The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system is to support children with additional needs in education.
The system will involve parents, teachers, and local councils to provide extra support.
The SEND system
The SEND system is the system that supports children and young people with additional needs throughout their education. This includes children and young people with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
.
What is SEND?
Some children and young people may require more help to learn and develop than children and young people of the same age. If this is the case they may be classed as having special educational needs (SEN) so they can get extra support. This could include anything from more
accessible
Accessible means something is easy for people to use or join in with. For example: Accessible writing means the writing is easy to read and understand.
information, to one-to-one support at school or college.
Some children and young people with SEN may also have a disability which does not affect their ability to learn but might stop them from being able to do
certain
Certain means you are sure about something.
day-to-day things.
How to get SEND support
How is SEND identified?
Every local area must identify which children and young people have SEND so that it can plan how it will go about meeting their needs.
Children and young people with SEN will be identified in many different ways. Some may have their SEN identified by a health worker or a paediatrician in their early life, and some children and young people’s needs may become evident later on in life, for example when they enter a certain stage of education.
Some children’s SEN can be predicted in early age. For example, certain conditions may mean it is more likely that they will require more support to learn and develop.
In all situations, the families of children under the age of 16 must be told about their child’s needs, and families of young people over the age of 16 should ordinarily be
involved
Involved is being included in something or taking part in something.
in this process as well.
Who can get support in the SEND system?
The SEND system applies to all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities aged 0-25, as long as they are in education or training. The support will vary depending on the needs of the child or young person.
You can also read the Government's guidance on the SEND system, and children and young people and their families'
rights
Rights are the things everyone should be allowed to do like have a say, or go to school.
under it.
SEND stands for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
SEN support offers extra help for a child with learning, communication, sensory, or behavioural need that is different from or extra to what most children receive.
There are three ways you can get SEND support:
- Through support in your local area.
- Through support in the educational setting (including nurseries, schools and colleges).
- Through planned support like an education, health and care plan (EHCP).