Information
Pupil Support
Health & SEN
Special Educational Needs
Update 9
June 2002
This newsletter reports on recent key developments
in special educational needs. It focuses on the
changes to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995,
the importance of inclusion through the Beacon
school activities, P Scales and the work of the SEN
Regional Partnerships.
All schools
LEAs, Social Service
Departments,
Primary Care Trusts
and NHS Trusts in
England
Date of Issue: June 2002
Ref: DfES/0333/2002
Since 1998, major developments in SEN have
been regularly reported through SEN
Updates. Recent key developments are:
New duties for schools and LEAs
Changes to the Disability
Discrimination Act 1995
From September 2002, it will be unlawful for schools
and LEAs to discriminate against disabled pupils,
either current or prospective, for a reason related to
their disability. Parents of disabled pupils who believe
discrimination has taken place will be able to take
action through the SEN and Disability Tribunal, or
through admissions and exclusions appeals panels.
Disabled children will have the same rights of access
to schools and the curriculum as their non-disabled
peers.
A person has a disability if he or she has a mental or
physical impairment which has a substantial and longterm adverse affect on their ability to carry out normal
day-to-day activities. This covers physical disabilities,
sensory impairments and learning disabili- ties. Often
a disabled pupil will also have SEN but this is not
always the case. For example, a child with severe
asthma, arthritis or diabetes may not have SEN but
may have rights under the Disability Discrimination
Act.
the National Curriculum and the guidance on
“Inclusive Schooling” published in November 2001.
To ensure that disabled children are not disadvantaged, schools will need to keep under review their
policies, practices and procedures and ensure that
they do not disadvantage disabled children. For
example, schools may need to think about their
school and classroom organisation, the deployment
of staff and timetabling of lessons for disabled pupils.
In arranging school trips, sporting activities and extracurricula activities, schools will have to consider
arrangements that make such activities accessible to
disabled pupils.
There are two exceptions to the reasonable
adjustment duty. Schools will not have to provide
auxiliary aids and services or changes to the physical
environment of the school. Auxiliary aids and
services are already provided to pupils through the
SEN framework.
LEAs and schools must from September plan strategically to increase access to education. The planning
duty is about more than just increasing physical
access to the school. It has three elements:
Improved access to the curriculum
Physical improvements to increase access to
education and associated services
Improved information in a range of formats for
disabled pupils
Schools (including independent schools) and LEAs
must not treat disabled pupils less favourably, without
justification, than their non-disabled peers in:
School admissions
The “responsible body” for the school, usually the
governing body of a maintained school or the
proprietor of an independent school, is ultimately
liable for the actions of all employees and any agents
acting on the school’s behalf.
Education and other services provided by a
school for its pupils
Exclusion
They must by law take reasonable steps to ensure
that pupils who are disabled are not put at a
substantial disadvantage in comparison to pupils who
are not disabled. This is known as the “reasonable
adjustment” duty.
The new duties on schools and LEAs build on, and
complement, the best inclusive practice. Some of
that practice is set out in the Inclusion Statement in
Guidance for schools
The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) will publish a
Code of Practice on the new disability duties later this
term which will illustrate the new legislation with
examples and help those affected by it understand
their rights and responsibilities. The Code will be
sent to every school. The DRC will run a helpline for
the new duties and further information on the Code is
available at: www.drc-gb.org The Department will
provide in the summer guidance to all LEAs and
schools on planning for disabled access: “Accessible
Schools: Planning to increase access to schools for
disabled pupils”. The draft guidance (DfES
0020/2002) is available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/sen
The Department provides funding specifically for
improving facilities and access in mainstream schools
through the Schools Access Initiative. In 2002-03, £70
million is available and LEAs were told their individual
allocations in March. The Schools Access Initiative will
increase to £100 million next year.
Parent Partnership Services
Parent Partnership Services (PPS) became statutory
for every LEA from 1 January. They are designed to
ensure that parents and carers of children with SEN
have access to information, advice and guidance on
SEN matters to allow them to make appropriate
informed decisions about their children’s education.
Chapter 2 of the SEN Code of Practice sets out the
minimum standards expected of the PPS and disagreement resolution arrangements. Contact details
for each PPS are at the back of the parent and
carers guide to the SEN Code of Practice.
SEN Code of Practice
The SEN Code of Practice 2001 came into effect on
1 January. All schools received copies of the Code,
the SEN Toolkit and the guidance on the statutory
framework for inclusion - “Inclusive Schooling Children with Special Educational Needs”.
Schools and LEAs must have regard to the guidance
on the role and responsibilities of schools and LEAs
towards children with SEN in the SEN Code. It
recommends that schools adopt a graduated
approach to match provision to children’s SEN so
that, where necessary, increasing specialist expertise
can be brought in response to a child’s individual
needs and progress.
Children with statements of SEN now have a
strengthened right to a mainstream education.
Maintained schools and LEAs must have regard to
the advice in “Inclusive Schooling - Children with
Special Educational Needs” which explains the new
legal framework. The guidance will help schools and
LEAs make effective decisions on educating children
with SEN in mainstream schools. It offers examples
and case studies but does not, and could not, cover
every situation that schools and LEAs might face.
The SEN Toolkit, which is non-statutory, provides
additional information on SEN issues and suggests
different kinds of action that schools might take to
support children with SEN and ways of managing
Individual Education Plans.
The SEN Code of Practice (DfES 0581/2001), SEN
Toolkit (DfES 558/2001) and Inclusive Schooling Children with Special Educational Needs (DfES
077/2001) are available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/sen and
from the Publications Centre.
Closely linked to the PPS is the additional new
requirement on LEAs to establish independent
arrangements for preventing and resolving disagreements with parents. Parents will not be obliged to
enter into disagreement resolution if they do not wish
to, and the new arrangements will not remove, or
compromise in any way, the rights of parents to lodge
an appeal with the SEN Tribunal.
The website: www.sentribunal.gov.uk includes
answers to parents’ and LEAs’ most frequent
questions, as well as anonymised versions of the
Tribunal’s recent decisions. Any comments or
questions about the Tribunal should be sent to:
Kevin Mullany,
Windsor House, 50 Victoria Street,
London, SW1H 0NW.
Special Educational Needs
Implementation Working Group
Catherine Ashton, the Minister with responsibility for
SEN, has set up an SEN Implementation Working
Group (SENWG). The group draws on high-level
expertise including SENCOs, headteachers, LEA
officers, OfSTED, and health, social services and the
voluntary sector. Its main role is to advise on
practical ways of improving standards of education
for children with SEN or disabilities, from the earliest
years to post 16, looking at both education and
those other services which support children and
young people with SEN or disabilities. The minutes
of the group’s meetings are available at:
www.dfes.gov.uk/sen
Two further subgroups - Special Schools Group and
a Funding Group - have also been set up.
BEACON SCHOOLS
Since the Beacon School initiative started in
November 1998, there are now 1,000 Beacon
schools nationally, of which 62 are special schools.
319 of the schools have identified expertise in SEN
provision and are sharing their good practices with
other schools in a wide range of SEN areas and
providing training on behaviour management,
P scales, monitoring and quality of SEN provision.
This has had a positive impact in improving the
quality of teaching, widening pupils’ experiences
and improved management systems in partner
schools.
Sele First School in Northumberland and Exhall
Grange School in Warwickshire are two of the
Beacon schools promoting inclusion.
Sele First School a community primary school
has worked with primary and first schools, a middle
school and a high school on transition issues. Staff
have worked on the role of SENCO and monitoring
and quality of SEN provision. Working with parents
and all 18 schools in the Hexham partnership the
school aims to ensure effective management of the
SEN Code of Practice and ways of providing
greater continuity. The school has also been
involved in a shared placement scheme between
special and maintained schools which has enabled
The work of the network of SEN
Regional Partnerships
The “Interim Report on the work of the SEN Regional
Partnership” (LEA 0114/2002), published in March is
very encouraging. The team from Manchester
University, led by Professor Mel Ainscow, are
confident that by the end of their two-year evaluation
there will be persuasive evidence that the partnerships have made a real difference.
the school to look at training provision for nonteaching staff within and outside their LEA. This
has led to higher standards of teaching and
learning and better planning and monitoring for
pupils with SEN, in particular assessment
portfolios and improved systems of assessment
and tracking of pupils with SEN.
Exhall Grange is an all-age special school and
centre for pupils with sensory and physical disabilities. It supports a large number of primary,
secondary and special schools in planning, ICT,
curriculum and others issues, to promote effective
inclusion for pupils with more complex special
educational needs. The school provides regular
input on PGCE and NQT courses. Exhall also
provides training and hands-on experience for staff
working in mainstream with pupils with either
sensory and or physical disabilities.
It has
supported over 1200 teachers and teaching
assistants through courses, conferences, outreach
work and focused visits to Exhall Grange.
Further information on Beacons and what they are
doing and further SEN related case studies are
available at:
www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/beaconschools
Building on the first two case studies, featuring the
West Midlands Partnership’s work on autism and
the East of England’s work on out-county and outcity provision, three further case studies have been
published chronicling aspects of the partnerships
work.
Case Study 3: (DfES 0091/2002) looks at the North
Established in 1999, the eleven partnerships bring
together LEAs, local health and social services, and
the voluntary and private sectors. Manchester’s
Interim Evaluation Report plots the development of
the partnerships since their inception and follows on
from the findings of the “Initial Impressions Report”
(August 2000).
East Partnership strategy to promote inclusion across
the region. The evaluation team praised the
meticulous and innovative planning of the six working
groups who collectively produced a blueprint for
action currently being implemented. The success of
the plan will be whether it is affordable, achievable
and attracts a firm commitment from the 12 participating LEAs and stakeholders.
Case Study 4: (DfES 0097/2002) reports on the
Yorkshire and Humberside Partnership’s development
of a regional consultancy service. Working from the
regional portfolio of effective SEN management published October 2001- the partnership will develop
a regional consultancy register and a continuing professional development training programme.
Case Study 5: (DfES 0098/2002) features the East
Midlands Partnership’s work to enhance the
education of children and young people in public
care. A task group was established to develop a
regional protocol. Research carried out by young
people focused on gaining an insight into the issues
behind the statistics and informed the development
of the protocol launched in October 2001. The
protocol has the potential to generate significant and
sustainable improvements.
All case studies, the evaluation reports, single copies
of the initial impressions report and the interim
evaluation report are available at:
www.dfes.gov.uk/sen/viewDocument.cfm?dID=184
Further information on the work of the regional
partnerships is available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/sen
Targeted support for SEN
Further information on the Standards Fund is
available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/standardsfund The
site can be accessed with a user name (LEA number)
and the password allocated to you when you
registered. Or you may use “GUEST” as your user
name to gain access to the general areas of the site.
Standards Fund for Sick and looked after
children
£10 million of Standards Fund money has been
allocated for 2002-2003 for children who cannot
attend school because of illness or injury, and
children in public care.
The Standards Fund can be used to maintain the
continuum of education, raise attainment and to
assist Local Authorities to meet the national targets
for these young people.
Small Programmes Fund
£2 million from the SEN Small Programmes Fund in
2002-03 has been allocated for 73 projects across
the country. The main focus is on working in
partnership across sectors and on removing barriers
to learning and participation. Priority has been given
to projects which primarily aim to help parents and
pupils and those which seek to improve training for
teachers, learning support assistants and others
working within SEN. Further information is available
at: www.dfes.gov.uk/sen
Standards Fund
£91 million is available this year under SEN Standards
Fund to support the creation of more inclusive
education and to help narrow inequalities in
achievement between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils, including those with special educational
needs. The grant covers:
Inclusion (including for pupils with Emotional
and Behavioural difficulties)
SEN training of teachers and others
Speech and Language Therapy
Training of Learning Support Assistants
Preparation for implementation of disability
provisions of Special Educational Needs
Disability Act 2001
Children in Public Care and those who cannot
attend school because of illness or injury
(next article).
Boost for teacher training resources
A major boost is being given to the creation of new inservice teacher training opportunities in areas such as
behaviour management and supporting children with
learning disabilities, through two grant schemes for
2002-3. The Small Programmes Fund allows voluntary
organisations to bid for grant up to £30,000 to produce
training resources. The Training and Development
Fund enables higher education training provision
providers to bid for £50,000 - £100,000 to create new
or significantly enhance existing in-service training
and development provision for teachers and other
staff in mainstream and special schools. The bidding
deadlines for both grant streams have now passed,
however for further information please contact:
john.perryman@dfes.gsi.gov.uk or tel: 020 7925
6142.
Communication Aids Project
The £10 million Communication Aids Project started
in April. It uses ICT to help pupils with significant
communication difficulties have greater access to the
curriculum and helps ease their transition from school
to further/higher education or employment.
Applications for the projects will be carefully
scrutinised to ensure any support offered forms part
of a wider package. It operates through six centres:
ACE Centre North
Welfare inspections have been extended to cover all
boarding schools, including local authority maintained
and non-maintained residential special schools and
independent provision. Additionally, all schools which
accommodate one child for 295 days or more a year
must by law register with the NCSC as a Children’s
Home. The Commission will advise on the
application of the regulations and standards in
particular circumstances. Further information is
available at: www.carestandards.org.uk and from the
NCSC Helpline on: 0191 233 3556. Other queries
can be addressed to the Department of Health by
email at: dhmail@doh.gsi.gov.uk
ACE Centre Advisory Trust, Oxford
CENMAC, in conjunction with the Wolfson
Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital
SCOPE
BATOD, in conjunction with DEAFAX UK
Referral forms and more information are on the
website of the British Educational Communications
and Technology Agency (BECTA), who are managing
the programme on behalf of the DfES:
www.becta.org.uk/cap
New Sick Children Website
This website: www.dfes.gov.uk/sickchildren was
launched in February. It contains the new statutory
guidance for LEAs on the education of children who
cannot attend school because of their medical needs.
The site will include, over the coming months, the
results of a research project mapping best practice in
the field, supported by practical tools for practitioners; updated guidance on education accommodation
in hospitals; and examples of LEA projects supported
by the Standards Fund.
Changes in welfare inspection of
residential schools
From 1 April 2002, the National Care Standards
Commission (NCSC) has taken over the inspection of
care arrangements at residential schools from local
social services authorities in England. The
Commission will inspect residential schools to
National Minimum Standards set by the Department
of Health. A copy of the Standards are available at:
www.doh.gov.uk/ncsc and from the Stationery Office.
Post - 16 Transition of pupils with special
educational needs
In December 2001 the Department published the
results from the first wave of this longitudinal research
monitoring the progress of a sample of young people
with SEN as they move from school to the adult
world. The research was carried out by the Centre
for Formative Assessment Studies (CFAS) at the
University of Manchester. Wave one of the research
provided baseline information on a sample of about
2,000 young people with SEN, aged between 15 and
16, and their parents or carers.
The key findings from this wave of the research
included:
Post-16 Transition Policies: Although not a
statutory requirement, parents reported that a
third of pupils with SEN but without a
statement had a Transition Plan.
Careers Education & Guidance: Schools
reported that over half of all SEN pupils participated in work experience in Year 10, although
more mainstream school pupils did so than
special school pupils.
Academic & Social Life: Special school
pupils tended to report more positive attitudes
towards school and teachers, but also
appeared to have more restrictive social lives
than their mainstream school peers. This may
indicate that they may be less well prepared
for adult life than pupils who have had an
inclusive school experience in mainstream
settings.
The next wave will follow the cohort as they leave
compulsory education and will look at their qualifications, the routes taken by them after compulsory
schooling, the levels of support they receive, and
their attitudes and expectations for the future. For
further information contact:
Summary: Promoting Children’s Mental Health
within Early Years and School Settings - was
published in December. It includes examples of good
practice to help school staff, working alongside
mental health professionals, to identify and help
pupils experiencing mental health problems. The
summary (DfES 0619/2001) is available at:
Tara.cooke@dfes.gsi.gov.uk
www.dfes.gov.uk/mentalhealth and from the
Guidance
Publications Centre.
The Distribution of Resources to Support
Inclusion - In November 2001 we issued guidance
Special Educational Needs - A Guide for Parents
and Carers - was sent to all LEAs, Parent
Partnership Services and SEN and disability voluntary
bodies in January. It gives information on SEN, how
they are identified and the kinds of help that can be
provided by early education settings, schools and
LEAs and where to get further information and
advice. The report (DfES 0800/2001) is available at:
to LEAs on approaches to the delegation and distribution of resources for meeting the needs of pupils
with special educational needs. How resources are
distributed can have a significant impact on both the
development of inclusion and raising attainment for all
pupils. The guidance illustrates good practice in a
number of LEAs and recommends that LEAs review
their approaches to the allocation of resources for
pupils with SEN. The guidance (LEA/080/2001) is
available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/sen and from the
Publications Centre.
www.dfes.gov.uk/sen and from the Publications
Centre.
P scales
Intervening Early - produced by the Coram Family
with support from the DfES - illustrates some of the
current interventions used by primary schools to help
children with emotional, social and behavioural needs
and gives some indication of their effectiveness. It
offers a framework that schools can use in helping
them decide whether to take action and what action
to take. This might be from within a school’s own
resources or it could involve external help from the
LEA, from other schools or from external specialist
organisations. The publication (DfES 0131/2002) is
available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/sen and from the
Publications Centre.
SEN Publications
Dyslexia: Pathways into Training - LEAs were sent
this four-page leaflet last December. It offers basic
information on various pathways to professional
development and training opportunities and links to
on-line material. “Dyslexia: Pathways into Training”
(DfES 79/2001) is available at:
Since December 2001 all schools must set
measurable performance targets at Key Stages 2, 3
and 4 using the P scales or other performance
criteria. In January we held a seminar at which some
schools and LEAs presented the work they have
been doing using the P scales to develop
benchmarks, preliminary value added work,
moderation of assessments and school target
setting. This event was well received.
We are currently exploring information that can be
provided through the Autumn Package to support
schools in their use of these data. We also intend to
develop further materials to support schools and
LEAs in these activities.
Help required: The University of Durham CEM
centre will again be undertaking national data
collection on the P scales in order to provide schools
with feedback on their data and on larger data sets.
QCA or its agent will be writing to schools shortly to
invite them to submit P scale data to the University of
Durham. To make the data meaningful we would
welcome as many returns as possible.
www.vtc.ngfl.gov.uk/dyslexiapathways and from the
Publications Centre.
Are you interested in giving your views on this newsletter? If so, please see the final article
School Performance Tables 2002
- Provision of SEN cohort data
In early September, as part of the annual checking
exercise for the performance tables, we will be asking
schools for details of the number of pupils within
specified cohorts who have SEN, both with and
without statements. The data requested will be in
respect of pupils who were:
Eligible for Key Stage 2 assessment in
May 2002
Eligible for Key Stage 3 assessment in
May 2002
Aged 15 on 31 August 2001 and who were on
roll at the school on 17 January 2002
Please help us ensure that we publish the correct
data for your school. You can do so by liaising with
your colleagues who check the test/examination data
so that the correct data on pupils with SEN is
submitted for publication. If you have any queries
please contact Sheena Vinod on: 020 7925 6782.
Inclusion Now 2002 Summer School - The
Alliance for Inclusive Education, Disability Equality in
Education (DEE), Parents for Inclusion and Inclusive
Solution are running workshops and presentations on
how to develop good practice on 15 - 18 July 2002.
Booking forms can be requested by e-mail at:
info@diseed.org.uk or by fax 020 7354 3372.
Further copies of this newsletter (reference number: DfES 0333/2002)
and the other DfES publications mentioned are available from:
DfES Publications Centre,
tel: 0845 60 22260,
fax: 0845 603 3360
or e-mail: dfes@prolog.uk.com
The newsletter is also available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/sen
If you would like audio versions of the Update please tel: 020 7925 5527
We expect to publish a further SEN Update in the Autumn term.