The LSM role is facilitated by working closely with others (staff within settings and external agencies) and linking up with other LSMs.
Locality partnerships provide opportunities for communities of good practice to develop, where expertise and experience can be shared across multiple settings. Bury SENCO Networks (half-termly) provide a valuable opportunity to connect with other LSMs and school SENCOs to share good practice, seek peer support and receive key updates from external agencies. Bury LSMs described following benefits of their locality SENCO Network Meetings:
“…Being able to share good practice and keep up to date with new initiatives and training. It is also great for the dissemination of information from different teams.”
“…each session had an impact and I always was able to take something useful and practical away.”
LSM s have a key role in coordinating support and input from external agencies. Good LSMs value maintaining links and regular contact with key professionals to help inform and shape provision at all levels. It is helpful for link professionals around a setting to be shared with staff and parents/carers, and for robust and effective information-sharing processes to be established (including strategies such as One Page Profiles).
Experienced LSMs highlight the importance of sharing information with all staff regarding the role and remit of different agencies to support them to make appropriate referrals.
There is a range of services within Bury’s local area partnership providing support settings to meet the needs of young people with a wide range of SEND. These can be found in the introduction to the Toolkit.
As part of a graduated approach, it may be decided that specialist advice is required to meet the needs of young people, for example, Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT), Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (Bury CAMHS), Educational Psychology Service (EPS), Occupational Therapy (OT) and/or Physiotherapy.
Further information about these teams and how to access them is available on the Local Offer Bury SEND Local Offer.
A jargon-buster document has been created, which explains key terms and job roles in relation to SEND and can be printed and shared with parents/carers and young people. The Best Practice guidance within the Parent/Carer and Children and Young People areas of the website are also helpful to signpost to.