SEN Support
Do you sometimes: Find it a lot harder to learn than others in your class? or Struggle to move around your school or college? or Find it hard to use equipment or resources, or join in activities? If so, you might have Special Educational Needs. (This is sometimes shortened to SEN)
What support could I get?
- A special learning programme
- Extra materials and equipment
- Extra help from a teacher or assistant
- Working in a smaller group
- Advice from experts like doctors
- Support with things like eating, getting around school safely
- Help to take part in the class activities
What can you do?
You can talk to your parents or carers. You can ask your school about SEN support. If you have any questions, you can call SENDIASS.
“A Graduated Approach”
The law says that if you have SEN, school should take action to make sure that there is support in place and there is nothing stopping you from learning. School will work with you to assess your needs, plan and provide your support, and review how you are getting on:
Assess
School will find out what your needs are. They will talk to you, your teachers, your parents. They will look at your progress and any difficulties you have.
Plan
If school decide you need extra support – they will write a plan. This is called an SEN Support Plan.
Do
Everybody that works with you will follow this plan.
Review
School will check if your plan is working. This is called a review. You can talk to school about your plan. If it is not working, you can talk about changing the plan. Perhaps you need more or different help. You should be included in the review and in planning what to do next.
What if you need more help?
If you have an SEN Support Plan, but you still need more help, there are other options: one of them could be to ask the Local Authority for an EHC needs assessment.
By gradually trying out different ways of being supported, you should find the level of help that suits you best.