This service area encompasses Specialist Education Services, the Psychology and Therapeutic Service, SEND Family Services and SEND Funding and Provider Services.
Specialist Education Services
The Specialist Education Services work with schools, children and young people (CYP) and their families to help access to learning for CYP across the range of SEND needs. The focus is always on early intervention and promoting inclusive practice and approaches in classrooms. A range of strategies and resources are shared to enable participation, access and engagement. The teams are varied in their day-to-day activity, as the titles below suggest. They work across the 4 areas of SEN needs identified in the SEND Code of Practice 2015:
- Communication and Interaction
- Cognition and Learning
- Physical and/or Sensory needs (visual or hearing impairments)
- Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs
All are focused on positive outcomes for CYP, positive relationships between CYP, their family and schools and joint working with partners and services across the SEND system.
Key roles:
- Specialist Teachers for the 4 broad areas of need.
- Other key supporting roles in supporting CYP with SEND, across the 4 broad areas of need.
- Specialist Learning Support Assistants, supporting CYP with complex medical needs.
- Multi-Agency Facilitators supporting holistic support for CYP vulnerable to exclusion and non-participation.
- Alternative Tuition Service Teachers, working with CYP excluded or medically unfit for school.
Education Access Team supporting CYP permanently excluded (PEX) and vulnerable to PEX.
Psychology and Therapeutic Services
The Psychology and Therapeutic Services are an experienced team of Child, Adolescent, Community and Educational Psychologists, Assistant Psychologists and Inclusion Facilitators that work across Suffolk. Their involvement supports emotional well-being, mental health, behaviour and learning on an individual, group and whole school or organisational basis.
About the Psychology and Therapeutic Services - Suffolk County Council
Key roles:
- Principal Educational Psychologist.
- Deputy Principal Educational Psychologist.
- Senior Educational Psychologist.
- Specialist Senior Educational Psychologist.
- Specialist Educational Psychologist.
- Educational Psychologist.
- Assistant Psychologist.
- Trainee Educational Psychologist.
- Senior Inclusion Facilitators.
- Inclusion Facilitators.
SEND Family Services
The Family Services Teams work to support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), their families and the education settings they attend, through coordination of the child’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
The teams:
- Ensure that assessments, including Education, Health and Care needs assessments, are accurate and delivered within statutory timescales.
- Issue and review Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs).
- Seek provision for children and young people with an Education, Health and Care plan.
- Monitor the progress of children and young people with SEND in achieving outcomes from their Education, Health and Care plans.
- Support children and young people with Education, Health and Care plans who are at risk of being, or who have been permanently excluded.
Key roles:
- Family Services Coordinator.
- Family Services Lead Coordinators.
- Family Services Area Manager.
- Resolution & Tribunal Officer.
- Family Services Assistant coordinator.
- SEND Support Officer / Business Support Officer.
SEND Funding and Provider Services
SEND Funding and Providers Services:
- Lead on all Inclusion Service commissioning and manage the SEND Capital Programme (programme to build more special school or specialist placements).
- Contract manage and monitor all Inclusion providers ensure compliance and responsible for provider support.
- Monitor all Inclusion budgets, processing all payments and recording forecasts on the Planning and Budgeting Cloud System (PBCS).
- Undertake termly moderation for all mainstream and specialist providers receiving high needs funding (also known as element 3 available with and without an EHCP).
- Mange the Activities Unlimited Service, offering short breaks and personal budgets to families with children with SEND.
- Oversee the delivery of grant funded holiday clubs and develop quality short breaks, and work with families to support with identifying suitable activities.
Key roles:
- Provider Services Manager.
- Specialist Provision Manager.
- Specialist Provision Officer.
- SEND Operations Manager.
- Provider Services Manager.
- Provider Account Manager.
- High Needs Funding Moderation Leads.
- Policy and Funding Manager.
- Funding Technician.