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Education Health and Care (EHC) Plans, the Outreach Service, upcoming SEND events and the SEND and Inclusion Strategy 2024 to 2028
Education Health and Care (EHC) Plans
When a draft EHCP is issued, a band and a funding amount will be allocated. This amount will be stated on the consultation form received by schools.
If you receive a consultation and, in your professional opinion, either the band or funding amount is insufficient, schools can submit a costed provision map to the link SEND Officer. This will be reviewed and you will be told the outcome.
All allocated bands and funding will be set for review 12 months after the issuing of the first final EHCP or last Annual Review. The funding will not end, the expectation is that a child or young person's (CYP) needs, provision and funding will be reviewed at the next Annual Review.
Outreach service
We're also creating a new Outreach Service. The service has a budget of £1m per year and will be part of our wider SEND offer for Bristol settings. The purpose of the service is to support mainstream settings across Bristol to strengthen the quality and consistency of Ordinarily Available Provision and inclusive practice.
The service will aim to:
- make wholesale improvements in mainstream practice including the quality and consistency of their OAP and approach to inclusion
- promote inclusion and wellbeing, so that settings both effectively support children and young people (CYP) at SEN Support and increase inclusion of pupils with EHC plans in mainstream settings
- help families and CYP build trust in the support they receive in education settings, which can effectively meet their needs
- ensure that support and opportunities for CYP are equitable: for instance, there is good practice within many settings in Bristol, but others need support and challenge to reach the same standard
The service will be up and running in the winter school term 2025.
SEND Bristol Local Area Partnership Event at City Hall, Bristol
The SEND Local Area Partnership Event will be held on Thursday 10 October 2024 to coincide with World Inclusion Day.
World Inclusion Day is a day dedicated to making sure individuals of various abilities, backgrounds, ages, races, religions, genders, and other characteristics are accepted, welcomed, and treated fairly.
This event will bring together citywide partners and practitioners to share best practice, service updates and future initiatives.
The event will include:
- introduction to the Bristol SEND and Inclusion strategy 2024 to 2028
- SEND Fair for practitioners
- workshops and presentations aimed at practitioner development
- keynote speakers from Bristol Local Area Partnership
Information about to book a place on the event to follow.
Belonging with SEND: dissemination event at The Dings Rugby Club
As part of the Delivering Better Value in SEND (DBV) and Belonging with SEND (BwS) grant funding, several schools and organisations were awarded funding to develop their inclusive practice to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
The event will be held on Tuesday 26 November for funded initiatives to share information and learnings from the interventions run across Bristol. It will provide attendees with resources and valuable networking to discuss evidenced- based initiatives, with a strong focus on impact assessment and ongoing evaluation.
An event invitation link will be sent via the Head teachers bulletin and SENDCo mailing lists soon.
SEND and Inclusion strategy 2024 to 2028
A public consultation for the draft SEND and Inclusion strategy 2024 to 2028 will open on Monday 16 September and close on Monday 28 October 2024.
The draft strategy sets out how our partnership will make improvements for children and young people with SEND over the next four years. It is based on a self-evaluation we completed in 2023 using feedback from the partnership. The strategy has been written with the people in our city, for our city.
During the process of drafting the strategy we:
- gathered the views of more than 1,500 children and young people and 2,000 parent carers
- received 750 responses from our schools
- heard from all our teams who support children and young people with SEND
Information on the strategy and how to take part in the consultation will be available from 16 September 2024 on the Consultation Hub.
What the Early Intervention Fund (EIF) is, the SEND Support Tool (SST) and dates for the EIF training
Targeted Support Fund renamed ‘Early Intervention Fund' (EIF)
In our changes to top up funding update that was sent out at the end of term 6, we referred to the incoming Targeted Support Fund (TSF). This has been renamed to the 'Early Intervention Fund' (EIF) to better describe the function of the funding and provide clarity on its scope.
The Early Intervention Fund (EIF) is for mainstream settings. It is designed to support children and young people with emerging needs being supported with Ordinarily Available Provision through SEN support. The funding is intended to provide additional support at an early stage to enable children and young people to access education alongside their peers.
Applications for EIF grants open on Monday 23 September 2024.
EIF is:
- for mainstream primary and secondary schools to provide additional support at an early stage
- capped at £1 million and can issue grants of up to £2,500 per pupil
- based on the principles of inclusion and require clear evidence of a graduated response, reasonable adjustments and evidence-based intervention.
SEND Support Tool (SST)
The SEND Support Tool (SST) is a new online resource that will be live from Monday 23 September 2024.
It has been designed to help SENDCOs identify needs and provision across the four key areas of the SEND code of practice:
- communication and interaction
- cognition and learning
- social, emotional and mental health difficulties
- sensory and/or physical needs
Needs and provision can be selected and downloaded into a word document. This can be used in the child's support plan as part of the assess, plan, do, review, cycle.
The SST can also be used to submit an EIF grant request.
For more information see the new EIF guidance document.
Training sessions for EIF
We strongly recommend that SENDCos attend one of the Introduction to Early Intervention Fund (EIF) sessions and one of the SEND Support Tool training sessions listed below, before they complete an EIF application.
Applications for the EIF will open on Monday 23 September and close on Wednesday 23 October 2024.
Introduction to Early Intervention Fund (EIF)
These sessions will cover the principles and values of the EIF and a review of the guidance document. The training will be virtual and recorded.
Book your place on the Monday 9 September session: 4pm to 6pm
Book your place on the Tuesday 10 September session, 1pm to 3pm
Training for SEND Support Tool
This training is for SENDCOs only. It will focus on how to use the SEND Support Tool. The training is in-person.
Dates and times
- Monday 23 September: 9.30am to 12pm or 1pm to 3.30pm
- Tuesday 24 September: 9.30am to 12pm or 1pm to 3.30pm
- Thursday 26 September: 9.30am to 12pm or 1pm to 3.30pm
- Friday 27 September 2024: 9.30am to 12pm or 1pm to 3.30pm
- Tuesday 1 October: 9.30am to 12pm or 1pm to 3.30pm
- Wednesday 2 October 2024: 9.30am to 12pm or 1pm to 3.30pm
Book your place on one of the Training for SEND Support Tool courses.
What habilitation is, what skills are taught, who provides the service, what they do and referrals
What Habilitation is and who it is for
Habilitation is one-to-one training for children and young people with visual impairments from birth to 25 in the home, school and community. The aim of the training is to maximise the child or young person's independence.
It is different from adult rehabilitationas. Rehabilitation is teaching a known skill in a different way. Habilitation is teaching new skills and concepts alongside developing existing skills, to maximise independence.
Skills taught by a Habilitation Specialist
Orientation
Orientation is knowing the way to get from one place to another. Habilitation Specialists work on developing a child or young person's mapping and route learning skills. They teach progressive routes such as how to get from:
- classroom to the toilet in school
- home to the local supermarket
- home to work on the bus and home again
Mobility
Mobility is how a child or young person physically gets from one place to another. Habilitation Specialists work with children and young people to develop their mobility skills. This includes:
- utilising useful vision and other senses
- body awareness, concept development, play and motivation to move and explore
- sighted guide
- pre-cane skills
- cane skills
Independent living skills (ILS)
Habilitation Specialists aim to ensure every child or young person they work with becomes as independent as possible and helps them develop a range of independence skills including:
- personal organisation
- shopping skills
- self-advocacy and social skills
- personal care
- money management
- cooking skills
- housekeeping skills
- mobile phones and technology
Our service provider
Guide Dogs for the Blind provide the habilitation service service on behalf of these local authorities:
- Bristol
- South Gloucestershire
- Bath and North East Somerset
- North Somerset
They have a Habilitation team that includes both qualified Habilitation Specialists and Habilitation Assistants who are all Habilitation VI registered.
What the Habilitation Service does
The support for children and young people with visual impairments, their families and educational settings includes:
- habilitation assessments followed by written reports and advice
- habilitation training programs
- early years support including individual and group offers from birth
- sighted guide training for children and young people, families and professionals
- advice and guidance about the school or setting environment in line with the Equality Act
- advice about specialist equipment and resources
- statutory advice for Education Health and Care Plans Needs Assessments and Education Health and Care Plan reviews
- supporting transition between phases and stages of education and into adulthood
- events for learning, socialising, confidence building and having fun
The level of support offered depends on the level of need and can change over time. It is based on the National Sensory Impairment Partnership (NATSIP) criteria.
How referrals to the service are managed
Referrals to the Habilitation Service are made by the Vision Support Team within the Sensory Support Service who refer all children and young people who need an assessment of their habilitation needs to the service.
If your child is already receiving support from the Sensory Support Service and you would like to find out about referring them to the Habilitation Service, contact your child's Qualified Teacher of the Visually Impaired or ask their educational setting to do this for you.
If your child is not receiving support from the Sensory Support Service see our Sensory Support Service page to make a referral.
Changes to Top Up Funding, when it is happening, what it will be replaced with and what happens to existing Top Up Funding arrangements.
Changes to Top Up Funding for Children and Young People who do not have an EHCP from Autumn 2024.
The final Top Up panel using the current model will be in June 2024. For information on the changes to Top Up Funding, please see the Bristol City Council Cabinet Papers.
What will replace Top Up Funding
Top Up Funding will be replaced by new SEND services developed in collaboration with education settings and SENDCos.
The new targeted funding model will replace Top Up from September 2024. It will be administered by a decision-making panel chaired by Bristol City Council, and with representation from schools. Students will be eligible if they have emerging needs that go beyond what mainstream schools can normally provide. The first panel will be held in Autumn 2024.
Alongside the targeted fund, a portion of funding will be used to provide new outreach services which will support schools to improve their Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP). We are working with schools and families to understand the areas where this is most needed.
Existing Top Up Funding agreements
Existing Top Up Funding agreements will continue until their end date.
If a pupil currently receives Top Up Funding, this will continue to the end date agreed when funding was given. To identify when a current plan is ending for a specific pupil, schools should in the first instance contact the bursar in the education setting.
At the end of this funding period, these pupils will be supported either through the new Targeted Support Fund, a transition onto an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, or through their school's Ordinarily Available Provision.
Find services for children and young people with SEND.
You can search by:
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