This meeting was chaired by Chris Baird, Independent Chair.
Overview
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Improvement and Assurance Board (SIAB) met on Thursday 22 October 2025.
Listening to the experiences of children and young people with SEND
As a board we have reflected on the importance of continually hearing about the experiences of children and young people with SEND. At our October meeting we heard directly from some young people with SEND through an audio recording. We are very grateful to the young people who took part and their powerful testimony was discussed by board members, reflecting on what could be done differently in Bracknell Forest going forward to improve the experience of children and young people.
The audio, as well as the written report are being made available to all board members for them to use with their own organisation and/or peers as we are convinced it will stimulate discussion and local positive action.
The board’s data and insights group is going to be incorporating this aspect of feedback into the dashboard that the board uses to provide an overview of what is taking place in Bracknell Forest. It will be used as one of the ways to understand the impact of change. Hearing the voice and experience of children and young people with SEND will now be a standing item on the board’s agenda.
Changes to governance arrangements
The board endorsed the changes being made to the governance arrangements which has included the reduction in frequency of board meetings planned for the rest of the financial year. This is to enable more time to be focused on delivering the Priority Action Plan and the SEND Improvement Plan, rather than preparing for board meetings.
Instead, an operational group is to be established to enable leaders across the SEND system, including Parent Carers Forum representatives, to make the most of:
- cross-service and cross-organisation opportunities in delivering positive changes
- collectively reflecting on the impact of what is taking place and what more can be done to enable the changes for children and young people with SEND
This idea was presented by Bracknell Forest Council's Executive Director for People, Grainne Siggins, and Tracey-Faraday Drake, the Director for Children, Mental Health, and Learning Disabilities at NHS Frimley. They presented it at the first monitoring meeting in October that had taken place with representatives from DfE, NHS England, and the Bracknell Forest Parent Carers Forum. It was seen as a positive development by all.
Work update
The monitoring meeting reported back to the SIAB on the progress being made in embedding the working arrangements of the board and subgroups.
The board also received latest updates on the work of the subgroups since September.
Engagement sessions
The board received updates on the development of sessions for engaging children, young people, parent carers, as well as all partners including settings and schools in the development of Bracknell Forest’s SEND Strategy. This is on track to deliver to timescales.
SEND Sufficiency Strategy
The SEND Sufficiency Strategy is almost complete and is due to be presented at the next SIAB in December. It is a key part of the overall commissioning strategy for SEND. The Education Health and Care Plan subgroup has now put in place a training plan across services and has two development sessions taking place in November to inform the Quality Assurance Framework.
Data Dashboard
The Board received the Data Dashboard, which is continuing to be refined to include, where appropriate, trends and comparisons to statistical neighbours. There was evidence of continued delivery of EHC Plans to national timescale, as well as a range of other metrics which are being used to evaluate service delivery. The board noted that the dashboard should also include information on attendance in schools and settings, and also the preparing for adulthood metrics.
Reflections
The board members will be reflecting on how the board is operating and how each member is reflecting the principles of being a board member at the next meeting. The board also has a mechanism for reflecting on how the board is working at each board meeting. We continue to actively review how we can make the best use of the board and governance arrangements.
The board reflected on risks that were highlighted, including the risk of insufficient capacity in place to deliver all the actions to the timescales set out in the plans. These risks are continually reviewed by the Executive Director for People, and the Director for Children, Mental Health, And Learning Disabilities.
Board members concluded the meeting by reflecting once again on the positive session, hearing from children and young people with SEND. Parent Carers Forum representatives offered the opportunity for board members to propose questions to be used in the Parent Carers Forum annual survey.
Chris Baird