Advice & Information
Directory resultsAccessing the Local Offer
Here in Sunderland, we have developed our Local Offer with colleagues from education, social care, health, the private and voluntary sector, parents and carers as well as young people. We are still keen to gather as many thoughts, suggestions and opinions as possible, so if…
Changes to Special School placements for non-maintained schools
Important information for parents and carers about how the Council buys placements. From February 2018 the Council (along with the other North-East local authorities and health partners) will begin to use the NE12 framework for all: Placements in Department for Education-registered, non-maintained and independent special…
Disability Access Fund (DAF)
Disability Access Fund (DAF) is a one off payment that is given to any registered early years provider who is providing an early education place for any two, three or four year old who successfully claims Disability Living Allowance. The Disability Access Fund (DAF) will help providers…
Disagreement Resolution, Mediation and Tribunal services
Most disagreements about special educational provision can be resolved by talking with the early years setting, school, college or local authority. If you need help with this you can contact the Information, Advice and Support Service, which has two sections: Parent Partnership, which offers advice…
Draft Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Strategy 0-25
Together for Children (Sunderland) Draft SEND Strategy 2019-2022 "Working together for children, young people and families" outlines the vision and the key objectives for supporting Sunderland's children and young people with SEND and their families. Our vision for all children and young people with SEND…
Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)
What is it? Two, three and four year old children attending a funded place at an early years education setting such as a nursery school, nursery class, private nursery or childminder may be eligible to receive Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP). Children must receive free…
Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP)
If you have a child or young person with SEN (they have a learning difficulty or disability) they may sometimes require a level of support that is more intensive than the resources usually available in their school. In such a case, you or your child's school could consider…
Feedback and comments
In this section we would really like to hear from you using our online survey about the content, how easy you find the site to navigate and search and what you liked/didnt like, so we can continue to improve the website to meets your needs. Sunderland…
Frequently Asked Questions - Parents & Carers
What is meant by special educational needs (SEN)? The term special educational need has a legal definition. A child with special educational needs will have a learning difficulty or a disability that will make it harder for them to learn compared to most children of…
Frequently Asked Questions - Young People
Sunderland's young person's advocate group City Equals noticed that the FAQ's that had originally been posted on the Local Offer site seemed to have been asked by adults - and nthey were right, they had. In response to this we asked the young people to send…
How can an Education, Health and Care Plan help me?
City Equals is a group representing the voice of young people with learning disabilities or difficulties (LDD) living in Sunderland. A number of young people from City Equals worked with staff from Sunderland City Council and a company called Little Big Butterfly to create an…
Including All Children and Young People - Expectations of Schools
Framework"Including All Children and Young People" aims to outline what is expected through a 'graduated response' to SEN, linked to the Code of Practice. It utilises the SEND Code of Practice areas of difficulty/need and uses the following structure: Cognition and learning Social, emotional and…
Jargon Buster
Professionals can sometimes use language, phrases, abbreviations and acronyms that are difficult for parents, carers and young people to understand. Sometimes acronyms or abbreviations may mean different things across two different sectors / professional bodies, which could lead to unnecessary confusion. As a result we have produced the guide below which…
One Page Profile
A One Page Profile captures all the important information about a person on a single sheet of paper under three simple headings: what people appreciate about me what’s important to me how best to support me. How can they help us to support people better?…
Out of Area Education Providers
Section 41 of the Children and Families Act 2014 allows the Secretary of State by order to publish a list of approved independent educational institutions, independent special schools and post-16 institutions for the purposes of satisfying Section 38 (Preparation of an Education, Health and Care…
Person Centred SEN Support in Early Years
Together for Children has developed a practical tool for SENCO's and all those who teach and support children in Early Years settings in Sunderland. We hope it will be useful for parents and carers too. The aim is to help make sure that children and…
Personal Budgets
Sometimes families need to access additional support for their child - this extra support might include: Additional support from education to ensure that a child’s learning needs are met Additional support from Health where a child has a complex, long-term and/or life limiting condition Additional…
Preparing for Adulthood
All young people face major changes as they move from being teenagers to becoming adults and need to make important decisions about their future. This change can be even more complicated if you have special educational needs, a learning difficulty or disability. It is important…
Requesting an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment
In most cases the request for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment will come from a school or education setting. However, requests do not have to come from a school or education setting and can be made by: The child's parents (or somebody on…
Single Route of Redress - National Trial
What is the National Trial? The Government is extending the powers of the First-tier Tribunal (SEND), sometimes referred to as the 'SEND Tribunal', to make non-binding recommendations about the health and social care aspects of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans as part of a…