Special Educational Needs
These pages contain information for parents, children and schools about
support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. You can
scroll through this information at any time by clicking on 'SEN for Parents',
'SEN for Schools', 'More Information on SEN' and 'Policy Information' on the
left hand tool bar on this site.
Special Education Needs - What does it mean?
The term ‘special educational needs’ has a legal definition. Children with
special educational needs all have learning difficulties or disabilities that
make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age. These
children may need extra or different help from that given to other children of
the same age.
The law says that children do not have learning difficulties just because
their first language is not English although some of these children may have
learning difficulties as well.
Children with special educational needs may need extra help because of a range
of needs, such as in thinking and understanding, physical or sensory
difficulties, emotional and behavioural difficulties, or difficulties with
speech and language or how they relate to and behave with other people.
Many children will have special educational needs of some kind at some time
during their education. Schools and other organisations can help most children
overcome the barriers their difficulties present quickly and easily. But a few
children will need extra help for some or all of their time in school.
So special educational needs could mean that a child has difficulties with
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all of the work in school
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reading, writing, number work or understanding information
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expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying
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making friends or relating to adults
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behaving properly in school
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organising themselves
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some kind of sensory or physical needs which may affect them in school,
as well as other examples.
Help for children with special educational needs will usually be in the
child’s ordinary, mainstream early education setting or school, sometimes with
the help of outside specialists.
The Government has set out in the Early Learning Goals of the foundation stage
of education for children from 3 to 5 years what most children should be able
to do by the end of school reception year. The National Curriculum for
children from 5 to 16 years also sets out what most children will learn at
each stage of their education.
Of course children make progress at different rates and have different ways in
which they learn best. Teachers are expected to take account of this by
looking carefully at how they organise their lessons, the classroom, the books
and materials they give to each child and the way they teach. So all teachers
will consider a number of options and choose the most appropriate ways to help
each child learn from a range of activities. This is often described as
'differentiating the curriculum’.
Children making slower progress or having particular difficulties in one area
may be given extra help or different lessons to help them succeed. The
National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies also provide for children to learn
to read and write and understand numbers and mathematics in different ways and
speeds, including special ‘catch-up’ work and other kinds of support.
So you should not assume, just because your child is making slower progress
than you expected or the teachers are providing different support, help or
activities in class, that your child has special educational needs.