What can schools do to help my child?

The SEND Code of Practice 2015

All children and young people are entitled to an education that enables them to make progress so that they: 

• Achieve their best
• Become confident individuals living fulfilling lives
• Make a successful transition into adulthood’

They should use their ‘best endeavours to meet the special educational needs of their pupils – this means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN.’

How do they identify my child’s needs?

Schools will have ways of measuring progress of all their pupils. Class and subject teachers will identify those who are making less progress than expected. In particular they will be looking for progress which is:

• Slower than that of their peers 
• Fails to match their previous rate of progress 
• Fails to close the gap between them or their peers

There are 4 areas of need:

• Cognition and Learning: how they learn. Do they have more difficulty than their peers with their learning?
• Communication and Interaction: not just how they speak, but also how well they understand. It also covers their ability to understand or use social rules and may affect their ability to make or keep friends.
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health: this covers a wide range of difficulties such as anxiety or depression, displaying challenging behaviour, impulsivity.
• Physical and Sensory: physical disabilities, visual or hearing impairments.