SEND Reform

Why SEND?

Bradford serves as a microcosm of the SEND emergency blighting the UK and exemplified by the autism ‘assessment and support’ emergency. In turn, the SEND emergency is a microcosm of the problems besetting swathes of children and young people throughout the UK. These problems require transformation across public services, but the current system pushes organisations to work in silos.

Bradford has developed a partnership model which means that ALL our organisations have committed to working together to test-and-learn how we can build processes that are fit for purpose and ensure that all children thrive. In the first instance, Bradford has committed to using SEND as the exemplar for testing new approaches to delivering effective services that work for every child and young person.

Addressing the SEND Crisis

The EALC partnership board have committed to play their role in supporting the District’s focus on SEND as a key priority – aligning with the Government’s Opportunity Mission to break the link between a child’s background and their life chances (2024).

EALC is uniquely positioned to act by:

Supporting the development of pioneering models of early intervention from pregnancy to 25 years with and through educational settings. EALC can support the fostering of inclusive practice and ensuring that children receive timely, tailored support that is integrated across professionals.
Enabling early years settings, schools and other ‘education’ settings to act as anchor institutions within the Act Locally approach to place-based SEND reform. This will provide ‘hubs’ for the provision of health services, children’s services, and allow the police and local authorities to collaborate on effective, localised solutions.
Leveraging research-backed, data-driven interventions, ensuring policies implemented in education settings are informed by evidence.

Bradford: A National Model for SEND Reform

The partnerships and cross-sector collaboration built in Bradford provide the ideal landing zone for innovative test-and-learn reforms. Bradford can demonstrate how an integrated, data-driven approach can deliver real change by refining place-based, cross-sector collaboration. This aligns with the Government’s ambition for an inclusive education system. We want to develop solutions and, more importantly, processes for place-based working, that can be scaled around the country and adapted to local contexts.

A Call to Action

The SEND crisis cannot be solved by schools alone, nor by health and social care providers working in isolation. EALC, as an alliance of key organisations supporting young people in Bradford has the reach, expertise, and collaborative framework to support this change. EALC is mobilising for reform and an inclusive education system— with the backing of research, strong leadership, and an unwavering commitment to children’s well-being— where every child, regardless of their needs, has the opportunity to thrive.

A Common Approach to Inclusion

All Bradford education settings will adopt a shared approach to inclusion, supported by consistent training and practical frameworks. This includes:

Agreeing clear, achievable steps towards whole-setting inclusion
Embedding graduated response principles
Strengthening expectations for differentiated practice
Ending the “cannot meet need” culture by supporting sector-wide collaboration

Health and Care Hubs in Schools

Building on EALC’s proof of concept, we are piloting larger-scale school-based health and care hubs. These initiatives will:

Deliver assessments in schools to reduce waiting lists
Support joint planning between teachers and health professionals
Extend support into early years and preschool settings
Improve school readiness through collaboration with Family Hubs and Early Years Stronger Practice Hub

Cross-Sector Training and CPD

We will support mutual training across public service sectors (e.g., education and health but including police, care and the voluntary sector etc) through the organisation of ongoing CPD opportunities where professional colleagues upskill each other in supporting children and young people in schools and education settings with SEND.

Integrated Pathways

We are helping develop an intelligent, integrated pathway that:

Wraps support around children and families
Reduces duplication and repeated referrals
Ensures faster access to help
Enables better use of resources
Supports better mental health, stability, and achievement

Community-Led Early Years Support

We will support the delivery of pre-school initiatives to identify, and support, SEND in the Early Years. We will play our role in the roll-out of place-based Early Years practitioner-led programmes of support for children at a young age. Education settings that need further support to implement best practice will be identified and supported. The government’s new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) process provides a powerful vehicle for supporting this approach and our ambition is to become a flagship example of place-based collective sector approaches within RISE.

A Sequenced Approach to Needs

Feedback from education leaders suggests the importance of sequencing the needs we focus on in the first phase of work. For example, providing support for communication and interaction needs early and consistently is often the key for many children thriving in education, and can often prevent the development of broader issues as children grow up. We will adopt a scientific approach to make certain that we prioritise the needs that can most dramatically decrease the pressure on the system as we move towards a system that caters for all children and all needs.