NEW: Local Area SEND Strategy: My Life, My Rights
The Essex SEND strategy sets out the county's ambition for a SEND system which is inclusive, equitable and ambitious. Following extensive consultation, the strategy has now been finalised and can be found here.
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Following the local area SEND inspection by Ofsted and CQC in 2019, we have been working with families, professionals and partners to determine how we can improve and to put those improvements into practice. Information on the progress of this work can be found in our regular SEND newsletter. Outputs of the improvement work alongside our SEND Strategy, updated policies and guidance documents can be found together in this interactive document: SEND in Essex.
Links to specific information can be found below. If you cannot find what you need, please speak to your Link Inclusion Partner or SEND Strategy senstrategy@essex.gov.uk
LA SEND Teams
The local authority SEND teams, provide advice, guidance and training to schools, early years settings and colleges, about the provision of high-quality support for all children and young people as well as manage the statutory SEND processes across Essex.
The SEN area provides information on the following services:
Other Information
Education, Early Years and SEND Clusters
As part of the organisational redesign of delivery of SEND Services within ECC, early years, school and college settings across the county have been organised in to clusters. This has been based on existing localities, clusters and Trusts. Cluster groupings and allocated ECC staffing were shared with settings during December 2019 and are now published here for wider reference, in order to assist families and those organisations outside of ECC.
Most services are accessed and provided through our educational settings and therefore families should, in the first instance, contact the SENCo or SEN Lead within their child's setting.
In the event of it not being clear who should be contacted within allocated ECC staffing, it is suggested that the Inclusion Partner should be e-mailed initially. Inclusion Partners will be well-placed to signpost to other colleagues as needed.
SEND News
The SEND newsletter covers information and updates on projects
and improvements across the local area SEND service.
You can also visit the Essex Local Offer website and Facebook page.
SEND Training Offer
In Essex, every school, FE college and
early years setting has a ‘link’ Inclusion Partner (IP) and ‘link’ Educational
Psychologist (EP) from whom they can access advice, guidance and support on
issues relating to SEND.
It is advised that before exploring the
training pages, staff should discuss their training needs with their IP and/or
EP who can support them in identifying the right training to meet your needs.
If you have already done this, or if you
would prefer simply to explore the trainig offer, please select the type of training
you are interested in from the categories below:
- Accredited SENCO Courses - courses that bestow accredited qualifications, including those that are mandatory for new-to-role SENCOs (e.g. National Award for SEN Coordination)
- Introductory Courses - courses focusing on general SEND topics and SEND processes as they work in Essex
- Specific areas of need - develop knowledge and practice on a specific area of need (e.g. Autism)
- Targeted Interventions - evidence-based intervention packages
- Bespoke Training - bespoke training to build on core packages or for specific, low incidence needs
Please note that while every effort is made to keep these cluster lists up to date, staff changes impact the lists frequently. Please contact the Inclusion Partner (IP) or SEND Quadrant Manager if any email is returned undelivered. Many thanks
