St Helens YJS identifies the additional needs of children that are serving custodial sentences. With the introduction of Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans it is important that these follow the child through the journey in and out of custody via a ‘Passport’ model.
Every child with a special educational need that requires additional provision over and above the mainstream offer, and where the LA has carried out an assessment of need and agreed to fund additional support, will have an EHC Plan. In addition, these children have allocated SEND Case Workers from the LA. At the point of a child receiving a DTO or s90/s91, the Case Manager must alert the relevant SEND Case Worker (01744 67 3384) and the Head or single point of contact (SPOC) within the educational establishment in the community.
The Case Manager will be required to liaise with the allocated SEND Case Worker and SPOC to ensure that communication is established with the education lead at the secure estate. The SEND Case Worker will be required to share the EHC Plan and any other specific information (i.e. educational history, attainments, behaviour, attendance, punctuality) within the secure estate. The secure estate will be required to keep the network up-to-date so that any new information (i.e. qualifications obtained whilst in custody) follows the child back into the community.
Where a child has an EHCP, the LA should use this to actively monitor their progress towards the fulfilment of their learning potential and progress towards other long term outcomes.
Where a detained child is in custody within a year of the last review of their EHCP, the LA should conduct a monitoring meeting and continue to do so, as a minimum, every 12 months.
The monitoring meeting should consider the special educational and health provision arranged for the child and the appropriateness of the provision described in the plan in light of any progress/changes in circumstances. The secure estate should convene the monitoring meetings, (Further guidance can be found in Chapter 9, SEND Code of Practice).
On release, the LA must review the EHCP and if the special educational provision specified in the plan is no longer appropriate, this should also trigger a re-assessment of the child’s needs.
It should be noted that if a child is in custody and doesn't have an EHCP, they can be 'brought to the attention' of the LA for an assessment of their post-detention needs, (this would be done through the usual process).
When a parent/carer has appealed a decision around an EHC Plan then the YJS must liaise with the Secure Estate to facilitate a mediation session with the relevant parties.
The purpose of the Local Offer is to enable parents and young people to see more clearly what services are available for children with special educational needs and disabilities in their area, and how to access them.
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