Get help with your child's progress

Special Educational Needs and Disability SEND Support Plan

Your child’s school or college are responsible for identifying and addressing the Special Educational Needs (SEN) of the pupils they support, using  something called ‘best endeavours’. This means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN.

What is a SEND?

Your child has a SEND where their learning difficulty or disability calls for special educational provision, ie provision which is different from or additional to that normally available to pupils of the same age. Identifying need at the earliest point and then making effective provision is key to improving long term outcomes. In most situations where a child or young person is making less than expected progress this can be addressed by high quality, differentiated teaching.

SEND Support Plan

If the school remains concerned that your child is making less than expected progress, in relation to their educational progress (attainment) or wider development or social needs, they may consider creating a Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Support Plan for your child. 

The aim of a SEND support plan is to improve outcomes by:

  • removing barriers to learning
  • putting effective educational provision in place

A decision to make special education provision should include an early discussion with you and your child and be based on a range of assessment information. The aim is to secure a shared understanding of your concerns, your child’s strengths and difficulties, and importantly, the outcomes being sought. ‘Outcomes’ might relate to progress, development or behaviour. You should be involved in all decision making, including, where relevant, the decision to involve a specialist. 

SEND Register

If following a school based assessment, working in partnership with you, the school decides that your child has special educational needs, their name will be added to the ‘SEND register’. This is a record of all the children in the school in receipt of SEND support. A School SEND support plan will then be developed by the school and you and your child should be involved in this. If your child has a SEND support plan, this means that the objectives and strategies within in it should be discussed with you, and that your child’s progress should be formally reviewed with you at least once a year. The plan will be developed using a process known as ‘assess, plan, do, review’.

Assess, Plan, Do, Review

SEND support takes the form of a four-part cycle, known as ‘assess, plan, do, review’. This should ensure that earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of your child’s needs and of what supports them in making good progress. The aim is to secure positive outcomes by matching interventions to the child or young person, through more detailed approaches, more frequent review and more specialist expertise in successive cycles. This is known as the graduated approach.

This four-part cycle consists of:

  • Assess - clear analysis of the child or young person’s needs by the teacher, with the support of  the SENCO, and including your views and those of your child.
  • Plan – jointly agreed plan of action which identifies the adjustments, support and interventions to be put in place, the expected impact, and a date for review.
  • Do –putting the plan into action with the support of everyone involved.  
  • Review – an evaluation of the quality, effectiveness and impact of provision by the review date, to include your views and those of your child.

All schools are required to publish their arrangements for assessing and identifying pupils as having SEND. You can find out more about your child’s schools arrangements from the school directly, or from the schools website.

You or your child may be asked to create a one-page profile.