Northumberland Information, Advice and Support Service

Here you will find information, advice and support for families with children with special educational needs and disabilities.

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Northumberland Information, Advice and Support Service

We offer impartial information, advice and support to families of children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities.

The service is free and confidential. We also support children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities up to the age of 25.

We can help you by:

  • improving your understanding of the special educational needs system
  • listening to your concerns
  • helping you to express your views
  • helping you to prepare for meetings and attending them with you, if required
  • helping you with the paperwork
  • helping explore the options for a child or young person’s education
  • putting you in touch with other support organisations

Click here to find out more about what we do.

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We are a self-referral service. Feel free to contact us: Please click on the drop-down boxes below for more information:

A child or young person has special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special provision to be made for them.

The broad areas are:

  • communication and interaction
  • cognition and learning
  • social, emotional and mental health difficulties
  • sensory or physical needs
The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced significant reforms to the SEND system, set out in the current code of practice. The code of practice states all children and young people are entitled to an education that enables them to:
  • achieve their best
  • become confident individuals living fulfilling lives
  • make a successful transition into adulthood
Local authorities must have regard to:
  • the views, wishes and feelings of the child or young person and the child’s parents
  • the importance of the child or young person, and the child’s parents, participating in decisions
  • providing information and support necessary to enable participation in those decisions
  • the need to support the child or young person, and child’s parents, in the development of the young person
  • helping children and young people achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes, preparing them effectively for adulthood

Every local authority must publish a local offer, a website that tells you what support the local authority should make available for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

It must include information about education, health and care provision. It should also tell you about training, employment and independent living.

Click here to visit the local offer website for Northumberland.

The needs of most children with SEN can be met through the SEND Graduated Approach with quality first teaching and SEN Support. Mainstream educational settings receive funding to meet the needs of their pupils with SEN. They are required to publish a SEN Information Report and their SEN Policy on their website, which set out their arrangements for meeting the needs of their pupils with SEN.

The leaflets below give further details about the graduated approach for supporting children with special educational needs and about SEN funding:

A small number of children with very complex needs require an education, health and care plan, which describes their needs and the provision they should receive.

The documents below explain this in more detail:


 
The links below explain the steps you can take if you’re not happy with the special educational needs provision your child is receiving:
This leaflet explains what the different terms relating to special educational needs and disabilities mean:
Contact is a national charity providing information, advice and support for families of disabled children. Coram Children’s Legal Centre is the UK’s leading children’s legal charity. They provide free information, advice and representation to children, young people and their families. IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Education Advice) is a registered charity offering free and independent legally-based information, advice and support to help get the right education for children and young people with all kinds of special educational needs and disabilities.

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