Our ambitions - children and young people have the best possible outcomes

• Whilst children’s needs are increasing, more children and young people are supported in school with special educational needs and disabilities (15.0%) with fewer requiring an EHCP (4.5%) than seen nationally.
• The total school population peaked in 2022/23 at 38,380 and has seen an overall drop of 1.7% in the last two years.
• The number of Solihull children in need increased by 48% in the five years to 2023/24.
• In 2023/24, 53% of 19-21year-old care leavers were in education, employment or training, higher than the West Midlands average of 51%. 

Our Children’s Services are on a journey of improvement since being rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in November 2022. We continue to work closely with the Government-appointed commissioner, Sir Alan Wood, and our regional improvement partner Birmingham Children’s Trust, who have been integral to the developments made over the period. 

Since the full inspection in October 2022, our Children’s Services has received six monitoring visits from Ofsted looking at each service area. The final visit in April 2025 focused on our ‘Front Door’ service, and inspectors recognised the significant improvement that has been made. 

We continue to prepare for a full inspection by Ofsted, which is anticipated in autumn 2025. We continue to shift our focus on prevention by ensuring that high-quality support is available for children and families at the earliest point of need. In July 2024, the Family Hubs programme officially opened, providing a ‘one-stop shop’ where children and families can access health appointments, youth clubs, parental guidance and wellbeing, as well as help for people with special educational needs. We have also launched a Family Helpline to provide support for parents and children.

In the spring of 2024, we opened the first of three children’s homes in Solihull, providing a secure place in the borough for children and young people who need a caring, supportive and consistent environment to live in. Children remain at the heart of everything we do as a Council. We have refreshed our Corporate Parenting Board arrangements, with officers from across the Council, partners, care experienced young people, and young people in care, sitting on the board. Care experienced young people are also directly involved in recruiting new Children’s Services professionals. Alongside the Corporate Parenting Board, we also have a community parenting approach which works with local, national and international businesses, as well as charities and voluntary organisations, to support young people into education, training and employment. 

‘Ambitious for our children’ is our approach to the ongoing improvement of services for our children and families within the borough. We are confident in the progress which has been and continues to be made; this is reflected in the feedback from monitoring visits and in fewer children requiring care and other types of intervention. 

Education and inclusion 

Our vision is to achieve inclusion and equality for all Solihull children and young people. Our work seeks to bring the education system together to pre-emptively remove any potential barriers to learning so everyone can belong and succeed in their local school community. 

Solihull schools achieve good outcomes, but we recognise that each child and young person is different and that they learn best when they have access to multiple means of engagement, representation, expression and action; developing their knowledge, personal characteristics and opportunities to maximise their achievements and ambitions. 

We also believe that every child and young person matters equally; we know that many children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or additional needs may need more support throughout their life. Our Joint Additional Needs Strategy (JANS) has been produced by working directly with children and young people with SEND or additional needs, their parent carers, and those who support them. The strategy underpins work across education, health and care and highlights the areas these children and young people want us to focus on in the future to ensure the best possible outcomes. 

The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) has a significant impact on delivering SEND and alternative provision services in Solihull. As one of the 40 lowest-funded council education areas, we need to ensure we meet needs at the earliest opportunity, and we are utilising some DSG funding to invest in doing this. 

Our Education Strategic Plan sets out our priority areas for improving the outcomes of children and young people whilst better supporting the financial sustainability of the system. This approach includes ensuring there are sufficient school places to meet demand locally, strengthening the alternative provision offer to reduce exclusions and increase attendance, and reviewing the guidance and support we make available to schools and families. 

Key activities 

• Continue to improve quality and consistency of practice by embedding restorative and evidence-based practice and a culture of continuous improvement.
• Be a great place to work through effective and efficient recruitment processes, and a supportive workplace with good development opportunities
• Be a good corporate parent and have an effective commissioning process that delivers a good choice of financially sustainable, quality placements for children in our care.
• Make it easier for children with additional educational needs to receive the right support, in the right place and at the right time, through our SEND transformation plans and readily respond to national improvement programmes.

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