What does our service do?
PLSS helps children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), their parents and carers, and staff working with them. PLSS is made up of Robson House (PPRU and Outreach) and the Camden Language and Communication Service. We provide assessments and specialist help for children with emotional, social, language, communication and mental health difficulties.
CLCS provides specialist teachers and speech and language therapists to support children with language and communication difficulties, including disorders such as specific language impairment and autism. It provides direct work with children, training to school staff, and help setting up programmes such as language groups and social skills groups. It also provides training and support to parents and carers and the wider children’s workforce.
PLSS includes Robson House PPRU (Camden’s Primary Pupil Referral Unit). This is a specialist therapeutic and educational placement for children who cannot attend mainstream school because of social, emotional and mental health needs, or who have been permanently excluded from school. Robson House provides integrated support for children and their families from a team which includes teachers, psychologists, and therapists. Robson House Outreach provides support to children and staff in Camden’s mainstream primary schools.
Where is the service located? What areas does it cover?
PLSS is based at Robson House on the Netley Campus on Stanhope Street, near Euston Station. We cover all of Camden. Our service fully accessible.
Who does our service provide for?
We provide a service to children with emotional, social, language, communication and mental health difficulties, who are of primary school age and are Camden residents or at Camden schools. We also provide support and training to staff in schools, other agencies working with these children, and to parents and carers.
How can a child or young person start using our service?
Requests for support from CLCS or from Robson House Outreach are usually made by the Head Teacher, Special Educational Needs Coordinator or Inclusion Manager in Camden schools. Requests for direct work with children by CLCS or Robson House Outreach are made via the Common Assessment Framework (CAF).
How are decisions made about eligibility for our service?
Any Camden Primary School can access support from PLSS. Places at Robson House PPRU are allocated through agreement between parents or carers, PLSS, schools, Camden’s School Inclusion Team, and SEN Panel. All our support is free to Camden schools.
How do we communicate with service users and how are they involved in decision making/planning?
All direct work with children by CLCS or Robson House Outreach is agreed with parents and carers and focused on agreed outcomes. There are regular reviews with parents, carers and staff to review progress. For children placed at Robson House, we put great emphasis on working in partnership with parents and carers. Teachers and Learning Mentors meet with parents and carers formally on a termly basis to discuss children’s progress and agree targets for the following term. In addition, we have staff whose specific role is to support parents and carers in all aspects of children’s development: our Child and Family Mentors and our Social Worker, together with our Clinical Psychologist and Child Psychotherapist, work closely with families.
What training do our staff have in supporting children and young people with SEN?
Depending on their role, our staff have a range of specialist professional qualifications (for example in teaching, educational and clinical psychology, psychotherapy, social work and speech and language therapy). All our staff access on-going professional development in fields such as education, child development, and mental health.
Who should a service user contact if they want to raise a concern or complain about something?
If a service user wishes to raise a concern or make a complaint, they should contact Darryl Jones, Head of School, Robson House, by telephone on 020 3772 0370 or by email on admin@camden-plss.camden.sch.uk
Who can a parent carer/young person contact for further information?
Darryl Jones (Head of School, Robson House). Telephone:020 3772 0370. Email: darryl.jones@camden.gov.uk