Professionals
Who we are
If you are a professional working with children and young people with a special educational needs and/or a disability, you may find the following information helpful.
Ask Us Nottinghamshire, the local SENDIASS service, provides parents, carers, children and young people with free, confidential and impartial information, advice and support on children and young people’s special educational needs and disability matters. We support families across Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County.
Professional can use the wide range of information available on our website to support families. There are different sections depending on which area of SEND you are interested in, each area has specific advice that professionals and families can access to find the information that they require.
We offer:
- Telephone advice
- Face-to-face support at drop-in sessions
- Information and advice around SEND processes, SEND Support and SEND funding in mainstream schools
- Information around SEND law, legislation and policies
- Information and advice around educational disputes and exclusions
- Support with applications e.g. requesting an Education, Health and Care needs assessment
- Support and preparation for meetings e.g. at school
- Support for the annual review of your child’s EHC Plan
- Support with resolving disagreements and complaints procedures
- Signposting to information on specialist schools, settings and provisions
- Support with SEND appeals, including preparation for mediation and tribunal appeals
- Advice on disability discrimination matters
- Signposting to specialist services or agencies across education, health and social care
- Guidance on preparing for adulthood (PfA)
- Information on school transport matters
Where possible, we would prefer parents, carers and young people to make self-referrals to our service, and we ask that professionals signpost parents, carer and young people to our website in the first instance. We would make an exception to self-referral, where a parent, carer or young person has a communication need, that may make self-referral difficult.
Families can refer into the Ask Us Nottinghamshire Service in a number of different ways.
Telephone: 0800 121 7772
E-mail: enquiries@askusnotts.org.uk
Much of the work that we do with families, requires us to make contact with professionals. We are only able to discuss children and young people’s matters with professionals, if we have gained consent from the family or young person. This is because we are a confidential service. We often ask families to give us permission to talk to other professionals.
The exception here, is if we are concerned for a person’s safety and feel that they are at risk of harm. In these cases, we have a safeguarding duty to pass on this information, to the appropriate professional services.
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