Early years forums

The early years forum is a monthly multi-agency meeting that monitors whether the right services are involved to support your pre-school child. The people at the meeting represent the services that may help your child, including:

Education health and care assessment and planning service
Specialist health visitors
Early years area special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs)
Community paediatricians
Educational psychologists
Local support team members
Speech and language therapists
Physiotherapists
Child development social workers
Specialist teachers

The people at the meeting may not personally know your child, but will have reports and information from colleagues who do. They will make suggestions to ensure that each child has the best possible start to learning. The forum can refer to some teams, such as educational psychologists, and allocate additional funding to the setting.

More information on SEND funding available to support children at private, voluntary and independent early year settings, including the SEND Inclusion Fund.

Combined Early Years online Referral Form - October 2023

Information for parents and carers

SEND funding for settings

Who can use the service?

Pre-school children who are believed to have special educational needs or disabilities.

There are four early years forums covering the whole of Staffordshire.

Are there any costs?

No.

How can I refer?

Children will be referred to the forum when:

Their progress is causing concern in one or more areas of development
They may need extra help or assessment before starting school.

Referrals can be made using the combined Early years forums - Staffordshire County Council

What happens after referral?

The information on your child will be discussed at the next available Early Years Forum meeting (usually within one month). They will consider your child’s needs and the help currently provided, based on your opinions and the opinions of the staff working with him/her.

The forum may decide that your child’s needs are currently being met, or that another service may be able to offer help. The setting may request additional funding to meet your child’s needs.

In some cases the forum may decide that it needs more information before it can make any suggestions, in which case your child will be discussed at the next forum. The forum will identify a parental contact. This person will usually be someone already known to you who will contact you as soon as possible (usually within one week) to discuss the suggestions made. They will explain what is being suggested, and put the recommendations into place if you are happy.

Once your child has been discussed at the forum meeting, their progress will be reviewed regularly, usually within 6 months. You will be asked for your views before each review. Your parental contact will keep you informed of the suggestions made at each forum.

Who will we see?

The forum’s role is to monitor that the right support is in place for your child.

The ongoing support that your child needs will be through the team working with your child and family, such as the nursery staff or speech and language therapist.

The forum monitors that this support is meeting your needs. We discuss many children at each forum so it is not possible to have parents at the meetings. However your views about what you feel should happen is important and you should be sharing this with the team working with you and the forum.

How do I find out more?

Please see our information for parents and carers on the Early Years Forum.

Early Years forum - funding meeting dates

11 October 2023 (Deadline - 27 September 2023)

6 December 2023 (Deadline - 22 November 2023)

24 January 2024 (Deadline - 10 January 2024)

6 March 2024 (Deadline - 21 February 2024)

8 May 2024 (Deadline - 24 April 2024)

3 July 2024 (Deadline - 19 June 2024)

Jargon Buster

Early Years Forum Jargon Buster. A printable version can be found in our download section to the right of the page.

Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you, or if you have a complaint about privacy or misuse of data.

Chair of the Early Years Forum: Emma Dodd

Staffordshire County Council
Ground Floor - Staffordshire Place 2
Stafford
ST16 2LP

Email: Emma.dodd@staffordshire.gov.uk

Telephone: 01785 356863

Information for parents and carers - questions and concerns

If you have any concerns or queries about the forum, or specific concerns about your child, please discuss them with any of the professionals who work with your child.

If you have any further concerns after this, please refer concerns to:

Miss Emma Dodd, Specialist Senior Educational Psychologist
2 Staffordshire Place
Tipping Street
Stafford
ST16 2DH

Phone: 01785 356863

Email: emma.dodd@staffordshire.gov.uk

We look forward to working successfully with you and will do our best to support you and your child.

Family Hub Managers