Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Independent Schools

Written by Ian Summersgill

It has been estimated that around 20% of children will need some form of extra support during their time at school. For many this will be relatively short-lived, for others it will affect their entire school – and home – lives. Thankfully, SEN is very well-regulated in English law and every child – including those in independent schools – is covered equally.

A child can be considered to have SEN if he or she has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age, or has a difficulty preventing him or her from making use of educational facilities generally provided for children of the same age by the Local Education Authority (LEA). Also, if a child is under the age of five, they can still have a SEN Statement if they are, or would be, likely to fall into the above category once they reached five years old unless special provision were made.

The first step in identifying what extra provision a school should make for a pupil is a Statutory Assessment (SA). SAs are the diagnosis to a SEN Statement’s prescription, and can be requested by both parents and schools, and are carried out by your Local Education Authority. The LEA will seek parental, educational, medical and psychological advice, as well as advice from Social Services and others. The key question to be answered here is whether there is evidence that – despite a school taking action to meet a child’s learning difficulties – the difficulties have not been sufficiently remedied and require the LEA do determine what special provision must be made.

A SEN Statement is much like a contract between the State and the parents of a child with SEN, outlining what extra support a school is obliged to give a child in its care. The Statement will identify the extra educational and non-educational provision is necessary, the school at which the provision is going to take place, and how the provision is going to be made. If extra funding is necessary to fulfil the Statement, the Local Authority will meet the cost. You should receive a draft Statement from your Local Authority before any final decision is made. This is your opportunity to request a particular school that you want your child to go to, if you have one in mind.

Some of the best Special Educational Needs schools in the country are in membership of ISC (for the complete list of ISC SEN schools, please click here). If you have any questions about SEN schools, or special educational needs in independent schools generally, you can contact the ISC Information & Advice Service on 0845 SCHOOLS (7246657), or information@isc.co.uk.

For information on the appeals process for both statutory assessments and statements, you might also like to contact the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), part of the government Tribunals Service. Their telephone number is 0870 241 2555.

Further information on Special Educational Needs (SEN)
More information on special educational needs is available here
including a list of ISC SEN accredited schools, including those approved for:
specific learning difficulties and associated language difficulties, schools for dyspraxia and ADHA
pupils with emotional and behavioural disorders
specific learning difficulties and Asperger’s syndrome
pupils with specific learning difficulties
As well as ISC schools for pupils with Dyslexia, accredited by the Council for Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils (CReSTeD). 

More information on special educational needs (SEN) is available here.

Related posts:

• SEN2008 – another successful ISC special educational needs conference
• School league tables, websites and independent schools guides: How do I decide which school is best for my child?
• SEN pupil gets support needed at independent school
• A Bright Spark: ‘Gifted and Talented’ in the Independent Sector
• The Fonz: Not too cool for school

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 3:13 pm by Ian Summersgill and is filed under News, Private Schools, Special Educational Needs (SEN). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.