What is SEND support?

If your child is not making enough progress at universal level, their teacher or key worker and possibly the SENCOSENCOThe SENCO is responsible for coordinating provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Those are children or young people who need more help than is normally available to pupils of the same age.  will discuss with you placing your child at SEND support level. SEND support level stands for special educational needs and disabilities support level and is for children who need more help than is normally available to the rest of the class.

The SENSENSpecial Educational Needs is a term which refers to children who have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age. support for each child is different because it is designed to meet the needs of that particular child. It should be set out in a plan (sometimes called an Individual Education PlanIndividual Education Plan A plan which sets targets for your child to achieve and a date for a review to see what progress they have made.  (IEP)) and should include the actions and support needed to help the child or young person make expected progress towards agreed targets. Plans need to be specific and clear about targets, actions and who does what. The plan should be reviewed with you at least once a term. Regular communication between school and the family is vital.

BCP Council advocates using a person-centred approach to the graduated response assess, plan do review cycle which means preparing, supporting and encouraging the child or young person to have as much choice and control over their own life as possible and focuses on the their strengths, motivators and skills as well as their needs. Any planning should be based on what is important to them and what is important for them and their family. In this way educational settings make sure that planning and actions are ‘done with’ the child or young person and their family, rather than ‘done to’ them.

Sometimes one cycle of the assess, plan do, review process is enough, and the child or young person starts to make progress with the support that has been put in place. For others however, when the review stage is reached it’s clear that expected progress isn’t being made, so further SENSENSpecial Educational Needs is a term which refers to children who have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age. Support is needed, and the cycle continues and the help and support will be gradually increased.

If the child or young person does not make satisfactory progress despite ongoing targeted support, the school or setting will involve relevant external agencies, for example an advisory teacher or speech and language therapist.

Examples of SEND SupportSEND SupportUniversal Plus level: if quality first teaching approaches have not been enough to meet a child/young person’s needs and they need more focused, targeted support, they will be identified as having SEND. At Partnership Plus level more specialist advice is sought, put into place and reviewed. Quality first teaching, including evidenced, robust use of the ‘assess-plan-do-review’ cycle, rigorous teacher oversight, and close liaison between the setting and family will continue. SEN support includes help for children and young people with SEN that is additional or different from the universal support available for other children and young people of the same age. The purpose of SEN support is to help children and young people achieve the outcomes and learning objectives that have been set for them. Education settings should involve parents and carers in the SEND support process. may include:

• additional adult support for particular lessons or at certain times, like playtime
• the use of a personalised work area
• structured activities to develop social skills in small groups
• adaptions to the physical environment or access to additional resources
• 1 to 1 or small group evidence-based interventions for reading, spelling, writing or numeracy, several times per week
• support from a mentor or key worker
• regular reviews of the support, at least termly, with the relevant people, including parents and carers.

Some pupils have more long term and complex needs and they will need several assess, plan, do, review cycles to make progress and some may ultimately need an education, health and care needs assessment.

Settings, parents, and young people aged between 16 and 25 can request that the local authority carries out an Education, Health and Care Needs AssessmentAssessment Measures children and young people’s learning and development and identifies additional needs.  (EHCNA), if they think that the child or young person needs more support than is available at SEND support level. See the Education, Health and Care Plan information to find out more.