The beginning of a new school year should be an exciting time. However, for many families of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), going back to school can be another challenging period in the fight to secure the education their child is legally entitled to.
Here's what you need to know.
We have brought together all the information that might be helpful for parents and carers of children with SEND at this key point in the year. Some of the information is relevant to children whose needs can be met with their school's existing resources, whilst some of the information applies to those who have an education, health and care plan (EHC plan).
Take a look at our guides and resources by clicking on the tiles below, and remember you can contact our helplines if you need further advice.
You might be concerned that your child may have special educational needs that haven’t been identified by their previous setting or in previous years, or their needs haven’t been properly met. Read our information about how nurseries, schools and colleges should identify and support children and young people with SEND. Read more
Particularly at the start of a new school year, far too many children with SEND are without a school to attend. This is an extremely worrying situation to be in and we’ve produced guidance, which you can read here, to help parents and carers who are in this situation. Read more
There are often difficulties at the start of a new school term because the local authority has failed to organise transport to a new school in time, or because changes have been made which mean the new arrangements aren’t suitable. Find out more about local authorities’ duties to make suitable travel arrangements. Read more
If your child already has an EHC plan and you’ve been concerned in previous years that they are not receiving all of the special educational provision that is in the plan, read our guidance here about your local authority’s duty to secure that provision and how to complain. Read more
Local authorities have a legal duty to review and amend an EHC plan when a child or young person transfers from one phase of education to another and they must comply with statutory timescales. You should therefore shortly be notified that a review of the EHC plan is going to take place. Find out more, and what to do if this doesn’t happen. Read more
Sometimes a change of school or teacher, combined with returning to school after the long summer holidays, can impact on children's behaviour and lead to them being excluded. Read all about the steps schools must take when a child is excluded, and what you can do. Read more
Mainstream schools and maintained nursery schools (but not further education institutions) must ensure that children with SEND engage in the activities of the school together with children who do not have special educational needs. Read more about this. Read more
If someone is treated unfairly because of their disability, or because of something arising from their disability, this may be discrimination. Learn more about the types of disability discrimination and the steps you could take to challenge this. Read more
Many children are a little anxious at the start of a new school year, but for children with SEND this can be a major problem. Additionally, children not previously identified as having SEND may develop anxiety to the point that it becomes a special educational need. Read our guidance on school anxiety. Read more
There’s a duty that applies to schools in relation to children of compulsory school age who have been recorded as absent due to illness, and where the school think they’re likely to miss 15 school days or more (whether consecutive or cumulative). The school has a legal duty to tell your LA as soon as possible via a “sickness return”. Your LA then has a legal duty to secure suitable, full-time alternative education if they won’t otherwise receive it. Find out more here. Read more
The statutory guidance 'Working together to improve school attendance' says that schools are not expected to routinely request that parents provide medical evidence to support illness absences. Read more about this on our page on illness. Read more
The statutory guidance 'Working together to improve school attendance' confirms that in some circumstances a pupil’s education may be provided partially at school and partially somewhere else. We have a FAQ in our section on home education and ‘education otherwise’ dealing with some of the issues that you might encounter when trying to arrange something other than full-time attendance at school. Read more
Sometimes local authorities finalise EHC plans by naming a school the parent is unhappy with, and they may believe the child must be added to the school roll as soon as the school is named in a plan. This is incorrect; a child's name must only be added to the new school roll on the date they begin to attend or the date that it has been agreed they will start to attend. You can read more about this in our related FAQ. Read more
Our SEND law training for parents and carers empowers families to secure the education their child is legally entitled to. Learn more about our upcoming training sessions, delivered virtually via Zoom, and explore our range of modular self-paced online SEND law courses. Read more