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- 20. Who, outside of school, can I turn to for advice and support?
20. Who, outside of school, can I turn to for advice and support?
SEND Local Offer
Every local authority has a SEND Local Offer. The purpose of the local offer is to enable parents, carers, children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities to see clearly, from a single and regularly updated source, the services available to local families and how to access them. The offer covers services from birth to 25, across education, health and social care.
Kingston and Richmond children’s services are provided by Achieving for Children. The SEND Local Offer sits within their AfCinfo website, or you can use this direct link Local Offer website for Kingston and Richmond
SEND Local Offer Leaflets
SEND Local Offer leaflet (pdf)
Support for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) (pdf)
If you don’t live in Kingston or Richmond, your home local authority will also have a SEND Local Offer.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Parent and Carer Engagement Team
The role of this team in Kingston and Richmond is to ensure that parents and carers of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities are fully engaged with the services provided by achieving for children.
Special Educational Needs and Disability Register
All local authorities must have a record or register of children with Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities (SEND) in their area. If you live in either Kingston or Richmond, we encourage anyone whose family includes a child or young person who has a special educational need* or disability** to register. Young people over 13 years can register in their own right.
Everyone on the register will benefit from:
- Information about support, services, activities and events
- Information aimed at young people with disabilities
- Opportunities to have your say about the services that are important to you
- The knowledge that your anonymous statistical data is helping us to plan and improve services.
When you register, you have the option to ask for a Disability Awareness Card.
Special Educational Needs and Disability Register on Local Offer
Special Educational Needs and Disability Register leaflet (pdf)
Achieving for Children’s Single Point of Access (SPA)
SPA is a multi-agency team consisting of qualified social workers, Contact Information Officers, a health visitor and a Service Coordinator. They aim to ensure that all children with additional needs are identified early, referred to appropriate services and monitored through effective information sharing between agencies and professionals. Although SPA is the central point for professionals and member of the public to report safeguarding issues, the SPA also enables professionals and/or families to refer a child, young person or parent/carer that need services or support in some way. For instance, the SPA is also the first point of contact for the Family Information Services (FIS) in each borough. Referral is made by telephone or e-mail via the Kingston Council website. More information on the service that they provide can be found here -
Kingston Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)/Woodroffe Family Adolescent and Child team (FACT)
Kingston CAMHS/FACT offer a range of assessments and treatments to children and young people between the ages of 5-18 who are suffering from anxiety, eating disorder, psychotic episodes or social anxiety disorder (social phobia). Where appropriate a combination of approaches is used in line with the young person's needs and as agreed with the family through care planning. Please make an appointment to see Mrs Laws or your GP if you believe you require a referral to this service.
SEND Information, Advice and Support (SENDIASS)
The Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) in Kingston and Richmond offers advice and support across a wide range of subjects.
This may include help with personal budgets and how to use the Local Offer plus information about:
- Local support networks
- Education, health and social care services
- Your rights in education, health and social care
- Mediation and dispute resolution
The service is free, confidential and impartial. It is for children and young people up to the age of 25yrs who have special educational needs or disabilities, and their parents or carers.
Contact SENDIASS
We’re based at The Croft Centre, Wyndham Road, Twickenham TW9 2HP and at The Moor Lane Centre, Moor Lane, Chessington KT9 2AA.
Freephone number: 0808 164 5527
Email: info@RKsendiass.co.uk
Website: rksendiass.co.uk
Kingston Parent Carer Forum
Parent Carer Forums (PCFs) are independent groups run by parents for parents or carers of children/young people (aged 0 to 25 years) who have any form of special educational need or disability.
They receive funding from the Department for Education and their purpose is to ensure that the voices of parents, children and young people are heard in the planning and implementation of SEND services.
There is a parent carer forum for Richmond and one for Kingston.
Again, other areas may have their own PCF.
We realise that some of the terminology in this report is very school/education specific. Please see below for an explanation of the terms used;
Terminology | Definition |
Age-related expectations | Age-related expectations identify what is expected of a pupil by age or year group. For the national end of key stage tests there is a defined standard as described by the performance descriptors. There is currently no equivalent published standard for years 3, 4 and 5 |
Assistive technology | Any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability. |
Attainment | What a pupil gets in the form of results in a summative assessment in comparison to their peers. |
Barrier to learning | Anything that stands in the way of a child being able to learn effectively. A learner may experience one or more barriers to learning throughout his or her education. |
Book look | |
Cognitive Ability Tests (CATs) | Tests designed to help to understand each child’s strengths and weaknesses as an individual. Four specific areas are tested: Verbal reasoning: tasks involving words; Non-verbal reasoning: tasks involving shapes and patterns; Quantitative reasoning: tasks involving numbers and Spatial ability: tasks involving mentally generating and transforming visual images. |
Curriculum | A programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. |
Differentiation/Differentiated | The process by which differences between learners are accommodated in lessons so that all pupils in the class have the best possible chance of learning. |
EYFS profile | A summary of a child's attainment at the end of Reception. It's not a test, and the child can't 'pass' or 'fail'. The profile measures your child's attainment in 17 areas of learning, known as Early Learning Goals (ELGs). |
Formative assessment | Teachers monitor student learning to provide ongoing, regular feedback during all lessons that can be used to modify and refine their teaching and learning activities and improve pupil attainment. |
Individual timetable | A personalised daily visual timetable used at a workstation. This will have small step pictures of the day’s activities and usually feature photographs of the individual child completing said activities. |
Learning objective | Statements that define the expected goal of each lesson in terms of demonstrable skills or knowledge that will be acquired by a pupil as a result of instruction. |
Learning walk | Structured, focused and facilitated small group visits to classrooms that focus on student learning and instructional teaching practice. |
National expectations | As of September 2016, the format and marking system for SATs has been overhauled. Now, children no longer get their results as a National Curriculum level, but as a scaled score ranging from 85 to 120 and a judgement on whether or not they have reached the national standard expected for their age. |
Neurodiversity | The range of differences in individual brain function and behavioural traits, regarded as part of normal variation in the human population. |
Outcome | S.M.A.R.T. long term goal intended to close the attainment gap as a result of intervention. |
Pencil grip | A small rubber mould that fits around the pencil which gently guides the fingers into the ergonomically correct writing position |
Purple polishing pen | Pupils self-edit (polish) their finished work with a purple pen |
Quality first teaching | The effective inclusion of all pupils in high-quality everyday personalised teaching. Such teaching will, for example, be based on clear objectives that are shared with the children and returned to at the end of the lesson; carefully explain new vocabulary; use lively, interactive teaching styles and make maximum use of visual and kinaesthetic as well as auditory/verbal learning. |
Screening assessment | Screening is a brief, simple test used to identify potential barriers to learning. A screener will ensure that pupils receive the correct intervention, professional advice or assessment. |
Sound field system | A sound system for schools that improves the learning environment for the entire class by improving the sound environment in the classroom. Designed specifically for speech sounds, these systems greatly enhance speech understanding, particularly for the hearing impaired. |
Standard Attainment Tests (SATs) | At the end of each Key Stage (in Year 2 and Year 6), children are assessed formally in Standard Attainment Tests (SATs). The results for each school are reported nationally. |
Steps to success | Small steps that the pupils follow in order to successfully meet the learning objective. |
Summative assessment | End of term written tests conducted by teachers in order to evaluate pupil attainment against age-related expectation. |
Visual stress | Refers to reading difficulties, light sensitivity and headaches from exposure to disturbing visual patterns. It can be responsible for print distortion and rapid fatigue when reading. |
Visual timetable | A visual timetable uses pictures to represent the lessons throughout the day. |
Weighted blanket | Provide deep pressure touch stimulation without uncomfortable restriction to pupils with sensory processing difficulties. The deep pressure from the weight causes the body to produce serotonin and endorphins, the chemicals our bodies naturally use to feel relaxed or calm. |
Wobble cushion | A round inflatable device with a non-slip surface on one side and a textured bumpy sensory side on the other. They force pupils to balance while sitting, causing constant micro-movements that will strengthen core, improve posture and provide sensory input. |
Workstation | An individual desk that incorporates structure, routine and visual cues and also limits distraction in order to develop independence, organisational skills, the concepts of working in an ordered manner, the concept of finished and the generalisation of skills |