School support for children and young people with SEND

Most children and young people can have their needs met through support that can be provided by their school.  If you would like to know more about what your child or young person’s school offers, you could have a look at their SEND Information Report.  This will be on their website, or you can contact them to ask for a copy.

The first step in helping children and young people with SEND is making sure they get good quality teaching.  Teachers will change and adapt their lessons so everyone can join in and learn in a way that works best for them. 

Leicester City have provided schools with a toolkit to help them think about what changes they can make to support children and young people.  These are called BERA audits.   BERA stands for best endeavours and reasonable adjustments as these are all things that schools can and should be doing to help any children and young people who need extra help.  Find out what a BERA is.

If you think you child or young person is struggling and needs more help, you should contact the schools Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENDCo) and ask for a meeting.

For any children and young people who need extra help, all schools must follow the SEND Code of Practice.  This means that they use clear steps to give extra support to children and young people who need it.  These steps are called the Graduated Approach.

Watch at short video that explains what the graduate approach is

There are four stages of the graduated approach: 

1. Assess

Your child’s needs should be looked at carefully so they get the right support.  This means the school should listen to your views, talk to staff who know your child well (like their teacher), and check records and other information.  Sometimes this may mean asking experts, like an educational psychologist, a specialist teacher, or a health professional, to give extra advice.

2. Plan

When your child or young persons school have assessed their needs, they can make a plan for how to help them. They should share this plan with you and your child or young person.  School might also create a SEND Support Plan.

3. Do

When the school has made a plan for the help your child needs, they will put the extra support in place and use it to help your child learn and do well.

4. Review

The support your child receives should be reviewed regularly to make sure it has helped them to do well.  You should be included in this so that you know how your child or young person is getting on. 

For some children, the school may have already tried several cycles of assess–plan–do–review. If your child still needs extra help, or a higher level of support, the school might suggest adding their name to the SEND register.

This means the school has recognised that your child has special educational needs which are affecting their progress, and they need more support.

The school should always ask your permission before adding your child’s name to the SEND register. You should also be invited to regular meetings to talk about the support your child is getting and how well it is working.