Features / Bristol Charity Advent Calendar 2024
Bristol Charity Advent Calendar, Day 13: SEND and You
SEND and You is an information, advice and support service for children and young people aged 0-25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.
Their vision is to give high quality, accessible, impartial and confidential Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support (SENDIAS).
This support they hope will empower children and young people with SEND and their parents to play an active and informed role in their child’s education, as well as ensuring a successful and sustained transition into adulthood.
is needed now More than ever
The BS1-based charity has a two-year contract deliver the SENDIAS service across North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
How SEND and You works – image: SEND and You
There are several challenges for those with SEND that has been well publicised over the decade: inappropriate school place allocation, insufficient transport funding, social isolation and extensive waiting times for education, health and care plans are but a few barriers.
The services they offer are vast and numerous, but they include: explaining jargon so parents can get to grips with the system effectively, promote self-advocacy by empowering users to feel confident in expressing their views, understanding legislation and statutory processes and signposting to local and national sources of information, advice and support.
We cannot
• Deliver emergency support or interventions for service users – this is for the three local authorities to have in place.
Find out more about how we can and cannot help: https://t.co/l6AxWbODQ3 pic.twitter.com/Rk2TRtuLVB
— SEND and You (@sendandyou) July 17, 2024
According to the Bristol City Council SEND and Inclusion Strategy 2024-2028, there are over 13,000 children and young people living in Bristol with SEND.
A child’s needs may have an impact on their behaviour, their ability to make friends or to concentrate. Their needs may affect their reading or writing, or their ability to understand things clearly.
As a result, a child or young person with SEN requires a different set of provision that either differs or is additional to that of their contemporaries. By law, if and when a young person or child with SEND successfully applies for an education, health and care (EHC) plan – a plan of care for children and young people aged up to 25 who have more complex needs, school and educational facilities must abide by it.
The charity also works to ensure a child or young person attains that EHC plan, even advising with the individuals who need to go to tribunal with their local council to obtain one.
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According to their latest Impact Report, 1,097 families in Bristol were supported, 921 in South Gloucestershire and 1,034 in North Somerset.
In Bristol there was over a 57 per cent increase in the number of families that were supported over the year.
The charity’s next upcoming bookable support appointment is on December 16, at the Firs Resource Centre.
Main photo: Hannah Massoudi
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