Cheshire East toolkit for SEND

The Cheshire East Toolkit for Special Educational Needs and Disability ( SEND ) is aimed at all educational providers and settings supporting Cheshire East children and young people aged 0-25 years.

It outlines the provision and support that Cheshire East Council expects to be in place in all educational settings which support Cheshire East children and young people with SEN, and therefore forms an important part of the Cheshire East Local Offer for SEND.

Its purpose is to provide detailed guidance on how educational settings can identify children and young people with different types and levels of need, along with information on appropriate steps and strategies to support them. It also provides clear information about when a request for an Education, Health and Care needs assessment, or specialist services, may be required.

This document is intended to assist educational settings in supporting children and young people with SEN and has been developed in co-production with local Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs), Post-16 representatives, parent/carers and a wide range of specialist education, care and health services.

Your feedback on the Cheshire East Toolkit for SEND

We want to ensure that this first version of the Cheshire East Toolkit for SEND

• Slides from November 2017 launch events for the Cheshire East Toolkit for SEND (MS Powerpoint, 9MB) 

Accessing the Cheshire East Toolkit for SEND

You can download The Cheshire East Toolkit for  SEND

• Cheshire East Toolkit for SEND (PDF, 5MB) – complete document.

This version of the Cheshire East Toolkit for SEND was last updated in September 2023.

• Changes to the SEND Toolkit September 2023 (PDF, 97KB)

Individual sections:

• Sections 1 & 2 - Foreword and Acknowledgements (PDF, 127KB)
• Sections 3, 4, 5 & 6 - Introduction, The Continuum of Need for SEN, Introducing the Graduated Approach and Principles of the Graduated Approach (PDF, 635KB)
• Section 7 – Reasonable Adjustments (PDF, 157KB)
• Section 8 - Early Identification and Census (PDF, 137KB)
• Section 9 - The Graduated Approach for Early Years (PDF, 960KB)
• Section 10 - The Graduated Approach in Schools (PDF, 1.3MB)
• Section 11 - The Graduated Approach for Post-16 (PDF, 905KB)
• Section 12 - Transition between educational settings (PDF, 255KB)
• Section 13 - An overview of SEN Funding (PDF, 291KB)
• Section 14 - Education, Health and Care Need Assessments (PDF, 183KB)
• Section 15 - SMART Targets (SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) (PDF, 412KB)
• Section 16 - Health (PDF, 182KB)
• Section 17 - Early Help and Social Care (PDF, 175KB)
• Section 18 - Glossary (PDF, 114KB)
• Appendix 1 - Roles and Responsibilities (PDF, 133KB)
• Appendix 2 - The Cheshire East Teams (PDF, 172KB)
• Appendix 3 - Useful Websites (PDF, 112KB)
• Appendix 4 - Suggested Assessments (PDF, 210KB)
• Appendix 5 - Suggested Resources (PDF, 246KB)

Associated paperwork

When a child or young person has been identified as having a certain level of need educational settings should fill in the Graduated Approach tables in the Cheshire East Toolkit. 

First concerns

• First concerns paperwork (MS Word, 195KB) - My Plan and My Diary (early years)
• Discussion form (MS Word, 55KB) - school and post-16
• First Concerns Profile (MS Word, 56KB) - school and post-16

SEN support

• SEN Support Plan – Early Years (MS Word, 128KB)
• SEN Support Plan – School (MS Word, 88KB)
• SEN Support Plan – Post-16 (MS Word, 81KB)
• SEND Provision Map - Blank template (XLS 42KB)
• SEND Provision Map - Completed example (XLS 45KB)
• Completing a costed provision map guidance - (PDF 187KB)

Complex and Specialist

Make sure that you have read and considered the information on the EHC needs assessment webpage and in the EHC needs assessment section of the Cheshire East Toolkit for SEND before making a request for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment. 

• EHC needs assessment knowledge and agreement form (MS Word, 452KB)
• EHC needs assessment one minute guide to supporting documents for educational settings (MS Word, 61KB)
• EHC needs assessment one minute guide to supporting documents for young people and parent carers (MS Word, 65KB)
• EHC Plan Blank Template (PDF, 201KB) - this is only completed as part of an EHC needs assessment process carried out by the local authority, and is not to be completed by educational settings
• Preparing for Adulthood (PfA) Transition Plan (MS Word, 545KB)

Notifications

• one minute guide to supporting documents for use with SEND Team notification guide (MS, Word 65KB) 
• SEND notification form (MS word, 63KB)
• SEND notification guidance document (PDF, 327KB)
• SEND notification flowchart (PDF, 260KB)

Page last reviewed: 17 December 2021