Who we are

SENDIASS, stands for Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service. The Sendias Bathnes Service offers information, advice and support for children and young people aged 0-25 with SEND and their parents and carers.

What we do

Sendias Bathnes offer free, impartial and confidential information, advice, and support to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their parents and carers living in Bath and North East Somerset.

We offer advice around education and heath and social care as it relates to education. We provide useful resources, advice and support to make sure you know what you are entitled to.  We also offer training for parents and carers to enable you to make informed decisions.

We are trained in SEN law and policy but we are not legal or financial advisors. If you have legal or financial concerns, we will direct you to an appropriate service or organisation who can help you.

We offer advice and support by phone, email or face to face. We may be able to attend meetings, mediation and Tribunals with you. Our aim is to empower you, to ensure that your voice is heard and enable you to make informed choices. We talk to children, young people and parents and carers directly. We will only speak to professionals with your permission except in exceptional circumstances for example if there is a safeguarding concern.

We will always do our best to give advice that is current and accurate. If there's something we can't answer, we will try to signpost you to relevant sources of information.

Our team

Our team is made up of the following people:

Manager 

Our manager has overall responsibility for the service we provide, how it runs day to day, and how it complies with the National Minimum Standards.

Admin and Enquiry Officer 

Our Admin and Enquiry Officers are the first point of contact for phone calls, emails, texts and web queries and they forward enquiries to the Information and Advice Officers, always making sure your queries reach the right place. They  provide a full range of admin support for the whole team. They also look after our social media campaigns and collect customer feedback so we can make sure the service works for you.

Information and Advice (I&A) Officers 

Our I&A Officers provide information, advice, and support for children, young people and their families so they can make informed choices about education, training and employment.

They support children and young people to have their voices heard.

The service we offer is confidential. It can be accessed by email, phone or face to face. We offer help with all SEND issues, from earliest concerns through to complex legal processes including EHCPs, tribunals and complaints.

I&A Officers can help families understand and navigate SEND and the processes and procedures. They also work with children.

Volunteer Coordinator 

Our Volunteer Coordinator recruits, trains and supports our team of Volunteer Supporters and Parent Champions. 

Volunteers

Our volunteers help us as Volunteer Supporters, Parent Champions. Volunteers or for Work Experience. If you'd like to volunteer with us, please view our volunteers page for more information.