FAQs

Any worries and concerns can be discussed with your child’s class teacher who is expected to share this information with the school SENCO. The school may share any concerns and information with you with regards to your child’s progress.

The SENCO is the Special Educational Needs Coordinator and is the person within a school who will coordinator the support for students who may have special educational needs together with their family. The SENCO may feel that your child would benefit from being added to the SEN register and place on SEN Support.

Where a child has been identified as needing SEN support then the school will offer a personalised support plan with a range of activities in order to closely monitor your child’s progress. These activities will be regularly reviewed to monitor progress at least half termly or as appropriate. Parents should be fully involved in this process and discussions should be held regularly. Sometimes school may find they need to access additional advice from the specialist teacher service and Educational Psychology at the Local Authority or health professionals such as the school nurse or health visitor.

An assessment can be requested by the school, college of FE, parents/ carers, child/young person themselves and other professionals who know the child/young person , regardless of educational circumstances. All requests for EHC Assessment will be treated confidentially and will be discussed weekly at our Education Panel comprising of Education, Health and Social Care professionals.

If it is felt that you child is not making expected progress, school may request further assessment from the Local Authority. The Local Authority will review the support provided by the school along with that of other professionals and decided whether further support is needed. It may be decided that a further assessment is required in order to better understand why a child or young person may not be making progress. If it is decided that an assessment is not required at this time then the Local Authority will notify the school and the parent of the reasons why an assessment is not appropriate at this time.

SENMAS are responsible for the administration of the assessment process. They will collate all of the evidence provided and seek further evidence from other local professionals who may have worked with the child/young person. They will ensure that an EHC Plan is reviewed annually and that it reflects the needs of the holder. Your child will be allocated a caseworker who will be your main point of contact with the Local Authority should you have any queries.

The statutory timeline for the EHC Process is 20 weeks in total. Within the 6 weeks after the Local Authority receives the request for assessment, the SENMAS Team will gather advice and information relating to the child/young person. During the 6th week a decision will be made as to whether an assessment needs to be carried out. Parents must be notified of this decision within 16 weeks of the request for assessment being submitted. If the Local Authority Education Panel is in agreement that an assessment needs to proceed, information will be collated and you will receive a draft EHC Plan. You will have 15 days to look at this plan before responding to the Local Authority. The SENMAS Team will then consult with schools/colleges identified by the parent/ young person. It may take up to 15 days for a school/college to respond. The final plan should be issued 20 weeks after receiving the original request.

Information will be gathered from the child’s parent or the young person, school staff or other education providers that currently support the child, Post 16 colleges or other institutions by the caseworker. Reports will also be requested from health professionals, an Educational Psychologist, social care and any other service that has been working with your child. You will be kept informed and may be invited to attend a meeting.

There has to be a significant educational need arising from the child or young person’s medical needs. If your child or young person has a medical need most needs can and should be met by schools under the Statutory duty in Section 100 of the Children and Families Act. Managing Medical Needs in Schools Guidance has been produced to support schools with this and gives them guidance as to their responsibilities. There are other areas of guidance such as the Equality Act and the Disability Discrimination Act that also may need consideration. Requests and decisions are made on individual needs and how they impact a child or young person’s learning and not purely on diagnosis.

The Educational Psychologist (EP) provides a report to the Local Authority which is based on their assessment of the child or young person’s educational needs. The EP provides advice about the types of strategies and interventions needed to support the pupil’s learning and development.

An EHC plan is a legal document that describes a child or young person's special educational, health and social care needs, explains the extra help that will be given to meet your child’s needs and how that help will support the child or young person to achieve. This means that the Local Authority must provide the provision set out in your child’s EHCP.

The Sections B, F and I of an EHC plan are legally binding.

If the Local Authority decides not to assess a child, it must inform the parents or young person, the current education provider and the health service and give the reasons for its decision. The Local Authority must also tell the parents or young person that they have the right to appeal to the First Tier SEND Tribunal against the decision and set out the time limits for appeal. The LA must also provide contact details for independent mediation services that may support the parent/child with regard to the appeal.

The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Services (SENDIASS) offer information, advice and support for parents and carers of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This service is also offered directly to young people. There is no cost for using this service.

If the Local Authority decides to issue an EHC plan, it will first send out a draft plan for you and your child/ young person to review and comment on. When you are happy with content or what is written in the draft EHC plan, you can let the Local Authority know and they can then issue a final plan. They will then send the final EHC plan to you/your child within 20 weeks from the date the assessment was requested. Where you have suggested changes to be made but it has not been agreed by the Local Authority, they may still decide to finalise the plan.

The banding of an EHC Plan relates to the funding attached to the plan for the school/ college to provide for the needs of your child which are outlined.

A personal budget is an amount of funding that the LA can give to a child’s parent/carer or a young person (over 16 years) in order to secure a particular provision that is stated or proposed to be stated in the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). It is possible for the personal budget to be paid directly to the child’s parents/carers or a young person by way of a direct payment. If a child or a young person is eligible for a personal budget via direct payment, the LA must state conditions on how the budget must be used and will monitor it accordingly.

Alternative provision usually provides a curriculum which can be used to enrich the education package of a child/young person who may find full time classroom based learning difficult. Alternative Provision needs to be agreed by the school where the child/student is on roll and also by the LA SENMAS team. It can provide opportunities to study courses based around Music, Farming, Media, radio Production, Art, Motor Vehicle and Construction amongst other things.

For a child under 5 years old, the EHC Plan should be reviewed at least every three to six monhs to ensure that the provision continues to be appropriate. Whereby children and YP are over 5 years old the review meeting should take place at least annually.

The school/college/alternative provision or parent will arrange a review meeting. At the review meeting the child or young person’s progress towards outcomes needs to be considered and whether the outcomes remain appropriate for the child or young person. The meeting organiser will provide a written report setting out any recommendations for any amendments to be made or not to be made to the EHC plan and all the information and advice obtained about the child or young person. The Local Authority will inform the parent whether they will cease to maintain the plan, amend the plan or not amend the EHCP. If the LA decision is to keep the EHC plan the same or to cease to maintain it, the Local Authority must also provide the parent with notice of their right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) and the time limits.

If the decision is to amend the EHC plan, the LA must send a copy of the EHC plan to the parents or young person with notice of proposed amendments and include any evidence supporting the amendments. They must also inform the parent/young person of their rights to appeal the content of the EHC plan and to request a particular school/institution as appropriate.