Vision support

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What is a vision impairment?
About the team
Making a request for involvement
Useful links
Compliments, comments and complaints

What is a vision impairment?

There are a wide range of vision impairments. They range from severe sight impairment (blind) to sight impairment (partially sighted).

A visual impairment:

is diagnosed by an Ophthalmologist
will affect each individual differently
can affect near vision, distance vision or visual fields
can range from severe sight impairment (SSI) to sight impairment (SI)

The implications of vision loss are different for everyone.

A wide range of strategies may be needed to enable our children and young people to have equal access to the educational and broader curriculum.

Information about specific vision impairments is available at:

About the team

Who we are

We are a specialist team comprising of;

Advisory Teachers of the Vision Impaired
Qualified Paediatric Habilitation Specialists
Sensory Support Service teaching assistants

All teachers are excellent classroom practitioners who have:

At least two years teaching experience before they join us.
A mandatory qualification in teaching learners with vision impairment, or the qualification is undertaken with us.
Mentors when they are new to the team.

They work with a wide range of children and young people who have varying levels of vision impairment.

All staff in the Sensory Support Service update their skills regularly. There is a varied programme of Continued Professional Development (CPD) in place.

We work with

children and young people (0-25 years) with a diagnosed visual impairment
their families
settings, schools (mainstream and specialist) and post 16 providers
other professionals

We provide support by

giving support and advice to families and settings/schools following diagnosis
providing specialist teaching for some learners (for example, Braille and Assistive Technology)
providing habilitation training for identified learners
carrying out functional visual assessments followed by written reports and advice
providing general advice about visual impairment and monitoring for learners
providing advice about specialist adaptations to learning materials
providing advice about the school/setting environment in line with the Equality Act
providing advice about specialist equipment
training staff who work with settings. Information is on School Messenger and is booked through Cornwall Learning Online
providing statutory advice for EHCP Needs Assessments and EHCP reviews
supporting transition between phases and stages of education
working in liaison with a wide range of professionals

Levels of support are determined and regularly reviewed. This is done using the National Sensory Impairment Partnership (NATSIP) criteria.

Making a request for involvement

Schools and settings can make a request for involvement using a 'Request for Involvement form'. They must also provide parent/carer consent. The eligibility criteria for each service is listed on each of these forms. Medical information is always obtained.

Medical information is used alongside a functional vision assessment (where relevant). A standardised set of criteria is used to determine the level of support given. This is the National Sensory Impairment Partnership (NATSIP) criteria. Levels of support are regularly reviewed taking into account an individual child/young person’s needs.