Special Educational Needs - Support in School

Meeting Children's Special Educational Needs in School/ Settings

Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) all have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age. Many children (about 1 in 5) will have special educational needs at some time during their education. They may need extra or different help from that given to other children of the same age.

However, only a very small minority of children with highly complex needs will require a statement of SEN, a document which describes a child’s SEN and the special provision they should receive.

The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice provides a model that schools can follow for those children who have special educational needs but without a statement.

This provides for help to be graduated and given at two levels:

School Action and School Action Plus.

School Action – Your child should be given support that is extra to and/or different from that which the school gives through its usual differentiated teaching.

School Action Plus – If your child continues to experience difficulties whilst receiving help at School Action, the school should then consult outside specialists for advice (e.g. Specialist Teachers, Educational Psychologist etc).

What is an Individual Education Plan?

Teachers call this an IEP. An Individual Education Plan is a detailed plan of work that sets targets for your child to achieve and a date for a review to see what progress they have made.

The Individual Education Plan will have:

what the school want your child to achieve;
what the staff will be doing to help your child to meet these targets;
what extra staffing, resources and other arrangements need to be made for your child to make progress;
when the plan will be reviewed;
how your child's success will be measured;
what needs to be achieved for the plan to be withdrawn;
space to fill in what has happened, this is filled in when the plan is reviewed.
The Individual Education Plan shows what the staff are doing that is additional to and different from what they would normally do for children in the class.

Meetings

You may be invited to meetings held in school to discuss and review your child's progress.

Your child will benefit from you working closely with school staff so it is important that you attend if possible.

Think about what you want to say before the meeting
Make a list.
Listen to what other people say and tick off the things they cover
Ask questions about the things they haven't covered.

You may want to know:

what they think your child's needs are;
what they are doing to meet those needs;
whether or not what they are doing is working;
how your child feels about what is happening;
how you can be involved.

You may want to take a friend, relative or Independent Parental Supporter with you to the meeting. Your local Parent Partnership service can help with this.

Remember

Your child will receive help according to the difficulty s/he is having and the amount of support needed to make progress.
You may be invited to meetings held in school to discuss and review your child's progress. It is important to attend.
If things have gone well the school may suggest a reduction in the level of School Action or a return to the normal differentiated curriculum.
Advice and support from other professionals is available at School Action as well as at School Action Plus.
It is your right to ask the LEA for a statutory assessment. Remember that the LEA will expect the school to show that it has done its best to meet your child's needs and that your child's learning difficulties are significant before a statutory assessment will go ahead.
Your child will benefit a great deal from you and the school staff working together to help them. Ask school staff if you feel you would like ideas about how best to help your child at home.
Be confident! You have the right to be involved and to have your views taken into consideration.

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