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.
Why does the SENSAP Team do
The SENSAP team has a number of functions including:
- Creating Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) - 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 outcomes that enable the child or young person to make progress and, later on, to become well prepared for adulthood. The team also oversee nursery, school and post 16 provision and admissions for children and young people who have an EHCP, in both mainstream and specialist settings
- Assessment and Review Officers (AROs) - they sit within the Annual Review Hub in SENSAP - AROs make decisions in regards to amending EHCPs via a weekly panel and then process these accordingly. All children and young people who have EHCPs will be supported by SEN Casework Officers and Assessment and Review Officers
- Monitoring and quality assuring special educational provision within educational settings - providing 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 both with their statutory duties and which continue to develop best practice in SEN
- Managing the delegation of funds to educational settings — the team also have Funding for Inclusion (FFI) coordinators who oversee the delegation of FFI to educational settings. This includes EYFFI to Early Years settings and Additional Learning Support (ALS) to post-16 settings. All settings have links to an FFI Co-ordinator who oversees their funding arrangements
More about the team
The SENSAP team is a forward-thinking, creative and passionate team who has received national acclaim for its innovative ways of delegating funding and for the implementation of the EHC processes.
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.
In addition the team offer a range of bespoke training packages and briefings aimed at supporting practitioners, senior leaders and school governors in schools and settings with this often complex and developing area of work including support to understand the EHCP process.
Key contacts and for more information
For general enquiries and more information about EHCPs, monitoring and quality assurance, you can contact by email at:
sensap@leeds.gov.uk or by phone on: 0113 376 0062.
For general and specific enquiries regarding Funding for Inclusion, Additional Learning Support and any other matters relating to SEND funding, you can email:
ffi@leeds.gov.uk.
