Worcestershire County Council (WCC) and Worcestershire Children First deliver services across the county for all residents. Worcestershire Children First (WCF) is a not-for-profit company, 100% owned by WCC, and it is responsible for delivering children’s services in Worcestershire.

Part of WCF is the All-Age Disability Service which includes the specialist services for children and young people aged 0-25 with SEND, many of which work with families, as well as supporting educational settings with their SEND needs.

Inclusion support services primarily deliver support to educational settings, including early years, schools and post-16 settings, but some also work directly with families. Much of the information and resources they include on their webpages is useful and available for families, as well as schools. We have listed the different specialist teams below, all of which can be found on their website: Inclusion support services.

• Autism and Complex Communication Needs Team - Specialist teachers who work with children and young people and provide support to schools
• Educational Psychologist Service - Educational Psychologists help children or young people who are experiencing difficulties with their access to learning. These difficulties may include behavioural, social or emotional needs
• Early Years Inclusion Team – the team offer support to children known to them in early years settings as part of the core (free) offer
• Hearing Impairment Team - the team provides advice and support throughout the county to schools, settings and families, regarding the educational needs of hearing-impaired children
• Learning Support Service – they work with schools and settings to help them better meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities
• Medical Education Team – the team works with schools to ensure that pupils who are unable to attend school because of their medical needs have appropriate and ongoing access to education
• Multi-Sensory Impairment team – they support deafblind and multi-sensory impaired babies, children and young people (0 to19 years), their families and carers
• Visual Impairment Team – the team supports babies, children and young people with a vision impairment, their families and carers
• In addition to these specialist services there is also a section on the website called Inclusion in Educational Settings, which also contains resources and information which families may also find useful
• Not directly employed by the Local Authority are Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCo) - A SENCo is the teacher or person who is responsible for assessing, planning and monitoring the progress of children with special educational needs in their educational setting. Speak to your school/nursery or college to find out who your SENCo is, they are also a valuable source of support and information.

There are a number of Health services and professionals who may be involved with your child. You can find out more on the SEND Health and wellbeing pages of the SEND Local Offer here: SEND Local Offer health services for children with SEND