This is a guide to local support in Nottinghamshire for children and young people with SEND aged 7 to 12 years.
On this page
- Ways to use this guide
- Support from age 7 to 8 years
- Support from age 8 to 9 years
- Support from age 9 to 10 years
- Support from age 10 to 11 years
Ways to use this guide
This guide explains the SEND services available from education, health and care agencies to help you understand what is available across the system.
Watch a video 6-minute video animation of the SEND map for age 7 to 12 years [YouTube] or continue reading for the full transcript.
You can also download the full interactive guide as a PDF where you can navigate through the links and watch all the animations.
Download the full interactive guide to local support for age 0 to 25 years [PDF]
Support from age 7 to 8 years
Children in care (CIC) will have support from the virtual school, which is a team of people who monitor their education. They may have additional pupil premium funding to create opportunities for them from the age of 3 years. This funding is not specific to SEND needs, so children in care may have both SEND specific funding and the pupil premium.
SEND support for schools
All schools receive funding to meet the needs of children with SEND in their school budget. Schools should make reasonable adjustments to include children with SEND in all aspects of school life.
Many children with SEND get the support they need through these processes. However, schools often need extra help to support the children with the most severe and complex needs.
If children are receiving extra help at school to meet their special educational needs, they should:
- have a Special Educational Needs (SEN) support plan like an individual education plan (IEP) or provision map
- be added to the school’s SEN support register.
Find out more about special educational needs support
Every school has a special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) who is the point of contact for parents and carers with SEND in that school. In the first instance, if parents and carers have questions or concerns about their child's needs, they should raise these with the school, starting with the class teacher.
In addition, Ask Us Nottinghamshire has local information and advice support service for parents and carers with children with SEND.
If the school needs support to meet SEND needs, additional money can be requested. This is known as Additional Family Needs (AFN) funding. If more support is needed, a school can apply directly to the Local Authority’s High-Level Needs (HLN) panel. The school SENCO would facilitate this support.
More support through the springboard process can also be provided. This is a process where a multi-agency meeting is held once a term, providing a forum for SENCOs to seek mutual support and share expertise.
All districts in Nottinghamshire have a School Behaviour and Attendance Partnership (SBAP), where schools come together to offer support for children who need additional provision and intervention around behaviour, attendance and social, emotional and mental health needs.
Schools can also access advice and support from through the springboard process with:
Schools are organised into groups of schools called 'families of schools' and each family has a Family SENCO, who coordinates the specialist support and additional funding for that family of schools.
Neurodevelopmental assessment pathway
If there are identified needs, the neurodevelopmental assessment pathway may be followed.
Learn more about the neurodevelopmental assessment pathway (Nottinghamshire County Council)
The educational setting might be asked to fill out a referral form to identify a child or young person’s needs and make a plan of support.
The Physical Disability Specialist Services (PDSS) is responsible for providing specialist advisory support and may also be involved.
Ongoing health needs
A child may also be eligible for NHS continuing healthcare funding which is for children with the most severe and complex health needs.
Learn about NHS continuing healthcare (NHS)
People receiving this funding are also eligible for a personal health budget (NHS). This is to help manage healthcare through equipment and personal care.
Learn more about a personal health budget (NHS)
Care-related support
The Children’s Occupational Therapy Team are a statutory social care service that offers assessments, specialist equipment and adaptations. The service will also be involved in Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) processes.
Your local family hub can offer care related support, including weekly activities and support programmes. This may also include getting help from a Family Support Worker.
Find your local family hub in Nottinghamshire (Nottinghamshire County Council)
Support from age 8 to 9 years
Children’s social care is the provision of social work, personal care, protection or social support services. You can find out about how needs are assessed and the services involved on the SEND Local Offer - Social care support page.
Health-focused interventions
For health-focused interventions, support may include the:
- Healthy Family team who work closely with local GP practices, early years settings, schools, midwives, family hubs, social care and other services in each area. They will send out information to parents and carers later during year 7. Learn about Healthy Family Teams (Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS)
- The Community Children and Young People’s Service includes speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, phlebotomy, the community nursing and training team. Learn about the Community Children and Young People's Service (Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS)
Support from age 9 to 10 years
Starting in year 5, preparation begins for the transition to secondary school. If a child has an education, health and care plan, the local authority will be involved in identifying their school. If they don’t have a plan, parents can identify their school through the school admissions process.
From age 10 years, the Youth Service is available to all young people who live in Nottinghamshire. The service promotes positive activities, as well as offering focused youth work intervention, and supported referrals for children and young people with additional needs.
Learn more about the Youth Service (Nottinghamshire County Council)
Mental health support
If children have mental health needs, they may access all the local mental health services in one place on the Mental Health Support Services For People In Nottinghamshire (NottAlone)
For high-level or specialist mental health services, support can be assessed through the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) (Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust)
Mental Health Support Teams offer Early intervention in schools: Learn about mental health support in schools and colleges (NHS England)
For some children with the most severe and complex needs, they’ll have an Education Health and Care Plan.
They may also have a personal budget to support things like short breaks. Short breaks enables children and young people with disability to participate in positive activities which promote independence and provide parents or carers a break from caring.
Learn about SEND Local Offer - Short Breaks
They may also get a place in a special school. These schools provide an education for the children with the most complex needs in Nottinghamshire.
Support from age 10 to 12 years
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children
The Disability Living Allowance can support the extra costs of looking after a child, who may have a wide range of medical conditions including behavioural and mental health as well as learning disabilities and developmental delay.
Learn more about the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children (GOV.UK)
Applying for a school place
Applying for a school place is done through the School Admissions Hub.
The School Admissions Hub lets you view details for schools in Nottinghamshire and gives information on catchment areas.
In year 6, children with SEND needs may have extra support and visits to help their transition to secondary school. They may also have assessments to make sure they have exam access arrangements.
For children with SEND who have support from services and additional funding in place, these will continue into the start of year 7 to help with the transition. Exceptions to this would be discussed with the family and child.
When children with complex health needs are in school, health professionals can train and delegate tasks to school staff such as teaching assistants or personal care assistants.
There is a process under this for:
- community nurse links who can give advice and support
- a ventilated team for children who have ventilation for breathing.