School and Early Years Action

Your child’s teachers at school, or practitioners in an early years setting (pre-school), may think your child may be falling behind. The class teacher or practitioner should consult you and the school head teacher, and get advice from the SEN coordinator (SENCO). If you think your child is falling behind, you should speak to your child’s teacher or practitioner. The teacher or practitioner should:

• make an initial assessment of your child’s educational needs;
• provide or arrange special help within the normal curriculum framework to address any difficulties (for example changes to class work, teaching and learning strategies or classroom organisation); and
• monitor and review your child’s progress.

If the teacher or practitioner decides to take action, your child will be at the ‘Action’ stage of the SEN framework, and the action taken to help your child should be recorded on an Individual Education Plan (IEP).

  If the teacher or practitioner feels that your child does not have special educational needs, they may recommend differentiated work instead. Differentiation is when the normal class work is flexible to make it suitable for children and young people working at different levels. This is not part of the SEN framework. 

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