SEND local offer - The Early Years One Point Referral Process Information for Parents and Carers

In Stockton, The Early Years Team, for SEN (Special Educational Needs), supports all Early Years settings including Childminders, day nurseries and schools, to identify SEN and put suitable interventions in place for children.

If a child is not making progress, despite support and interventions from the setting, the child can be referred, by the setting, to the Early Years One Point Referral Panel. If deemed appropriate, support can then be provided by the Early Years SEN Team.

Children with more complex developmental needs may also be signposted to appropriate services at this stage. 

The Early Years One Point Referral Panel is made up of:

• Senior Education Development Officer (early identification) 
• Early Years HLTA (early identification)
• Portage (home visiting educational service for pre-school children with SEND and their families)
• two outreach workers 

The team offers assessments, interventions and support for children who are demonstrating difficulties which are presenting as significant barriers to their Learning and Development. The team also offers support to those working in Early Years Settings by offering advice and modelling appropriate strategies to use when working with individual children. 

Regular development checks are carried out on your child by their Health Visitor and key person in the Early Years Setting. These checks help to identify, as early as possible, any additional developmental needs so that relevant support can be provided, usually from Education, Health and on occasion Social Care.

To access further support for your child the setting may suggest an application be made to the Early Years One Point Referral Panel. The setting should arrange to speak with parents or carers about their concerns and gain parental consent before the referral to panel is made. 

A referral can be made to panel for advice and guidance on meeting individual children's needs. 

Support can be in the form of:

• additional funding 
• resources 
• training
• referral to outside agencies 

The panel meets monthly and is made up of professionals from Education, Health and Social Care and acts as a single point referral for Early Years Settings. The aim of the panel is to identify needs and implement support in a joined up and more effective way. The panel provides an opportunity for services to work together. Individual applications will be discussed by panel members and a record of your child and any services they receive will remain within the SEN and Engagement Team. 

The panel will be able to:

• provide additional intervention and support for your child 
• identify other agencies that should be involved 
• recommend your child for further assessment for an Education Health and Care Plan if appropriate

Once a decision has been made by the panel a letter will be sent to the person who referred the child to share the outcome and give additional information with parents. 

It may be appropriate for children to be discussed by panel on more than one occasion to monitor the support and impact the interventions have made.