Providing for Special Educational Needs

This page provides information on the duties of schools and local authorities to assess, identify and provide for a child’s special educational needs within school.

This guide applies to both maintained schools and academies, where specific legislation is referenced academies should check their funding agreement.

What are Special Educational Needs (SEN)?

Section 20 Children and Families Act 2014 defines a child as having Special Educational Needs (SEN) if he or she “has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special education provision to be made for him or her”. 

A child is considered to have a learning difficulty if she or he: 

• Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or
• Has a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post 16 institutions. 

Disability is defined in the Equality Act 2010. A person as disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. 

• Normal day-to-day means things that people do on a regular basis, for example mobility, dressing or cleaning (physical co-ordination), and having a conversation
• Long-term usually means the impairment should have lasted or be expected to last at least a year
• Substantial means not minor or trivial
• Physical impairment includes sensory difficulties such as visual or hearing impairments 
• Mental impairment includes learning difficulties, autism, dyslexia, speech and language difficulties, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). 

What are schools roles in relation to children with SEN?

There is statutory guidance which goes into detail about children with SEN and the schools role in relation to this. The guidance is Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 years. 

Every school is required to have systems in place to identify children who are in need of support and to assess, monitor and secure appropriate support for any SEN they may have.  

Schools must use their best endeavours to make sure that a child with SEN gets the support they need. This means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN. They must ensure that children and young people with SEN engage in the activities of the school alongside pupils who do not have SEN. Schools must also inform parents when they are making special educational provision for a child.

Schools should designate a teacher to be responsible for co-ordinating SEN provision – the SEN co-ordinator, or SENCO. (This does not apply to 16 to 19 academies.) The SENCO has day-to-day responsibility for the operation of SEN policy and co-ordination of specific provision made to support individual pupils with SEN, including those who have EHC plans. 

Schools will need to prepare an SEN information report which should be easily accessible to parents highlighting information about the SEN policy. It should include the kinds of SEN that are provided for, policies for identifying children with SEN and assessing their needs, the approach to teaching children with SEN and how children with SEN are enabled to engage in activities available with children in the school who do not have SEN. A full list of things which must be included can be found in the SEND Code of Practice 0-25 years paragraph 6.79.

All schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards individual disabled children and young people. They must make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services for disabled children, to prevent them being put at a substantial disadvantage. For more information please see our page on Understanding your school’s Equality duties. 

Identifying SEN in schools

All schools should have a clear approach to identifying and responding to children with SEN. It is important to identify a child with SEN early, so as the correct support can be put in place to benefit the child longer term. 

Schools should consider each child’s skills and levels of attainment when they join the school. At this point a school should also consider whether a child has a disability and if so what reasonable adjustments should be made for them. 

Class teachers should be regularly assessing children’s attainment in their class to establish if any children are making less than expected progress. The teacher should firstly try to overcome this by high quality teaching focusing on the levels of weakness. Where this does not improve, the teacher should discuss with the SENCO whether they feel the child has any SEN.

The school will then need to decide whether they are going to put any special education provision taking into consideration all the evidence available. The school should have a discussion with the child and their parents to discuss their next steps. 

Persistent disruptive or withdrawn behaviour does not necessarily indicate a child has SEN, however it is possible that part of this behaviour could be an indication of the child having SEN. If a child does have bad behaviour, it would be best practice to assess the situation to see if there is any indication of the child having SENs so the appropriate support can be put in place. 

The next steps when a child has been identified as having SEN

The SEN support should take the form of a 4 part cycle:

Assess

The teacher working closely with the SENCO should assess the child’s needs.  This assessment process should not just involve the school themselves, the views of parents should also be sought and where appropriate the views of the child or young person. Where outside professionals are also involved with the child or young person, for example Children’s Services or health professionals, it may also be appropriate to seek their views. This assessment should be reviewed on a regular basis to make sure that the support being provided to a child continues to be effective and best matched to the child’s needs. 

Plan

When it is decided SEN support will be put in place for a child, the parents must be notified. All staff who work with the child must also be notified as to what teaching strategies need to be put in place. The teacher and the SENCO should agree in consultation with the parent and the pupil the adjustments, interventions and support to be put in place, as well as the expected impact on progress, development or behaviour, along with a clear date for review. Where appropriate, support should be provided to parents to contribute to the progress at home. The plan should be placed on the child’s school records and should be made accessible to parents

Do

The child’s class teacher stills remain responsible for working with the child on a day by day basis; this remains the case even if the support offered includes group or one to one teaching away from the child’s main class. This should all be done whilst working closely with any support or specialist staff involved. The SENCO should remain closely involved in supporting the child’s class teacher in terms of continuing to assess the child’s progress and needs and ensuring the planned support is being implemented properly. 

Review

The success and effectiveness of the support provided should be reviewed on a regular basis and in line with the date agreed in the plan stage. During this review stage the impact and quality of the support in place should be evaluated and the views of the parents and child should again be sought. This review process should feed back to part 1 of the cycle and the needs should again be assessed and the cycle should flow through again with any changes needed to the support provided being implemented. Where a pupil has an EHC plan, the local authority must review that plan as a minimum every twelve months. Schools must co-operate with the local authority in the review process 

SEN support should include planning for transitioning between different phases of education and also in preparation for adult life. 

Involving Specialists

When a pupil continues to make less than expected progress, the school should consider whether it would be appropriate to involve specialists, whether if this be secured by the school itself or by external agencies. The parents of the child should be involved in deciding whether the school should take these steps and should be informed as to what discussions take place with the specialist. 

The Local Authority’s local offer should clearly specify what support is available in the area. 

Examples of specialists that can become involved are:

• Behaviour Support Services
• Educational Psychologist 
• Child and Adolescent Psychologists
• Speech and Language Therapists
• Occupational Therapists
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

The SENCO and class teacher, together with the specialists, and involving the child’s parents, should consider a range of evidence-based and effective teaching approaches, appropriate equipment, strategies and interventions in order to support the child’s progress. They should agree the outcomes to be achieved through the support, including a date by which progress will be reviewed. 

Requesting an Education, Health and Care Assessment

When the school has provided the support above and the child has not made expected progress, the school should consider requesting an Education, Health and Care Assessment from the Local Authority. 

A local authority must conduct an assessment of education, health and care needs when it considers that it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made for the child or young person in accordance with an EHC plan. The school will need to provide evidence of the action taken by the school as part of the SEN support. The Local Authority will provide a response to the parent/young person within 6 weeks. The Head Teacher of the school will also be notified. The school should provide any information requested within 6 weeks from the school receiving the request. The Local Authority will then need to make a decision about whether they are going to issue an EHCP. The Local Authority must notify the parent/young person within 16 weeks from the date they received the request for the assessment if they decide not to issue an EHCP. If they do decide to issue an EHCP, the Local Authority will draft the plan, and will give parents/young person 15 calendar days to comment on this. The maximum time frame is 20 weeks. 

The Layout of the EHCP

The following sections are included in the plan:

Section A: The views, interests and aspirations of the child and his or her parents or the young person. 

Section B: The child or young person’s special educational needs. 

Section C: The child or young person’s health needs which are related to their SEN. 

Section D: The child or young person’s social care needs which are related to their SEN or to a disability. 

Section E: The outcomes sought for the child or the young person. 

Section F: The special educational provision required by the child or the young person. 

Section G: Any health provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN. 

Section H1: Any social care provision which must be made for a child or young person under 18 resulting from section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970. 

Section H2: Any other social care provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN. 

Section I: The name and type of the school.

Section J: Where there is a Personal Budget, the details of how the Personal Budget will support particular outcomes.

Section K: The advice and information gathered during the EHC needs assessment must be attached.

Schools will need to familiarise themselves with a child’s EHCPto ensure they are providing the special educational provision required in the plan.

When a parent requests a school be named in an EHCP

The starting point is that a child with SEN should be educated in a mainstream school unless this would be incompatible with:

• The wishes of the parents
• Or the provision of efficient education of other children- Efficient education means providing for each child a suitable and appropriate education in terms of a child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs he/she may or may not have.

A school will only be able to rely on this ground if there are no reasonable steps that either it or the local education authority could take to prevent the incompatibility at the school. Clear evidence must be provided to justify why no reasonable steps can be taken. Mainstream education cannot be refused on the grounds that the child’s needs cannot be provided for within the mainstream sector.

Parents/young people have the right to request that a specific school is named in Part I of the plan. 

The Local Authority must comply with the request and the name the school requested unless:

• it would be unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or SEN of the child or young person, or 
• the attendance of the child or young person there would be incompatible with the efficient education of others, or the efficient use of resources 

The local authority must consult the governing body of the school concerned and consider their comments very carefully before deciding whether to name it in the child or young person’s EHCP, sending the school or college a copy of the draft plan. The school should respond in 15 days. The school must admit a child if it is named in the finalised EHCP. 

Head Teachers need to ensure that those teaching or working with the child or young person are aware of their needs and have arrangements in place to meet them. Teachers should also monitor the progress of the child. 

Appeals relating to an EHCP

If an Education, Health and Care Plan is made and parents have concerns with regards to the contents of the Plan then they can appeal to the First Tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability). 

An appeal can be made on the basis of: 

• Refusal to carry out an Education, Health and Care needs assessment or reassessment
• Refusal to issue a Education, Health and Care Plan
• Refusal to amend a Education, Health and Care Plan following reassessment or annual review
• The Local Authority has issued a Education, Health and Care Plan but the parents or young persons disagrees with the content in: 
• Part B – a child’s SEN
• Part F – a child’s provision to meet their SEN
• Part I – The educational establishment named in the Plan. 
• Decision of the Local Authority to cease to maintain a child’s Education, Health and Care Plan

Annual reviews of an EHCP

A formal review of the EHCP must take place at least annually. The Local Authority can request schools to hold the review meeting on their behalf.  The local authority should provide a list of children and young people who will require a review of their EHC plan that term to all head teachers of schools. 

The child’s parents or young person, a representative of the school, a local authority SEN officer, a health service representative and a local authority social care representative must be invited and given at least two weeks’ notice of the date of the meeting. The school must seek advice and information about the child or young person prior to the meeting from all parties invited, and send any advice and information gathered to all those invited. 

The meeting must focus on the child or young person’s progress towards achieving the outcomes specified in the EHC plan, and on what changes might need to be made to the support that is provided to help them achieve those outcomes, or whether changes are needed to the outcomes themselves. 

The school must prepare and send a report of the meeting to everyone invited within two weeks of the meeting. The report must set out recommendations on any amendments required to the EHC plan, and should refer to any difference between the school or other institution’s recommendations and those of others attending the meeting.

Within four weeks of the review meeting, the local authority must decide whether it proposes to keep the EHC plan as it is, amend the plan, or cease to maintain the plan, and notify the child’s parent or the young person and the school or other institution attended.

Reassessment of an EHCP

When a child’s needs have significantly changed, it may be appropriate for his needs to be re-assessed. The school can request that the Local Authority carry out a re-assessment. The Local Authority may refuse this if an assessment has taken place in the last 6 months. The Local Authority should inform the parents within 15 calendar days as to whether they are going to carry out a re-assessment. The parents will have a right to appeal if they refuse this. 

Funding for SEN support

All schools are provided with resources to fund those who require support for additional needs. It is for schools to determine how to use the funds to support children with SEN. Schools are not expected to meet the full costs of more expensive special educational provision from their core funding. They are expected to provide additional support which costs up to a nationally prescribed threshold per pupil per year. The responsible local authority, usually the authority where the child or young person lives, should provide additional top-up funding where the cost of the special educational provision required to meet the needs of an individual pupil exceeds the nationally prescribed threshold.