About the SEND team
SEND Officer role and responsibilities
SEND Officers oversee education, health, and care (EHC) plans for children and young people aged 0 to 25. They work in partnership with families, education settings, health and social care services, to ensure compliance with the relevant legislation.
The SEND Officer is the point of contact for children, young people and their families, and education settings. They are responsible for the completion of all administrative processes where an EHC needs assessment is being undertaken, following agreement by a multi-professional panel.
A SEND Officer has oversight for a caseload of children and young people with EHC plans in place or going through assessment. This is in accordance with the requirements of the Children's and Families Act 2014 and the SEN Code of Practice 2015.
If you are going through the EHC assessment process, and an EHC plan is subsequently drafted, your SEND Officer will change at the point your EHC plan is finalised. This is because the EHC plan will then be coordinated by an allocated SEND Officer linked to the education setting.
SEND Officers are split into three teams led by three SEND team leaders. Each team is allocated area of special focus:
- one team looks after all new assessment requests.
- another team coordinates all plans for children aged 0-16 within Derby City Schools.
- a further team coordinates plans in settings outside of Derby as well as plans for young people aged from 16-25.
What SEND Officers do
- carry out education, health, and care (EHC) plan assessments for children and young people with SEND.
- identify appropriate educational provision for pupils with EHC plans.
- ensure that plans are reviewed annually.
- oversee admissions to special schools, mainstream schools, and early years learning for students with EHC plans.
- give advice and information to parents, schools and other organisations about statutory SEND requirements and local authority procedures relating to the Children and Families Act 2014.
- provide advice to schools on statutory requirements in relation to special educational needs.
- administer EHC plan funding to schools.