What is the Local Offer?
Every council must publish a local offer. This will tell you what support is available for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), and their families.
It should be your first step when looking for information and includes information from across the local area including about education, health and care services.
It provides:
- Information, advice and guidance; and
- Service information including what services you can expect to receive, what the criteria is, the referral process and contact details
SEND Children Under 5
Camden offers services to all families with children under 5 years old (including expecting mothers) and specialist services for children with special needs and disabilities.
Who to talk to first
If your child isn’t attending nursery or pre-school and you have concerns about your child’s development talk to your health visitor or doctor. If you feel you need general help or support contact your local Children’s Centre.
If your child is going to nursery or pre-school: speak to your child’s key worker if you have concerns about your child’s progress or contact the nursery’s SENCO (Special Educational Needs coordinator).
If health problems are affecting your child’s learning: contact your doctor (for example hearing loss).
There is further information on organisations you may have contact with on the right hand side of this page. Some of them accept direct enquires from parents and carers, others are by professional referral only.
To find out about services for children under 5 and their families in Camden’s Children’s Centres click here.
SEND School age children and young people 5 – 18
In Camden, we are keen to give parents choice in education. One of the ways we have done this is to have different types of schools and other education settings.
All schools in Camden are inclusive and make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for children with disability to make sure that they are not disadvantaged. They all have a special educational needs and disability co-ordinator (SENDCo), who works with all the taching and support staff in the school to co-ordinate the additional and specialist support that children may need.
If the school thinks your child needs extra support, called special educational needs and disability (SEND) support, they will discuss this with you. Schools receive funding to provide this support as part of their core budget.
A small number of children will need more help than their school can provide. If this is the case for your child, the school can ask us (Camden) to carry out an assessment (called an education, health and care (EHC) assessment) to identify all your child’s needs. If we agree that an EHC assessment is needed, this may lead to an EHC plan.
EHC plans describe children’s additional needs, the support they should be provided with in school to meet those needs, and any additional resources the local authority has agreed to provide to enable the school to put that support in place. Only a very small number of children require an EHC Plan.
For more information you can search for all services for school aged children and young people (5-18).
Support for parents
The forum is open to all parents with a child with special needs. The Forum runs workshops and offers training opportunities such as:
- Creative Writing workshops
- Wellbeing workshops
- Writing a good plan
- Person centred planning
- Adolescent therapy group
- ASD forum and the Transition forum.
The link on the right side of the page takes you to a newsletter with information about the support available. See the Calendar at the bottom of the Local Offer homepage to find out dates, time and venues of these events.
Contact Name: Rachel Dixon Contact Position: Parent Participation Team
Telephone 020 7359 3635 E-mail: rachel.dixon@kids.org.uk
KIDS provides a range of services including Short Breaks. Kids Camden provides the following services to families with a Disabled child:
- Short breaks at home and in the community
- Siblings groups twice a year
- Home Learning for Under 5’s
- Family Information and Support Advice sessions
- Specialist Under 5 Drop-In sessions
- Mediation Service
- Specialist parent forum and parent participation service
- Key worker service and Independent support workers around EHC plans
Telephone: 020 7358 3635 email: julie.tucker@kids.org.uk
The Camden Parent / Carer Support Group
The Parent / Carer Support Group welcomes parents/carers of children and young people who have, or may have, a special educational need or disability or, who are concerned about their child’s development/progress. If you are interested in joining the group or would like further information please contact us.
Eddie Edwards, Highgate Newtown Community Centre, 25 Bertram Street, London, N19 5DQ
Telephone: 020 7974 6264 email: parentcarergroup@outlook.com
Contact a Family is a national charity for families with disabled children. They provide information, advice and support. They bring families together so they can support each other. They campaign to improve their circumstances, and for their right to be included and equal in society.
Welcome to KIDS’ award winning Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Mediation and Disagreement Resolution Service. Our service is free of charge for families and is for children and young people with SEND (or who may have SEND) age 0 to 25. SEND Mediation and Disagreement Resolution is a statutory requirement for local authorities. It is a quicker and less formal way to resolve disagreements than going to Tribunal, saving time and pressures for all involved and it can help re-build relationships that may have broken down. Families who are not happy with the outcome of Mediation can still make an appeal to the Tribunal. We offer a high quality, fully impartial and professional service. We have the expertise and knowledge to help people work together to resolve disagreements quickly and with very little paperwork, finding solutions that are right for the child or young person.
To speak with a member of our friendly team on 03330 062 835 (option 1) or visit our contact page.
