What steps must the nursery, school or college take to support a child or young person with SEN? Expand If a child or young person has SEN but does not have an EHC plan or a statement of SEN, they are still entitled to the support necessary to meet their needs. All mainstream nurseries, schools or colleges should provide support through SEN Support. The FAQs below provide more information on what this means in each setting. They must also use their best endeavours to ensure the child or young person receives the support they need. If a child or young person has an EHC Plan, the nursery, school or college must do their best to deliver the special educational provision specified in Section F. If they cannot do this, the LA, which has a direct duty to the child or young person to secure the provision they need, must provide the nursery, school or college with the resources (finances or expertise) to do so. Whether or not they have an EHC plan, the school or college must tell you if your child or young person has been identified as having SEN, they must identify their needs to the best of their ability and they must put the right support in place to make sure they progress and achieve specified outcomes. All this information should be documented in a clear record that should be available to you on request. Nurseries must involve parents with decisions around special educational provision. Schools should meet with parents at least three times a year to discuss the record kept of the pupil’s SEN and progress. Colleges should involve the student and (particularly where the student is aged 16-18) their parents in decisions around the support they receive for their SEN.
What does SEN Support in the early years mean? Expand Chapter five of the SEN and Disability Code of Practice 2015 (the “Code”) deals with SEN in the early years. It applies to all children in early years settings whether or not they have an EHC plan. It emphasises the legal requirement upon early years’ providers to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with SEN and disabilities. This could be done through the universal progress checks at age two or five, or at any other time. The Code identifies four broad areas of need: Communication and interaction; Cognition and learning; Social, emotional and mental health; Sensory and/or physical needs. Special educational provision given to children is called SEN Support. The Code recommends a graduated approach which has four stages of action: Assess; Plan; Do; Review. Early years settings are advised to involve specialists “where a child continues to make less than expected progress, despite evidence-based support and interventions that are matched to the child’s area of need”. The decision to involve specialists should be taken with the child’s parents (paragraph 5.48 of the Code). Records about their children must be available to parents and they must include information about how the setting supports children with SEN and disabilities.
What does SEN Support in school mean? Expand Chapter six of the SEN and Disability Code of Practice 2015 (the “Code”) deals with the actions that mainstream schools (including mainstream academies) should take to meet their duties in relation to identifying and supporting children with SEN. (This chapter does not apply to children in special schools, because special schools are specifically organised to provide for children with SEN, and all children in special schools should have an EHC plan setting out the provision required to meet their needs.) Schools should assess each pupil’s current skills and levels of attainment on entry and regular further assessments should take place. These should seek to identify pupils making less than expected progress. The Code refers to four broad areas of need: Communication and interaction; Cognition and learning; Social, emotional and mental health; Sensory and/or physical needs. There is more detail given in relation to each area in the Code; a child could, of course, have needs falling in more than one area. The expectation is that schools will plan how to deal with each of these areas of need, and ensure that their staff have relevant training and are equipped to respond. Special educational provision in schools is called SEN Support. The school should use a graduated approach following the cycle of Assess, Plan, Do and Review: Assess: The class teacher or subject teacher (working with the SENCO) is responsible for carrying out a clear analysis of a pupil’s needs, drawing on teacher assessments and experience of the pupil. Plan: Where it is decided to provide a pupil with SEN Support, the parents must be notified. All teachers and support staff who work with a pupil should be made aware of their needs, the outcomes sought, the support provided and any teaching strategies that are required. Do: The planned interventions should then be put into place. The class or subject teacher should work closely with any teaching assistants or specialist staff involved and the SENCO should support the class or subject teacher. Review: Reviews should take place and inform feed back into the analysis of the child’s needs. The Code is not prescriptive about how often reviews should take place, but given the Code suggests schools should meet with parents three times a year, good practice would indicate that such reviews will be at least termly. The decision to involve specialists can be taken at any time and should always involve parents Where, despite the school having taken relevant and purposeful action to identify and meet the pupil’s needs, the pupil is still not making expected progress, the school should consider requesting an Education, Health and Care needs assessment. (The parents or young person are also entitled to make such a request.)
What does SEN Support in post-16 education mean? Expand Chapter seven of the SEN and Disability Code of Practice 2015 (the “Code”) contains the statutory guidance in relation to further education colleges, sixth form colleges, 16 – 19 academies and some independent specialist colleges to identify, assess and provide support for young people with SEN. Young people should be supported to participate in discussions about their aspirations, their needs, and the support that they think will help them best. Support should be aimed at promoting student independence and enabling the young person to make good progress towards employment and/or higher education, independent living, good health and participating in the community. SEN Support should follow a cycle of action: Assess: Colleges should bring together all the relevant information from the student, the school and anyone else working with the student. This should be discussed with the student, who can be accompanied by a parent, advocate or other supporter. Plan: A support plan should be developed with the student. Support might include assistive technology, specialist tuition, note takers, access to therapies (for example, speech and language therapy) or a range of other types of support. Do: This plan should be put into place by the college. Review: The effectiveness of the support should be reviewed regularly, taking into account the student’s progress and any changes to the student’s own ambitions and aspirations, which may lead to changes in the type and level of their support. External specialist help can be involved at any time, and should always be involved where the student’s needs are not being met by the interventions put in place. A record should be kept of the support provided and the student’s progress. Where, despite the college having taken relevant and purposeful action to identify and meet the student’s needs, the student is still not making expected progress, the college or the young person should consider requesting an Education, Health and Care needs assessment.
Is it the responsibility of the nursery, school or college to arrange the provision specified in an EHC plan? Expand No – this is a common myth. The legal responsibility for securing the provision specified in Section F of an EHC plan falls upon the local authority (“LA”). This is an absolute obligation. LAs rely on schools to make the special educational provision they have specified and will give funding to the school to enable them to do this. However, if the school is unable to deliver the provision, or even if they are unwilling to do so, then the LA has a legal duty to secure the provision. IPSEA have produced a model letter which can be used to complain if your child is not receiving the special educational provision set out in Section F of their EHC Plan.
Can the school send my child home to ‘cool off’ or ask me to collect my child from school early to prevent exclusion? Expand No – this is likely to amount to an unlawful exclusion. See our page on exclusion from school for more information.
My child is dyslexic and needs help with reading. Can pupils with SEN get extra help with exams at school or college? Expand Yes - pupils who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities may qualify for help (called ‘access arrangements’) in public examinations. The most common arrangements are extra time, or provision of a computer, or a person to read or write for the pupil (except for exams that specifically test these skills, such as English). Read our page about getting extra help in exams for more information.
Our son is on SEN Support and is falling behind at school. We believe an educational psychologist (EP) is needed to assess our son, but the school say they cannot afford this as they have used up all of their EP time for this term. What can I do? Expand Ask the school for a meeting to discuss your son’s special educational needs (“SEN”) and review his current support arrangements. If you can identify, with the school, that your son is not making progress and/or his needs have not been fully identified, then this supports your request for support from an outside professional. Schools are under a legal duty to use their best endeavours to ensure children with SEN have their needs met, and this includes appropriately identifying their needs. Many schools have limited access to outside specialists such as educational psychologists. However, this is not a reason in law to deny a child outside support. The SEN and Disability Code of Practice (the “Code”), at paragraph 6.59, states that “A school should always involve a specialist where a pupil continues to make little or no progress or where they continue to work at levels substantially below those expected of pupils of a similar age despite evidence-based SEN support delivered by appropriately trained staff.” If assessment by a specialist indicates that ongoing support from outside services is required, it is important that the child and young person receives it as quickly as possible (paragraph 6.60). If the school will not agree, you could consider making a complaint to the governing body of the school (or the proprietor if it is an academy) on the basis that they are not using their best endeavours or following the guidance in the Code. If you decide to complain, keep the letter as constructive as possible as it is important to try and maintain a good working relationship with the school. There is more information on how to complain in the section on making a complaint against a school. You could also consider asking the local authority (“LA”) for an education, health and care (“EHC”) needs assessment. When a child has unidentified needs which prevent him or her from receiving the right support, schools are expected to act proactively which includes seeking advice from outside specialists. If a school is unable to provide this through lack of resources then it is an indication that an EHC needs assessment is required so that all of the child’s SEN can be properly identified, including the arrangements for meeting the identified needs. The test in law for triggering an EHC needs assessment is relatively low. The school suggesting that they cannot arrange outside support for your son implies that he may need provision to be made for him by way of an EHC plan so an assessment is likely to be necessary. Schools can be reluctant to request an EHC needs assessment as they often believe they must follow their LA’s policy for requesting an assessment, which may be set at a threshold higher than the test contained in law. Parents do not have to wait for the school to request an EHC needs assessment, and it is often better that they make the request themselves (you can find out how to request an assessment here). In some cases, parents may feel discouraged from pressing the issue of requesting the school seek outside support, especially when the school claim they have limited resources and/or have other children in the school with greater needs. It is important to remember that you are acting for your child and although you may be sympathetic to the school’s reasons, this should not prevent you from pursuing the right support for your own child.
My child attends and independent school and we pay the fees. Are children at independent settings entitled to support? Expand Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 does not apply to wholly independent schools or early years settings. This means the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2015 does not apply either. This means that the requirements around SEN Support set out in this section do not apply. However, this does not mean the school or early years setting should not attempt to identify SEN and support children. The Equality Act 2010 does apply to all schools and education settings therefore reasonable adjustments must be made where necessary to avoid disability discrimination. If your child has an EHC plan, it is the local authority’s duty to ensure the provision set out in the EHC plan is made. However, under section 42(5) of the Children and Families Act 2014, the LA do not need to do so if you have made “suitable alternative arrangements”. If the independent school is named in Section I of your child’s EHC plan, and there is no other suitable school which your child could attend, it is likely that the LA remains responsible for your child’s special educational provision and should be paying the fees. If the LA suggested that a different school should be named in the EHC plan, and you chose to send your child to an independent school and pay for it yourself, then this is likely to count as making suitable alternative arrangements, and so the LA have no further duties towards your child. If you are unsure of the situation, you should book an appointment to speak with us.