One minute guide: SENSAP team

What is the SENSAP team

The SENSAP team is the local authority’s Special Educational Needs Statutory Assessment and Provision team. Working towards becoming a child-friendly city, SENSAP’s aim is to enable children and young people with complex Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to access the right educational support and provision and to achieve their life aspirations.

What the SENSAP team does

The SENSAP team has a number of functions including:

Creating Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)

In partnership with others working with the child or young person across education, health and care. SEN casework officers use information and advice from the child or young person, their parents and the practitioners and agencies working with them to undertake an EHC assessment and, in most cases, to write an EHC plan. They work towards creating SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) outcomes that enable the child or young person to make progress and, later on, to be well prepared for adulthood. All children and young people who have EHCPs are supported by SEN casework officers.

Overseeing nursery, school and post 16 provision and admissions

For children and young people who have an EHCP, in both mainstream and specialist settings.

Monitoring and quality assuring special educational provision within educational settings

Monitoring and quality assurance officers provide nurseries, schools and post 16 settings with support and challenge around SEND. They provide training, conduct SEN audits, monitor students’ progress and help to ensure that settings are working in ways which are consistent with their statutory duties, and which continue to develop best practice in SEN.

Managing the delegation of funds to educational settings

The team have SEN funding coordinators to manage this.

More about the team

The SENSAP team is a forward-thinking, creative and passionate team. The team's focus whilst meeting its statutory functions is on engaging children, young people and families in key decision making regarding their SEND provision; and enabling children and young people to reach positive and aspirational life outcomes.

The team also offer bespoke training packages and briefings aimed at supporting practitioners, senior leaders and school governors in schools and settings with this often complex area of work, including support to understand the EHCP process.

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