School support for children with SEND

What special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are

SEND stands for special educational needs and disabilities. You might also hear special educational needs (SEN).  

The government’s SEND Code of Practice covers the support local authorities must provide children with SEN and disabilities. 

It says that a child has a special educational need if they have:   

• a significantly greater difficulty in learning than most others the same age   
• a disability that prevents or hinders them making use of educational facilities generally provided for others the same age, in mainstream:
  • schools 
  • post-16 institutions, like colleges or sixth-form

Special educational needs (SEN)

Special educational needs fall into 4 categories:   

• communication and interaction – for example:  
  • autism spectrum disorder (ASD) 
  • speech and language difficulties
• cognition and learning – for example: 
  • dyslexia
  • dyspraxia
  • dyscalculia
• social, emotional and mental health – for example: 
  • anxiety
  • trauma
  • attachment disorder 
  • attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) 
  • depression
• sensory and/or physical needs – for example: 
  • visual or hearing impairment(s) 
  • cerebral palsy 
  • muscular dystrophy

Disabled children and young people

The Equality Act 2010 explains that a disability is a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term and substantial adverse effect on someone’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. 

A disabled child or young person may not have a special educational need, but if their disability affects their school life, then the school must support their needs. 

Rights of children with SEND

The government’s SEND Code of Practice sets out guidelines for schools and educational settings, so children with SEND get the best educational outcomes.  

It states that schools should:   

• do everything they can to support each child’s special educational needs 
• teach children with SEN alongside their peers 
• have a special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO or SENDCO) 
• have a SEN information report that explains their arrangements for: 
  • admissions of disabled children 
  • preventing discrimination of their disabled children 
  • making their school accessible for disabled children

Identifying special educational needs (SEN)

Children in kinship care have often experienced trauma. This can lead to social, emotional or mental health difficulties, for example attachment disorder or anxiety.

SEN support process

When you or your child’s school recognise that your child may need SEN support, schools should use the “assess, plan, do, review” process. 

Do I have permission to talk to the school about my kinship child’s needs?

You need to have parental responsibility to act on concerns you have about your kinship child’s needs. 

If you are: 

• an informal kinship carer 
• a private foster carer 
• a kinship foster carer 

you don’t have parental responsibility for your kinship child. Informal kinship carers and private foster carers need to work with their child’s birth parents to come to any decisions about your child’s needs. Kinship foster carers need to work with their child’s social worker. 

If you have a special guardianship order (SGO), you have overriding parental responsibility and can talk to the school. It’s still best to involve your child’s birth parents in any conversations where it’s safe to do so. 

If you have a child arrangements order (CAO), you share parental responsibility with your child’s birth parents so must talk to the school together. 

Assess

If you have parental responsibility and are raising your concerns with the school, speak to your child’s teacher or the SENCO. You need to explain why you think your child needs support and what behaviours they are showing that affect their school life.  

If the school identify a need for support, the teacher should work with the SENCO to analyse your child’s needs. They should use teacher assessments and their own experiences of teaching your child as evidence. They may get specialists to help them assess your child, for example an educational psychologist. 

Plan

The school should speak to you – letting you know what they’ve identified and what actions they want to take. They should also tell any other teachers that work with your child. 

Do

The teacher will work with the SENCO to create a SEN support plan – schools may also call this an individual learning plan (ILP). It can include reasonable adjustments that they’ll make in the school day to support your child. They should involve you and get your input, then give you a copy when it’s ready. 

They should follow through with any actions or strategies agreed in the plan to give your child the support they need. 

Review

The school should review the SEN support plan with you, looking at your kinship child’s outcomes and their progress towards them. Reviews will usually be termly, so about 3 times a year. 

These meetings should be: 

• longer and more detailed than non-SEND parent-teacher meetings 
• recorded by the school (with agreed actions) 
• sent to parents/carers, for them to keep for their records 
• a way to decide support, sharing any targets/actions with appropriate staff members   

When the school reviews this progress, make sure they take both you and your child’s views into account.  

If you have concerns, or feel things aren’t progressing as they should, speak to the school’s Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO). They are responsible for the school’s SEN policy. Depending on the type of kinship carer you are, you may also get support from your virtual school. 

SEN support plans

Schools may also call SEN support plans: 

• an individual learning plan (ILP) – most common 
• an individual education plan 
• a personalised learning plan 

If you’re unsure of the term your child’s school uses, speak to them directly. 

SEN support plans detail reasonable adjustments the school has in place for a child, so they can access the curriculum and school facilities/services the same as any other child. It should describe: 

• the child’s SEN and how these impact their learning 
• the outcomes the child should achieve 
• the support they will get to reach the outcomes 

Reasonable adjustments examples

‘Reasonable adjustments’ are positive steps or interventions schools can put in place for children with disabilities.  Schools must make adjustments so those children can access school facilities in the same way as any other pupil. 

Reasonable adjustments could include:    

• developing self-calm strategies with the child – for example, meditation 
• making their uniform rules more flexible 
• using speech-to-text-technology to support writing – for example: 
  • a dyslexia-friendly dictionary   
  • an iPad or other tablet 
  • a microphone and/or recording device 
• routines or rewards from home that might help at school   

Tell the school what adjustments you think might help, and what works at home. You can use the review meeting to talk about whether they’re working for your child. 

Education, health and care plans (EHC plans)

If the school can’t meet your child’s needs, they should ask for an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment. The assessment can lead to an education, health and care plan (called an “EHC plan” or “EHCP”). 

Questions to ask the school

Here are some questions you can ask the school about their SEND support. 

• Who is your SENCO?  
• How will you monitor my child’s progress? 
• How often do you monitor progress for children with SEND? 
• What mental health, emotional wellbeing and therapies might be available through the school? For example, is there a counsellor available in school? 
• What accommodations are you able to make for my child, such as more time in exams, extra learning support or one to one time with teachers? 
• Have any staff been trained in trauma-informed practices? Are staff aware of the effects of early childhood trauma and able to support my child?  
• Do you have experience of working with children with attachment issues or who have experienced trauma? 
• What reasonable adjustments can you make for young people who have experienced trauma? 
• How will you tell staff about my child’s SEN support plan? 
• How do you make classroom activities inclusive? 
• What support and supervision do you have at lunch breaks and playtimes? 
• What’s your experience of requesting EHC needs assessments and EHC plans? 

Helpful sources of information

• SEND local offer – search “SEND local offer” and your local authority online. 
• SEND information advice and support service (SENDIASS) – trained staff who provide families with support and advice on all aspects of SEND. Search “SENDIASS” and your local authority area online to find their details. 
• Family information service – information on the range of universal and targeted support services in your area.  Search “family information service” and your local authority area online to find their details. 
• Ordinarily available provision guidance – this provides schools, parents and carers with information on a range of reasonable adjustments across the 4 broad areas of SEN. This is helpful for families to refer to when discussing types of support at school. Search “ordinarily available provision guidance” and your local authority area online to find their details. 
• Contact’s “Helpful guide for families with disabled children”
• Young Minds A-Z mental health guide
• Dyslexia foundation
• IPSEA’s guides to children out of school
• Contact the school’s governors – these are a group of people overseeing the management of the school. They are a ‘critical friend’ to the school’s senior leaders. Many are approachable, and you can find out how to contact them on your school’s website. 
• IPSEA’s guides to taking action when things go wrong, including making a complaint about a school.