SEND Advice
If your child or young person has special educational needs, RUILS’ independent SEND Advice Service offers free, impartial advice, support and advocacy. Our aim is to help you to understand and to apply your rights, and to secure the educational provision your child needs.
- We can help with all areas of education: SEN Support, EHCPs - how to apply, how to manage the assessment process, placements, what to do if things go wrong, how to get the most out of Annual Reviews.
- We will do our best to help resolve any other issues you may have and can also signpost to other useful voluntary and professional organisations locally and nationally.
- We can support you at school and local authority meetings, help draft emails and review documents, and advocate on your behalf in mediation sessions.
We do not currently offer support with appeals to the First Tier Tribunal, and we are not a school finding service; but we will guide you to resources and contacts who can help.
Alex Hardy has been working in SEND with families in Richmond since 2014 and has personal experience of the emotional and administrational journeys and battles involved. Yolanda Bryant joined the team in 2022 as a SEND advisor and works alongside Alex to help meet the needs of parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Demand is high: please complete this referral form and return it to alexhardy@ruils.co.uk .
**Please note that this service will be running at reduced capacity over the next few weeks due to staff illness - we will be in touch as soon as we can**
To read about other children's services at Ruils, visit our pages on Family Matters (for family support), FriendBee SEND Befriending and Bright Futures (SEND Transitions).
"Alex has provided support and advice that have helped us to achieve a really positive outcome from the EHCP process. I was very unsure and nervous about the process, and he really helped to guide us through and give us an insight into how it all worked. Thank you!’
Ruils is a Registered Charity • Charity no: 1127896