Special Education Needs (SEN) - Statement

Special Education Needs (SEN) - Statement

What is a statement of special educational needs?

What is a statement/note in lieu?

When assessments have been completed and reports have been received about the pupil’s needs the information is presented to the SNAPT panel. This panel will recommend whether to make a statement of SEN for the child.

The statement describes:

• what your child’s special needs are;
• the objectives, or targets to be achieved;
• how those targets are going to be met – the educational provision required;
• the monitoring arrangements;
• the school or pre-school setting your child will attend;
• any non-educational needs your child has and how those will be met.

A statement of SEN is set out in 6 parts:

Part 1 gives your child’s details, such as name and address, age, home language and religion. It also gives your name and address as the person responsible for the child. Finally, it lists all the advice that has been used to produce the statement, with the name of the author and the date on which it was written.

Part 2 gives details of all of your child’s Special Educational Needs as identified in the assessment. It should give a complete picture of your child, including his or her strengths.

Part 3 describes:

What the long term aims, or objectives are;

All the support identified to support the pupil in school (or pre-school setting) to cover all the learning difficulties in Part 2.

This should normally be quantified, (in terms of hours of support and staffing arrangements) although there will be cases where some flexibility should be given to the school, in order to meet the changing needs of the child concerned.

Appropriate facilities and equipment are specified, with  support arrangements and access to the curriculum, with any modifications to or exclusions from the National Curriculum.

It is the LA who is responsible for ensuring that the provision in the statement is made,

Arrangements are specified for setting short-term goals, including regularly reviewing the pupil’s  progress towards those goals, and how the pupil’s  progress is to be monitored.

Part 4 sets out the name of the school or pre-school the pupil will be attending will go to,
Before the statement is issued, the LA must send you a proposed statement, with this part left blank. Parents and carers are then given an opportunity to tell the LA which school you prefer, or to agree to a proposed provision.

Part 5 describes any non-educational needs the pupil has, as agreed between the LA and the health services, social services and other agencies.

Part 6 described how these non-educational needs are to be met.

Note in Lieu

Following on from the assessment, the LA may decide that the pupil’s school or pre-school setting can provide the special help he or she needs without the need for a Statement of SEN. In this case parents/carers are sent a Note in Lieu, which will:

• describe the pupil’s Special Educational Needs;
• explain why the LA has decided not to make a Statement;
• make recommendations about the appropriate provision for the pupil , which may recommend the need for additional advice
• support and teaching from specialist staff.

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