SEN Support for children in education

Educational settings should identify and support children and young people with SEN and/or disabilities. If a child or young person has SEN but does not have an EHC plan, they are still entitled to the support necessary to meet their needs.

Children and young people attending mainstream settings may be supported from within the setting’s own resources. This means they receive special educational provision (additional help or support) This additional support is called SEN Support.

The SEND Code of Practice 2015 says that 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

In Bolton, all settings have been issued with a SEND handbook, devised by professionals and parent carers in Bolton, that sets out what things school can do within he graduated response, and how to contact and consult other professionals (such as the educational psychologist) for more help and support. This is also available on our downloads section here.

The educational setting should record what SEN they have identified a child or young person as having, what outcomes they expect the child or young person to achieve, and what provision they are putting in place to help the child reach those outcomes. This should be written down in a record. All schools do this differently as there is no national template. Some settings call it an IEP (an individual education plan), and some may use an Early Help form, or a provision map. 

One of the key duties is for the nursery, school or college to use their ‘best endeavours’ to support children and young people with SEN.  This means settings must do everything that could reasonably be expected of them to ensure your child has their needs met. 

You are also entitled to meet with your childs school at least three times a year to discuss your childs progress and needs. 

More information about what type of things SEN support can provide, can be found in the SEND handbook.