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Children and young people with special educational needs may get extra help if they find learning more challenging than their classmates.

The SEND code of practice states that schools, colleges and early education providers must do their very best to make sure that children and young people with SEND get their needs met through appropriate support.  This is called SEND support.

Ordinarily Available Provision guidance

The Ordinarily Available Provision guidance for schools (pdf 838 kb) sets out the adaptive teaching and reasonable adjustments that should be part of everyday inclusive teaching and learning in schools: the 'SEND support' that will help children with additional needs to overcome any barriers to learning. 

How to get SEND support

Speak to someone at your child's school – that could be the:


The school might contact you first if they think your child could use some extra support.  They will work with you to discuss and reflect on your child's strengths and needs and to jointly agree on the provision needed to support them. 

Before meeting the school you might want to...

...gather examples showing your child's challenges. That could include:

  • school work and homework, school reports, test results
  • any professional reports
  • details of support they may have had at a previous school.

...write a list of your concerns. That might cover:

  • school work and behaviour at school
  • concentration, physical skills, relationships
  • behaviour and mood at home.

...write down any questions. For example:

  • What assessments have the school done to find out about my child's challenges?
  • What extra help does my child get?
  • How do you measure my child's progress? Is he/she making the progress you'd expect?
  • What can I do at home to help my child?

Check the school's website - all schools must publish certain information on their website, including;

  • a SEN information report (which gives details about a school's provision and support for children and young people with SEND) and;
  • an accessibility plan (which shows how the school plans to make improvements to the physical environment to increase access to the curriculum for disabled children and young people) 

Identifying your child's needs and monitoring progress

The school or education provider will assess your child's needs to determine the best SEND support available.

Create an SEN support plan

The SENCO will work with you to identify your child's needs and create a SEND support plan (sometimes called a 'provision map'). That includes what goals your child will work towards, who will work with your child and exactly how the school will support.

You should get a copy of the plan in writing.

If the school or education provider needs additional help to support your child, they can request advice from the Ask SALI team

School puts the plan into action

Your child’s teacher will often work with teaching assistants or specialist staff to put the plan into action. Everyone working with your child should be made aware of their needs and the plan's aims.

Review progress

You'll agree when to review your child's progress against the plan. You should meet at least 3 times a year (in addition to parents evenings).

The school or education provider should provide a progress report every year.

Next steps

If your child hasn't made reasonable progress, or you're unhappy with the support in place, it'll be important to agree what should happen next.

Sometimes it helps to involve other professionals in further assessment.

Your child’s needs might have changed or the support needs to change.

If your child's needs can't be met by SEND support, the next step might be to seek an education, health and care needs assessment. That will identify whether an education, health and care plan is required.

More about Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP)

Examples of SEND support

That support could include:

  • extra help from a teacher or teaching assistant
  • working with your child in a small group
  • helping your child take part in activities or trips
  • movement breaks and agreed calm and quiet spaces when appropriate
  • personalised visual timetables to help with transitions and reduce anxiety caused by busy or unpredictable environments
  • more time to process what they have heard, think about their response, and encouraging them to ask questions
  • helping other children work or play with your child
  • supporting your child with physical or personal care, such as eating, dressing or going to the toilet.


Extra help like this is sometimes called 'adaptive teaching' or 'reasonable adjustments'.  You'll find more examples of these in the Ordinarily Available Provision guidance (pdf 838kb) . 

For children with physical disabilities, reasonable adjustments could include things like:

  • providing wheelchair access
  • documents in Braille, or
  • assistive listening devices

Our expectations

We'd expect an education provider, school or college to create an inclusive school environment where understanding and acceptance of all children's individual needs is encouraged. Schools should listen to parents and carers about their child's strengths, needs and aspirations, and should involve them in planning support.  Our expectations for schools and educational providers are set out in full in the Ordinarily Available Provision guidance (pdf 838kb).

   

Page was last updated on: 29/09/2025 16:18:44

 

 

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