Early Years Area SENCO and Inclusion Advisers (Early Years SEND Service)

Service Information

The roles of the Early Years Area SENCo and Inclusion Adviser are to assist Early Years settings by providing advice and support for children with additional/special educational needs as part of the graduated approach.

We work closely with staff and parents, finding ways to best help the children make the most of the learning opportunities available to them. We may observe the children and offer advice on their play, learning and development. Where needed, we can provide support or help reviewing SEN Support plans for the children. We can also help to access other specialist support, where appropriate.

To accept an EHA, you will need to make sure you have included the following additional information.

Additional Information for Early Years/Education settings to include with your referral.

To support us to ensure the following: that your referral to our service is appropriate and help us to plan the support we can offer, we require the following in addition to the completed EHA:

  • For Early Years settings please complete the Early Years Area SENCO additional information form to include the child’s developmental journal levels and attendance and attach to the email.
  • For Early Years settings please attach the latest one cycle of a Assess, Plan, Do and Review (SEN support plan) as evidence of graduated response. See Key documents here Early Years Area SENCos and Inclusion Advisers Resources | Support Services for Education
  • These documents will be required in all cases from an early years setting before a referral can be considered, with the exception of a request for EY Area SENCo/Inclusion Adviser involvement in preschool entry planning for a child who has not yet started to attend an Early Years setting. In which case the evidence of the child’s needs and developmental levels can be shown through other methods, for example, a Schedule of Growing Skills (SOGS) from the child’s Health Visitor/Practitioner or confirmation of diagnosis or need from a health professional for example Paediatrician/Speech and Language Therapist, will be required.

Additional Information for Public Health, Health and Social Care professionals to include with your referral.

  • The evidence of the child’s needs and developmental levels can be shown through your professional assessments for example, a Schedule of Growing Skills (SOGS) from the child’s Health Visitor/Practitioner or confirmation of diagnosis or need from a health professional for example Paediatrician/Speech and Language Therapist, will be required.

Please ensure you have completed the following sections of the EHA as outlined below:

Section 4: We only require details of the child being referred but you may complete the whole section to provide a wider context.

Section 5: We only require the names, address and contact details of parents / carers.

Section 6: We only need to know practitioners who are directly involved with the child you are referring. You may complete the whole section to provide a wider context.

Section 9: Please use the drop-down menu to select Early Years Area SENCO and Inclusion Advisers (Early Years SEND Service).

More information about the Graduated Response can be found here

Contact Details

Email address: InclusionSENRequests@somerset.gov.uk

This means that the EHA will be received initially by Somerset Direct, who will check that the EHA is completed correctly and is accompanied by any Service specific Check Lists/Additional Information Forms/SEN Support Plans.

Somerset Direct will return the EHA to the “Referrer” if the EHA is missing mandatory information or if not accompanied by any Service specific additional documentation.

If the EHA is completed correctly and is accompanied with all relevant additional information, Somerset Direct will forward to the relevant Inclusion SEND Service for their consideration.

Please continue to access the EHA document via the website to ensure you are always using the up-to-date version.

If you need any further help, please contact Somerset Council Inclusion Advice Line on 0300 123 2224