Theme 2 explores the prevalence of identified primary need in more detail, by examining the data across the following age phases:
• Primary Phase (Year 1 to Year 6) • Secondary Phase (Year 7 to Year 11)
• All phases combined, primary and secondary • By Key Stage (KS1,KS2,KS3 and KS4)
The analysis identifies the most prevalent primary needs based on year groups.
Primary Phase Table 10
Prevalence of identified Primary Needs in Sunderland: children and young people 5-11 years based on school year (2017).
N % N % N % N % N % N % SpLD 11 0.34 14 0.44 21 0.67 32 0.98 40 1.25 46 1.49 MLD 86 2.68 124 3.91 121 3.88 158 4.82 171 5.33 171 5.55 SLD 3 0.09 2 0.06 4 0.13 7 0.21 5 0.16 18 0.58 PMLD - - 1 0.03 1 0.03 1 0.03 1 0.03 - - SEMH 75 2.34 86 2.71 69 2.21 90 2.74 129 4.02 125 4.06 SLCN 197 6.14 174 5.49 134 4.30 150 4.57 105 3.27 75 2.43 HI 8 0.25 2 0.06 9 0.29 7 0.21 7 0.22 14 0.45 VI 4 0.12 4 0.13 3 0.10 3 0.09 2 0.06 5 0.16 MSI 1 0.03 - - 1 0.03 - - - - 2 0.06 PD 24 0.75 20 0.63 21 0.67 25 0.76 24 0.75 19 0.62 ASD 53 1.65 72 2.27 75 2.41 65 1.98 63 1.96 60 1.95 OTH 11 0.34 26 0.82 18 0.58 12 0.37 15 0.47 14 0.45 NSA 6 0.19 6 0.19 3 0.10 5 0.15 3 0.09 2 0.06
Not SEND Identified 2730 85.07 2640 83.25 2638 84.61 2725 83.08 2642 82.38 2531 82.12 Total 3209 100.00 3171 100.00 3118 100.00 3280 100.00 3207 100.00 3082 100.00
School Year
Primary Need Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6
Source: PLASC Note. Data includes state-funded primary schools, special schools and pupil referral units. '-' denotes zero values.
Secondary Phase Table 11
Prevalence of identified Primary Needs in Sunderland: children and young people 11-16 years based on school year (2017).
N % N % N % N % N % SpLD 35 1.21 56 1.96 52 1.84 50 1.90 67 2.38 MLD 152 5.24 125 4.38 136 4.81 92 3.49 109 3.87 SLD 10 0.34 6 0.21 10 0.35 6 0.23 7 0.25 SEMH 105 3.62 117 4.10 141 4.99 121 4.59 170 6.03 SLCN 49 1.69 47 1.65 33 1.17 39 1.48 34 1.21 HI 8 0.28 8 0.28 17 0.60 13 0.49 10 0.35 VI 4 0.14 5 0.18 2 0.07 3 0.11 9 0.32 PD 13 0.45 12 0.42 10 0.35 14 0.53 10 0.35 ASD 63 2.17 54 1.89 55 1.95 46 1.74 47 1.67 OTH 15 0.52 10 0.35 3 0.11 5 0.19 7 0.25 NSA - - 6 0.21 1 0.04 2 0.08 2 0.07
Not SEND Identified 2445 84.34 2407 84.37 2366 83.72 2246 85.17 2348 83.26
Total 2899 100.00 2853 100.00 2826 100.00 2637 100.00 2820 100.00
Note. Data includes state-funded secondary schools, special schools and pupil referral units. '-' denotes zero values. Boxed values highlight figures of interest.
Year 9 Year 8 Year 7 School Year Primary Need Source: PLASC Year 11 Year 10
By Key Stage Table 12
Prevalence of identified Primary Needs in Sunderland: children and young people 5-16 years based on Key Stage (2017).
N % N % N % N % SpLD 25 0.39 139 1.10 143 1.67 117 2.14 MLD 210 3.29 621 4.89 413 4.81 201 3.68 SLD 5 0.08 34 0.27 26 0.30 13 0.24 PMLD 1 0.02 3 0.02 - - - - SEMH 161 2.52 413 3.26 363 4.23 291 5.33 SLCN 371 5.82 464 3.66 129 1.50 73 1.34 HI 10 0.16 37 0.29 33 0.38 23 0.42 VI 8 0.13 13 0.10 11 0.13 12 0.22 MSI 1 0.02 3 0.02 - - - - PD 44 0.69 89 0.70 35 0.41 24 0.44 ASD 125 1.96 263 2.07 172 2.01 93 1.70 OTH 37 0.58 59 0.47 28 0.33 12 0.22 NSA 12 0.19 13 0.10 7 0.08 4 0.07
Not SEND Identified 5370 84.17 10536 83.05 7218 84.15 4594 84.19 Total 6380 100.00 12687 100.00 8578 100.00 5457 100.00
KS2
Source: PLASC Note. Data includes state-funded primary schools, secondary schools, special
schools and pupil referral units. Boxed values highlight figures of interest. Key Stage
KS4 KS3
KS1 Primary Need
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH): The PLASC data indicates that the numbers of children identified with SEMH in Sunderland steadily increases, ending as the most prevalent primary need by Year 11. There is a notable rise in children identified with SEMH from Year 5 to Year 6, in Year 9 and in Year 11. These are the points in the education system at which standardised and summative testing occurs. It is also possible that the peaks seen across Key Stages 3 and 4 could be explained by a range of social pressures, including puberty and digital technology. The steady increase in prevalence of SEMH as children get older highlights the importance of early intervention in supporting children and young people with this primary need by qualified and well trained staff and pastoral teams. This requires effective multi- agency working to implement.
Prevalence note: In the current academic year, the highest rates of SEMH prevalence, as a percentage of all children and young people in Sunderland are in: Year 5 (4.02%), Year 6 (4.06%), Year 8 (4.10%), Year 9 (4.99%), Year 10 (4.59) and Year 11 (6.03%).
Recommendation 7: For the Council to review existing models for effective multi-agency working and explore means by which greater collaboration between clinical teams, educational psychologists, SENCos and CAMHS can work together to support early
intervention in educational contexts, by identifying geographical and age related hotspots (DfE, 2015a; Eames and Shippen, 2017).
Recommendation 8: Due to the high rate of SEMH prevalence in Year 11 at 6.03% of all children in Sunderland, the Council should analyse the number of children in education, employment and training 16-18 years to identify the level of need and inform provision planning based on findings.
• Moderate Learning Difficulties: In the primary age phase, there is a notable increase from 2.68% of all children in Year 1 to 5.55% in Year 6 of MLD identification. As explained in Theme 1 data analysis, this could be due to a lack of understanding of the definition of MLD prior to identification. MLD peaks between the Key Stage Two and Key Stage Three transition, we recommend that the Council explore this via further research. Suggested triggers for this peak in identification could include, curriculum changes and increased demands or standardised testing. There is a general trend of reduction in identification of MLD between Key Stage 3 and 4. This supports the findings of Ofsted (2016a), who reported that the numbers of children identified with SEND has fallen by 3.5% since 2014.
Prevalence note: In the current academic year, the highest rates of MLD prevalence, as a percentage of all children and young people in Sunderland, are in: Year 4 (4.82%), Year 5 (5.33%), Year 6 (5.55%), and Year 7 (5.24%).
• Speech Language Communication Needs: The number of children identified with SLCN in Sunderland peaks in year 1 at 6.14%. There is a dramatic reduction in rate of identification between Year 1 and Year 6, by Year 7 only 1.69% of all children in Sunderland are identified with SLCN. The reduction in SLCN rate presents the most dramatic change in identification rate across all primary needs and ages in
Sunderland. This indicates that the early years and early primary age phases are effectively supporting children in developing age-appropriate speech, language and communication skills. This is meeting the needs of children identified with this primary need early on in their education, thus, better enabling children to progress without additional support later in their schooling. It is likely that the formal and full-time nature of the learning environment in Key Stage 1 is accelerating children’s language skills. It would also be useful to investigate the availability and quality of non-formal educational provision in the early years, across communities in
Prevalence note: In the current academic year, the highest rates of SLCN prevalence, as a percentage of all children and young people in Sunderland, are in: Year 1 (6.14%), Year 2 (5.49%), Year 3 (4.30%) and Year 4 (4.57%).
Recommendation 9: For the Council to complete a geographical mapping exercise of the children on the SEN register with a primary need of SLCN, to locate their local community and identify links between the level of need and the services available in their area through the local offer. This would better inform forward planning and early intervention to reduce the high levels of prevalence on entry into formal education.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder: The numbers of children identified with ASD as a primary need in Sunderland remains relatively constant across year groups. However, there are notable peaks in prevalence following Key Stage transition points.
Prevalence note: In the current academic year, the highest rates of ASD prevalence, as a percentage of all children and young people in Sunderland, are in: Year 2 (2.27%), Year 3 (2.41%) and Year 7 (2.17%). As was previously discussed, there is an anomaly in the rates of prevalence between the PLASC data and the Autism Outreach Team data collected by the Council.
• Specific Learning Difficulties: The numbers of children identified with SpLD in Sunderland are exceptionally low, as a proportion of all children identified with SEND. This could be due to a lack of staff knowledge and confidence in identifying and assessing for SpLD across all age ranges and Key Stages. The numbers of children with an identified SpLD do steadily increase from Year 1 to Year 11, though these numbers are still exceptionally low.
Prevalence note: In the current academic year, the highest rates of SpLD prevalence, as a percentage of all children and young people in Sunderland, are notable in Key Stage 4, as the numbers of children increase as they progress through school years.
12.3 Theme 3: Analysis of the prevalence of primary SEND classification: Statement of