Parent and carer guide to SEN support

The aim of this guidance is to inform parents and carers of children who are identified as needing SEN support.

SEN support is the support given to a child in school to meet their Special Educational Needs and or Disabilities (SEND), without the requirement of an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP).

SEN needs are split into four broad areas as defined by the SEN Code of Practice 2014 as below: 

1. Communication and interaction
2. Cognition and learning
3. Social, emotional and mental health
4. Sensory and physical

It may be that your child has needs in more than one of these areas. Your child's school or setting are responsible for identifying that your child has needs and how they will meet these needs to enable your child to make progress. Further information about these areas of need can also be found on the Introduction to SEND page and in our SEN support guidance for mainstream schools.

If your child is identified as having special educational needs and or disability, the school special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) or a member of teaching staff who knows your child well should:

• gather all necessary information about your child and their needs, including results of assessments, pupil views, progress and attainment data, any observations and where appropriate information from other agencies
• meet with you to discuss this and explain how they have and will continue to identify your child's needs and remove barriers to learning
• share with you how they plan to reduce the barriers to learning by making sure the appropriate support Is in place to meet your child's needs
• work with you, your child and with advice from other agencies (if appropriate) to plan and develop a SEN support plan to identify what specific support your child will receive
• review progress and impact of support regularly (at least 3 times a year)