Law and policy
The Education Act 1996 describes children with special educational needs as having a much greater difficulty in learning than most children or possibly needing some special arrangements to be made in an early years setting or a school.
The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice is a book of guidance that has been agreed by Parliament and published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).
It explains how Local Authorities (LAs), schools, other services, parents and carers can all work together to make suitable educational arrangements for children with special educational needs.
Derbyshire's special educational needs policy
Our policy is set out in two documents (these can be accessed from the related documents section):
- Strategy for Children and Young People with SEN
- The Review of Special Education in Derbyshire Children and Younger Adults Services
To carry out our responsibilities we will:
- provide money in schools' budgets for special educational needs − this is to enable schools to meet the needs of most children with special educational needs
- provide support services which work with schools, children and families
- provide special training courses for teachers and teaching assistants
- work closely with the Parent Partnership Project (opens in a new window)
- continually review and update our policies and our arrangements to ensure that schools are able to make effective provision for children with special educational needs.
What does all this legislation and policy mean for you and your child?
- Wherever possible, children's individual needs should be assessed in their own school. This means that if possible, your child should attend a local school and take part in all the school activities, including the national curriculum.
- Your child is not alone in having a learning difficulty. Many children have learning difficulties of one sort or another at different points in their education.
- Your local school will have a special educational needs co-ordinator and there will be a policy for meeting special needs within the school.
- Your child's school will be expected to spend part of its budget to provide equipment and staff for children with special educational needs. In addition, schools may request additional funding from us for children who require very expensive equipment and a lot of additional support.
- Where schools have to respond to new government initiatives, we will ensure that schools understand ways in which children with special educational needs can be included in these arrangements.
Every effort will be made to meet your child's needs locally by providing the right help where your child needs it.
If your child has needs which are long term and complex, we may think it is in your child's best interest to get written advice on their needs. As a result of this a detailed assessment may be carried out by us and a statement of special educational needs may be issued.
The Statement of Special Educational Needs could name either a mainstream school (including an enhanced resource school) or a special school as the placement to meet your child's special educational needs. Many children who have Statements in Derbyshire are going to their local mainstream school.
You should be involved in all discussions, decisions and planning about your child.
You should see everything that is written about your child.
You can find out more on our assessments and statements page.
Related documents
The following documents are in Word format. You can download the Word software for free from the Word viewer page (opens in a new window) of the Microsoft website.