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County Inclusion Support Service (CISS) | Community Directory

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County Inclusion Support Service (CISS)

General Details

The County Inclusion Support Service (CISS) is a Suffolk County Council outreach service for Suffolk mainstream schools seeking additional support for pupils from YR-Y11 with:

  • Communication and interaction needs
  • Social, emotional and mental health needs

around the pupil's 

  • School attendance
  • Engagement in school and learning
  • Safety

CISS works with Suffolk mainstream schools to build understanding and the capacity to manage their own effective inclusion for pupils with communication and interaction needs and/or social, emotional and mental health needs.

CISS Teachers and Inclusion Assistants, who all have significant experience in classroom practice, draw on a wide variety of skills and strategies to work flexibly and in close partnership with school staff. CISS staff take an individualised approach to pupils’ needs, modelling strategies to school staff, offering advice and guidance to ensure the best outcomes for them and working directly with the pupil, where appropriate. For pupils who have Autism/clear social communication needs, then it may be appropriate for a CISS Family Support Practitioner to support within the home environment. Currently, there is no FSP provision available for the North of the county. 

CISS has a core offer (services where there is no additional charge to schools, see below 'Local Offer') and a traded offer (services purchased by schools – more information can be found on the right hand side).

Who to contact

Name
Children and Young People Inclusive Services - SEN
Telephone
01473 264717
Email
sally.blackman@suffolk.gov.uk
Social Media
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Address
Suffolk County Council, Endeavour House
8 Russell Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
Postcode
IP1 2BX

Where to go

Area served
All Suffolk

Other details

Referral required?
Yes
Referral and availability notes

Referrals into CISS are made by schools using the Inclusion referral form, which must be signed by parents. Referral guidance can be found here

Age Groups
Children (5-11), Young people
Related links
Referral form
Last Updated
24/08/2020

Local Offer Local Offer Record

Experience of including people with special educational needs and disabilities

There are two parts to the CISS core offer, which are:

Inclusion Support Meetings

For very early intervention, CISS holds Inclusion Support Meetings every half term: an opportunity for a member of school staff to consult a CISS teacher about effective strategies to manage pupils and/or any general whole school inclusion issues. Within an Inclusion Support Meeting, a CISS teacher will be able to give advice and guidance, recommend resources, discuss tailored training under the CISS traded offer and signpost appropriately to other agencies. This is an anonymised process but, in line with good practice, CISS will expect that schools will have consulted with parents/carers prior to joining an Inclusion Support Meeting. Meetings are held via Microsoft Teams or telephone. A face-to-face consultation can be purchased, if preferred.

CISS caseload 

This forms the other part of the core offer. Where there is clear evidence that, despite 2 cycles of assess, plan, do, review, there is still cause for concern around the pupil's attendance, safety and/or engagement in school and learning, and so there is a need for more specialist support to help the pupil, then a referral can be made directly to the service from a school. If the referral is accepted, the pupil becomes 'open' to CISS.

CISS is a service that's delivered in school, but all practitioners appreciate that having parents on board is essential to any involvement. Schools only make referrals to CISS with parental consent, which is shown by a parental signature on the referral form.

If the referral is accepted, then parent/carers can expect initial meetings to be held between CISS, parents/carers and the school to help gather more information. Following this, an Inclusion Plan will then be co-produced and a review date set. Schools should send a copy of the plan to parents/carers. Schools may be in contact with CISS in between the planning meeting and the review meeting and CISS may provide additional advice and guidance. The Plan will be updated and schools should send this to parents/carers. Regular reviews are held to which parents/carers are invited, whilst the pupil is classed as 'open'. Schools should send a copy of the review and new plan, if produced, to parents/carers. When the pupil has made sufficient progress against the CISS core offer progress statements, the referral is closed. Schools may re-refer at any point, should further input be needed. Whilst 'open', input from CISS varies according to the needs of the pupil. 

 

Conditions Supported
Autistic spectrum conditions
Communication difficulties
Learning difficulties
Mental health conditions

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