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Pupil Premium Plus Policy 2025/26

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Guidance document offering support pathways and example target setting to help raise attendance outcomes

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 Social worker suspensions and exclusions guidance

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Social Worker role in suspensions and exclusion process

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12152.008_ Social worker exclusions Virtual team Kirstie V3

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Link to Education Welfare Service and pathway options

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Engage with the Education Welfare Service

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In line with the new Government guidance 'Working Together To Improve School Attendance' which became statutory guidance from the 19th August 2024 we must offer four core functions free of charge to

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Exclusion Pathway for Children with a Social Worker

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Exclusion Pathway for schools for Children with a Social Worker

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ePEP FAQs

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New statutory guidance - Working together to improve school attendance

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Table of responsibilities - including CSC role

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Parents guide and responsibilities

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MOU needs completing when applying for a school place for a CfC in Rochdale

Please ensure the VS are notified of any school moves

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In year school transfer process

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How to apply for a school place (in-year) – Rochdale Borough Council

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How to apply for a school place (in-year) Find out how to transfer your child to a new school during the school year.

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Applying for a school place for a child with an EHCP

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About school places for children with special educational needs

Follow this 4 step process to apply for a school place for a child with an education, health and care (EHC) plan.

If your child does not have an EHC plan, view the process for applying for a school place.

Why is the process different for children with EHC plans?

To make sure the special educational needs of your child can be provided for, we'll work with you to make a decision together on the best school to support your child. ​

You can still choose a preferred school. But before offering you a place at the school of your choice, we'll check the school has the facilities and support available to help your child succeed.

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School places for children with special educational needs - Rochdale Borough Council

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About school places for children with special educational needs. School places for children with special educational needs. Follow the 4 step process to apply f

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Guidance on Educational Health Care Plans

For further support contact:

SEN@rochdale.gov.uk

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Our Rochdale | Education, health & care assessment and plans

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A parent/carer or education setting are able to request an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment for a child/young person with special educational needs, when it is clear that the provision required is above the level generally provided for others of a similar age…

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EP Psychologically Safe School toolkit

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Rochdale Local Offer

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Our Rochdale | I work with children and young people

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Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Here you will find all our local offer advice pages which are aimed at practitioners supporting children and young people with SEND.

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Rochdale Additional Needs service

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About

RANS helps children and young people with additional needs to develop the skills to become independent and active members in school and their community.

We work closely with children and young people, families, settings/schools and other agencies. We provide advice, assessment, support, teaching and training as appropriate to need.

What we do

We are a specialist team for children with:

Physical disabilities and/or assistive technology needs (school age)

A hearing impairment (0 to 19 years)

A visual impairment (0 to 19 years)

A developmental speech and/or language disorder (3 to 7 years)

Social communication and social interaction difficulties, including ASD (school age)

Our specialist staff cover the following additional needs:

Physical disabilities

Visual impairment

Hearing impairment

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)

Social communication and interaction difficulties (including autism spectrum conditions)

The service helps children to develop the skills to become independent and active members in school and their community. We work closely with children, families, settings/schools and other agencies, providing specialist advice, training, teaching and assessment where appropriate.

The level of support your child receives will depend on their level of need. Referrals are made by settings/schools and professionals.

How to refer to the service

Referrals can be made by settings, schools and professionals - see individual team pages for more information.

Who to contact

Contact Position

RANS Leadership Team

Telephone

01706 926400 01706 926400

E-mail

rans/epsadmin@rochdale.gov.uk

Where to go

Name

Number One Riverside

Address

Floor 4
Smith Street
Rochdale

Postcode

OL16 1XU
View OL16 1XU on a map Get directions to OL16 1XU

Related Links

Links (open in new window)

Local Offer

Local Offer Age Bands

0-4 (Birth to Pre-School)
4-10 (Primary School)
11-16 (Secondary School)
16-18 (Transitions into Adulthood)

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Our Rochdale | Rochdale Additional Needs Service (RANS)

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RANS helps children and young people with additional needs to develop the skills to become independent and active members in school and their community. We work closely with children and young people, families, settings/schools and other agencies. We provide advice, assessment, support, teaching and training as appropriate to need.

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Additional PP+ funding request form to be sent to school

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Special additional PP+ funding request form 2024 (002)

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Raising Rochdale on a page

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Raising Rochdale Strategy

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Book in time for ePEP support.

If you need support with completing the form please get in touch.

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Book in time to discuss education concerns for C/YP open to CIN or CP

The meeting slots are 20 minutes long. Please provide some background information ahead of the meeting so that I can signpost to further support if needed.

- Who is the young person you would like to discuss?

- What are the concerns?

- Are there currently any other agencies supporting the young person?

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Bank of SMART targets to support with ePEP target setting

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Voice of the child resources to be used as part of the ePEP

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Please download your own copy to use so it doesn't overwrite the formulas

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On this page, you'll find the Children in Care: Guide for School Governors, created by Become and 9000 Lives.

* A note on terminology: We use the term 'children in care' (or CIC for short). However, these same pupils are sometimes described as Looked after Children (LAC) or Children Looked After (CLA). Whichever term you use, this is the right page for you.

What is the Children in Care: Guide for School Governors?

It's a short handbook that tells you what you need to know about CIC. It explains the basics quickly and clearly, as well as giving sensible questions for governors to ask.

Full of the latest knowledge from a both national charity and local school perspectives, it is applies to early years classes up to Year 13.

The guide is for all school types and is recommended by the Department for Education in their Academy School Governance Guide and Maintained Schools Governance Guide.

Whilst it is perfect for governors, expert feedback told us that it's also great for:

school leaders

teachers

support staff

others who work to support our pupils

Download the guide now.

What isn't in the guide?

Lots of jargon. But when it does have jargon, it is simply explained.

One thing that gets in the way of your knowledge of the care system is information that's cluttered with specialist terms or legal jargon. The guide gives direct and straightforward information: Key facts without jibber-jabber.

Who wrote it?

It was written by Aaron King & Become.

Aaron has spent around 20 years on governing bodies and even longer working with vulnerable children and families in schools - especially those with SEND.

Become are the national charity for children in care & care leavers. Since 1992, Become have been working hard to:

Provide advice and support

Help guide the lives of CIC & care leavers

Influence policy

Train professionals who work with CIC.

Become practice what they preach (that we should have no limits on what can be achieved by our CIC). For example, 50% of their trustees have first-hand experience of care. Check out their website becomecharity.org.uk.

We asked carers, staff, care experienced people and governors for feedback and listened to their feedback to make the booklet even better. Thanks to all those who gave opinions, especially Tracy, Sarah, Jill and Amy.

Why did we write this CIC guide?

School governors sometimes take on extra duties called link governors. There was a new link governor at one school and we wanted to help them with their link governor role for Children in Care.

We couldn't find what we needed to get them off to a flying start. So we rolled up our sleeves and wrote it.

We now hope the Children In Care: Guide for Governors helps you (or colleagues) to improve the lives of your CIC.

Download the guide now.

Are Schools required to have a CIC Link Governor?

No. However, CIC are often part of the Safeguarding Governor role (and the DfE guidance ( KCSIE, 2025) says that your school must have one of those).

Typically, it makes sense to combine the two roles.

Whether it is part of the safeguarding governor role or a stand-alone link governor, this governor is an important ally to CIC. They help to ensure that there is accountability for our CIC, as well as support and challenge for the designated teacher.

What if our school has no CIC (or previously CIC)?

If you have no CIC (or Previously CIC), do not ask a volunteer to be CIC Link Governor. When we give roles that have no tangible benefit to current pupils, the volunteer is more likely to quit.

Instead, include oversight of CIC in the safeguarding link governor role. That's because, even with no CIC, governors should still check that school has anticipated CIC. The three questions that governor should ask are:

1. Have we a designated teacher (DT) and have they been on training for the DT role?

2. If a pupil entered the care system next Monday, What actions would our DT need to take?

3. If a carer applied for a CIC to join our school, how well prepared are we to support that pupil (and their carers) from day one?

Call to action!

Download the guide now.

Read it and share it with everyone who you think will benefit.

Let's help our CIC to reach for the stars.

Where can I get more info?

Most local councils have a Virtual School webpage. You can find these via Google.

More excellent guidance for governors and school leaders

Image credits (title): Unsplash

Need help with inclusion in your council, trust or school?

Keep up to date with inclusion from 9000 Lives

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Children in Care: The Guide for School Governors

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The expert guide for school governors to help them fulfil their duties to Children in Care (also known as Looked after Children or LAC).

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Virtual School Annual report 2024-25 March 26

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Please use this link to access the ePEP portal!

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Please use this link to access the ePEP portal!

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Intermittent downtime on Wednesday 22nd October between 00:01-02:00,apologies for any inconvenience

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Building a love of literacy and numeracy_for parents_carers

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Greater Manchester Tips for Sharing Books

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Children's Advocacy IV referral form (Rochdale)

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Virtual School recommended reading list for cared for children and vulnerable cohorts 2026

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Virtual School Recommended Reading List for Cared for children and Vulnerable cohorts

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EET Opportinites for Care Experienced Young People infographic

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Leading a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing flyer

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Supporting Families with Sleep Challanges 26 27

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About AV1 robots

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AV1 includes the telepresence robots, AV1 App, and Admin portal which work together to improve access to school and education.

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Capturing the voice of the child training video

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Capturing the voice of the child training video

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Capturing SEND information training video

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Capturing SEND information training video

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Capturing SEN information effectively in the ePEP process

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Looking to the future - presentation slides

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Looking to the future - presentation slides

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Looking to the future ePEP training presentation slides

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SMART Target setting ePEP training presentation slides

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SDQ scores and interventions - presentation slides

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SDQ scores and interventions - presentation slides

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SDQ and interventions ePEP training slides

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Capturing the voice of the child- presentation slides

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Capturing the voice of the child- presentation slides

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Capturing the voice of CfC in the ePEP training slides

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Effective recording of SEN information in the ePEP training slides

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Life Story Work Manual for all professionals involved in delivering LSW with children/young people

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Life Story Work Training

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Guidance for social workers, parents, carers and other supporting professionals