Therapy, nursing and personal care in colleges
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Since the Children and Families Act (2014) was introduced, many more young people with complex needs have chosen to go to college and to study for longer. To help their new learners, who have learning difficulties as well as extra health and care needs, colleges have been changing the support they have available.
The Local Authority provides funding to colleges for every learner resident in the borough who attends. Learners with an Education, Health and Care Plan receive both the standard core funding, and additional funding, called ‘top-up funding’, to meet the costs of special educational provision detailed in the plan. This often includes therapy, nursing or personal care.
How colleges use thier funding to meet the needs of young people studying at college is called the core college offer. This can vary from college to college.
Our "Therapy, Nursing and Personal Care in Colleges" document summarises the different types of core offer, and how needs are met across all our local colleges.
For a YP who is receiving specialist dysphagia Speech & Language Therapy they will continue to receive support from Central London Community Healthcare Children's Speech & Language Therapy Dysphagia team until 18, upon their 18th birthday they will be transferred to the Speech & Language Therapy service within the Local Learning Disability team.
For a Young Person who is receiving Speech & Language Therapy as part of their Education Health Care Plan if they are moving settings after Year 11 they will receive:
- Liaison from their secondary setting Speech & Language Therapy service to an appropriate staff member (i.e. SENCO or similar role) in the SEN department in their new setting. This is likely to be a discussion with staff in their new setting, provision of strategies specific to the needs of the young person, and / or a SLT visit to their new setting. Both Central London Community Healthcare Speech & Language Therapy and Marylebone Bridge School provide this provision.
- In college we expect these YP to be supported by an environment and staff that are capable of meeting speech, language and communication needs. This will be put in place by the FE setting following advice supplied by therapy team. The transition support is to ensure that support is consistent when a young person transitions.
For a Young Person who is receiving Speech & Language Therapy as part of their Education Health Care Plan if they are moving from a special school setting at the age of 18 /19 they will receive:
- Liaison from a special school setting Speech & Language Therapy to a member of the Adults with Learning Disability SLT team and the SEN team within their new setting including college.
- Where further Speech & Language Therapy or SLCN support is required this will be provided by the Adult LD Speech & Language Therapy team or the SEN team within their new setting depending on needs.