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Special Educational
Needs
The special
educational needs of the great majority of children should be met effectively within
mainstream settings through Early Years Action
and Early Years Action Plus or School Action and School Action Plus, without the Local Education
Authority needing to make a statutory assessment. In
a small number of cases the Local Education Authority will need to make a statutory
assessment of special educational needs and then consider whether or not to issue a
statement.
The assessment
of special educational needs should be seen as a partnership between parents, the
professionals contributing advice and the Local Education Authority. The parents and child should be closely involved
at each stage of the assessment and encouraged to participate wherever possible. The degree to which the child’s views and
feelings can be taken into account will vary according to their age and ability. Visit
the
Plymouth Parent Partnership website.
A statement of
special educational needs sets out the child’s needs and all the special help he or
she should have. The proposed statement will
be issued to parents with all the advice obtained during the statutory assessment. If parents are not happy with the proposed
statements there are a number of opportunities to request meetings for them to raise their
concerns.
The statement
will be reviewed on a yearly basis to ensure the provision detailed in the statement is
meeting the child’s needs. Parents will
be encouraged to attend the annual review meeting where their comments, along with school
staff and other people working with their child, are discussed. If appropriate, their child will have the
opportunity to contribute and participate in the meeting.
The Department
for Education and Skills has published a booklet “Special Educational Needs
(SEN)” containing information for parents and explaining the assessment procedure.
The SEN area of the DfES TeacherNet website aims to provide a wide range of special
education needs and disability advice and materials for teachers, parents and others
working with children with SEN in England. To download a copy of the SEN booklet go to the
Teachers Net website |
