Specialist Education - Alternative Provision

The Council is seeking to establish an Open Framework of suitable Providers under which the Council intend to commission Specialist Education - Alternative Provision. These services will cover the requirements for Alternative Provision placements of children & young people (Learners) made directly on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council with additional scope to include Local Council maintained Schools, or Free Schools and Academies (Contracting Council) within Nottinghamshire and surrounding areas if they wish to use it.

Providers that are successful in demonstrating that they are able to meet the Council's standards, as set out in the service specification, will be awarded onto the Framework under the appropriate Lot and will be subsequently invited to offer places that match the needs of the Learners. Providers will be expected to evidence the quality of their provision by participating in regular Quality Assurance (QA) checks that will be carried out on behalf of the Contracting Authorities.

Any Providers that fail to maintain the quality standards will be suspended from the Framework until they are able to provide evidence that they can meet the quality standards. The Council is seeking to commission transitional short-term time limited alternative provision placements designed to re-engage learners and support a successful return to mainstream education via a block booking arrangement for the following groups of young people: • Students requiring short term intervention prior to reintegration into mainstream education or other provision. • Students supported under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 due to illness, exclusion, or otherwise. • Section 61 learners with complex SEMH/SEND (Social, Emotional and Mental Health/Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) needs preventing mainstream attendance. • Students under section 100 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 who have been permanently excluded and require provision within 6 days. • Primary and secondary aged learners Provision may be full or part time and delivered through DfE registered or unregistered settings (DfE registered preferred).

The Council is looking to put in place up to three block contracts in each of the following geographic areas: North Notts, Mid Notts and South Notts. There will be a maximum of three providers per geographic area and in order for the block contracting arrangements to be viable the Council require at least one Provider per locality during Framework One.

Lot 1 may be re-opened as a successive Framework to increase capacity in response to need/demand and appoint additional Providers in accordance with Procurement Legislation and associated regulations. The Council is seeking to specifically commission Providers of online Alternative Provision who are successfully enrolled on the Online Education Accreditation Scheme (OEAS).

Placements under this Lot would be short term, remote learning programmes delivered in small groups or 1:1. The provision will be designed to support students to thrive outside of the traditional classroom.

It should be accessible full or part-time from home or other agreed locations. The curriculum should be tailored to individual need and designed to ensure continuity of learning.

Support should include tailored reintegration planning to either mainstream or in-person alternative provision. The Council is seeking a range of Alternative Provision Providers for which they can call off contracts for placements for individual children and young people as and when required.

Education placements will be commissioned on an individual basis as per the referral process detailed in Section 4. Placements will be bespoke, longer-term programmes combining academic learning, vocational pathways and wider personal development.

This Lot includes both 1-1 and small group work and is to include ongoing reintegration planning and can be full-time or part-time. The Council is seeking to commission arrangements with high quality external tuition services to provide tailored education plans and to ensure positive outcomes including progression and achievement, enable participation, increase wellbeing and increase independence.

The Lot will be made up of tuition companies and 1-1 tutors. Tuition should be delivered by qualified teachers (QTS) and can be offered face to face or through virtual sessions.

Sessions will be 1-1 or small groups. Tuition must be tailored to meet identified developmental and educational needs of students.