SEND decision making in Plymouth

Our vision for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in Plymouth

Our vision is clear and focused:

We have a duty to help our children and young people have a Bright Future. Our vision is that children and young people in Plymouth grow up healthy and happy, safe and able to aspire and achieve, living in resilient families and communities, and able to take advantage of a broad range of opportunities. Our aim is that no Plymouth child should find that their life chances are defined or limited by the circumstances of their birth or early childhood experiences. If problems emerge, we will step in and seek to work effectively alongside families to improve outcomes.

We need to do this better and faster across our local authority, schools, and health providers, as well as the community sector and statutory services, to ensure that we shift resources and focus to be able to benefit more of our children, focusing more of the time on prevention and earlier identification of need. Over time, we want to be able to reduce the need for intensive crisis management for a minority. We are aspirational about tackling the corrosive root causes and impact of deprivation.

Read our SEND Strategy (PDF) [1MB]  to learn more about our vision.

Key documents and policies

• School accessibility strategy 2019 to 2021 (PDF) [157KB]
• Plymouth Short Breaks statement (PDF) [286KB]
• SEND Strategy Implementation Plan (PDF) [174KB]
• Local Authority Special Free School bid process
• Our Capital Grant 2018 -2021
• DfE Call for evidence - SEND and AP financial arrangements (PDF) [43KB]
• Health Designated Officers for SEND (Word doc) [98KB]

SEND Strategic Board

In Plymouth, we have a SEND Strategic Board who meet six times a year to oversee the progress of the improvement work in the city regarding children and young people with SEND.

Local Offer review and evaluation

We are required to review and evaluate the Plymouth local offer with families on an annual basis. These reports can be found by accessing the links below.

• Local Offer Review November 2019 (PDF) [96KB] (opens new window)
• Local Offer review report from November 2017 to September 2018 (PDF) [135KB]
• Local Offer review report April 2017 (PDF) [126KB]
• Local Offer review report October 2015 (PDF) [123KB]

Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP)

An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a document that supports children and young people with special educational needs in education.

Most mainstream schools, settings, and colleges will be able to meet your child's special educational needs. However, if your child needs more support than the school can provide, they may need an EHCP.

Find out more about Education, Health and Care Plans.

Consultations

• Designation and capacity of special schools

Plymouth's Local Offer is organised into four main categories covering the following age ranges:

• Early years (0 to 5 years old)
• Primary (5 to 11 years old)
• Secondary (11 to 18 years old)
• Preparing for adulthood

 Plymouth Local Offer homepage

Is the information correct?

Let us know if the information on this page is wrong and needs to be updated.