What is SEN support in education?
Special educational needs (SEN) support is the extra help educational settings (schools, early years, or post-16 providers) use to meet the needs of children or young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Your child could get Special Educational Needs (SEN) Support at school if they:
- need more support to learn than other children their age
- need additional support in their school or education setting
SEN Support is available at all levels of education, from nursery to further education.
Your child can still get SEN Support without a diagnosis. You can find out more about what support your child/ young person can receive at SEN support level by looking at our Ordinarily available provision expected at SEN Support documents. These documents contain information on support and provision that all schools and education settings in Cumberland should have available to support children and young people at SEN support level.
By law, state schools and nurseries must provide SEN Support. This includes academies and free schools.
If SEN Support is not enough to meet the needs of your child, you can apply for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment.
How do I request SEN support for my child or young person?
The first people to talk to about your child’s needs are the head teacher and the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO). All schools and education settings in England have a SENCO.
SENCOs work with teachers, parents and health professionals to meet pupils’ special educational needs:
- Ask for an appointment with the SENCO
- Explain why your child needs extra support
- If the school is unaware of your child’s needs, ask for a SEN assessment
You could ask questions like:
- Where is my child academically?
- How is my child coping in school socially?
- Is my child getting any extra support?
The school may suggest putting your child on a SEN support plan. In Cumberland, each school or education setting's plans may look slightly different, however they should all aim to support your child using the approaches outlined in the Ordinarily available provision at SEN Support documents.
The graduated approach
If a child or young person has or may have SEN, the setting must follow the Graduated Approach. The Graduated Approach is what settings should put in place to support a child or young person who has SEN. The SEND Code of Practice [PDF 3.2MB] gives guidance on this.
The graduated approach has 4 stages: Assess, Plan, Do and Review. The assess, plan, do, review cycle is the way settings plan support for children/young people with SEN. Priority should be given to the child’s and family's views and considered during the cycle.
Assess: Evaluating your child’s needs and the support required. Teachers and other professionals will work with you and your child to look at the support they need.
Plan: You and your child agree with the school what support they will do.
Do: The school will implement the support for your child, as agreed in the plan.
Review: The school will review how your child is progressing. You and your child can say how things are going and if your child is getting the support they need.
The Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle can happen as many times as needed to help the child or young person's progress. Some children or young people will show good progress after the first round of support. Other children/young people might need more than one cycle to make progress.
Involving specialists
If a child isn't making expected progress, specialists should be asked to help. Depending on the needs of the child these may include:
- Educational Psychologist
- Specialist Advisory Teacher
- Speech and Language Therapist
- Occupational Therapist
A full list of specialists can be found on our Professionals Information Hub.
The decision to involve specialists should be made by the educational setting, in partnership with the child's parents.