access to inclusive pathways
3. to work with providers and schools ensure a sufficiently broad-ranging, needs-led alternative provision that is fit for purpose in improving outcomes and post-16 rates of young people in education employment or training (EET)
4. to provide high quality alternative provision locally, operating alongside mainstream and special schools to meet the needs of Wiltshire pupils for some or all their education
5. ensure all pupils provided with AP are offered their entitlement to suitable full-time education