Parents and Carers
- SEN Support in Mainstream Schools
- SEN Support in School Meetings
- Choosing a School or College
- Education Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessments, Plans and Reviews
- Appeals and Mediation
- Attendance and Exclusions
- Transitioning Between Schools or Settings
- Early Years
- SEND Funding
- Transport to School and College
- Preparing For Adulthood (PfA)
- Making a Complaint
- Health Needs and Education
- Elective Home Education (EHE)
- School Admissions
- Disability Discrimination
- Children's Disability Register
Transitioning Between Schools or Settings
For children and young people transitioning from one learning environment to another it can be an exciting time and sometimes a challenging step. Children usually have their own views about school, so it is important they feel that their opinions are listened to along with everyone else; for example, staying with current friendship groups may be important to some children, but not to all.
Parents and children can feel some anxieties about the move to a new school setting and it can be helpful to prepare for the transition by thinking about the individual needs of your child and how you can prepare them for the transition.
You can contact the new setting and ask to speak to the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo).
You can help your child by asking the new setting if they have:
- Planned transition days
- A visual map on Google Earth
- Pictures of classrooms
- A virtual tour and map of the school
- A sample lesson
- Activities to complete e.g. a mini-project whilst at home
- An example timetable
- A checklist of equipment your child will need
- Photos of key faces and a summary of what staff do, for example, the head of year, form tutors, designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCo)
- The option for your child to record videos of any questions they may have about school, to be sent to school in advance of their start date.
Listed below are some examples of questions you might want to ask when you are considering your child’s move between schools. Some of these questions can be answered by looking carefully through the written information you have about a school e.g. the school brochure, SEN policy, behaviour policy, a recent OFSTED report.
It is helpful to sit down, with your child, and think about things that you would like to know. Not all of the questions below will be appropriate for your child - you may like to add questions of your own.
- How will the present school plan for a successful transfer for my child?
- What will the new school do to make sure that all staff know about my child’s individual needs?
- Does the new school have experience of helping children with similar needs to my child?
- What opportunities do staff have for training on SEN issues?
- How is support organised for children with special educational needs? Is support usually provided in class?
- How does the school celebrate the success of pupils with special educational needs?
- How does the school celebrate different cultures?
- How does the school make sure that children with special educational needs are included in after school activities, e.g. trips, sports and residential opportunities?
- How much time should I expect my child to spend on homework?
- Does the school offer any extra support to parents of children with SEND?
- Every school has an anti-bullying policy. Can I see the anti-bullying policy?
- How would other pupils be helped to understand my child’s individual needs?
- What would the school do to ensure my child would have full access to the curriculum?
- Are all areas of the school accessible to my child? If not, could adaptations be made or would other arrangements be necessary?
- What should I do if I have concerns about my child?
- Who should I contact?
- How does the school communicate with parents? Telephone/e-mail/letters, etc.
- How do specialist SEN staff liaise with class or year tutors about individual children?
- How often would I be involved in review meetings?
- Does the school have a positive behaviour reward system?
- What support can be put in place for unstructured times – play times/lunch times etc?
Families and schools should work together to plan and prepare children and young people for transition between educational environments. The child or young person should be involved in this planning, wherever possible.
This should include a review of the SEND support currently being provided, and looking at what support might be needed in the new environment. To support the transition, information should be shared by the current setting with the receiving setting or school. The current setting should agree with parents the information to be shared as part of this planning process.
Planning should start early, usually within the autumn term, so that all relevant information can be shared to prepare the new school or setting, making sure everything is ready for when the child or young person starts.
Transition arrangements also need to be made for mid-year transitions and where a child or young person is moving into a specialist setting.
When a child or young person has an EHC Plan, Transition Reviews should be held in the first autumn term before they are due to leave their current setting.
The Local Authority has a legal duty to name the receiving school/post-16 establishment by the dates set out below and so it is a requirement that the EHC plan must be reviewed and amended by this date.
- If the transfer is from secondary school to a post-16 institution, the plan must be completed before 31st March.
- If the transfer is from early years education to school, infant school to junior school, primary school to middle school, primary school to secondary school or middle school to secondary school, the plan must be completed before 15th February.
- If a young person is moving between post-16 settings at any other time, at least five months before that transfer takes place.
The education health and social care plan annual review an education health and care plan is supposed to be a living document not something that sits on the shelf gathering dust. It should reliably reflect a child or young person's needs and aspirations. That's why the law requires it to be carefully checked each year, this is called the annual review. It's a way of making sure the plan is still correct. Parents and young people should see annual reviews as an opportunity to get things changed that are not working as expected, cuts FG h1 or h2, to update their aspirations Part A and if necessary the outcomes Part E and for any new concerns or needs to be included in parts B C or D. The annual review is a legal process which means certain things need to happen before the annual review meeting takes place and others afterwards. It takes 8 weeks to complete and must be completed by the anniversary of when the plan was first issued or the last review meeting. It can be broken down into five steps. Steps one and two take place during the four weeks before the meeting. Step one is when requests for updated information will be made. This should include information from parents, children and young people the, professionals involved as well as school assessments, notes from meetings over the past year and observations. This is sometimes referred to as evidence. Step two is when invitations are sent out. This must include the parent or young person. This preparation is to make sure all the right people and an up-to-date picture is available for the meeting. Step three is the meeting itself. The Children and Families act expects the annual review meeting to look at things from a person-centred point of view. This means that parents, children and young people are fully involved and able to share their views, wishes and feelings. It must consider progress and plan for what needs to happen in the coming year. The meeting must focus on the following seven points and not just look at how things have gone in the past year in school. It must: focus on progress made towards achieving outcomes establish if the outcomes are still appropriate and if necessary agree new ones review the short-term targets and set new ones check that the special educational provision and the arrangements for delivering it is still appropriate, meaning progress can be made review any Health and Social Care provision check if the aspirations have changed and check if the parent or young person would like to request a personal budget Step 4. After the meeting the host or person leading the review must write a report. This should include details of the discussions of the meeting including any suggested changes and any disagreements. This must be sent to everyone who is invited to the meeting and to the local authority within two weeks of the meeting having taken place. Step 5. When the local authority receives the report it will make a decision whether the EHC plans should remain unchanged, needs to be updated or is no longer required. They must inform the parent or young person of their decisions no later than four weeks after the meeting. It's important the parents and young people understand what will happen if they agree to the decision and equally what they can do if they disagree. Parents and young people who require additional support are referred to their local information advice and support service. Further guidance on the annual review process along with examples of good practice relating to education health and social care plans can be found by visiting the council for disabled children website at www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk
Your child’s current school or setting should share information about the support your child requires and has in place currently, this might include:
- Individual Education Plans (sometimes called Pupil Profiles, Pupil Passports, Pen Portraits or similar)
- Current attainment levels (what level a child or young person is working at academically)
- Past reports
- Provision maps
- Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP)
- Attendance and behaviour report
- Information about communication and interaction needs, cognition and learning needs, social, emotional and mental health needs, or sensory and/or physical needs
- Any professionals or outside agency support
- Any information about the Graduated Approach (Cycle of Assess, Plan, Do, Review)
- Any additional funding that the school have gained, to support the child
- Special measures to support learning, supervision and visual aids
- The Pupil’s Voice. It is important for the new setting to know how the child or young person feels, and if they have any concerns
- Any information about health care needs and provisions
- Any information about social care needs and provisions.
SEND Local Offer
The Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council SEND Local Offers are a great resource for finding events, support and activities in your area.
City Council County Council