When a child needs SEND support

Camden seeks to ensure that children and young people can attend a local maintained school wherever possible. Schools have support to develop excellent inclusive practices. This is so that all of our schools can meet the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Some children have special educational needs identified before the child starts in an early years setting or school. Children with significant disabilities may receive support at home from a very early age, even before they start in education.

If you are worried about your child, speak with your child’s teacher or the school’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCo).

If the nursery or school have concerns they will talk with you about your child's progress and plan the next steps.

How schools and other settings can support your child

If your child is starting or moving schools, telling the new school about your child's needs is a good idea. This is so they can plan the right support from the start.

Schools and settings can support your child and can deliver a range of interventions from their own resources. All schools offer early intervention support through ‘ordinarily available provision’.

The school or setting will:

  • explore the issues with you and agree on what assessments are needed
  • agree a plan with you showing what support your child will receive (the strategies and interventions the school will deliver)
  • review the plan with you termly, to see what progress has been made

If your child is not making expected progress, the school or educational setting will talk with you about what support could be put in place for your child. You will be involved with this planning.
This is often called the ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ cycle.

Early intervention from support services

Some children will require more specialist support. Schools and educational settings can draw on a range of specialist advice and support that is ordinarily available, without requiring an EHC Plan. There are a range of teams and support services in Camden that provide advice, training, and assessments. Some provide direct support to a child or young person. Schools and settings will refer your child to the services they need.

All of our support services provide Early Intervention support. This means that:

  • you do not need to have a medical diagnosis for your child in order to access these services
  • there is no need to request additional funding or an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment to access these services

The school or setting will talk to you and get your consent before making a referral to an external team or service. Some services, such as educational psychology, will need either:

  • your signed consent
  • the consent of your child if they are over 16 years old

Local education services

The following organisations provide SEND education support and services:

You can also access outreach services from special schools, alternative provision and those mainstream schools with additional resourced provision. They can support a school in developing whole-school approaches and developing resources as part of individualised programmes.

Some schools have directly commissioned additional support on-site. For example, A Place to Be supports children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) difficulties.

Health services

Camden offer a range of health services to support children and young people with SEND. See our Health pages to find out more details about the health services which can offer support, advice and treatment if required.

How interventions are funded

Schools have funding for special educational needs in their budgets and can deliver group programmes and individual support.  Many of the services that work with schools provide support free at the point of contact.  Some also offer extra services that are charged to the school.

Some children require a higher level of support and schools. 
Find out more about how schools and educational settings can access additional funding to support interventions.

Local organisations offering support

If you are not happy with the outcome of your discussions with schools about your child’s special educational needs, you can get independent advice from the following organisations: