Learn how health services can make an early health notification, to help children under school age with special educational need or disability.
What is an early health notification?
Under Section 23 of the Children and Families Act 2014, health services have a duty to notify the appropriate local authority, where they anticipate that a child under school age has or is likely to have a special educational need and/or disability (SEND) when they start school.
The appropriate local authority for an early health notification for pre-school children living in the:
- county is Nottinghamshire County Council
- city is SEND Local Offer - Early Health Notification (Ask Lion - Nottingham City Directory)
How health services can make a notification
Before making a notification, health services should have a discussion with the child’s parent or carer to make them aware first.
Health services can make an Early Health Notification for pre-school children living in Nottinghamshire County using the following form: Submit an early health notification here
What the notification is used for
Once health services submit an early health notification form to the local authority, the information will be used in the following ways.
Early Childhood Services
- It will be used by Early Childhood Services to inform parents of services, funding and provision that the family may wish to access
- It will be used by the Area SENCO’s to target their support.
School admission
Nearer the child’s admission to statutory schooling, it will be used to prompt discussions about additional support the child may need to smooth their transition.
Specialist team support
For pre-school children living in the county with complex SEND, health services may wish to request the involvement of teams within the County Council’s SEND Inclusion Service. They can do this by making a referral.
Making a referral
A referral can be made to the following teams within the SEND Inclusion Service:
- Home and Pre-school Team
- Hearing and Vision Specialist Support Team (for pre-school children who are d/Deaf* and/or visually impaired)
For details about these teams, visit the SEND Inclusion Service (Nottinghamshire County Council) directory listing
Health services will be required to confirm that they have obtained appropriate parent or carer consent in order to make a referral.
*The term d/Deaf brings together everyone who has a hearing loss and how they may identify themselves. It distinguishes between deaf with a lower case “d”, which refers to people who have some degree of hearing loss and primarily use spoken language, and Deaf with a capital “D”, which refers to people who have a profound hearing loss and identify with Deaf culture and sign language.