Types of specialist guidance
The Westmorland and Furness Virtual School works with other teams in the local authority to provide advice on children with SEND in educational settings. These teams include:
- SEND at Westmorland and Furness Council
- Educational Psychology at Westmorland and Furness Council
- local social care teams and carers/parents
Special educational needs can be broadly categorised as:
- learning difficulties (specific, general, severe or profound)
- communication or language difficulties (speech and language, autism)
- social, emotional and mental health needs
- physical and sensory difficulties (hearing, vision, physical, multi-sensory)
How we support children and young people with SEND
We help children with SEND to reach their full potential in school and transition well into adulthood. Enhanced support includes:
- early identification of special education needs
- monitoring children on SEN Support in schools
- working with specialist teachers
- timely completion of requests for early help
- statutory assessments for Educational, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)
- supporting the annual review of EHCPs
- monitoring of SEND through quality assurance of Personal Education Plans (PEPs)
- ensuring reasonable adjustments within settings
- establishing the same ambition for children with SEND as every other child in our care
- attending SEND related meetings
- representing the Virtual School at local, regional and national SEND events
We also work with local authority SEND teams to:
- source appropriate educational placements
- meet the broad category of special educational need, as required
Completing a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
The SDQ is a brief behavioural screening for 4 to 17 year olds which can be used to:
- support personal education plan (PEP) meetings
- review a young person’s education by comparing information from different sources
- scores current strengths and difficulties
- monitor and establish baselines to look for changes
- identify disrupted development and vulnerability. For example, reaching adolescence
View full details about the SDQ on corc.uk.net
Advice and guidance relating to SEND
The SEND Local Offer is the central information point for families with children and young people aged up 25 years with SEND.