BROMLEY SEND LOCAL OFFER
Understanding your child's needs
Every child is unique, and some may need extra help to thrive in their learning and development. In Bromley, we recognise and support children and young people with a wide range of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This page is here to help you understand the different types of needs and how support is organised across our borough.
What are the main areas of need?
Bromley follows the national SEND Code of Practice, which groups needs into four broad areas. These help schools, professionals, and families work together to identify the right support. Many children and young people will have needs in more than one area, and support is always based on individual strengths and needs.
- Communication and Interaction
Children and young people may:
- Struggle with speaking or understanding language
- Find social interaction challenging
- Have autism
Learn more about social and communication needs.
- Cognition and Learning
This area covers a range of learning difficulties, including:
- Moderate, severe, or profound learning difficulties
- Specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, dyscalculia, or dyspraxia
Explore support for dyslexia, dyscalculia, or dyspraxia.
- Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)
Children and young people may experience:
- Anxiety, low mood, or other mental health challenges
- Behaviour that reflects underlying emotional or mental health needs
- Attention and self-regulation difficulties, such as those associated with ADHD
- Sensory and/or Physical Needs
This includes children and young people with:
- Vision or hearing impairments
- Physical disabilities
- Multi-sensory impairments
Support might include mobility aids, adapted learning environments, or specialist equipment to help them access education.
Support across Bromley
Whether your child is in their early years, at school, or preparing for adulthood, Bromley offers a wide range of support to help children and young people with SEND thrive.
Support is available across education, health and social care, and many services can be accessed without a diagnosis or an education, health and care plan (often referred to as an EHCP).
Education support
Children and young people can receive help through:
- Early Years SEND support, including from early years settings and specialist early years services. Find out more about Early Year services that can help.
- SEN support in mainstream schools, using the Graduated Approach to assess, plan, do and review support. Find out more about the Graduated Approach.
- SEND Outreach Teams, who provide specialist advice and strategies to schools. Find out more about the SEND Outreach Teams.
- Education, health and care plans for children with more complex needs. Find out more about education, health and care plans (EHCP).
Health support
Health services support children and young people with SEND by focusing on physical health, communication, emotional wellbeing and development. Children with SEND may also receive support through health services, including:
- Health visitors and family nurse partnership (ages 0 to 4).
Visit Bromley Healthcare 0 to 4 years. - School nursing teams (aged 5 to 19).
Visit Bromley Healthcare 5 to 10 years. - GP referrals to community paediatrics.
Find your GP. - Speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. Find out more. [Link:
- Mental health and emotional wellbeing services, including CAMHS where appropriate.
Find out more about Bromley Y.
Visit our Health services and wellbeing pages for more information.
Social Care and Family Support
Social care support is available for some children and families where additional help is needed at home or in the community. Families may be supported through:
- Children and Family Centres and early help services.
Find out more about Children and Family Centres in Bromley. - Support from the Children with Disabilities Service.
Find out more about the Children’s Disability Service. - Short breaks and respite services.
Find out more about short breaks. - Advice and support for family wellbeing and caring roles.
Find out about the Early Intervention and Family Support (EFIS) Service. - Support with preparing for adulthood and transition to adult services.
Find out more about preparing for adulthood.
We work with families and the people who support them to make sure children and young people get the right help at the right time, based on what matters most to them.
Further information and support
Finding the right support can feel overwhelming. Bromley’s SEND Local Offer brings information together in one place to help you understand what is available and how to access it.
Here are some helpful links:
Bromley SEND Local Offer Main Page
Your starting point for information about SEND services and support in Bromley.
SEND Services Directory
Find local services, organisations and community support for children, young people and families.
SEND Key Contacts
Get in touch with Bromley’s SEND teams for advice and guidance.
Email us: localoffer@bromley.gov.uk
We welcome questions, feedback and suggestions about the Bromley SEND Local Offer.
Areas of need
We’re continuing to add more areas of need to help support you and your child.
If there’s something you’d like to see included, we’d really love to hear from you.
You can share your suggestions via our feedback form or by email.