How should the school support my child?
The SEND Code of Practice explains the duties of local authorities, health bodies, schools and colleges to provide for those with special educational needs under part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014. This is the law, and schools must have regard to it.
All schools and settings must:
- Make reasonable adjustments for children and young people to help them access their education and act to provide support which is additional to or different to support generally given to children of the same age, to ensure the needs of the child are being met
- Work with parents and carers and the individual to talk about their educational needs.
- Ensure that the curriculum and culture is inclusive, so that every child and young person can engage in the activities of the school, ensuring that support is provided where needed
- Clearly communicate with parents/carers about what is being put in place for the child or young person
- Provide a range of teaching strategies and learning opportunities, which may include a range of ICT equipment and resources
- Work with children, young people and families to set and review targets, progress and outcomes
- Put appropriate interventions in place and regularly review their effectiveness
- Regularly review the quality and appropriateness of the provision and monitor the impact
- Adhere to the requirements of the SEND Code of Practice
Schools must then publish a SEN information report about their SEN provision which can be found on the school's website. Alternately, the child's teacher or the school's special education needs coordinator (SENCO) can provide this information.
Some children and young people with more complex and significant challenges may require specialist services to support what their school does.
For children and young people with SEND schools may also need to provide:
- Staff collaboration with specialists within the school setting and outside agencies
- Broker or commission alternative support where in-school provision isn’t meeting the pupil’s need (e.g. speech and language therapy, school counsellors, play therapy, therapy centres)
We publish more information about what we expect all schools to do for children and young people with SEND on our Suffolk Learning website: Suffolk Mainstream Inclusion Framework
What is SEN support?
SEN support aims to enable children to achieve goals and learning objectives given to them by their school. Schools should also work with parents throughout this process.
This can involve:
- learning programmes
- enabling your child to work and play with other pupils
- Extra help and learning support
- enabling your child to participate
- helping your child with physical challenges such as moving, eating, using the toilet, and dressing
- Supervising and observing your child throughout the day
- providing materials and equipment to facilitate your child's learning
How can I access SEN support?
Your child's school should regularly assess all pupils within the school and identify individuals who are falling behind or may need additional support. Then, the school can make a decision as to whether SEN support is required, with you and your child's involvement.
If you are already aware that your child may need SEN support, we would encourage you to talk to the Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO) at your child's school.
Once your child has been identified as needing SEN support, the school should then follow the steps below (this is sometimes referred to as the graduated approach):
Schools receive funding directly from both central and local government to provide support to children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This funding is not tied to any particular pupil, and is given to all schools in order to enable them to “map out” the needs of their pupils and respond quickly and effectively to these. Some of the things schools can put in place using this funding include whole-school approaches that promote inclusion throughout the school community, small group work that may benefit groups of children with similar needs, or, where necessary, 1:1 work with school staff and/or support from specialist teams. In Suffolk, we call this approach the ‘graduated response to SEND’.
If your child needs more support than can be provided through this initial funding, your child’s school can also apply for High Needs Funding from Suffolk County Council, or you or your child's school can also apply for an Education, Health and Care Plan.