Appendix 1

PEOPLE SCRUTINY REVIEW OF SCHOOL EXCLUSIONS 6 month update
SCRUTINY RECOMMENDATION		DIRECTOR’S RESPONSE AND ACTION PLAN	Update Notes	TIMESCALE	RAG (red, amber, green rating)
R1.	The Department should utilise area-based teams to identify and support schools and trusts to provide a graduated response to behaviour.	The Department will continue to implement our new area-based teams throughout 2023-24. The main priorities for implementation are: · Recruitment to all outstanding vacancies. · Training the new area-based teams to ensure that they are promoting inclusive practice. · Working with all stakeholders (schools, Academy Trusts, Early Help, Virtual School, Education Team) to enhance the multi-agency and collaborative approach to inclusion across East Sussex. · Evaluation of the impact of the area-based approach. · Using the Graduated Response to Behaviour document with all schools to ensure this is embedded in their everyday practise. This will be monitored by the Team Around the School and Setting in their visits to schools and the Inclusion and Alternative Provision Team through the applications for the Inclusion Partnerships. · Reduction in Permanent Exclusions at both Primary and Secondary phase particularly in Rother, Rye and Hastings.	The Department still has a number of vacancies in our area-based teams and our Level 2 Early Help Key Work team. This is in part due to recruitment controls that we have in place. Our Inclusion and Alternative Provision Team is fully staffed. The Department plans to review its area-based teams at the start of the next academic year and identify key posts to recruit to as a priority. Our area-based teams have been part of an extensive continued professional development programme which has been facilitated by the Research School to ensure that they are promoting inclusive practice and ensuring that their work is evidence informed. Our Inclusion team has also offered bespoke training to schools and settings based on emerging needs, for example the increase in violent incidents in school. The Department continues to work in a multi-agency way particularly in the Inclusion Partnerships at secondary which are now well established, the Behaviour Support Networks at primary and through some of our internal panels such as Locality Multi Service Group. Terms of reference for these groups are available through a bespoke SharePoint site and the annual Inclusion Partnership conference will provide further training and guidance for school leaders on inclusive practice. There has been a 44% increase in complex cases being brought to the Inclusion Partnerships (secondary) this academic year. Of these cases, 94% of them have not been permanently excluded. The Department continues to review the impact of the area-based approach and the Area Strategic Oversight meetings have been a good vehicle to ensure practice within each area is focused on the emerging needs.  The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Quality of Education Team continue to provide training to SEND Co-Ordinators and school leaders on the use of the graduated approach. 100% of referrals taken to Inclusion Partnerships demonstrate a graduated response from schools to the behaviour seen. Applications to the triage, and the subsequent applications to the monthly Inclusion Partnerships, is continuously reviewed and evaluated. This ensures there is a consistent expectation of using the graduated approach by all schools. The Department has reported an increase in permanent exclusions which is mirrored in the National data. Nationally, permanent exclusions have increased by 44% 2022-23 (2023-24 National data is not available). In East Sussex the increase has not been as significant (18% for 2023-24). 2023 - 2024 · Primary – up by 15%; nationally for Primary schools 2022- 23 increased by 58%. · Secondary – up by 17.5%. Nationally for Secondary schools 2022- 23 increased by 42%. · Special schools increased nationally by 53%, we had 0% permanent exclusions in Special schools. · Hastings, Rother and Rye have increased their permanent exclusions at Secondary. We have identified it is four schools, under three Trusts. The Assistant Director of Education and The Head of Education: Inclusion and Partnerships have met with all the Trusts and the Director of Education has meetings booked in. In 2023-24 the Department worked with the Department for Education on plans for the voluntary transfer of our day six commissioned Pupil Referral Unit provision to another provider. In Rother, Rye and Hastings, the Pupil Referral Unit has been closed to both day six provision and preventative placements since November 2023. This situation was then replicated in Eastbourne where the provider has been closed to new admissions since February 2024. The Department has commissioned additional places from the new provider (London South East Academy Trust) and we are working towards transfer in early 2025. As a result of the limited resource for children vulnerable to permanent exclusion, particularly at secondary level, additional financial support for schools through the Inclusion Partnerships at secondary, and boosted support from the Inclusion and Alternative Provision Team for all schools, has been made available this academic year. There are the monthly minutes from the three Inclusion Partnerships to show when the funding has been collectively agreed to support key vulnerable children at risk of multiple suspensions and / or imminent risk of permanent exclusion. That has contributed to below National average rise in permanent exclusions for this academic year.	July 2024	Amber
R2.	The Department should continue to encourage schools and Trusts to attend training on whole school relational approaches and develop trauma informed practices, so pupils feel safe at school and develop positive relationships. This training should include how to communicate key aspects of these approaches with parents and carers to ensure continuity and support at home.	The Department will provide a range of training on whole school relational approaches, including through training offered on strategies such as Therapeutic Thinking which is being extended to all secondary and primary schools in East Sussex. This will be included at a range of conferences targeting leaders at all levels in our schools: · Primary Leadership Conference · Inclusion Conference · Inclusion Partnership Conference · 11-19 Headteachers’ Meeting The Department will also continue to offer bespoke training around developing whole school relational approaches and trauma informed practices. This training will be designed in collaboration with our school leaders and will address trends and needs identified through the area-based teams and Education Improvement Partnerships and Area Groups. The Department will work with the Early Help parenting team to further develop workshops for parents and carers to access and for schools to be able to signpost them to.	The Department has facilitated a range of professional development opportunities for school leaders across the phases throughout 2023-24. The Inclusion Partnership Conference in September 2023 focused on behaviour linked to the Department for Education guidance, analysis of trends, and identified gaps in provision. The Primary Leadership Conferences have included keynote speakers on SEND, behaviour and the curriculum. The 11-19 Headteachers’ meeting continues to share best practice around inclusion and area groups at secondary seek to showcase best practice and promote collaboration between schools. This can be illustrated through the collective commissioning of alternative provision in area group one and area group three for specific cohorts of young people. Inclusion training is available to all schools through the Learning Portal. Bespoke training is available to schools / specific school staff through conversations with link adviser. Catalogue (learningpool.com) Analysis of data trends, updates on Department for Education guidance and feedback from schools, Team Around Education Improvement Partnerships and Area Group secondary consultants contribute to developing the inclusion training offer, particularly around areas of need such as internal truancy, behaviour curriculum and planning for individuals. Therapeutic Thinking Therapeutic Thinking | Czone (eastsussex.gov.uk) remains available to all primary schools as a non-costed three day training, adapted based on feedback. This is supported through network meetings, refresher training and core support to embed the approach within the setting. A bespoke offer to secondary schools is in place based of feedback to ensure that the approach is aligned with schools' ethos and policies and has the backing of Senior Leadership Teams. The model allows secondary’s up to 21 hours of training, deliverable through adapted timing / groups and inset days. This has also been rolled out to Early Years Services workers including childminders and pre-school setting staff. The Inclusion Partnership Conference in September 2023 held workshops for all schools on applying therapeutic thinking at a school level; on site alternative provision, therapeutically informed; extended support packages for key children on key identified areas such as healthy relationships and emotional regulation; Early Help delivered on engaging hard to reach families. The Conference was attended by all secondary schools. Therapeutic Thinking offer at secondary level has been reviewed, shared at the Inclusion Partnerships for secondary and will be implemented 2024-25. Inclusion and attendance Single Point of Contact links for school are based on Alliances and Education Improvement Partnerships. Termly feedback meetings between Alliance Partners and Team Around the School and Setting Attendance and Inclusion teams, focused on schools of concern and developing joint working practices. This is already in place in area group one. Monthly meetings between Team Around School and Setting Senior Leadership Team and External Advisers for secondary schools, allows information sharing around data and intelligence to best offer support and understand service offers.  Team Around Education Improvement Partnership agendas review Alliances, exclusion and attendance data trends to work alongside services to address needs early. This has been supported through the development of data dashboards to allow for clear analysis. The Inclusion Partnership Conference in September 2024 had workshops on trauma informed practice – a practical guide; extended support packages for schools on School Based Avoidance; Communication, Learning and Autism Support Service are delivering on non-demand language with an overview of pathological demand avoidance. 100% of secondary schools have signed up to attend the Conference. Early Help presented a workshop on this at the Inclusion Partnership Conference 2024. All resources were shared with all secondary schools. The Early Help Level 2 team have 100 families open to them that they are supporting across the county. The team work with children and young people and their families where school attendance is 50% and below. This is a voluntary engagement intervention and support. The team provide a five month support offer to children, young people and their families, to overcome barriers to attendance. The work of the team is underpinned by the supporting families whole family approach which assesses the family’s needs and develops a short, focussed plan to address the barriers to attendance. The support includes early help assessments and plan, weekly home visits and face to face contacts, gathering child’s voice and lived experience and working alongside other services, schools and settings across the county council. As of 30 June 2024, 163 young people have been supported by Level 2 Early Help.	July 2024 July 2025 July 2024	Amber
R3.	The Department should work with schools and Trusts to review and make use of available data to: a) identify pupils who are at risk of permanent exclusion and identify available support at Inclusion Partnership meetings; and b) monitor pupils identified by the Attendance Support Team who are absent from mainstream education, either through part time timetables or internal exclusions and assess what alternative support could be put in place.	The Department will use data dashboards that are organised into area-based teams to ensure that early identification of pupils who are at risk of multiple suspensions is regularly analysed through the Education Outcomes team. The Inclusion Partnerships will continue to track all children brought for complex case discussions and/or placement at alternative provision to identify patterns and trends. This data will be shared at a strategic level with the area-based teams so that relevant and appropriate support is cascaded across East Sussex and into individual schools. The single points of contact for each school, within the Attendance Support Team will scrutinise all attendance data at a whole school level including monitoring of part time timetables and tracking their timely reintegration. The Attendance Support Team will work with the Alternative Provision Commissioning Officer to identify the appropriate alternative provision support that may need to be put in place.	The Department has developed a data dashboard which will be ready to launch during the academic year 2024-25. In term six the Department carried out a pilot which specifically responded to the suspension data that we had analysed. Our area based teams and the Inclusion Partnership Advisors worked collaboratively to support schools with children who had received multiple suspensions and who would therefore be at risk of permanent exclusion. The support that was offered was impactful and only one child was permanently excluded for exceeding the 45 day limit of suspensions in an academic year. The success of this pilot has resulted in a change of focus for the Locality Multi Service Group which meets every three weeks. This group will now focus on children who have received three plus suspensions and are therefore at risk of permanent exclusion. We will agree actions that will be taken across a range of services in the Department to support the school in meeting the emerging needs of the child.   All data of the monthly triage meetings and the monthly Inclusion Partnership meetings is tracked for trends. Pupil premium is available on request and shared with the Inclusion and Alternative Provision team in the monthly team meetings. Identified trends are: 1. SEND Social Emotional and Mental Health. needs, is a key area across all phases 2. School based avoidance is a common trend across all phases. 3. Children with traits of non-demand language with an overview of pathological demand avoidance is an emerging trend across all phases. 4. Children with either undiagnosed or diagnosed Autistic Spectrum Disorder/ Autistic Spectrum Condition is an emerging trend as a group vulnerable to exclusion. 5. Data has been shared at the Inclusion and Partnerships Senior Leadership Team meeting. The offer that can be accessed for secondary schools through the Inclusion Partnerships was explained to the schools at the Inclusion Partnership Conference 2023, and from January 2024 the Inclusion Partnership Advisers have supported in excess of eighty five children at imminent risk of permanent exclusion at secondary and primary level. There have been over two hundred and fifty calls for secondary advice from Headteachers who have been at point of permanent exclusion and over one hundred and fifty calls from primary Headteachers. Each school has a single point of contact for attendance and the Attendance Support Team scrutinises all attendance data at a whole school level. From September 2024, new coding will mean that part time timetables can be tracked rigorously through these meetings. The Department continues to look at all the available data available to us to ensure that we are identifying where there is a need for alternative provision. In 2024-25 our focus will be on sourcing providers who can work with Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 children.	Dec 2023 Ongoing (monthly) July 2024	Amber
R4.	The Department should develop training for schools and Trusts to share best practice on how adaptive teaching can deliver the curriculum to support needs of all pupils including Special Educational Needs and Disability pupils and pupils facing additional external challenges. This should include developing guidance on assessment to ensure the use of Additional Needs Plans and Personal Education Plans support and address the needs that have been identified.	The Department will continue to facilitate a range of hubs across East Sussex that bring together Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities Coordinators and leaders of SEND. These hubs will provide peer support and challenge, training on the effective use of Additional Needs Plans and Personal Education Plans. The Education Improvement Partnerships at primary will continue their work in partnership with the Swale Multi Academy Trust on adaptive teaching. This pilot is currently in place in Eastbourne and Hailsham. This project, if successful, will be rolled out across the three geographical areas. Alliance Partners at primary and External Advisors at secondary, continue to provide school improvement support which will include a sharp focus on SEND across the curriculum.	SEND Coordinator hubs are well established across the county with good attendance. There is a planned agenda, based on requirements of SEND Coordinators, with the aim that this will be disseminated into individual schools to support teaching and learning. Recent hub focus has included writing effective Additional Needs Plans, making reasonable adjustments for SEND learners, transition processes and writing effective Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment applications. SEND Coordinator briefings are a good opportunity for SEND Coordinators to meet and share good practice. Again, there is a planned agenda and may include an area of focus such as dyscalculia (planned for November 2024). There may also be presentations from other agencies – recently this has included the Communication, Learning and Autism Support Service team and representatives from the East Sussex Parents Carers Forum and the Early Help Keywork team. Lead SEND Coordinators were appointed in September 2023 by the SEND Quality of Education Team. The aims of the programme include: To provide an opportunity for leadership development and strategy development. To provide additional capacity to support development of consistent and high quality SEND provision across all East Sussex schools. To use school-based expertise to offer peer support, SEND reviews and contribute to continued professional development and mentoring for SEND Coordinators in each area. To share constructive feedback on any emerging issues, new initiatives and/or progress towards objectives set out in the SEND Strategy. To provide an additional layer of enhanced additional support as part of the area working model. The programme has been received positively. East Sussex Quality Mark for Inclusion The East Sussex Quality Mark for Inclusion (ESQMI)  was completed by 89% of primaries and 80% of secondary schools in 2023/24. It is hoped for a 100% return in 2024/25. The ESQMI feeds into Quality Assurance visits by the SEND Quality of Education team. Focus will need to be on supportive challenge in 2024-25, particularly in regards to pupil outcomes and engagement with families. Swale Multi Academy Trust have led a piece of work across the Eastbourne Education Improvement Partnerships on inclusive and adaptive teaching. This work has had good impact and further training will be provided in the October Primary Leadership Conference for all primary Headteachers/Heads of School. Swale has also carried out SEND reviews at primary and the Department has also commissioned curriculum reviews in a number of primary schools that have had a specific focus on SEND. At secondary, the External Advisers continue to support schools to evaluate their curriculum and improve the outcomes for children with SEND. This has been referenced in recent Ofsted inspections in a number of our secondary schools. External Advisers also offer SEND reviews to Headteachers/Principals and these are an integral part of their self-evaluation and school improvement plans.	Ongoing (termly) July 2024 July 2024	Green
R5.	The Department should work with schools and Trusts to promote the benefits of extra-curricular activities including: a) Where provided, through Early Help, the Holiday and Food Activity Programme, Family Hubs and Youth Centres, activities which engage pupils throughout the year and incorporates support for families. b) Summer programmes which support transition.	The Education Outcomes Team will continue to work with the Early Help Parenting Team to ensure all schools are aware of, and promote, programmes that run through the school holidays for families and children and young people.	The Department promotes Holiday and Food Activity Programme through the Virtual School Bag. This summer school included some input on the importance of school attendance which was rolled out to all Holiday Activities and Food providers to include in their programmes in August 2024.	Sept 2025	Green
R6.	The Department should work with schools and Trusts to support pupils transitioning into early years in primary and key stage three in secondary by: a) working with pre-school settings and primary schools to identify pupils who may need additional support when transitioning to primary/secondary school and referring them to appropriate support and programmes; and b) communicating successful approaches and support at the point of transition at all phases to ensure continuity of provision.	Transition at each phase will be a focus for the Department in priority setting across the division. The Department will continue to support and work with the Royal Society of Arts on the Reducing Exclusions Project, with the focus on transition. The Joint Primary and Secondary Board will be updated regularly on the Royal Society of Arts project and the focus of transition. From this, the schools will receive updates from their representatives on the Boards, so all are aware of the approaches.	The Department has identified an increase in the number of children who are not ready for school. This has resulted in higher rates of suspension and permanent exclusion in Early Years Foundation Stage and key stage one. Our response to this is to work across children’s services, schools, settings and health to develop and deliver a ‘School Readiness Strategy’. The Royal Society of Arts project has come to the end of the three years. The transition project was one of three areas focused on. There has been steady development in this area and a commitment to continue into next academic year where the pilot of the project will be launched in September 2024. The lead on the Royal Society of Arts project has updated the Primary Board and presented on this regularly throughout the duration of the project.	April 2024 July 2024 Ongoing	Amber
R7.	The Department should encourage schools and trusts to increase the use of youth voice in preventive strategies and responses to children at risk of permanent exclusion by providing training and guidance for schools and governors on how to embed youth voice into all areas of school policy.	The Department will continue to work with Youth Participation on what successful reintegration from alternative provision looks like. Youth Participation will continue to liaise with the chair of the Inclusion Partnerships and deliver training based on their research project on the child voice around the impact of alternative provision and successful reintegration. The focus is on the impact of going to alternative provision, how it can prevent permanent exclusion and how to ensure the child feels they still belong to the school community.	Youth participation have continued with their research into this academic year. This year, 2023-24, they interviewed eighty children who were accessing alternative provision and reported back their findings to the secondary schools via the Inclusion Partnerships. The PowerPoint is shared with all secondary schools, through the Inclusion Partnership minutes, to refer to when looking at alternative provision. This informed the reintegration process from the Pupil Referral Unit. They were part of the working party looking at how reintegration can be more effective and devising the documentation needed. This has been rolled out across East Sussex from February 2024. Reintegration papers and the expectations are shared with all secondary schools through the SharePoint and are part of reintegration process. They have delivered their research and given strategies for successful reintegration at the Inclusion Partnerships to all secondary schools. This is in the January and July minutes of the Inclusion Partnerships.	Jan 2024 June 2024	Green
R8.	The Department should work with schools and Trusts to further develop and embed parental engagement to ensure all stakeholders understand how and why a child is at risk of permanent exclusion, including the parent/carer and the child, and include parents and carers with decisions around alternative provision, including all available options.	The Inclusion and Alternative Provision Team will continue to work in partnership with schools to engage with parents when a child is close to permanent exclusion. This will include ensuring that the parents are informed and asked for their contributions when a child is close to permanent exclusion.  The Alternative Provision Directory will be shared at the Joint Primary and Secondary Board, all Headteachers will be aware of the alternative provision that is available in their area and for which profile /age of child. The Commissioning Officer for Alternative Provision will prioritise engaging this for reception, Key Stage one and Key Stage two children. They will focus on getting providers to be on the Alternative Provision Directory for this age group. This will be shared across all primaries through the Primary Board meetings and the Education Improvement Partnerships.  Before a child can access alternative provision, the parental view will be sought by schools. This will follow the guidance that is in the suspensions and permanent exclusion Department for Education guidance, September 2023, on engaging with the parents and involving them in the decisions taken.	Child voice and parent voice is part of the application for the discussion of complex cases brought to the Inclusion Partnerships. This is through the Additional Needs Plan that has to be part of the application. The Extended Support Practitioners support key children and their families when close to permanent exclusion. There are testimonials and case studies available on the impact with the families. The Alternative Provision Directory has been shared with all schools and is available on Czone. The Commissioning Officer has a regular slot at the secondary Inclusion Partnerships to give schools updates on providers. See minutes for July 2024 as an example on request. This has been a focus this academic year. It has been difficult to find suitable alternative provision as there are not many providers available for this age group. It is a focus under the Priority Improvement Plan 2024-25, priority two - embed a three tier alternative provision system in East Sussex. This is part of all agreements that schools follow on accessing alternative provision. See the Dfe Guidance for Schools  and Academies 2023 Page 18 paragraph 34/35; Pages 19 – 21, Paragraphs 36 – 47.	Ongoing through monthly Inclusion Partnerships at secondary and termly Behaviour Review Panels at primary. July 2024 July 2024	Green
R9.	The Department should embed its multi-agency response, including the use of the new level 2 Keywork team in Early Help focused on supporting attendance to: a) promote targeted support, including wider family-based issues, to pupils and families who have been identified as at risk of permanent exclusion and multiple suspensions due to a lack of engagement with the school as a result of persistent absence; and b) promote to schools and families parenting programmes that support interventions and preventative measures in schools.	The Education Improvement team: the Team Around the School and Setting Attendance Team will liaise with Early Help Level 2 and attend the Inclusion Partnerships to ensure targeted support is shared with schools for children at risk of permanent exclusion and who have a lack engagement with school. The teams across the education division will coordinate their work with schools through Team Around the School and Setting to ensure the school is equipped to support families and children who have a lack of engagement with school.	The Area Manager for Team Around the School and Setting for each for each of the Inclusion Partnership attends the monthly meetings. See monthly minutes for examples of interventions. Early Help attends the monthly Inclusion Partnership meetings. The Locality Multi-Service Group meet every three weeks and consist of a local authority multi-agency approach to discuss geographical areas attendance, suspension and exclusion data. The agenda also comprises of discussions around front door complex cases, section 19 requests and further discussion and analysis around the three plus suspension data.  The purpose is to ensure services are aware of emerging needs and appropriate support is linked to schools around inclusion. The termly Area Strategic Oversight meeting involves all managers across the education division with a focus on emerging needs across geographical areas.  These include, SEND and Attendance, Transition and Early Years, Small schools’ agenda.	Monthly Termly	Green
R10.	To accompany the Alternative Provision Directory, which is to be shared with schools and trusts, the Department should develop guidance on: a) how to make best use of alternative provision, including good communication and ways to provide consistent support once a child reintegrates; and b) how alternative provision, including onsite alternative provision, can be used to prevent permanent exclusion and support pupils with additional needs, including those facing additional external challenges.	The Department will continue to work with schools on further developing the Alternative Provision Directory and accompanying guidance. This will be through regular updates at the Inclusion Partnerships at secondary level and through the Primary Board at primary level. This is in line with guidance on the Alternative Provision Directory which is annually updated. The Team Around the School and Setting use their regular meetings with schools to support and advise schools on setting up alternative provision on site if appropriate. Alliance Partners at primary and External Advisors at secondary, continue to provide school improvement support which will include a sharp focus on Special Education Needs and Disabilities across the curriculum and how on site alternative provision adds to their education.	The Primary and Secondary Board have discussed the Alternative Provision Directory and reviewed the pupil survey. The Alternative Provision Directory is promoted through the Virtual School Bag and there is a school engagement event planned for the Autumn Term 2024. There are regular updates at the monthly Inclusion Partnerships and the Behaviour Support Networks have used the directory to support schools in meeting the needs of some young people. However, the lack of providers for the primary phase has limited the amount that can be accessed. The Team Around the School and Setting has provided a number of schools with support in setting up their own internal alternative provision. There are also a number of Trusts who are using best practice from other Trust schools outside of East Sussex to implement best practice here – for example United Learning at Seahaven. Alliance Partners and External Advisers review on site alternative provision as part of their scheduled visits.	Monthly at Inclusion partnerships Four times a year at the Primary Board. Ongoing Ongoing	Amber
R11.	The Department should continue to provide ongoing support and training for governors including whole school training on SEND, mental health issues and inclusive behaviour policies, and produce guidance on how to conduct inclusive Governor Disciplinary Committee Meetings that prioritise youth voice.	The Department will deliver Governor training annually, in line with the updates from the Department for Education suspension and permanent exclusion from maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units in England, including pupil movement, September 2023. Use the youth voice research to inform the training for Governors on how to gather child voice for the Governors’ Disciplinary Committee.	Governor training has been held twice this academic year to update governors on the updated guidance. Feedback from this was that this was welcomed and very informative. Dates have been booked in for the academic year 2024-25. Additional training for governors on how to capture child voice for the Governors’ Disciplinary Committee will be part of the Governor training from September 2024. Governor training has been held across the academic year 23/24 on the new Working Together to Improve School Attendance and has been rescheduled for 2024-25.	Once an academic year in line with the release of the new Guidance from the DfE. Delivered in the January 2024 Inclusion Partnerships for schools and for Governors in a separate session July 2024.	Green
R12.	The Department should develop clear and consistent guidance to share with schools on the benefits of reducing school exclusions, and the support available, including: a) key findings from the Royal Society of Arts ‘Rethinking Exclusions’ and ISOS projects b) using Primary and Secondary Boards to communicate to schools the benefits of inclusive policies and share best practice for reducing exclusions and agree to a shared responsibility to reducing exclusions. c) on the appropriate use of part time timetables to ensure these are not being used to manage behaviour. Part-time timetables that are in place must be for the shortest time necessary and reviewed regularly with the pupil and their parents.	Inclusion Partnerships at secondary level annual Terms of Reference agreed by all schools. The Terms of Reference are reviewed annually and signed by all schools, so they are relevant and reflect any changes that have happened to the structure and/or process of the Inclusion Partnerships. Findings from the Royal Society of Arts and ISOS projects, as well as any further outcomes, will be shared with all schools through the Secondary and Primary Boards. Data dashboard is shared at the Secondary and Primary Boards of suspensions and permanent exclusions. The focus will be on what the data is saying, where the gaps in provision are and how to address the gaps. This will inform the spending of the alternative provision support funding that is available to each area group at secondary level. It will inform the Education Improvement Partnerships planning for the focus of support for the next academic year. The guidance on part time timetables will be shared with all school leaders so all leaders are clear about when and how they should be used. This will be regularly reviewed through the meetings that Team Around the School and Setting have with the schools.	The Department has ensured that Terms of Reference for the Inclusion Partnerships have been agreed by all schools. This is an annual process and ensures collective responsibility for our most vulnerable children and young people. The Department continues to ensure that the Boards are updated on the findings from the Royal Society of Arts and ISOS projects. An example of this is where the impact of tier two alternative provision for schools was shared at the Secondary Board. We share a data dashboard at each board on suspensions and permanent exclusions. This will be updated and presented in a new format next academic year. The secondary schools have used the data provided by the Inclusion and Alternative Provision Team to inform the spending of the funding. This has been based on: 1) The evaluations from schools when using additional alternative provision support 2) The Inclusion Partnerships evaluation of the impact of additional alternative provision support. No child who received the additional £1,000 funding when brought to the Inclusion Partnership as a complex case has been subsequently permanently excluded. 3) The Inclusion and Alternative Provision Adviser analysis of cases referred to them through the referral form or through the Inclusion Partnerships. This has identified the need for provision that has a focus on Social Emotional Mental Health and school-based avoidance. This in turn has informed the alternative provision commissioned by the area groups at secondary level with a bespoke provision for Key Stage three children with identified Social Emotional and Mental Health needs being developed in Hastings, Rother and Rye. The initial analysis for this academic year has been that one child out of forty five has been subsequently permanently excluded following attending the provision. Guidance on part time timetables has been shared with schools and training has been rolled out on the new attendance guidance that became statutory on the 19^th August 2024. Part time timetables will become a focus of each Targeted Support Meeting from September.	Nov 2023 Nov 2024 Nov 2025 At each Secondary and Primary Board (These boards meet four times an academic year)	Green