Connexions Support for Young People with Special Educational Needs

Connexions Support for Young people with Special Educational Needs (Statements/ Education Health Care (EHC)Plan / SEND Support)

Connexions Gateshead will support young people with special educational needs, and their families, to ensure that they are aware of the Local Offer, aspire to achieve their full potential and have every opportunity to maximize the educational, training and employment opportunities open to them.

The needs of this cohort are personal and varied. Therefore, what follows is the Connexions Gateshead minimum commitment to supporting young people with Special Educational Needs.

Whilst at school (13 -19 years).  Year 9; Connexions Advisers will attend reviews and introduce the “Preparing for Adulthood” agenda, lightly mapping out progression opportunities available.

 Year 10; Connexions advisers will meet up with all young people in receipt of a statement or an Education Health Care (EHC)Plan and discuss their progression aspirations, both for at the end of Year 11 and longer term.

 Year 11; If this is identified to be a transition year, a Connexions Adviser will o meet with the young person, o attend the autumn term review, o Promote the Local Offer, o contribute a Transition report for insertion into the EHC Plan that includes the actual level of support received by the young person and the anticipated level of support needed for the progression, o advise on appropriate outcomes for the EHC plan. o The adviser will support the young person as appropriate to help them research transition options and maximise the probability that the transition will be smooth and successful.

 All pupils with SEND Support needs will be offered; o a preliminary exploratory careers guidance interview in the summer term of year 10 o A full careers guidance interview in year 11 o this will result in the production of a transition plan to be shared with the receiving institution (if agreed), o subsequent 1-1 support to ensure that a successful transition is made o post-progression support until it is recognised that the transition is sustained.  Years 12 to 14; Connexions Advisers will, o in the year prior to the expected transition point, meet to help the young person (and family) understand the post-school progression options. o in the year of the transition, the adviser will discuss progression with the young person, attend the review and contribute a Transition Form to inform the Preparing for Adulthood section of the EHC plan, o include the actual level of support received by the young person and the anticipated level of support needed for the progression, o advise on appropriate outcomes for the EHC plan, o Support the young person and family and liaise with partner organisations (e.g. SENDIAS/ Parent Partnership/ Transitions) as appropriate to enable them to make informed decisions. o Sign post to other appropriate supporting agencies.

At College (16 – 25 years)  EHC Plan students at college; Connexions advisers will support young people attending colleges. They will o Help the young person and family understand the progression options after the completion of the current course of study, o in the probable year of the transition, the adviser will discuss progression with the young person, attend the review and contribute a Transition Form to inform the Preparing for Adulthood section of the EHC plan, o advise on appropriate outcomes for the EHC plan, o if required, chair the EHC Plan Review in the Transition Year (in instances agreed in advance with the SEND Team), o Support the young person and family and liaise with partner organisations (e.g. SENDIAS/ Parent Partnership) as appropriate to enable them to make informed decisions, o Sign post to other (age appropriate) supporting agencies, such as National Careers Service, Generation North East and Shaw Trust.

 Out of area college students; Connexions advisers will support the young people placed in colleges outside of the north east area as above, but with the following provisos; o Reviews will only be attended in Transition Years, o Prior to the transition year any support work will be done during visits back to the north east, o There will be an alignment with other council services to avoid duplication of presence at reviews, o Those young people placed outside of Gateshead but in a neighbouring authority will be supported as students at colleges within Gateshead.

 Requests for new EHC Plans; Connexions will; o Respond to requests made to the SEND team for EHC plans by arranging to see the young person with in agreed timescales (2 weeks minimum expectation; 4 weeks maximum) o Discuss options with young person in a careers interview, capturing the young person’s voice, determining that the vocational choice is independently made and that other options have been considered, o Produce a report/ transition form as appropriate for the SEND team outlining the young person’s views and the any conclusions reached,

 Supporting the Funding Panel o A Connexions representative will attend the panel. o Connexions will provide a report on progression aspirations for each post 16 young person being considered by the panel o Connexions advisers will endeavour to get a recent update for each person who is having a High Needs Funding application being considered o Connexions will support the panel in collecting follow up information as and when appropriate.

 Tracking o All young people with SEND/ SEND Support will be supported and tracked up to their 20th birthdays. o The destinations of all young people with open and current EHC plans will be tracked up to their 25th birthday, or when the plan closes, whichever is earlier. This is in line with Department for Education guidelines.