Swift and easy access (SEA) is underpinned by preventative work, through other elements of the core offer, and the wider curriculum. Where problems emerge, SEA ensures the early identification of, and support for, a wide range of difficulties children and young people can face.
SEA involves schools working closely with statutory agencies and the voluntary and community sector to identify children and young people with emotional, behavioural, health or other difficulties as early as possible. The school and partnering agencies can then form a ‘team around the child’, planning and delivering a package of ongoing support designed to overcome barriers to learning and enable the child or young person to achieve their full potential.
That support package could include:
- speech and language therapy
- child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)
- family support services
- intensive behaviour support
- counselling, and
- sexual health services.
Providing swift and easy access
Schools will need to work closely with the multi-agency or locality teams developed under the children’s trust arrangements to identify vulnerable children and young people and assess their needs. Increasingly these teams will be building links with schools. They may be based near or on school sites, enabling children and young people to access their services discreetly and conveniently. However, at times it will be necessary to make a referral to services outside school.
Clear communication and regular monitoring by all personnel involved in the referral process is essential. Many schools choose to identify a ‘named individual’ with specific responsibility for liaising between the pupil, their family, the school and the agencies involved.
Why provide swift and easy access?
By ensuring that barriers to learning are identified as early as possible, SEA can stop problems escalating and minimise any disruption to pupils’ learning. This kind of support is already shown to raise pupils’ levels of confidence, self-esteem and achievement, which in turn can contribute to raising standards and reducing inequalities.
Effective support through SEA can also help persuade some pupils to continue studying at school after 16.
