About SEND

SEN support is extra provision given to children/ young people who need it to achieve in school. This help is additional or different from what other children/ young people receive. As part of this process, children/ young people will have their 'extra' provision planned within an Assess Plan Do Review process and it may be recorded on a plan (these are called different things in different schools and settings). The child/ young person's needs will be assessed to determine what support should be put in place to help them; this support is then reviewed at set timescales (usually termly- but at least 3 times per year). The process should be holistic and take into account the views of the child/ young person, parent/carer, education staff and anyone else involved.

SEN Support is a stage within the 'Graduated Approach' where the goal is to help children reach their individual goals within schools/ settings. It should involve setting some targets; to measure success, these should be closely matched to the child/young person's SEND needs. These are set by the school with help from parents and the children/ young people themselves.

SEN Support looks different in different schools and for different children/young people. Some examples of what this support can look like include

• Interventions and specific learning programs.
• Extra help from teachers or teaching assistants to adapt the learning to ensure they make good progress.
• Personalised materials, resources and equipment.
• Small group work and personalised check ins where needed.
• Encouragement to ask questions, try new/challenging tasks and attempt to be as independent as possible.
• Support with physical or personal care, like eating or getting around school.

• Progress checks at age 2
• Health checks at ages 2 to 3
• Written assessments in the first year of primary school
• Adjustments like tactile signs for disabled children.

Nurseries, playgroups and childminders registered with Ofsted follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. The framework makes sure that there’s support in place for children with SEND.

Talk to a doctor or health adviser if you think your child has SEND but they do not go to a nursery, playgroup or childminder. They’ll tell you what support options are available.

Talk to the teacher or SENCO if you think your child needs additional support in school, this could be an individual support plan, linking in with professionals are additional strategies/interventions.

Contact the college before your child starts further education to make sure that they can meet your child’s needs.

The college and your local authority will talk to your child about the support they need.

Look for the SEN Information Report on the school website. or talk to the SENCO. You can also get advice from the Special Educational Needs and Disability Support Service (SENDIASS).

When the level of support required by a child or young person is more than what their school or other educational setting can offer, it may be necessary to apply for an Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plan. An EHC plan is a legally binding document that outlines the specific educational, health, and social care support that is needed. This plan is tailored to the individual needs of the child or young person and is designed to ensure that they receive the appropriate support and provision to facilitate their learning and development.

It's a plan for children and young people up to 25 years old who need more support than what is usually provided in schools.

The plan includes details about their educational, health, and social needs and the extra support they need to succeed.

Parents, young people over 16, schools, and other bodies can request an EHC Needs Assessment.

The assessment looks at what the child can and cannot do and what support they need.

The local authority will gather information from parents, the child, their school, and other professionals.

If the assessment shows that the child needs an EHC Plan, a draft plan will be created.

The plan is reviewed every year to make sure it still meets the child's needs.

The review focuses on the child's progress and any changes needed.

Families can get advice and support from special services like SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disability Information and Support Service).

The plan helps young people think about their future, like getting a job, living independently, and being part of their community.

This is the law about how children and young people with special educational needs or who are disabled (SEND) get the support they need. It came into force on 1 September 2014. Some of key changes are:

• A bigger focus on your aspirations for the future and the support you will need to achieve your goals
• Statements of Special Educational Needs and Learning Difficulty Assessments will be replaced by Education, Health and Care plans
• We will consult children, young people and their families about our Local Offer of services
• You will be more involved in making decisions about how you are supported
• You will have more information, advice and support to understand your options as you move into adulthood

Please note, some changes will come into force at various times.

• Children and Families Act 2014
• Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014
• Special Educational Needs (Personal Budgets) Regulations 2014

Read the SEND Code of Practice on GOV.uk for guidance on the special educational needs and disability (SEND) system for children and young people aged 0 to 25.

• 19 to 25-year-olds’ entitlement to EHC plans
• Mental health and behaviour in schools
• Revised Guidance for Supported Internships
• SEND complaints: guide for young people aged 16 to 25 in education
• SEND: managing the 2014 changes to the system
• Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school

The purpose of SEN support is to help children and young people achieve the outcomes or learning objectives set for them by the school in conjunction with parents and pupils themselves.

Every school must publish an SEN information report about the SEN provision the school makes. You can find this on the school’s website. You can also ask your child’s teacher or the school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) for information on the SEN provision made by the school.

The Local Offer published by North Lincolnshire Council also sets out what support it expects early years settings, schools and colleges to make for all children and young people with SEN or disabilities.

SEN support can take many forms, including:

• a special learning programme for your child
• extra help from a teacher or a learning support assistant
• making or changing materials and equipment
• working with your child in a small group
• observing your child in class or at break and keeping records
• helping your child to take part in the class activities
• making sure your child has understood things by encouraging
• them to ask questions and to try something they find difficult
• helping other children work with your child, or play with them at break time
• supporting your child with physical or personal care, such as eating, getting around school safely, toileting or dressing
• advice and/or extra help from specialists such as specialist teachers, educational psychologists and therapists.

You can read some of the guidance that is made available to schools about the range of provision they can make for children and young people at SEN Support here.

When schools want to call in specialists, they should discuss and agree this with parents.

SEN support for children under 5 includes:

• a written progress check when your child is 2 years old
• a child health visitor carrying out a health check for your child if they’re aged 2 to 3
• a written assessment in the summer term of your child’s first year of primary school
• making reasonable adjustments for disabled children, like providing aids like tactile signs.

Nurseries, playgroups and childminders registered with Ofsted follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. The framework makes sure that there’s support in place for children with SEND.

Talk to a doctor or health adviser if you think your child has SEND but they do not go to a nursery, playgroup or childminder. They’ll tell you what support options are available.

Talk to the teacher or the SEN co-ordinator (SENCO) if you think your child needs:

• a special learning programme
• extra help from a teacher or assistant
• to work in a smaller group
• observation in class or at break
• help taking part in class activities
• extra encouragement in their learning, for example to ask questions or to try something they find difficult
• help communicating with other children
• support with physical or personal care difficulties, for example eating, getting around school safely or using the toilet.

Contact the college before your child starts further education to make sure that they can meet your child’s needs.

The college and your local authority will talk to your child about the support they need.

This information is about funding for special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. This includes academies and free schools.

Schools should use some of their budget to buy resources and make provision for children who need additional help. This can take many forms. For example, children with SEN might need:

• changes to the curriculum
• special equipment or teaching materials
• the use of additional information technology
• small group work
• support in the classroom
• a base to work in or have quiet time.

All mainstream schools receive money for special educational needs support and resources. Schools can decide how to spend this money. This is called “delegated” funding because it is given (delegated) to schools by local authorities or the Education Funding Agency from money they receive from central government. The SEN part of the school’s income is sometimes called the “notional” SEN budget because it is not based on the school’s actual numbers of pupils with special needs, but on a formula.

Funding for SEN provision is from three sources (“Elements”):

Schools get money for each pupil, based on actual pupil numbers. This is called the Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU) and it is part of schools’ delegated funding. Some of this money is for general SEN provision. This might, for example, include the cost of providing the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) and some other resources.

Each local authority sets the AWPU for their schools, and the Education Funding Agency sets the AWPU for academies and free schools. The AWPU differs according to whether the school is primary or secondary etc.

Element 2 funding is SEN-specific, and is to provide SEN support for children who need it. This is support that is additional to or different from the support that most other children get.

The local authority provides this funding for schools it is responsible for, using a formula that determines the amount of money the school gets. The formula gives more money to schools that in the past had more children on free school meals and more children who were not doing as well as others in English and Maths. The Education and Skills Funding Agency provides this funding for academies and free schools.

Element 2 funding is also part of schools’ delegated budget. Government guidance says schools should provide up to the first £6,000 (on top of the AWPU) of additional or different support for those children who need it, including those with an Education, Health and Care plan (or a Statement of Special Educational Need). This does not mean that the school will spend £6,000 on every child with SEN. Sometimes schools use funds to help groups of children. Some children will need less help – and some children may need more.

You can ask your school how it uses its SEN budget to support your child and whether it has enough to make all the provision they need. The local authority also publishes a Local Offer that explains what type of resources this money might be spent on.

Where a school has children needing very expensive provision which might absorb a lot of the SEN support funding, the school can request additional funding. The local authority is responsible for managing Element 3 funding (sometimes called the ‘high needs block’), which can be used to make specific provision for an individual child or a group of children, if the school or academy can show it is necessary.

These funding arrangements do not override the local authority’s duty to your child to ensure they receive any necessary provision that the school itself cannot make. The law says that the local authority must find out via an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment whether an EHC plan is needed when a child or young person may have SEN that may need the local authority to secure provision. So if your school is unable to make all the provision your child needs, you have the right to ask for an EHC needs assessment

School governors are responsible for the school’s policy on SEN. The headteacher and the SENCO ensure that the policy is put into practice. The SENCO organises support for individual children, but every teacher is responsible for making sure that your child’s special educational needs are met in the classroom.

The SEN Information Report on the school’s website tells you more about the arrangements for SEN support and how to contact the SENCO.

The first step is to talk with your child’s teacher or the SENCO. This may be at a parents’ evening, a support plan meeting or a review. You can ask for a written copy of any support plan in place for your child.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care plan (or Statement of Special Educational Need) it must set out the support and resources that must be provided.

Look for the SEN Information Report on the school website.

This website is a good place to find out about services available locally and the arrangements that schools and others are expected to make for children and young people with SEN.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Support Service (SENDIASS) can also give you:

more information about SEN support and funding advice about what to do if you are not happy with the support your school is providing information about other organisations, support groups and services that could help information and advice about your rights to request an EHC needs assessment if your child might need more than the school can provide.

There are four areas of SEN:

Communicating and interacting – for example, where children and young people have speech, language and communication difficulties which make it difficult for them to make sense of language or to understand how to communicate effectively and appropriately with others

Cognition and learning – for example, where children and young people learn at a slower pace than others their age, have difficulty in understanding parts of the curriculum, have difficulties with organisation and memory skills, or have a specific difficulty affecting one particular part of their learning performance such as in literacy or numeracy

Social, emotional and mental health difficulties – for example, where children and young people have difficulty in managing their relationships with other people, are withdrawn, or if they behave in ways that may hinder their and other children’s learning, or that have an impact on their health and wellbeing

Sensory and/or physical needs – for example, children and young people with visual and/or hearing impairments, or a physical need that means they must have additional ongoing support and equipment

Some children and young people may have SEN that covers more than one of these areas.

Many children and young people who have SEN may also have a disability. A disability is 'a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term (a year or more) and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.' This includes, for example, sensory impairments such as those that affect sight and hearing, and long-term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes or epilepsy.

Our early years providers, schools, colleges, other educational settings and local authorities do not directly or indirectly discriminate against, harass or victimise disabled children and young people

We make reasonable adjustments including the provision of auxiliary aid services (for example, tactile signage or induction loops), so that disabled children and young people are not disadvantaged compared with other children and young people. This duty is what is known as ‘anticipatory’ – people also need to think in advance about what disabled children and young people might need.

SEN support is available in school for children and young people who have SEN, but do not have Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP).

Where a pupil is identified as having SEN, education providers should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place. This SEN support should take the form of a four-part cycle:

1. Assess
2. Plan
3. Do
4. Review

through which earlier decision and actions are revisited, refined and revised. This is known as the Graduated Approach.

SEN support should include planning and preparation for transition between phases of education and preparation for adult life. Further information on the Preparing for Adulthood page.

Where a pupil continues to make less than expected progress, despite evidence based support and interventions that are matched to the pupil’s area of need, education providers should consider involving specialists to advise.

If your school has already assessed your child and tried to meet their needs. But they have not made expected progress. Then you may consider requesting an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment.

The EHC Needs Assessment is a detailed look at the special educational needs of a child or young person, and the support he or she may need in order to learn.

EHC Needs Assessments identify educational, health and social needs. They set out the additional support to meet those needs.

See Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessments and Plans for further information.

The DfE has produced a helpful guide for parents called ‘Special educational needs and disability – A guide for parents and carers‘. (August 2014). This guide explains how the system that supports children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities works.

It covers:

• the law and statutory guidance on which the system is based
• places to go for help and further information
• details about changes to the system from 1 September 2014

It may also be useful for staff in:

• schools and colleges
• early years education settings
• who are dealing with the parents and carers of children and young people with SEND.

SENDIASS

Speak to your child's school or contact your SEND Information and Support Service (SENDIASS)

North Lincs Parent Forum

North Lincs Parent Forum are a good source of information and advice. The team are all parents who have been on a similar journey and experienced many of the hurdles you may be faced with.

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