Children with additional needs
Information and local support for children with complex health needs or disabilities.
Children with additional needs have a potentially disabling condition or severe chronic illness or have special educational needs (SEN).
This includes children with physical and sensory impairments, learning disabilities and autism, and those who have life-limiting and life-threatening conditions.
There are a wide range of services for children with additional needs and places where you can go for help and advice:
- Bristol Family Information Service Childcare Search – Search for a range of childcare providers and settings in Bristol
- Bristol Local Offer – a comprehensive website of information and services for Bristol’s parents and carers and their disabled children and young people
- Bristol Parent Carers – a support group for parents of children with disabilities and special needs, working in partnership with public authorities to shape services
- South Gloucestershire Information, Advice and Guidance – a source of information, advice and guidance for people living in South Gloucestershire
- South Gloucestershire Local Offer – a comprehensive website of information and services for South Gloucestershire’s parents and carers and their disabled children and young people
- South Glos Parent Carers – a supportive community of parents and carers who work in partnership with public authorities to improve services and support children, young people with additional needs and their families.
We are working with local councils to develop local help and support available for children and young people with special educational needs or a disability across our area.
Council Local Offers
Local Offers are created by councils. They set out in one place information about provision we expect to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people who have special education needs or are disabled. This includes those who do not have education, health and care plans.
- Bristol City Council’s Local Offer
- North Somerset Council’s Local Offer
- South Gloucestershire Council’s Local Offer
We are working with South Gloucestershire Council, along with South Glos Parents & Carers, to improve the SEND Local Offer in the area following feedback from families. In September 2019 we launched a brand new SEND Local Offer as part of the new South Gloucestershire website called ‘Find information for adults, children and families’. You can visit the South Gloucestershire SEND Local Offer and the Local Offer annual reports page to find out more about the feedback we received and how we have acted on this.
You can also read about the New SEND Shared Outcome Themes Framework for South Gloucestershire, which has been developed to help capture the long term outcomes that children and young people with SEND and their families want to achieve.
Children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions
Specialist advice and support for children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions is available from: