Two Announcements, One Message: A Stronger Focus on SEND and Additional Needs
Idox welcomes stronger focus on special educational needs and disability provision from Ofsted and calls for greater engagement with Childrenโs Commissioner.
Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Childrenโs Services and Skills) will introduce a new inspection framework in November. And for the first time special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is recognised within measures.
The Childrenโs Plan formed from The Childrenโs Commissionerโs School Census (launched in the same week as Ofstedโs announcement) makes various recommendations including a new focus on a broader range of additional needs and for every child to have details of their education and wider needs on a Unique ID platform, plus a new digital Childrenโs Plan platform for establishing needs and setting out the support children are entitled to. The Commissioner also calls for the plan to be made visible to parents.
Idox, a UK leader in digital education, health and care (EHC) solutions since 2017, has long supported local government, health, education, and not-for-profit sectors with its suite of digital platforms. Its digital EHC Hub streamlines the EHC assessment process, enabling closer collaboration between professionals, families, and education settings.
Under the new framework, Ofsted will:
- Introduce five new performance grades for schools: Urgent improvement, Needs attention, Expected standard, Strong standard, Exceptional.
- Assess schools across six core areas: Inclusion, Curriculum and teaching, Achievement, Attendance and behaviour, Personal development and wellbeing, Leadership and governance.
Crucially, schools will no longer be able to achieve a strong overall Ofsted rating if their SEND provision is inadequate. Inspectors will explicitly evaluate how schools adapt their curriculum, train staff, and deliver targeted interventions to meet the needs of SEND pupils.
โWith more than 1.7 million pupils in England identified as having special educational needs in the 2024/25 academic year โ an increase of 93,700 (5.6%) compared to 2024 โ we understand educators concerns about the pressure Ofsted can bring, but we welcome this renewed focus on SEND,โ said Jamie Rowell, Head of Product and Strategy (Social Care) at Idox.
โWhile we are committed to exploring the Childrenโs Commissioner recommendations around education, health and care plans, we call for greater engagement with technology providers in this space. Much of what is recommended, including full transparency for parents and carers, is already an integral feature of our platform.
โParents, carers, local authority teams, schools, colleges and healthcare providers tell us that our platform streamlines processes and greatly improves collaboration.
With more than 1.7 million pupils in England identified as having special educational needs in the 2024/25 academic year โ an increase of 93,700 (5.6%) compared to 2024 โ we understand educators concerns about the pressure Ofsted can bring, but we welcome this renewed focus on SEND.
Jamie Rowell
Head of Product and Strategy (Social Care), Idox
โWe will work closely with education leaders to ensure our solutions continue to drive process improvement and greater transparency in SEND provision.โ
To learn more about the Idox EHC Hub, please visit: idoxgroup.com/ehc
For detail on Ofsted changes please go to:
And for detail on the Childrenโs Plan visit: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/the-childrens-plan/
