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Page 5 of 5
Year 9 meetings are the start of a process for longer-term decision-making. Vocational guidance provided by the school or the PA should include information on key stage 4 and post-16 options and take fully into account the wishes and feelings of the young person concerned. The service should assist the young person and their parents to identify the most appropriate post-16 provision, provide counselling and support, and have continuing oversight of, and information on, the young person's choice of provision. These processes will need to be carried out in partnership with the LEA's SEN officers and those professionals who know the young person well.
Involvement of Health and Social Services
LEA's must seek information from social service departments under section 5 of the disabled persons act 1986, as to whether a young person with a statement under part IV of the education act 1996 is disabled (and so may require services from the local authority when leaving school). Multi agency input at year 9 is important for all young people with SEN. Under the Children's Act 1989 social services may arrange multi-disciplinary assessments and must establish Children's service Plans which may include provision of further education for children in need (likely to include those with significant special needs). Social services should unsure that a social worker attends the yr 9 review meeting and contributes to the formation of the Transition Plan where the young person is subject to a care order, accommodated by the local authority or is a 'child in need'.
Health professionals involved in the management and care of the young person should provide advice towards transition pans in writing and, wherever possible, should attend the meeting in yr 9. They should advise on the services that are likely to be required and discuss arrangements for transfer to adult health care services with the young person, their parents and their GP. They should arrange the transfer of any referrals and records necessary, with the consent of the young person and parents, and should liase with the connexions service.
Annual Reviews from Year 10
The school remains responsible for arranging the review meeting until the pupil leaves school. Some pupils with statements will remain in school after the age of 16. LEA's remain responsible for such pupils until they are 19, however sometimes the course they are on will take them past their 19th birthday. In this case the Learning and Skills Council will require the LEA to maintain the statement until the end of the academic year in which they turned 19.
Whatever the future destination of the young person, the annual review has an additional significance as he/she approaches 16. The connexions service should be invited to and should attend the review meeting in yr 11 in order to ensure the Transition Plan is updated appropriately. In the pupil's final year, the connexions service has a separate responsibility to ensure that an assessment of their needs is made on leaving school and provision identified. Every effort should be made to link this final review of the statement and to consider the Transition Plan together with this assessment. Where post 16 provision has been identified it is good practice for the head teacher to invite a representative from the provision to the review meeting.
The connexions service should seek agreement of student and parents to transfer information including statements from the school to the continuing education sector, and explain the importance of such information and the desirability of the transfer. They should also ensure that where a student has a statement, a copy of it, a copy of the most recent review and the Transition Plan, is passed to the social service department and any post 16 provision that the student will be attending. If a decision is made to place the student in a specialist college, a copy of the Transition Plan should be sent to the local Learning and Skills Council.
Students without statements but with special educational needs
In some cases, a student approaching 16 may have special needs, which do not call for a statement, but they are likely to require some support if they go onto further education or training. To ensure that these students are able to make decisions, and to facilitate their successful transition, it is important that they have the appropriate help and guidance. This might include the provision of school/college link courses or work placements and should involve the different local agencies concerned.
The connexions service provides support for all young people aged 13-19. It has a particular focus on supporting disadvantaged young people or those likely to underachieve, including those with SEN but without statements. They should provide schools with information which will help these students make successful transitions to post-school education, training or work, including details of local and national voluntary organisations. Schools should consult the services to ensure that detailed information is transferred to further education providers with the young persons consent.
As a condition of grant the connexions service has a responsibility to ensure all young people who may have a difficulty in transferring to further education or training have a needs and provision assessment. When undertaken for young people with SEN but without statements these assessments may be recorded as having been carried out under section 140 of the learning and skills act.
Children subject to a care order or accommodated by a local authority
Under the provision of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2001 every eligible young person looked after by a local authority on their 16th birthday, including those with SEN, will have a pathway plan. This plan will build on the Care and Personal Education Plans, mapping out a pathway to independence, including education, training and employment. The local authority will also be required to appoint a personal advisor who will normally act as the connexions PA for each of these young people. The advisor must work with the young person and others to devise the pathway plan and ensure its implementation. The plan should cover all the areas that are relevant to enabling a care leaver to make a successful transition to adulthood. As such, the plan fulfils the same function as the Transition Plan and connexions personal action plan. It is important that the PA ensures the young person is fully aware of the local authorities responsibilities towards them and to agree with the social services department, other agencies and the young person who the services are to be delivered to. Where a young person has been looked after in foster care or residential placement or attended a residential school outside their own local authority area, the PA for the responsible authority together with the LEA should seek to ensure liaison between all relevant LEA's and social service departments. The responsible authority is the local authority that is looking after the young person or, in the case of a young person who has left care, the authority that last looked after them.
by Trace from adders.org
next: Annual Review of Special Educational Needs Statement
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