Purpose: 

The Waltham Forest Inclusion Panel has been established to ensure that wherever possible children and young people are supported as early as possible, to keep them on an inclusive educational pathway and to enable them to achieve the best educational outcomes. 

The panel will provide support, recommendations and decisions for schools to access jointly commissioned alternative provision pathways ensuring this is in the child’s best interests and in accordance with statutory duties.

The panel will bring together professionals across the local area in order to provide support to schools and children. 

The only exceptions are:

• Emergencies that require admission prior to a panel. These can be assessed by the panel retrospectively with reasons for the emergency. These should be emailed to inclusionpanel@walthamforest.gov.uk noting in the title what this refers to
• Schools that buy in to the Waltham Forest Alternative Provision offer may make referrals directly to providers for short-term ‘turnaround’ places once this offer is established

Principles and Values:

The following principles should be applied by the Panel: 

• Aspirational and person centred
• That the safeguarding and welfare of children are paramount
• Empowerment of children/young people and families
• Promotion of equality
• Preparation for transition at appropriate phases.
• Preparation for adulthood
• Evidence based, transparent and consistent processes and decision making.
• Effective use of resources and range of provision to be considered
• Evidence that the level of resources that are aligned to the needs/outcomes of the child
• Working together for positive outcomes for children and young people, to foster an inclusive system and to reduce permanent exclusions
• Every discussion leads to action – no attendees leave without additional advice, support, pathway to return to panel once actions are taken.   
• No wrong door – referrals made elsewhere if more applicable   

Aims: 

• To work in a multi-agency forum ensuring that Waltham Forest meets its statutory requirements linked to Section 19 (1) of the Education Act 1996 which requires LAs to make arrangements for the provision of suitable full-time education for those children and young people who are unable to access school by reason of exclusion or illness.
• To offer support and solutions to schools with children at risk of exclusion, disengagement or disruption that consider the needs of the child, through effective and multi-agency coordinated support and intervention to children, young people and their families.
• To foster an inclusive system where all pupils are supported to achieve their potential and feel welcomed.
• To support a reduction in the number of fixed term suspensions and permanent exclusions in the borough.
• To share agency knowledge and information to identify the appropriate service provision to meet presenting needs of the child, young person and/or parent carers, maximising access to universal and targeted services.
• To ensure that referrals to alternative provision are assessed as suitable for the child’s needs and are supported by longer term plans for the child’s education in a mainstream or special school settings.

Applications are expected to demonstrate: 

• evidence of the child or young person’s academic attainment (or developmental milestones in younger children) and rate of progress.
• evidence that the young person’s primary residence is in Waltham Forest or that the young person is a Waltham Forest Child Looked After (CLA).
• information about the nature, extent and context of the child or young person’s SEN – i.e. does the child/young person have a highly significant barrier to learning in comparison with others of her/his age?
• evidence that the setting has put in place interventions through the graduated approach and sought advice from external professionals.
• evidence of the action already being taken by the education setting considering the specialist advice received.
• evidence that, where progress has been made, it has only been as the result of much additional intervention and support over and above that which is ordinarily available.
• evidence that the child has had consistent and regular opportunities to engage with the additional intervention and support provided and that progress has not been adversely affected by reduced attendance
• Evidence of pro-active engagement with the child’s parents
• Evidence of the child’s wishes and feelings in relation to their education and outcomes.

Referrals

• Referrals should only be made with the knowledge and consent of the pupil’s parent or carer, and child or young person.
• Referrals must be submitted by 12pm on a Monday for pre-panel review for discussion the following Monday
• Referrals must be made by schools and professionals using the agreed Alternative Provision Referral Form and supported by existing professional reports where possible. 

• All referrals should be sent to inclusionpanel@walthamforest.gov.uk [eventually will be through an online portal]

   

Provision and Services: 

The Panel Chair has the authority as a Local Authority Senior Officer to agree and take forward panel recommendations, including access to the following provision and services in accordance with the relevant guidance:

1. Neurodiveristy and Specialist Support Advisory teaching and outreach services

2. Outreach from the Alternative Provision teams

3.Neurodiversity and Inclusion and Reintegration Teams - medical needs 

4. Outreach as required according to the needs of the child. 

5. Sixth Day Permanent Provision (this may be retrospective and ratified)

6. Educational Psychologist Support

7. Placement in an Alternative Provision where it is not anticipated that the child will return to their placing school.

8. Transport requests

Referrals may also be made to other services e.g. School Nursing. Where the recommendations involve health services or other services, other relevant panel members will have the authority to suggest referrals are made and recommend next steps. 

Where a change of placement is involved, statutory processes as outlined in the guidance will be adhered to. 

Frequency 

• The Panel will meet fortnightly on Mondays: 9.30am to 11.30am, and during term time only.
• Agenda and documents to be circulated to panel members by close of play on the Thursday the week prior, in order to allow adequate time for consideration by members.
• The clerk, the Chair, the agreed appropriate AP leader and other relevant professionals will meet on the Wednesday prior to the panel to triage the referrals and consider signposting to other pathways as appropriate.
• The Chair retains discretion regarding the approval of any cases agreed out of panel. Paperwork for the cases deemed suitable for ratification must still be sent to all panel members. Any panel member can query a case and request full panel presentation.
• Agenda and supporting papers to be sent electronically to panel members on the Thursday preceding the panel (via secure encrypted email).
• The minimum quorum of 6 members is required, including Chair and Executive Headteacher (excluding Clerk).
• The Lead Professional (referrer) will be invited to present and allocated a 10-minute slot. The time will be listed on the agenda, and the referrer is required to attend at the allocated time.

Core Membership: 

Members are required to: 

• Have authority to provide and agree offers of relevant services for the child, young person or parent carer.
• Share information known about the child, young person and parent carer from individual agency.   
• Ensure appropriate consideration is given to any known safeguarding concerns so that child safety and wellbeing is paramount during decision making.
• Read all information in advance of the meeting to ensure and informed and full discussion.
• Commit to regular attendance and to ensure an appropriate colleague represents the agency in main member’s absence or if this is not possible, to send written comments in time for the triage meeting.
• Comply with data protection and multi-agency information sharing protocols.
• Take responsibility for the timely action, delivery of advice and intervention of support following the decision of the panel.
• Monitor and track provision of support and provide data to the panel when required.
• Advise the panel in advance of any conflicts of interest that arise at the outset of the meeting so they may recuse themselves for necessary sections of meeting. 

Decisions: 

• The Chair will ensure that recommendations and decisions made are communicated (in writing) to the named Lead Professional (referrer) within 2 working days of the panel meeting.
• The Lead Professional will then be responsible for communicating the decision of the panel to parent carers and other relevant professionals.
• All provision identified and recommendations made are required to be implemented within 5 school days of the panel meeting (unless otherwise indicated).
• Decisions of Panel are final, however where there is query with any decisions made, representations should be made in writing to the Chair for further consideration. 

Exceptions: 

• In the event of an ‘urgent’ or ‘critical’ case requiring consideration, Chair’s action can be taken in consultation with appropriate professionals
• In these situations, agreed action and arrangements will be recorded at time of decision and subsequently ratified at the next panel meeting. 

Information sharing 

• All staff in every service, from frontline practitioners to managers in statutory services and the voluntary sector should understand the circumstances in which they may lawfully share information, and that it is in the public interest to prioritise the safety and welfare of children.
• Panel members and practitioners should follow their agency guidance on information sharing and in considering the impact of sharing information use their professional judgement or consult with their manager if in doubt. Information shared should be necessary and proportionate to the need and level of risk, relevant, accurate and adequate to the purposes it is being shared. Information should be shared in a timely way and shared/stored in an appropriate, secure way.
• Information sharing decisions should be recorded whether or not the decision is taken to share. If the decision is to share, reasons should be cited including what information has been shared and with whom, in line with organisational procedures. If the decision is not to share, it is good practice to record the reasons for this decision and discuss them with the requester. In accordance with each organisation’s own retention policy, the information should not be kept any longer than is necessary. In some circumstances this may be indefinitely, but if this is the case there should be a review process. Practitioners should apply the test of proportionality and necessity on each decision to share information.
• Information held by other agencies that will be shared at Panel may have been gathered where a duty of confidence is owed. Duty of confidence is not an absolute bar to disclosure, as information can be shared where consent has been provided or where there is a strong enough public interest to do so. 

Reporting:

Termly data will be provided to the Panel including:

1. Pupil indicator data (gender, ethnicity, age, LAC, SEND etc)
2. Referral data (by school, by phase, request type)
3. Impact data (mainstream identification, mainstream reintegration)
4. Which service referred to
5. Re-referrals
6. Non-acceptance with reasons (e.g. service at capacity, unsuitable, lack of information)
7. Ratifications

Terms Of Reference to be reviewed annually: Next review January 2027.