Our SENCos need to be able to spend their time working with children in their settings – referral forms are important, as is accessing the right support at the right time; however, our central inclusion team supports with the completion of onerous local authority documentation to request a statutory assessment of need.

There are some stages of support that precede the request for assessment.  It is important that colleagues in the inclusion team review the evidence base with the school SENCo in order to fully understand the work that has been completed.

Once the central team understands the evidence base and can follow the golden thread of detail that is underpinning the request, the draft will be completed and shared with the school and family ahead of submission.  The central team member will meet with parents / carers to gather their views as part of the evidence gathering.