Keep up to date with everything SEND in Lambeth. Here you will find the most recent SEND news and events.
Survey for children and young people with SEND now live!
We want to hear from all children and young people with SEND to find out how you feel about the help you get with things like your learning, health, changing schools and planning your future. We want to understand what is going well and how we can make things better for you.
This survey was created together with our SEND Youth Council. It is aimed at children and young people aged 8 to 25, however, we welcome responses from younger children too. You may want to complete this survey with support from a parent/carer or teacher. Find more information about the survey and fill it in.
Everyone who completes the survey can enter our prize draw to win a voucher, please find details on how to enter at the end of the survey.
Lambeth youth speak up on Autism
Lambeth Council have partnered with Chocolate Films Workshops to support 27 young people from three schools in Lambeth to create a short documentary film: Autism: A Unique Life, about their lived experiences of autism. We are pleased to share that the film is now live on our YouTube:
New online booking system for one-to-one appointments with the team
If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and you have specific enquiries about their SEND support, you can now book a one-to-one appointment with a Lambeth SEND team member.
Our new online booking system makes it easy to choose a convenient time, and you'll receive helpful reminders before your appointment.
Lambeth launches new SEND and Alternative Provision strategy
Lambeth Council is launching its new Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) strategy. The strategy ensures that all children and young people in Lambeth receive excellent and inclusive experiences and outcomes across education, health, and social care, from birth to adulthood.
The strategy, which runs from 2025-2030, was designed with young people and aims to provide the best care and support for any special educational needs and disabilities. It will also enable children and young people to achieve their full potential as adults. We are committed to making sure that every child gets the right help as early as possible, with schools, health services, and other support systems working together seamlessly.
Read the SEND and Alternative Provision strategy 2025-2030
Free support for Lambeth parents of children with learning disabilities, autism or ADHD
Supporting children and young people with neurodevelopmental conditions can be challenging, especially when behaviours of concern arise.
To help, Lambeth Council offers free support for families of children with learning disabilities, autism, or ADHD. This includes online webinars, workshops and one-to-one consultations with trained positive behaviour support practitioners.
The service aims to help you understand your child's behaviour and offers practical, neuroaffirming support strategies to manage challenges and improve family life.
Find out more and register for support
Apply for a Lambeth Project SEARCH supported internship
Supported internships are a great way for young people with learning disabilities to develop new skills through work experience. The DFN Project SEARCH programme provides real work experience combined with training in employability and independent living skills delivered in a business setting to help young people make successful transitions to productive adult life. Applications to join the 2025 intake of Project SEARCH interns are now open.
If you or a young person you know would like to apply to the Project SEARCH supported internship programme, please complete the application form. Applicants will then be invited to attend an assessment day in March 2025.
Apply for a Lambeth Project SEARCH supported internship 2025 - 2026
Summary of consultation on Jubilee resource base for deaf children
Following the recent public consultation on the proposal to close or relocate the Jubilee resource base for deaf children, Lambeth has concluded that the resource base will remain open at its current location.
Here are the key findings from the consultation:
- Strong support for continuation at Jubilee: 80% of respondents expressed a clear preference for keeping the deaf resource base at its current location. Many highlighted the need to maintain the base until a viable and equivalent alternative is established, if relocation were ever considered.
- Concerns about closing the base: a recurring theme among respondents was the belief that closing the base is not a viable option. They emphasised the critical importance of on-site qualified Teachers of the Deaf, specialised support staff, and regular access to services such as educational audiologists.
- Specialised local support is crucial: there was a consensus that deaf children deserve access to specialised educational support in a local setting. Respondents highlighted the importance of maintaining a sense of community and identity for deaf children, as well as providing emotional and social support.
- Opposition to relocation: many respondents questioned the rationale behind relocating the base, citing potential challenges such as increased travel times, disruptions to routines, and logistical difficulties for families.
Moving forwards, the consultation emphasised the value of the Jubilee resource base as a cornerstone of inclusive education in the borough. Respondents called for assurance that the base will receive sustained support, with efforts to enhance its resources and visibility. Maintaining specialised staff and fostering community among deaf children were identified as key priorities.
Lambeth’s decision to continue supporting the base in its current location reflects the overwhelming sentiment of respondents and reinforces the commitment to meeting the educational and social needs of deaf children.
For any further information please email sendsupport@lambeth.gov.uk
Celebrating young talent in Lambeth: SEND strategy artwork competition winner announced
Lambeth Council has announced the winning entry in a competition for children and young people with SEND to use their creativity to design artwork to be showcased in the new SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy. The strategy will support young people in school and the council asked children to create a design that represented ideas important to them.
These themes included local community, leisure, building independence, the importance of friends and family, and having their voice heard. The competition brief was to create a piece of art inspired by these themes.
The winning design was submitted by Arianna Frisby from Allen Edwards Primary School for her beautiful piece ‘Free as a bird’. Congratulations to Arianna and the runners up.
Lambeth Project SEARCH supported internships
Are you age 16 to 24 and have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan? With Project SEARCH, you can discover exciting opportunities to gain valuable skills and experience that can be transferred to the workplace or into paid work including:
- hands-on experience in a professional environment
- job coaching and onsite support
- tailored career guidance and skills development
- employability and independence
For more information or assistance, and to let us know if you’re interested in joining the 2025/26 Project SEARCH intake, please email inclusiveemployment@lambeth.gov.uk.
Read more about supported internship opportunities
Lambeth SEND young inspectors inspect the Local Offer
The Lambeth SEND Young Inspectors Programme is a part of Lambeth's commitment to becoming a child friendly community, in partnership with UNICEF UK. The programme ensures that young people with SEND have a meaningful role in shaping local decisions, services and spaces.
The programme was piloted with 6 young inspectors aged 11 to 15, reviewing the ‘I’m a young person' section of Lambeth’s Local Offer and providing their feedback and recommendations on how to improve it. These young people had a range of special educational needs and disabilities, including autism, ADHD, hearing loss, and visual impairment.
The inspection, held at Dunraven Secondary School, focused on looking at website navigation, accessibility and website content. The young inspectors provided valuable feedback that was analysed to identify key areas for improvement.
We returned to Dunraven to present the findings report to the young inspectors, enabling them to review and sign off on the findings. We will continue to check in and update the inspectors on the changes being made to the SEND Local Offer.
Thank you to all the young inspectors for their valuable feedback and recommendations.
Read the young inspectors Local Offer inspection report (PDF 582KB)
SEND Family Survey 2024 findings report
To ensure that children and young people with SEND in Lambeth receive the best support possible, we conducted our second annual SEND Family Survey to hear from parents, carers and young people about what they think is working and what needs to improve.
This report explores the key findings from the survey and outlines how we will address the feedback from families to improve SEND support and services.
The insights we gathered through this survey have also helped to shape our new SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy 2025-2030, which we will publish early next year.
We ran this survey for the first time in 2023 and will continue to run it every year to ensure that the voices of young people with SEND and their families remain at the heart of our decision making.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey. We look forward to working with you to improve the experiences and outcomes of children and young people in Lambeth.
Read the SEND Family Survey 2024 findings report (PDF 99.15KB)
Lambeth launches new All Age Autism Strategy 2024-2027
We’ve launched Lambeth’s new All Age Autism Strategy 2024-2027, which sets out our approach and shared vision for supporting autistic children, young people and people of all ages and their families in our borough.
Our new approach addresses the needs of autistic individuals from early childhood through to adulthood with a focus on education, employment, healthcare, and community support. This ensures that autistic individuals can access the services and opportunities they need to thrive at home, work, in education and other social settings.
Read the All Age Autism Strategy 2024-2027
New BeLambeth website goes live
If you’re a young person with SEND looking for information about what to do next, BeLambeth can support you. BeLambeth is our new platform offering support, help and opportunities to job seekers in Lambeth. It includes a supported employment programme that can help connect you with opportunities and employers, and provide advice to help you.
Find out about the many ways that you can achieve your ambitions by visiting BeLambeth or by getting in touch with our Supported Employment Team at inclusiveemployment@lambeth.gov.uk.
BeLambeth's supported employment programme
Jubilee deaf provision consultation survey
We are seeking your views on the proposal to close or relocate the deaf resource base at Jubilee Primary School in Lambeth. Due to the current low numbers of uptake, the school are proposing to close the base at the end the academic year 2025. We are seeking your views before we decide to support this proposal or not.
We would like to hear from parents, stakeholders, members of the deaf community, practitioners, teaching staff and any other groups these proposals may have an impact on. You can complete our online survey below. Your feedback is crucial in helping us make informed decisions that best serve our community.
Take part in the Jubilee Resource Base consultation survey
SEND and Inclusion Strategy Closure Report
As part of preparing our new SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy 2025-2030, we evaluated the progress we made on our previous SEND and Inclusion Strategy 2021-24. This summary report highlights examples of the progress made, and areas of further action.
We presented this report to Lambeth's Parent Carer Forum earlier this year, and are working across the partnership to co-produce our next strategy, which we hope will positively impact the lives of our Children and Young People with SEND, and those in Alternative Provision.
SEND and Inclusion Strategy progress report (PDF, 309KB)
SEND Youth Forum consultation
Lambeth will be launching a new SEND Youth Forum in Autumn 2024.
The forum will provide a platform for young people with SEND to have their voices heard across service design and local decision-making.
Our goal is to ensure that the forum is youth-led and centred around youth voice. To achieve this, it is crucial to consult with young people about their vision for the forum, allowing us to collaboratively shape its direction.
Read about the consultation conducted so far
If you would like to contribute to the ongoing consultation around setting up the forum, please email Lulu, our SEND Youth Involvement Coordinator at lpinkney@lambeth.gov.uk
SEND survey and peer review results
In November 2023, the Local Government Association (LGA) were invited by Lambeth Council to undertake a SEND Peer Review, to enable a self-assessment to help with the continuous improvement of Lambeth’s SEND provision.
We have used the feedback from both the LGA SEND Peer Review and SEND Annual Survey 2023 to inform our decision-making and create an action plan for 2024 – 2025.
The action plan reflects the views of families to improve the support provided by education, health and social care, to children and young people with SEND from birth up to 25 years old. Read the SEND action plan (PDF, 261KB)
SEND have your say: empowering young people, shaping services
On Saturday 2 December 2023, the Assembly Hall at Lambeth Town Hall buzzed with energy. Young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) took centre stage at the Lambeth SEND have your say event where their views started creating a roadmap for future SEND services.