Statement of special educational needs (SEN)

After the statutory assessment has been done, the authority will decide whether a statement of SEN is needed. The authority will only issue a statement if it decides that your child’s needs cannot be met through the normal resources available to schools. More information about statements is given in the SEN Code of Practice, including a guide to the types of needs that are likely to require a statement (pages 39-40).

The statement of special educational needs is a document that sets out your child’s needs and identifies provision to meet those needs. Statements should be clear and unambiguous, and will be set out in the following format.

Part 1 

Introduction: The child’s name, address and date of birth. The child’s home language (if not English) and religion. The names and addresses of the child’s parents, guardians or carers.

Part 2 

Special Educational Needs (Learning Difficulties): Details of each of the child’s special educational needs as identified during statutory assessment.

Part 3

Special Educational Provision other than Placement: The special educational provision considered necessary to meet the child’s special educational needs.

a. The objectives which the special educational provision should aim to meet.

b. The special educational provision which the authority considers appropriate to meet the needs specified in Part 2 and to meet the objectives in part a.

c. The arrangements to be made for monitoring progress against the objectives, particularly for setting short-term targets for the child’s progress, and for reviewing his or her progress on a regular basis.

Part 4 

Special Educational Provision - Placement: The type - and wherever appropriate the name - of the school where the provision specified in Part 3 is to be made.
Note: on a proposed statement, part 4 will be left blank.

Part 5 

Non-Educational Needs: Any relevant non-educational needs of the child as agreed between the health services, social services or other agencies and the authority.

Part 6 

Non-Educational Provision: Specification of any relevant non-educational provision required to meet the non-educational needs of the child, including agreed arrangements for its provision.
Signature and date.

Appendices

This section will contain all the advice obtained during the assessment process.

The parts which identify the educational needs and provision (parts 2, 3 and 4) are legally binding. This means the authority must organise the provision that is described in the statement. Parts 5 and 6 of the statement describe non-educational needs (such as medical needs) and non-educational provision. These parts are not legally binding and you cannot appeal to SENDIST about the content of parts 5 and 6. Any provision that directly affects your child’s education, such as speech and language therapy, should generally be regarded as educational provision and should be in part 3 of the statement, unless there are substantial reasons for not doing this.

Part 3 of a statement could include:

• Long term objectives for the education and development of your child, over the time of the statement.
• Educational provision made by the school, for example specialist teaching and learning methods.
• Educational provision made directly by the authority, for example time with a specialist or therapist.
• Educational provision made by other services, for example health and social services.
• Details of any elements of the Northern Ireland Curriculum that need to be modified or disapplied for your child.
• Changes to exams such as GCSEs (approval from the exam board is also needed).
• Short-term educational targets on the path to the long term objectives.
• Arrangements for monitoring your child’s progress.
• Any special arrangements for the annual review (for example, the provision for some children is reviewed more frequently).

All provision in this section should be specific, detailed, and quantified. For example, the statement should specify how many hours of specialist support or therapy are needed and when these will be delivered. There may be a good reason for keeping the arrangements flexible if this helps your child. For example, when the support is given might depend on your child’s condition from day to day. If your child has several education needs with different levels of provision, and a statement is issued, all the educational provision should be included on the statement, whether or not each element would justify a statement on its own.

The authority may issue a proposed statement, and should give you instructions on what you should do next. All the reports from the statutory assessment must be sent with the proposed statement. This will include the advice you sent as parents, along with all the advice from other professionals and services. When you receive the proposed statement, you have a right to meet a representative of the authority to discuss the statement and the information gathered during the assessment. You can make written comments to the authority about the content of the statement. You must make these written comments, known as “parental representations”, within 15 days of receiving the proposed statement. If you meet with the authority, you have up to 15 days after the meeting to make further representations or request further meetings. More information about parental representations is given on pages 49-50 of the SEN Code of Practice. You can appeal against the content of a proposed or final statement.