Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Thematic Review (2025)

Background

West Berkshire Council have received notification of a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Thematic Review by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) jointly inspect the arrangements in local areas for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). 

As part of the area SEND framework, Ofsted and CQC complete a series of thematic visits each academic year. The visits investigate a particular aspect of the SEND system in depth, in a small number of areas. The theme that will be explored in West Berkshire is children who are not in school.

The purpose of the 2025 thematic visits is to better understand:

• how local area partnerships work together to meet the needs of children not in school across health, education and children's social care
• the reasons why children with SEND leave full-time education, and what schools are doing to support them to remain in school
• the role and impact of local authorities in supporting children with SEND to receive a suitable education
• the role and impact of social care in supporting children with SEND who are not in school and are in need of help and protection
• the role and impact of health providers in meeting the health needs of children with SEND who are not in school
• how local authorities support children not in school, particularly hard-to-reach children and families, including where there are safeguarding concerns
• parents', children's, practitioners' and leaders' views about why children are not in school and how their needs are being met

For the purpose of these visits Ofsted and CQC define 'children not in school' as children with SEND, of compulsory school age, who are not registered pupils at a registered independent school or any type of state-funded school. 

Why do Ofsted/CQC want your views?

Gathering the experiences and views of children, young people, parents/carers and professionals is an important part of the thematic review. The inspectors want to hear from as many people who have accessed or worked with services as possible to help them better understand the local experience.

How to take part

The anonymous online survey is open until 5pm on Thursday, 13 February 2025. It should take around 5 to 10 minutes to complete. Your answers will not contribute to any judgements in your local area, and you won't be asked for any details that may identify you. Please complete the survey that is relevant to you:

• if you're a parent, carer, and/or professional, please click here to complete the survey
• if you're a young person with SEND, please click here to complete the survey - you can ask your parent or an adult who works with you, to help you complete it

The online survey and responses are hosted and managed by Ofsted and CQC. Your support and contributions are very much appreciated.

What happens after an inspection?

Thematic visits like this will provide insights for Ofsted, CQC, national government, strategic leaders and frontline education, health and social care practitioners. They will be used to promote improvement in the sector and update Ofsted and CQC's approach to inspection. Where relevant insights are identified during thematic visits, these will be shared with the Department for Education (DfE) and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) to contribute to their policy development.

Ofsted and CQC will not be making judgements about individual areas during thematic visits, although findings will be shared in a national report, planned to be published in autumn 2025. No report will include any personal information about an individual child, parent or carer.