SEND local offer - SEN support guidance for mainstream schools

All stakeholders need to have due regard for the SEND Code of Practice.

Schools, PRUs, early years and post-16 providers' responsibilities are covered in the following areas.

Governors or Trustees or Committee

The responsibilities are:

• appoint a Responsible Person to have oversight of SEND (Governor with Responsibility for SEND)
• publish a SEND Information Report and review it annually, providing information on school arrangements for meeting the needs of children with SEND aimed at parent(s) and carer(s)

Headteacher or Principal or Manager

The responsibilities are:

• review with all stakeholders, the school SEND information report
• appoint a qualified teacher as the named and trained SENCO, who has a direct link to the Senior Management Team or Senior Leadership Team or alternatively, the headteacher acts as the SENCO
• ensure the Accessibility Plan is in line with the Equality Act 2010
• maintain a SEND Improvement and Development Plan (this may form part of the School Development Plan)
• promote an inclusive curriculum
• promote and value an inclusive ethos
• promote an inclusive environment
• ensure all relevant information is shared before and during transition

SENCO

In early years settings it is recommended that the SENCO attends the SENCO training delivered by the LA Early Years Area SENCO.

In schools, the SENCO must be a qualified teacher who has achieved the National Award for SEND Coordination within three years of appointment to the role (unless they were a SENCO prior to 2014). Best practice is that they will be on the leadership team.

Have due regard for:

• Section 5, early years providers - the role of the SENCO in early years provision, Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 Years
• Section 6, Schools - the role of the SENCO in schools, Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 Years
• Section 7 - Further Education
• Section 8 - Preparing for adulthood from the earliest years

Teachers or Practitioners

Have due regard to the Teachers Standards 2011 (updated 2013) or the Initial Guidance for users of the Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in Education and Training, England, 2014.

Teaching Assistants or Key Person

Be aware of the seven key recommendations within the Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants Guidance Report, published by the Education Endowment Foundation TA Standards.

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Supports the drive for high educational standards for all children and young people through its Children's strategy.

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council responsibilities include:

• publishing clear, comprehensive, accessible and up-to-date information on the Local Offer and developing the Local Offer to make it more responsive to the needs of the local area - see section on Local Offer
• provision of High Needs funding
• providing strategy, guidance and policy
• identifying the needs of the children and young people with SEND in the local area and improving their outcomes
• consulting with children and young people with SEND and their families about the services; the design of new services and development of existing services
• ensuring there is enough provision, in the right place for children and young people with SEND and reviewing this every year
• commissioning and providing a SEND information, advice and support service for children and young people with SEND and their families 
• supporting partnerships, the selfimproving system and commissioning mediation and dispute resolution services, for example, joint commissioning strategy, Chapel Mediation Services

The Local Offer

Utilising the Local Offer: an exception on educational settings to explore what is ordinarily available. 

From 1 September 2014: 

"Local authorities must publish a Local Offer, setting out in one place information about provision they expect to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people in their area who have SEND or are disabled, including those who do not have Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs). In setting out what they expect to be available, local authorities should include provision which they believe will actually be available." section 4.1, SEND Code of Practice. 

The Local Offer has two clear purposes:

• to provide clear, comprehensive, and accessible information about the range of services and provision available and how to access them 
• to make provision more responsive to local needs and aspirations by directly involving disabled children and those with SEND, their parents and carers and service providers in its development and review 

The Local Offer will be fully accessible to everyone, including parents and carers, and will ensure that the services available are widely publicised, well signposted and regularly reviewed.  

The services listed within the Local Offer are likely to form a basis for discussion between the parents and carers and the school. The vast majority of services available will not require an EHCP. 

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council will look for evidence - through the school's recording and review structures - that the Local Offer has been used and services implemented before considering an application for a statutory assessment. Services beyond the school must be identified to include in the school SEN Support Plan. 

Provision Mapping

The SEND Code of Practice states: "Provision maps are an efficient way of showing all the provision that the school provides which is additional to and different from that which is offered through the school's curriculum. The use of provision maps can help SENCOs to maintain an overview of the programmes and interventions used with different groups of pupils and provide a basis for monitoring the levels of intervention." Section 6.76, SEND Code of Practice. 

Provision mapping can be used strategically to develop special educational provision to match the assessed needs of pupils across the school and to evaluate the impact of that provision on pupil progress. Used in this way, provision mapping can also contribute to school improvement by identifying particular patterns of need and potential areas of development for teaching staff. It can help the school to develop the use of interventions that are effective and to remove those that are less so. It can support schools to improve their core offer for all pupils as the most effective approaches are adopted more widely across the school. 

Costed provision maps

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council provide a template for settings to use which will enable them to map the provision in place and how much this costs. This is required as evidence of impact of interventions and provision in all applications to ONE Point and Annual Reviews.  

It is important that settings map the provision in place to meet the identified needs of the child or young person and share this information with parents and carers. Evidence of need, provision in place, desired outcome of this provision and finally the success of the support is important evidence of the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle in the Code of Practice. It should be very clear to all involved, including parents and carers, the impact of the notional SEN budget and any allocated High Needs Funding. 

Engaging with specialist services 

Educational settings are advised to engage with specialist teams where pupils continue to make less than expected progress, in relation to their individual starting point. The school or setting may have its own in-house specialists or may approach and commission outside agencies (relevant checks and supervision are recommended). This is likely to involve utilising the SEND Notional Budget.  

Expected progress is characterised by: "Class and subject teachers, supported by the senior leadership team (SLT) (or SENCO if not SLT) should make regular assessments of progress for all pupils. These should seek to identify pupils making less than expected progress given their age and individual circumstances. This can be characterised by progress which: 

• is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline
• fails to match or better the child's previous rate of progress 
• fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers
• widens the attainment gap

It can include progress in areas other than attainment - for instance, where a pupil needs to make additional progress with wider development or social needs in order to make a successful transition to adult life." Section 6.17 - 6.18, SEND Code of Practice. 

Specialist services may include but are not limited to:

• Educational Psychologists  
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
• specialist teachers or support services, including specialist teachers with a mandatory qualification for children with hearing and vision impairment including multi-sensory impairment 
• Speech and Language Therapists
• Occupational Therapists
• Physiotherapists
• Early help

There should be no delay in engaging with such services where it is indicated that they may be helpful or required. Parental consent is required for most services.  

Parents and carers and pupils should always be involved in any decision to work with specialists and what was discussed and agreed should be shared and recorded with all those who have responsibility for working with the child. 

"The SENCO and class teacher, together with the specialists, and involving the pupil's parents and carers, should consider a range of evidence-based and effective teaching approaches, appropriate equipment, strategies and interventions in order to support the child's progress. They should agree the outcomes to be achieved through the support, including a date by which progress will be reviewed." Section 6.62, SEND Code of Practice. 

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council will look for evidence, through the school's recording and review structures, that the appropriate specialists have been engaged, and that their recommendations have been implemented, including review time, when considering an application for a statutory assessment.  

Implementing and reviewing progress of an intervention will often require at least two cycles of the assess, plan, do, review. 

Publishing information: SEN Information Report (Clause 65) 

From September 2014, there is a requirement for the governing bodies of maintained schools and maintained nursery schools and the proprietors of academy schools and settings, to publish their arrangements for managing and supporting SEND within their setting. This is set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014. 

Early years education 

Maintained nursery schools and private voluntary and independent (PVI) nurseries must:

• use their best endeavours to make sure that a child with SEND gets the support they need  
• ensure that children with SEND engage in the activities of school alongside children who do not have SEND
• designate someone to be responsible for coordinating SEND provision (the SEND coordinator, or SENCO)
• inform and involve parents when they are making special educational provision for a child

Early working  

Stockton-on-Tees professionals in education, health and care work closely in the early years to ensure children's needs are identified and addressed early through a range of appropriate support services whether in health, education or social care and early help. 

Wherever possible, and with the consent of parent(s) / carer(s), information is passed from health to education to ensure that early providers of education are as fully informed as they can be about a child's learning needs. 

When early years settings identify a child as having SEND, they must work in partnership with parents to identify the needs. Whatever the early years setting is providing for the child, they must inform the parent(s) / carer(s) and engage with the four stages of: assess, plan, do, and review. 

The arrangement in the early years should be kept under review, with appropriate records just as in any other setting. 

Pupils with SEND do not necessarily require an EHCP at this stage as the needs of very young children can change very quickly. Children can often be supported and demonstrate progress through services listed within the Local Offer. In exceptional circumstances it may be necessary to move straight to an EHC assessment. 

Early Help services can also provide holistic support and signposting to services. The regularity and structured multi agency meeting cycle such as a Team around a Family often provides the dynamic approach that leads to very rapid improvements for all concerned. 

SEND in Further Education 

Professionals working with young people in the post-16 sector are strongly advised to become familiar with the information and guidance of Chapter 7 'Further Education' and Chapter 8 'Preparing for adulthood from the earliest years' in the SEND Code of Practice. In these chapters the diverse range of provision is acknowledged. References to 'college' encompasses FE colleges, specialist art and design and land-based colleges, sixth form colleges, 16-19 academies and special post-16 institutions approved under section 41 of the Children and Families Act 2014. 

Transition into post-16 arrangements 

Chapter 8 of the SEND Code of Practice advises on how schools and colleges can work together to smooth the transition to the post-16 setting. 

The SEND Code of Practice applies to all post-16 settings: they must fulfil their duties to SEND student whether they have an EHCP or not. 

The Graduated response in Further Education (FE)  

Just as schools are expected to adopt the graduated response, so too are post-16 providers. FE settings should adopt the cycle of: 

• assess 
• plan
• do
• review

A range of specialised approaches that can be adopted and without the need for an EHCP are listed in Section 7.17 of the SEND Code of Practice. 

Engaging with specialist services 

Colleges should ensure they have access to external specialist services and expertise. These can include, for example, Educational Psychologists, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), specialist teachers and support services, supported employment services and therapists. They can be involved at any point for help or advice on the best way to support a student with SEND or a disability. Specialist help should be involved where the student's needs are not being met by the strong, evidence-based support provided by the college. 

It is important to note that colleges are not expected to meet the full costs of more expensive support from their core and additional funding in their main allocation. They are expected to provide additional support which costs up to a notionally prescribed threshold per student per year. The responsible local authority, usually the authority where the young person lives, should provide additional top-up funding where the cost of the special educational provision required to meet the needs of an individual young person exceeds the nationally prescribed threshold. This should reflect the cost of providing the additional support that is in excess of the nationally prescribed threshold. 

"There is no requirement for an EHCP for a young person for whom a college receives additional top-up funding except in the case of a young person who is over 19." Section 7.32, SEND Code of Practice. 

The ONE Point Panel 

Access to LA High Needs Funding (HNF), our Enhanced Mainstream Schools (EMS) outreach and inreach, ICT assessments, specialist HLTA support and LA educational advice and support is via the ONE Point Panel (more information is available on the Local Offer and also in the SENCO Handbook). 

The single application form can be found in the SENCO area of the Local Offer and all applications are to be submitted by email to sensection@stockton.gov.uk  

The application form will guide schools as to the required information, including use of the schools £6,000 national SEN budget.  

ONE Point panels are held weekly for each area of need on a four week cycle.  

This panel is chaired by an education adviser and the panel is made up of headteachers, SENCOs and other education professionals, largely from our Enhanced Mainstream Schools.