1. SEND Reforms: Understanding SEN Support
Implementing the SEND Reforms
SEND Reforms: Understanding SEN Support
Produced in collaboration with:
Contact a Family
Council for Disabled Children
Early Support
Information, Support and Advice Services Network
Mott MacDonald
National Network for Parent Care Forum
Preparing for Adulthood
The Communications Trust
The Dyslexia-SpLD Trust
Autism Education Trust

2. Aims of the workshop
Develop an understanding of the legal requirements of SEN support Develop an understanding of how SEN supports children who are identified with SEN and who do not have an EHCP Share LA approaches to developing SEN support

3. The vision behind the SEND reforms
“We want children and young people with special needs and disabilities to achieve well in their early years, at school and in college; find employment; lead happy and fulfilled lives; and have choice and control over their support. The special needs reforms will implement a new approach which seeks to join up help across education, health and care, from birth to 25. Help will be offered at the earliest possible point, with children and young people with SEND and their parents or carers fully involved in decisions about their support and what they want to achieve. This will help lead to better outcomes and more efficient ways of working.”
What the DfE want to achieve through these reforms.

4. Designate a teacher to be responsible for co-ordinating SEN provision
Improving outcomes: high aspirations and expectations for children and young people with SEN
Every school is required to identify and address the SEN of the pupils that they support and under the COP must:
Use their best endeavours to make sure a child with SEN gets the support they need
Ensure that C&YP with SEN engage in the activities of the school alongside pupils who do not have SEN
Designate a teacher to be responsible for co-ordinating SEN provision
Inform parents when they are making special educational provision for a child
Prepare an SEN information report
Every school includes mainstream schools and academies that are not special schools, maintained nursery schools, 16 – 19 academies, alternative provision academies and PRUs
There should be a member of the governing body or a sub committee with specific oversight of the school’s arrangements for SEN and Disability. School leaders should regularly review how expertise and resources used to address SEN can be used to build the quality of the whole school provision as part of their approach to school improvement.
The quality of teaching for pupils with SEN, and the progress made by pupils, should be core to the school’s performance management arrangements and its approach to professional development for all teaching and support staff.
In fulfilling these duties, schools should have regard to the the principles of actively involving children, young people, parents and young people in decision making.

5. Equality and Inclusion
Schools must co-operate with the local authority in reviewing the provision that is available locally and in developing the Local Offer They must also have due regard to general duties to promote disability equality and they must make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services for disabled children.
Schools support pupils with a wide range of SEN. They should regularly review and evaluate the breadth and impact of the support they offer or can access.
Schools should consider local arrangements to collaborate with other local education providers to explore how different needs can be met effectively.
All schools have duties under the Equalities Act 2010 towards individual disabled children and young people.
Reasonable adjustments- these duties are anticipatory and require thought to be given in advance to what disabled children and young people might require and what adjustments might need to be made to prevent disadvantage. Schools also have wider duties to prevent discrimination, to promote equality of opportunity and to foster good relations.

6. Duties and requirements
Medical conditions – CFA places a duty on maintained schools and academies to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions Curriculum – all pupils should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. Careers guidance for children and young people - maintained schools and PRUs must ensure that pupils from year 8 until year 13 are provided with independent careers guidance
Medical conditions – individual healthcare plans will normally specify the type and level of support required to meet the medical needs of such pupils. Where C&YP also have SEN, their provision should be planned and delivered in a coordinated way with their healthcare plan.
Curriculum –Academies are subject to this duty through their funding arrangements.

7. Identifying SEN in schools
Schools should have a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN Schools should assess each pupil’s current skills and levels of attainment on entry, building on information from previously settings and key stages. Schools should make regular assessments of progress and seek to identify those pupils who are making less than expected progress given their age and individual circumstances.
Identifying SEN in schools – early identification and identifying need at the earliest point then making effective provision improves long term outcomes for the child or young person.
Schools regular assessments of progress – progress can be characterised which:
Is significantly slower that that of their peers starting from the same baseline
Fails to math or better the child’s previous rate of progress
Fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers
Widens the attainment gap
The first response to such progress should be high quality teaching targeted at those areas of weakness. Where progress continues to be less than expected the teacher working with the SENCO should assess whether the child has SEN.

8. Communication and interaction Cognition and learning
Broad areas of need
The following four broad areas of need give an overview of needs that should be planned for.
Communication and interaction
Cognition and learning
Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
Sensory and/or physical needs
When reviewing and managing special educational provision the broad areas of need and support may be helpful, and schools should review how well equipped they are to provide support across these areas. Information on these area of support and need is also collected through the School Census.
The purpose of identification is to work out what action the schools needs to take, not to fit the pupil into a category, in practice, individual C&YP often have needs that cut across all these areas and their needs may change over time.

9. Special education provision in schools
High quality teaching, differentiation for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who may have SEN. In deciding whether to make special educational provision, the teacher and SENCO should consider all the information about the child’s progress, along with national data and expectations of progress Critical to have an early discussion with pupil and their parents. Consideration of whether special educational provision is required should start with the desired outcomes, including the expected progress and attainment and the views and wishes of the pupil and parents
From year 9 the nature of the outcomes should reflect the need to ensure young people are preparing for adulthood. The outcomes should include those needed to make successful transitions between phases of education. Schools should engage with secondary schools or FE providers as necessary to help these transitions.
However support is provides, a clear date for reviewing progress should be agreed and the parent, pupil and teaching staff should be clear about how they will help the pupil reach the expected outcomes. The overriding purpose of this early action is to help the pupil achieve the identified outcomes and remove any barriers to learning. Where it is decided that a pupil does have SEN, the decision should be recorded in the schools records and the pupil’s parents must be formally informed that special educational provision is being made.

10. SEN Support
SEN support replaces School Action / School Action Plus. It is the category of support for children with SEN who do not have EHCP.
It focuses the system on the impact of the support provided to that individual child, rather than how children access support according to the category they fit into.
It places emphasises on a graduated approach (assess, plan, do and review).
The aim is to improve the experience and outcomes of school for all pupils ensuring high quality teaching and learning.
What is SEN support?
SEN support provides every child or young person with SEN, but not those who have an EHC plan with the additional support they need to progress at school. SEN support puts pupils at the heart of the provision, and encourage schools to respond more flexibly to pupils’ needs. Where a pupil is identified as having SEN, schools should take action to remove barriers to learning and put in an effective special educational provision in place, This SEN support should take the form of a four part cycle through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited with a growing understanding of the pupil’s needs and of what supports the pupil in making good progress and securing good outcomes. This is known as the graduated approach.
How will SEN support category improve things?
A simplified, rigorous approach will focus the system on the impact of the support provided to that individual child, rather than how children access support according to the category they fit into. It will also challenge schools to improve the quality of teaching and learning for all pupils, rather than inappropriately and inaccurately labelling some pupils as having SEN.
Examples of what good SEN support looks like, including case studies can be found at:
The send gateway at:
Achievement for All at:
Local authorities websites, particularly the local offer pages.
Code of Practice, section 6.44

11. Assess
Teacher, working with SENCO should carry out a clear analysis of the pupil’s needs Schools should take seriously any concerns raised by a parent – these should be recorded and compared to their own assessment and information on how the pupil is progressing This assessment should be reviewed regularly Include information from other professionals involved with the child
It is vitally important to review on a regular basis – this will ensure that support interventions are matched to need, barriers to learning are identified and overcome, and that a clear picture of interventions put in place and their effect is developed. For some types of SEN, the way in which a pupil responds to an intervention can be the most reliable method of developing a more accurate picture of need.

12. PLAN
Where it is decided to provide a pupil with SEN support, parents MUST be formally notified All teachers and support staff who work with the pupil should be made aware of the needs, outcomes sought, support provided and any teaching strategies and approaches that are required. The support and intervention provided should be selected to meet the outcomes identified for the pupil Parents should be aware of the planned support and interventions, and where appropriate, plans should seek parental involvement to reinforce at home
Parents in consultation with teacher and SENCo should agree the adjustments, intervention and support to be put into place as well as the expected impact on progress, development or behaviour , along with a clear date for review.
Support and intervention should be based on reliable evidence of effectiveness and delivered by staff with the right skills and knowledge.

13. DO
The class teacher should remain responsible for working with the child on a daily basis The class teacher should work closely with any teaching assistants or specialist staff involved to plan and assess the impact of support and interventions and how they can be linked to classroom teaching The SENCO should support the class or subject teacher in the further assessment of the child’s particular strengths and weaknesses and advising on the effective implementation of support
It is worth noting that there interventions involve group or one to one teaching away from the main class or subject teacher, they should still retain responsibility of the child. They

14. Review
The effectiveness of the support and interventions and their impact on the child’s progress should be reviewed in line with the agreed date The impact and quality of the support and interventions should be evaluated along with the views of child and parents Parents should have clear information about the impact of the support and interventions provided, enabling them to be involved in planning next steps
Where a pupil continues to make less than expected progress, despite evidence based support and interventions, school should consider involving specialists, including those secured by the school itself or form outside agencies.
Schools may involve specialists at any point to advise them on early identification of SEN and effective support and interventions.

15. The Graduated Response in practice DFE
Where a pupil is identified as having SEN, schools should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place.
This SEN support should take the form of a four-part cycle through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the pupil’s needs and of what supports the pupil in making good progress and securing good outcomes.
Code of Practice, section 6.45 – 6.53

16. Involving parents and pupils in planning and reviewing progress
Schools must provide an annual report for parents on their child’s progress Where a child is receiving SEN support, schools should talk to parents regularly to set clear outcomes and review progress towards them. Schools should meet with parents at least 3 times per year
The value of working with parents cannot be underestimated. Discussions with parents can build confidence in the actions being taken by the schools and also strengthen the SEN support by increasing parental involvement in the approaches and teaching strategies that are being used. Discussions should be led by a teacher with a a good understanding and knowledge of the child. Conducting these discussions takes a considerable amount of skill and staff should be supported to manage these conversations as part of their professional development.
The views of the pupil should be included should be included in these discussions.
Finally, a record of the outcomes, actions and support agreed through the discussions should be kept and shared with all the appropriate school staff. This record should be given to the pupil’s parents.

17. Use of data and record keeping
Provision made for pupils with SEN should be recorded accurately and kept up to date. Schools should particularly record details of additional or different provision under SEN support Schools should use information systems to monitor the progress and development of all pupils. Details of SEN, outcomes, teaching strategies and the involvement of specialists should be recorded as part of this overall approach Provision maps are an efficient way of showing all the provision that the school makes which is additional to and different from that offered through the curriculum
It is worth noting that as part of any inspection Ofsted will expect to see evidence of pupil’s progress, a focus on outcomes and a rigorous approach to monitoring and evaluation of any SEN support provided.
Provision management can be used strategically to develop special educational provision to match assessed needs of pupils across the school, and to evaluate the impact of that provision on pupil progress.

18. Q&A

19. Group task
In small groups discuss how SEN support is being developed in your area considering:
Your strategy and approach
How are you working with schools to achieve this?
How you are involving and embedding the views of C&YP and parents?
What is working well?
What is not working well?
Issues and challenges?
Please record and be prepared to feed back to the wider group

20. Group Task
What key questions would you ask to reflect on the assess, plan, do, review in schools Assess – how do you know that school is identifying needs a the earliest opportunity? How effectively do staff refine planning and adapt their teaching, based on assessment Plan – how well do teachers plan to meet the needs of pupils with SEN within the QFT? Do - How do you as SENCo support the development of staff skills, confidence and expertise in SEN? How do teachers ensure the transference of skills taught within targeted provision to work in class Review - How do engage with parents effectively to revise the provision in the light of progress? How do you identify the next steps required?

21. Next steps
In small groups reflect on what you have heard today:
What future support needs do you have?
What 3 key things will you take back to your organisation?

22. Resources and Further Reading
Mott Macdonald – SEND Information Packs and Resources
Includes case studies and resources
The send gateway at:
Achievement for All at:
Local authorities websites, particularly the local offer pages.

23. Evaluation
Please help us to keep improving these workshops by completing the evaluation form at Participant evaluation: Facilitator evaluation:

24. Support available to local areas
Pathfinder Champions North West Wigan, Manchester. Salford & Lancashire North East Darlington and Early Support Yorkshire and Humber North Yorkshire, Calderdale and York City West Midlands Consortium of 13 LAs East Midlands Leicester and Nottinghamshire
East of England
Hertfordshire and Bedford
London 1
Bromley, Bexley and Enfield
London 2
SE7 (supported by Mott MacDonald)
South East
South West 1
Cornwall (supported by Mott MacDonald)
South West 2
Southampton and Portsmouth (supported by Mott MacDonald)

25. Support available to local areas
Delivery Partners
Autism Education Trust
Contact a Family
Council for Disabled Children
Early Support
Information, Support and Advice Services Network
National Network for Parent Carer Forums
Preparing for Adulthood
The Communications Trust
The Dyslexia-SpLD Trust
Mott MacDonald

26. The Implementing the SEND reforms workshop series has been collaboratively produced by:
The workshop series has been co-produced by the following organisations.

27. Implementing the SEND reforms workshop series
Series 1: Transitioning from the old to the new system Series 2: Understanding EHC plans Series 3: Best practice in joint commissioning Series 4: Engaging parent carers – Wednesday 25th March 2015 Series 5: Engaging children and young people – Tuesday 2nd December 2014 Series 6: Preparation for adulthood – Tuesday 10th February 2015 Series 7: Understanding SEN Support – Tuesday 18th November 2014 Series 8: Early Years providers – Wednesday 21st January 2015 Series 9: Personal budgets – Wednesday 4th March 2015