Support for children and young people

Sunderland SEND Information, Advice and Support service provides free information, advice and support for children and young people with special educational needs and their families

This service is impartial. This means we will not tell you what to do, we will not take sides

We will give you the information and support you need to make your own choices.

This service is confidential. That means our meetings will be private. You do not have to tell us your name or anything about yourself if you don't want to. We will only tell people what we talk about if you say it is ok. Sometimes we have to tell someone else what you said if we are worried that you or someone else is being hurt or might be hurt. If this happens we will try and talk to you about it first.

For Young People

If you are aged 25 or under, disabled or with special educational needs we can help you with information about school, college or training. We can also give you help to get the health services you need or with care and support.

We can help with..

• Explaining what you can expect from your school, setting or post 16 placement. 
• working through the legal aspect of Special Needs procedures and processes and related documentation including exclusion.
• supporting you in meetings, ensuring that your voice is heard and your wishes are taken into consideration.
• Advising about choice of school or provision - particularly at transition stages
• Supporting you through the Special Needs Tribunal process.
• We can signpost you to other relevant professionals, voluntary organisations and parent groups.
• We can advise you on next steps and how to make things move forward.
• If things are going wrong we can support you to help put things right.
• We can pass on concerns, ideas and suggestions about all aspects of the process to the relevant people
• We can offer information of aspects of health and social care and also signpost you in the direction of more in-depth advice and support.

We can signpost you towards other professionals who can also offer support and advice on other aspects of post 16 education and training. Most people who are 16 years old or more and have finished year 11 can make their own decisions about their school or support. If you would like a parent or carer to help then that is ok, it's up to you.

Contact us by phone or email - you may have to leave a message but we try and get back to you within 48 hours although this may be longer during school holidays.  Please indicate a convenient time to contact you.
We can arrange a telephone or face to face meeting.

For more information or to get help with an application for an Education Health and Care Plan please contact Sunderland SENDIASS, 0191 537 5764, sendiass@sunderlandcarers.co.uk

TELL US

If you are not happy with our support then please tell us how we can make it better.