How the needs of children and young people (age 0-25) with SEND are met in Newcastle’s education settings

Where to go for help if you think your child has a special educational need or a disability?

If you think your child has SEN, you should talk to your child’s early education setting, school, college or other provider. They will discuss any concerns you have, tell you what they think and explain to you what will happen next. If they do identify that your child has SEN, your school or other setting must contact you (or, if your son or daughter is over 16, they might contact them directly) and should discuss with you what support to offer your child. There are other sources of information, advice and support you can access such as:

SENDIASS (SEND Information, Advice and Support Service)
your doctor, or other local child health services

charities and other organisations that offer information, advice and support.

What is SEN Support?

Most children and young people with SEND have their needs met in mainstream schools and should receive SEN support. SEN support is additional to or different from the support generally given to most children of the same age. SEN Support helps children and young people achieve the outcomes or learning objectives set for them by the school alongside parents and pupils themselves. Schools will use Descriptors of Need (see below) and will work with parents, carers, and children and young people to assess the needs of children and write down what they need in a SEN support plan.

Descriptors of Need

The SEND descriptors of need or ranges have been developed:

to ensure a common language to describe the support expected for children with SEND
to provide a core framework for all practitioners working with children and young people to help assess and identify the needs of children and young people, and to put in place appropriate support
to give greater clarity for parents and carers about their child/young person’s needs and how their child should be supported at school.

Descriptors of Need at various levels or ranges can be a useful tool for SENCOs, families and schools/services to assess and identify the needs of a child. This assessment can provide information about what support to put in place to support the child’s progress. It is important to consider a child’s needs within the context of their strengths.

For further information, please visit: SEND Descriptors of Need

What is universally available provision?

This means the support for children with additional needs that should be available across all mainstream schools and settings. Newcastle Council has published a detailed document that sets out the support that all schools in Newcastle are expected to provide. This document can be found on our Local Offer and can be used to develop SEN Support plans. A specific document for early years settings can also be found on our Local Offer: EY Universally Available Guidance.pdf

Every school must publish a SEN Information Report about their SEN provision - you can find this on the school’s website. You can also ask your child’s teacher or the school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) for information on the SEN provision made by the school.

For more information, please visit: Universally Available Provision

Can schools access specialist support?

If schools feel they have used the universally available provision guidance and need additional help and advice to support children, they can apply to the SEND Advice and Support Allocation Panel (SEND ASAP). They can ask for advice and training from specialist teachers, and funding to support individual children. Referrals must come from schools, settings, or other professionals, but if you have concerns about the support offered to your child, you should have a discussion with your SENCO or class teacher and ask them to consider applying for help. For more information, search for SEND ASAP on our Local Offer. See page 18 for further information on SEND ASAP.

SEND ASAP

Newcastle’s Graduated Response to meeting SEN includes the SEND ASAP. Requests can be made to this Panel when advice and support from specialist SEND teaching and support teams is required which is over and above what is universally provided in mainstream schools and settings. Please note, requests to this Panel are made by schools, educational settings and, for children who are not yet at school, health professionals.

The following teams can be provided through SEND ASAP:

For Early Years: SEND Outreach specialist teachers for all four areas of need.
For children and young people aged 5 -18 years:
All SEND Outreach Service specialist teachers and SEND Outreach Service Nursery Nurses for SEMH needs for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes.
Specialist staff from Thomas Bewick, Hadrian and Sir Charles Parsons Specialist Schools.
Time from the EPS service for children and young people with SEMH needs.

What does the term ‘graduated response’ mean?

You may hear this term mentioned a lot. It means that for all children with additional needs, their support should be frequently reviewed to check that it still meets the child’s needs and if not, it should be changed. Take a look at our biteable video that gives more information about the graduated response and support available in mainstream schools and settings:

The support available at different levels is often shown as a triangle (see below). Most children and young people will have their needs met at tier 1. A smaller number of children and young people will need an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.

At all levels services will work with Health/ Social Care/ Early Help services and other external agencies where it is needed.

For more information about the Graduated Response, including SEND ASAP, please visit: Newcastle Local Offer

Tell me about Education Health and Care (EHC) Plans

If all the support available from universally available provision and specialist services, described above, has been tried but it is felt that it is not sufficient to meet a child’s needs, schools can request an EHC needs assessment.

An EHC needs assessment is a detailed look at a child or young person’s special educational needs (SEN) and the support they may need to learn. It brings together information about your child’s needs including information from the child/young person, parents/carers, education, health, and social care services. Visit our Local offer for details about the EHC process, how long it takes, how to make a request and how decisions are made.

SEND Portal

All requests for an EHC assessment are made via the SEND Portal. If you have ever applied for a school placement, free school meals, or SEND transport in Newcastle you will probably have used the Citizen’s Portal. The SEND portal is on the Citizen’s portal. It is a secure website used to gather information for the EHC needs assessment and planning process. Once registered on the portal, you will be able to:

Check the status and track progress of an EHC assessment
Complete Section A of the EHC plan
View the draft and final EHC plans

Annual Reviews will soon be processed on the portal too, and you will be able to view all the annual review documents. For more information and details about how to register and use the SEND Portal, search for “SEND Portal” on our Local Offer: Newcastle Local Offer