The Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIAS) provides free, confidential, impartial information, advice and support on all matters relating to special educational needs and disability for children and young people aged 0 to 25 and their parents/carers.

The Bucks SENDIAS Service has a range of information available. If necessary they can be contacted via their clickable contact form.

SENDIAS also offer live web chat during school term time:

• Mondays 1pm to 3pm
• Fridays 10am to 12pm

The live chat will be available by clicking the red button on their webpages during the times stated above.

Short for integrated special educational needs and disabilities service.

The SEND service supports children and young people who already have an Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan or those referred for an EHC Needs Assessment.

The iSEND team can be contacted via email:

• General enquiries ehcenquiries@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
• Annual review EHC coordinators ehcreviews@buckinghamghamshire.gov.uk
• EHC needs assessments ehcassessments@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

If your child has an Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan, their school will have a dedicated EHC coordinator to contact.

Your EHC coordinator will give you advice, update you on your child, and advise on general special educational needs (SEN) issues.

View EHC coordinators

Some children and young people have special educational needs called "Social, Emotional, and Mental Health" (SEMH) needs. They may have different social and emotional difficulties. For example, they might feel alone or act out in challenging ways. They may have trouble expressing and managing their emotions, making friends, or there may be concerns about their mental health.

Support in Schools and Colleges

All mainstream schools and colleges should help children and young people with SEMH needs.

Health Teams

There are health teams that help children and young people with SEMH needs. These include:

• CAMHS
• NHS therapies team
• Buckinghamshire Primary Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) training and outreach services

Educational Settings

Some schools and units help pupils with severe SEMH needs. These are:

• units at Juniper Hill School and Kingsbrook Secondary School
• Chiltern Way Academy, primary and secondary schools
• Aspire Secondary Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) - Aylesbury Vale, Chesham, Wycombe, and the Chiltern Skills and Enterprise Centre
• Buckinghamshire Primary Pupil Referral Units (PRUs)

The Virtual School is a small, joint agency, countywide team of specialist staff from education and social care. It was set up in 2001 to improve the educational achievement and experience of Buckinghamshire’s children in care.

The Virtual School has an extended duty to all children known to social care since September 2021. This is a strategic role developing partnership working. It supports improved outcomes for children with social workers.

• email: thevirtualschool@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
• phone: 01296 387 047

If you're concerned about a child in Buckinghamshire, contact the Mash First Response Team.

The team will listen to your concerns and decide on the appropriate action. Reporting a concern online is the quickest way to inform the First Response Team about your concerns.

If anyone is in immediate danger, always call 999.

Report a concern online or by phone or email:

• call the First Response Team on 01296 383 962 between 9am to 5:30pm Monday to Thursday and 9am to 5pm on Friday
• Outside of the above hours contact the Emergency Social Work Team (ESWT) on 0800 999 7677
• email secure-cypfirstresponse@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
• Online

If you can't find what you're looking for or simply want to chat.

• email familyinfo@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
• phone 01296 383 293
• online contact form

The Parent’s Portal by Autism Early Support is a new digital platform for parents/carers.

As part of the council's universal offer to families, the Parent’s Portal by Autism Early Support (AES) was commissioned to provide free online support and guidance services for Buckinghamshire families, and professionals.

The parent's portal has been designed and created by AES who are a long-established local charity that specialises in early help and autism education.

Go to the Parent’s Portal by Autism Early Support

1. To make a simple search, type what you're looking for into the 'Search' box. Enter your town or postcode in the 'Where' box to find things that are close to you. Use simple words and phrases to get the best results.
2. To narrow your search, click one of the 5 circles. When you select a circle – for example, 'Things to do' – a menu called 'Categories' will appear.
3. When you click 'Categories', you will see a series of tick boxes that can be used to narrow your search further. The tick boxes you will see in 'Categories' change depending on which circle you have selected.
4. If you click on 'SEND needs', you will see more tick boxes that allow you to narrow your search even more.
5. Click on 'Ages' to reveal two text boxes, into which you can type a minimum and maximum age to refine your results.
6. If you click 'Only show', you can choose to only see activities, events and so on that are free of charge.