Securing SEN support in schools

All children or young people in education can expect to receive support for their special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

For children aged 0-5, all state-funded nurseries must use their best endeavours to identify, and provide for, SEND. Nurseries should use a programme of Assess, Plan, Do, Review when working out how to support children with SEND. Parents should be actively involved with this process and in any decision to seek additional special educational needs support.

For children and young people over 5, the programme of support is called “SEN Support”. If a child is thought to have SEND, they should be provided with additional support through SEN Support. This typically means that children with SEND should expect to have up to an extra £6,000 of funding per year. This funding should be used by schools to provide additional SEND support for a child.

As long as a young person remains in education or training, they can expect to continue to receive support for their SEND until they reach 25 years of age.

How we can help

The term “special educational needs and disability” has a particular legal meaning.

If you are concerned that your child or young person has special educational needs, and feel that they are not being recognised or catered for, we can provide advice about whether they meet the legal definition. If they do, we can help you to liaise with the nursery, school or college to secure additional support for your child or young person.

If a child or young person’s nursery, school or college is struggling to provide for their SEND, an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) may be required. This can be obtained by asking the local authority to conduct an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment. We can help with making a request for an EHC needs assessment.