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Newcastle Local Authority is undergoing a Special Educational Needs OFSTED inspection next week.

Date Published:
Tuesday 27 April 2021

27.04.21

Re-visit of Newcastle upon Tyne from Tuesday 11 May to Friday 14 May 2021.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will carry out jointly a re-visit of your local area following the previous inspection that took place between 30 April 2018 and 4 May 2018.

The re-visit will evaluate how effectively leaders have addressed the areas of significant weaknesses detailed in the written statement of action (WSOA). The re-visit will be carried out in line with updated guidance about the return to Area SEND inspection, you can read this guidance here.

During the re-visit, Ofsted and CQC inspectors will be keen to speak to as many children and young people and their parents and carers as possible, specifically about the weaknesses identified in the WSOA. These meetings may take place online

How can local children, young people, parents and carers contribute their views during this local area re-visit?

There are several ways in which children, young people, parents and carers can engage with the re-visit process and contribute their views.

The inspectors will gather the contributions of parents and carers through an online survey and a range of other methods.

 

  1. Parents and carers who would like to take part in this survey can follow this internet link: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/NewcastleuponTyneRe-VisitLASEND/

 

  1. The survey will open at 12 noon on Friday 30 April and close at 12 noon on Friday 7 May.

 

Parents and carers can submit their contributions via the online survey using the link provided above.

 

  1. Parents and carers can contact their local Parent Carer Forum to find out more about about how they can contribute their views during the local area re-visit.

 

Details about the local area SEND re-visit will be available on your local authority’s website and distributed through the local area’s Clinical Commissioning Group/s (CCGs).

Information gathered during the re-visit

During this re-visit, inspectors may collect information about children and young people in the area. They may look at local area records, speak to local area officers and leaders at educational settings, and speak to children, young people and parents or carers. No names will be recorded, but some of the information collected may identify a particular child, young person or adult. Ofsted and the CQC will use this information to prepare their re-visit outcomes letter, and for the purposes set out in their privacy notices. No information will be published that identifies any individual in the outcomes letter.

If you wish to know more about how we use the information, please see our privacy notice relating to area SEND on our website. If you have any concerns about our use of personal data, please email informationrequest@ofsted.gov.uk and/or the CQC at information.access@cqc.org.uk.

Information on Ofsted’s and the CQC’s privacy notices is available on the links below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsted-privacy-notices/social-care-ofsted-privacy-notice#local-area-send-inspections

http://www.cqc.org.uk/about-us/our-policies/privacy-statement

While we recognise that many parents and carers may have views on their experience that extend beyond the focus of the WSOA, we would like parents and carers to understand that the focus of the inspectors during the re-visit will only be the areas of significant weakness identified at the previous inspection. The re-visit team will consider how well leaders have addressed each of the areas of significant weakness detailed in the WSOA. We will not be able to follow up or comment upon individual cases.

You will find information on local areas’ duties towards children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities on the Department for Education’s website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-guide-for-parents-and-carers.

 

Yours sincerely

Nick Whittaker

Her Majesty’s Inspector