Ask the special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) at your child’s nursery, school or college if you think your child needs an assessment.
The SENCO is a teacher trained to identify children with special educational needs and ensure they get all the help they need.
A parent or young person over 16 can ask us for an assessment to see if an EHCP is needed. If you want to do this, speak to us first, then complete online via the EHC HUB. Applications for an EHCP can also be made online via the EHC HUB.
Anyone else, including a foster carer, family friend or a professional that works with your child or young person, can also let us know about their needs. This should be done with the knowledge and agreement of parents or the young person.
What happens next?
We will:
- contact your child’s nursery, school or college to find out more about them
- look at your child’s SEND support plan, if they have one
- decide whether to assess your child for an EHCP
- write to you within six weeks to tell you whether or not we’re going to do an assessment.
If we go ahead with an assessment, the child or young person and their family will be involved in the whole process.
If we don’t do an assessment
We will write to you to explain our decision.
Depending on the reasons, we will either:
- offer to meet you to discuss our decision and what your child needs
- discuss with you what other help your child needs and put it in place
- discuss your child’s SEND support plan with their school, nursery or college if we think you haven’t been listened to - we may also arrange a meeting in the nursery, school or college.
If you disagree with our decision, you can make an appeal.