Swift and easy access

Swift and easy access (SEA) to targeted and specialist services can help overcome barriers to learning and enable children and young people to achieve their potential. All schools, working closely with other statutory services and the voluntary and community sector, should focus on the early identification of – and the provision of support for – children and young people who have additional needs or who are at risk of poor outcomes. SEA can stop problems escalating and minimise any disruption to pupils’ learning. This kind of support is already shown to raise pupils’ levels of confidence, self-esteem and achievement, which in turn can contribute to raising standards and reducing inequalities. Effective support through SEA can also help persuade some pupils to continue studying at school after 16.

What schools should be doing:

SEA involves schools working closely with statutory agencies and the voluntary and community sector to identify children and young people with emotional, behavioural, health or other difficulties as early as possible. The school and partnering agencies can then form a ‘team around the child’, planning and delivering a package of ongoing support designed to overcome barriers to learning and enable the child or young person to achieve their full potential. That support package could include:

• speech and language therapy;
• child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS);
• family support services;
• intensive behaviour support;
• counselling; and,
• sexual health services.

Schools will need to work closely with the multi-agency or locality teams developed under the children’s trust arrangements to identify vulnerable children and young people and assess their needs. Increasingly these teams will be building links with schools. They may be based near or on school sites, enabling children and young people to access their services discreetly and conveniently. However, at times it will be necessary to make a referral to services outside school. Clear communication and regular monitoring by all personnel involved in the referral process is essential. Many schools choose to identify a ‘named individual’ with specific responsibility for liaising between the pupil, their family, the school and the agencies involved.

SEA can provide evidence for Ofsted’s self-evaluation form (SEF) for schools.  Read the TDA’s guidance on providing SEA evidence for the SEF; however, please note that this is a draft document and is subject to change.

Useful contacts/links are:

• City of York Safeguarding Children Board – a statutory inter-agency forum for agreeing how different services cooperate to protect children in York.
• Lime Trees – the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) that works in the York and Selby area, helping with a range of issues such as behaviour support, therapy, depression, eating disorders, and clinical psychology.
• York Family Information Service
• Catalyst – York’s Family Intervention Project, to support families at risk
• 29 Castlegate – a centre for young adults, aged 16-25, with information, advice and support on issues such as careers and sexual health
• Disabilities and additional needs
• Being healthy for young people