Nick Bye: Success on stage, but not all rosy for kids in Bay

First please a round of applause for the TOADS Stage Musical Company and their brilliant production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which ran last week at the Princess Theatre, Torquay.

It was great to enjoy such a professional show with such a talented company, so much humour and wonderful music. It was also great to see so many youngsters on stage.

In round figures it costs about £100,000 to stage a production on this scale at the Princess, the largest theatre in the far South West. So it was pleasing to know the Saturday matinee attracted an audience in the region of 1,200 with substantial numbers attending the evening performances also. Many thanks to all involved in Charlie andmany thanks to those who came along to enjoy the show for your support.

Secondly a round of applause please for our SWISCO Enforcement Team and all those involved in ensuring our unwelcome "travellers" were moved on so quickly last week.

At one stage we had three groups in the Bay testing our resilience. One group arrived one evening at Ilsham Valley, close to Meadfoot Beach, so inevitably Yours Truly and Wellswood colleague Hazel Foster were on the receiving end of emails almost immediately from residents with a bird's eye view of the scene.

In the past "due process" has taken a week to ten days to regain possession and ensure the travellers are moved on. In this case my understanding is a bailiff was already on hand to do the necessaries and our SWISCO Enforcement Team are now taking a tougher approach, working in partnership with the Police. Previous delays have been frustrating for residents who want to see a swift resolution and minimal nuisance, never mind having to endure the litter and mess left behind.

Hopefully word will spread these sorts of visitors are not welcome in Torbay.

Deserving rather less applause is the latest Ofsted report on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities services for youngsters in the Bay. Sad to write we are definitely in the must do better category.

This is an AREA report rather than just a Torbay Council thing and our poor judgement is based on the effectiveness of our local partnership which includes schools and health colleagues as well as the Council.

Beneath the somewhat damning headline judgement (and we are not unique to receive this judgement) quite a lot of good work is noted.

For example there is praise for our specialist schools, disabilities team, recently established Family Hubs and early years support more generally. Likewise there are positive comments about our Family Intervention Team, Youth Justice Service, and schools mental health team. 

We are making progress in hearing the voice of children, also their families/carers through SEND Family Voice. Our unique Fair Play Day gets a mention and I am looking forward to joining in all the fun again in August.

But the hard truth is all the activities, plans and strategies put in place after our last inspection have not become "embedded" and have made little difference to outcomes for SOME children with SEND., in many cases waiting far too long for assessment and support.

Attendance, attainment, suspensions and exclusions, especially at secondary level, are poor and the inspector could not have been clearer in her feedback in March: children do less well in Torbay compared with similar children elsewhere.

What is worth noting is the South West has higher numbers of children with an Education Health and Care Plan than other parts of the country. Torbay actually has the highest rate of children with an EHCP in the South West, so quite possibly the highest rate in the entire UK. Yet our children are still failing despite the prevalence of these plans which are supposed to provide support and ensure children make progress.

Something is clearly not working and what is astonishing is the number of children in the Bay who are now Elected Home Education. Until the Covid time we had about 220/250 maximum. Alarm bells started to ring when this went above 300. Last Summer we got to 500 or thereabouts and this Summer nearly 600 .... in simple terms these are mostly children who have given up on school or school has given up on them, many with SEND as well as an EHCP.

Fortunately many of these youngsters now attend the South Devon College instead of a conventional school setting so they are absolutely not going without an education. The College's High School also goes from strength to strength, proving a rather different approach is attractive to learners (it's hugely oversubscribed).

I very much hope our Locality Model "pilot" in primary schools with health colleagues on board will lead to improvement. This pilot will focus on language, speech and communication, the bedrock of all learning and the concept which has been successful elsewhere is schools will have access to extra resources without the need for an EHCP, avoiding delay.

We really must do better for our children with SEND.