About the Local Offer

We are a service made up of:

SEND Team

The SEND team leads on the education, Health, and Care process from start to finish. The team is made up of two SEND Team Managers, two Senior SEND Officers, 10 SEND Officers, and a SEND Tribunal Officer.

Social Care team

The social care team assists families of children with Education, Health, and Care plans and meet the thresholds for social care support. The team is made up of a Team Manager, a Senior Social worker (also a MASH lead), and four Social Workers.

Provision and Integrations team

The team provides support with assistance with travel, short breaks and domiciliary care, occupational therapy, performance data, and school finance. It is made up of:

• Service Manager
• Short Breaks Officer
• Two Occupational Therapists
• SEN Transport Contract Manager
• Travel Assistant
• Provision Officer.

Educational Psychology Service

Educational Psychologists (EPs) are trained applied psychologists registered with Health Care Professional Council (HCPC). We work with children and young people from 0-25 in partnership with young people, families, schools, practitioners and voluntary agencies. EPs offer focused support informed by sound psychological theory to bring about positive change with regard to improving learning and social and emotional mental health outcomes. Our aim is to promote and facilitate the educational, social and emotional development of children and young people.

Hospital and Home Teaching Service

HHTS provides continuity of education for compulsory school-age children (4 to 16 years old) who live in Waltham Forest and cannot access mainstream education. This includes medical reasons, becoming a parent, or having been admitted to the Acorn ward at Whipps Cross Hospital for over 15 days. The HHTS team is made up of one primary and three secondary school teachers and a higher-level Teaching Assistant.

Our vision

We want children and young people with SEND to achieve well in their early years, at school, and at college and lead happy and fulfilled lives. This supports the vision of our new Joint Health and Wellbeing Board, ‘that everyone who lives in Waltham Forest is happy, healthy, and thriving’.

We, and those we work with, have high ambitions for all our children and young people, including those with SEND. Among our partners are:

• The Waltham Forest Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
• North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT)
• Waltham Forest Parent Forum

We worked with children, young people, and parents to design our SEND vision. Together with our partners, we have developed more parent-friendly approaches to production. This has enabled a wider range of local parents to be involved in our work, helping us make a real difference in the lives of families.

• SEND vision 2020 to 2023 (PDF)
• Waltham Forest Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Strategy 2020/21 to 2022/23 (PDF)

We are currently working together on strategies for:

• Autism
• Preparing for adulthood