SEN Support in Education Settings

The SEND Code of Practice contains guidance on what nurseries, schools and colleges should be doing to identify and support children and young people with SEN.  The SEND Code of Practice applies to all settings except independent schools and says:-

All children and young people are entitled to an education that enables them to make progress so that they:

• achieve their best
• become confident individuals living fulfilling lives, and
• make a successful transition into adulthood, whether into employment, further or higher education or training

(6.1)

Here are some other extracts from the code:-

 

Class and subject teachers, supported by the senior leadership team, should make regular assessments of progress for all pupils. These should seek to identify pupils making less than expected progress given their age and individual circumstances.   (6.17)

 

Where a pupil is identified as having SEN, schools 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 through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the pupil’s needs and of what supports the pupil in making good progress and securing good outcomes. This is known as the graduated approach. It draws on more detailed approaches, more frequent review and more specialist expertise in successive cycles in order to match interventions to the SEN of children and young people.

(6.44)

 

Where a pupil is receiving SEN support, schools should talk to parents regularly to set clear outcomes and review progress towards them, discuss the activities and support that will help achieve them, and identify the responsibilities of the parent, the pupil and the school. Schools should meet parents at least three times each year. (6.65)

 

The college and the student together should plan any changes in support. Support for all students with SEN should be kept under review, whether or not a student has an EHC plan (7.19)

 

The SEND Code of Practice says mainstream 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
• ensure that children and young people with SEN engage in the activities of the school alongside pupils who do not have SEN
• designate a teacher to be responsible for co-ordinating SEN provision – the SEN co-ordinator, or SENCO.
• inform parents when they are making special educational provision for a child
• publish an SEN information report and their arrangements for the admission of disabled children, the steps being taken to prevent disabled children from being treated less favourably than others, the facilities provided to enable access to the school for disabled children and their accessibility plan showing how they plan to improve access progressively over time

(6.2)

Part 3 of the Act is concerned with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and was implemented in September 2014.

The Council for Disabled Children have provided a An Overview of the Children & Families Act (part 3)

Schools must provide detailed information about their arrangements for the admission of disabled pupils to the school and publish an ‘Accessibility plan’ explaining adjustments they can make and ongoing plans to improve access.

They must also publish a SEN Information report explaining how they identify and support children with Special Educational Needs & Disability 

The SEND Code of Practice 2015 says that mainstream schools must ensure that children and young people with SEN engage in the activities of the school alongside pupils who do not have SEN. (6.2)

 

Part 6 of the Equality Act 2010 sets out the duties for education settings to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for children and young people with disabilities.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 sit underneath the Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014. They set out lots of the detail as to how duties in the CFA 2014 should be carried out. For example, they set out how:

• EHC needs assessments must be carried out
• an EHC plan is prepared, what it must contain and when it must be finalised by
• EHC plans must be reviewed and changed
• EHC plans may be stopped, 
• mediation takes place, and
• deadlines that apply at the end of SEND Tribunal appeals

The SEND Regulations 2014 are law

The Equality Act 2010 (part 6 applies to education) contains the ‘reasonable adjustments duty.

The SEND Code of Practice 2015 summarises the Equality Act duty and says Nurseries, Schools and Colleges must:

• not directly or indirectly discriminate against, harass or victimise disabled children and young people
• make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services, to ensure that disabled children and young people are not at a substantial disadvantage compared with their peers. This duty is anticipatory – it requires thought to be given in advance to what disabled children and young people might require and what adjustments might need to be made to prevent that disadvantage (Introduction xix)

Nurseries, Schools and Colleges must take steps to ensure disabled children and young people are not substantially disadvantaged due to their disability. ‘Reasonable adjustments’ is the term used to describe these in law. 

Nurseries, Schools and Colleges should be thinking in advance, and reviewing what adjustments they may need to make to avoid substantial disadvantage for disabled children.

• All aspects are covered, including homework, school trips, provision of education and around exclusions.
• They must make reasonable adjustments to procedures, criteria and practices and by the provision of auxiliary aids and services.
• Nurseries and post-16 providers must also make reasonable adjustments by making physical alterations.
• Schools and the local authority are not required to make physical alterations, but they must publish accessibility plans (and local authorities, accessibility strategies) setting out how they plan to increase access for disabled pupils to the curriculum, the physical environment and to information.

Examples of Reasonable Adjustments:

• On a residential trip a pupil with sensory needs can take meals in a separate room with a small group of friends rather than in the large busy cafeteria;
• A secondary school organises for a subject usually taught upstairs to be taught on the ground floor to enable access for a pupil in a wheelchair;
• A student with medical needs is able to take an exam at home or have a delayed start;
• A pupil with chronic fatigue is given a ‘buddy’ to carry school books and the school policy adjusted so that they will not be penalised for arriving late.

Reasonable Adjustments Duty

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.

Find out more about SEN Funding in Mainstream schools/settings

The Ordinary Available (OA) is a framework that explains what support is available in Early Years settings, primary and secondary schools in Essex. 

Ordinarily Available