What is the system already doing to address issues

Strengthening mainstream support

We have improved identification of children's needs at school thanks to a framework introduced in 2022 by Norfolk County Council called Individual Needs Descriptors in Educational Settings (INDES). This is improving confidence and consistency in identification of needs and planning for individual and cohort provision. It captures complexity across seven need categories (e.g. SEMH, SLCN, cognition, physical/sensory). We now have 21,400 individualised profiles of children and young people, 97% of EHCP pupils and 90% of SEN Support pupils.
Despite a tough national landscape and unprecedented demand, council teams have improved EHCP timeliness: 56% issued within 20 weeks compared to 40% in the East of England and 46% in England. The annual review completion rate is also strong: 91% compared to 91% in the East of England and 86% in England
As SEN Support improves and confidence in it improves, requests for EHCP assessments have fallen for the first year from 2,559 in 2023-24 to 2,336 in 2024-25
New mainstream wraparound support from the council's Local First Inclusion programme has been rolled out to all 15 school zones in Norfolk. This includes Team Around the School meetings which gives schools access to Educational Psychology and Specialist Support (EPSS), which is now offering free core support to all schools, and a new Specialist Outreach Advisory Service (SOAS) to support schools with children with the highest needs. Team Around the School meetings also give access to early help for children and families from School and Community Teams, these teams have already delivered: 3,400+ group sessions and 1,400+ one-to-one interventions.
From September 2025 Local Planning Partnerships are being rolled out to all secondary schools focusing on a new three-tier model of support to reduce exclusions
The SEND and Inclusion Support Line introduced last year is offering help to parents and professionals. It's received 5,200+ calls to date with 93% resolved. Survey feedback from parents after the line had been running a few months found team helpful with a small proportion feeling more input was needed to progress their issue
Trial with 23 schools of small group provisions called Enhanced SEND Provisions (ESPs) supported 472 children, 90 successfully transitioned back into mainstream classrooms.
Norfolk County Council is continuing to expand capacity in specialist provision. In the last five years a total of 550 Specialist Resource Base (SRB) places have been created in mainstream schools, 17 new bases have opened and 23 have been expanded with 10 more in development due to open by September 2026. A total of 670 new special school places added via new schools and expansions and we're still waiting for the Government to confirm funding for two new special schools they agreed in 2023

Strengthening Post-16 support

The Help You Choose website is being redesigned based on young people's feedback to improve post-16 advice on applications for employment, educational options
Colleges are receiving training and developing resources to better support young people prepare for college life and transitions to adult services
We have completed a consultation with young people with SEND around the Mental Capacity Act and how we can best provide information on how young people's rights change at age 16.

Strengthening health collaboration

Health collaboration continues, focusing on neurodiversity and expanding mental health support in schools
The Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme has trained and provided targeted feedback and advice to 40 Norfolk schools. The programme will extend to 30 more schools in 2025-26. The previous data and intelligence have informed the training offer and targeted support and services commissioned to address local neurodiversity needs. 
A sustainable person-centered model to effectively addresses neurodevelopmental needs is being developed via universal training offer and early needs assessment tool by the Children and Young People System Collaborative

Improving activities in communities

Activity providers such as sports and youth clubs and community groups have been trained to improve inclusion and accessibility.

Improving communication

We have improved the Norfolk SEND Bulletin by creating into two targeted email newsletters - one for parents and carers and one for professionals with a supporting news page on the Norfolk SEND Local Offer website
We have created a new parent and carer feedback group on communications which has had its first two meetings with a total of 20 parents and carers
We have created a new social media strategy with more varied and engaging content on the Norfolk SEND Local Offer Facebook page. Engagement has been mostly positive with content views up 380% and engagement up 436%.