SEND - Local offer

Primary specialist hubs will have a maximum of approximately 10 children attending. The secondary specialist hub will accommodate a maximum of 8 students.

All children will require an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan to access this provision.  Parents will need to express a preference for their child to be placed in hub provision. Location of the child’s home address and the needs of the cohort who already attend the provision will be taken into consideration when determining the most appropriate hub for a child’s placement.

Discussions about a child’s placement in the hubs can be conducted with parents as part of the EHC assessment or annual review processes and a request for placement should be made to the local authority SEND team.  Upon receipt of the request the Local Authority SEND team will consult with the special school, where the children will be on roll.

Decisions are made in partnership with schools but for the purpose of disagreement resolution, should issues arise, the local authority is the ultimate decision maker.

This is possible, as is a move from a special into a mainstream school, but if this is being considered a lot of discussion and work will happen between the special school and parent before it takes place. Children will not be moved without agreement from parents. All school placements for children with an EHC plan are reviewed yearly, as part of the annual review.

When a request for a place in a hub is received, the SEND team will consult with the special school. Visits to observe the pupil will be carried out, by the school, and further discussions will take place with parents. This information will then be discussed at a meeting, held by the Local Authority, which considers all requests for placement in specialist provision. All decisions are made in partnership with the schools, however, the Local Authority is responsible for either approving or declining the request.

The hubs will cater for children with complex communication and interaction needs, including Autism and associated cognition and learning difficulties and cognition and learning needs. A child does not require a medical diagnosis of a condition for entry into hub provision, rather the combination of need and impact on a child’s learning will be used to determine the appropriateness of entry into a hub.

For children who attend the hub provision both sets of staffing groups will support the children. The teacher and teaching assistants within the ‘hub classroom’ will be Haughton or Southall staff and keep oversight of a child throughout their time at school.  However, during inclusion opportunities, where children take part in activities alongside their mainstream peers, they will be supported by teachers and teaching assistants from the mainstream school. Teachers and teaching assistants are recruited by Haughton and Southall to run the hub provisions. 

All placements for children with an EHC plan are reviewed as part of the annual review process.