Resources for Sencos

Signposting to guidance, training and services for Sencos.

Safeguarding

The role of the Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership is to make sure agencies are working together to safeguard children and young people and make them safe. The Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (HSCP) is a statutory body established under the new arrangements of Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018. The HSCP is led by three Safeguarding Partners: Herefordshire Council, the NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board, and West Mercia Police.

Early Help Assessment

The Early Help Assessment is part of Herefordshire's Early Help Strategy to provide help to families at the earliest point of identification, and to reduce the need for more specialist or statutory service interventions at a later stage. In order to intervene at the earliest point, and target help and support in a way that makes a difference to the lives of families, a good quality assessment and action plan is required.

Any practitioner can complete an assessment with the child, young person and family when consent is given.

Early Help Assessment - information for professionals

Funding

Additional funding is available to support children with SEND where they meet the criteria.

EHC Plans

Education, Health and Care Plans are legally binding and set out the provision required to meet a child's SEND needs. Schools should use a graduated approach to meeting a child's SEND needs. Herefordshire Council have produced guidance for schools on the graduated approach in its Intervention Guidance document.

EHC Annual review documents

Training and support

Local and national sources of training and support:

Transitions

SEND services and referral forms

Services in Herefordshire have different referral processes which can be found on their respective websites.

Health service referrals

Graduated approach and SEN support

Where a child or young person is identified as having special educational needs, schools and settings should take action to remove barriers to the child or young person's learning and put effective special educational provision in place. This is called SEN support. Support should take the form of a four-part cycle involving the parent and carers and the child or young person. By taking this approach earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the child or young person's needs and what support will help to secure good progress and good outcomes for them. This approach is known as the graduated response.

The council has created guidance to help ensure children and young people across the county with special educational needs reach their full potential. It sets out local authority expectations for the ways in which all schools and settings should meet the needs of children and young people with SEND.

Further sources of information on the graduated approach:

Education otherwise than at school (EOTAS)

EOTAS stands for education otherwise than at school and is education provision to meet specific needs of pupils whom have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) who, for whatever reason, cannot attend a mainstream or special school. Some examples of EOTAS are:

  • Online tuition
  • Home tuition
  • Other tuition centres
  • Therapies such as speech and language therapy, occupational therapy or physiotherapy

These or any other provision which educates or trains a child or young person can be treated as special educational provision if described in section F of the Education Health and Care Plan. Read our education otherwise than at school (EOTAS) policy.

Further information

Local

National

Something missing?

If you can't find what you are looking for or you would like to provide feedback on this page, please email Local Offer localoffer@herefordshire.gov.uk

SEN Assessment Team contact details

Contact us for all enquiries prior to an EHC plan, including top-up funding. Requests for assessment and finalising the first EHCP is completed by this team. If a child or young person with an EHCP moves into Herefordshire, this will also be dealt with by the assessment team.

Address: SEN Assessment Team, Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, Hereford HR4 0LE

Telephone: 01432 383679

Send Email

SEN Finance Team contact details

For SEN finance queries, you can contact the team by email:

Send Email

SEN Review Team contact details

Contact us for all enquiries relating to a child or young person with an existing EHC plan. This includes all annual review queries, phase transfers and ceasing plans.

Telephone: 01432 383331

Send Email

EHCP Assistant Team contact details

The EHCP Assistants monitor and track processes to ensure information is received and logged accurately. They also send out requests for information and process funding changes. Families can contact the EHCP Assistant Team with general enquiries about EHCP processes.

Telephone: 01432 383196

Send Email