Provision for Additional Educational Needs

The Role of Schools and the Role of the Local Authority

National Context: The Statutory Framework for AEN

AEN is underpinned by the principles of Social Inclusion: it is the duty of all schools to provide for the individual needs of all pupils.

The 1996 Education Act consolidates the law on additional educational needs developed through the 1980s and 1990s.

The SEN and Disability Act (SENDA) amends the 1996 Act. It extends the provisions of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act to apply to schools.

Identifying Needs and Determining Provision For AEN

The SEN Code Of Practice makes it clear that provision for pupils with additional educational needs is a matter for the school as a whole.

AEN Provision is graduated provision that is additional to and different from what is available for all pupils.

The first thing to consider is the cycle of planning, teaching and assessing for all pupils. The majority of children will learn and progress within the arrangements which include the subject and class teacher’s planning, curriculum differentiation, and varied teaching style, that takes into account the diverse range of needs in the class group.
The terms ‘School Action’ and ‘School Action Plus’ describe a school’s graduated response to addressing additional educational need
.

Intervention through School Action will include:

curriculum planning,
learning tasks and
teaching strategies that match each pupil’s learning style.

It will be necessary to move to School Action if after a period of time, which includes at least two reviews of individually targeted differentiated learning opportunities the pupil:

makes little or no progress
has difficulty developing literacy/maths skills that impacts on other curriculum areas
presents persistent difficulties relating to Behavioural, Emotional and Social Development (BESD) not ameliorated by whole school strategy
has physical and/or sensory difficulties not overcome by use of specific equipment
has communication/interaction difficulties and does not make progress despite differentiation

An additional response beyond School Action (i.e. School Action plus) will be required if after a period of time, during which the pupil has received quality intervention and there have been at least two reviews of the individualised programme, the pupil has not made adequate progress.

School Action Plus is characterised by:

Quality Teaching First, School Action Intervention Plus and additional specialist intervention

Outside specialist staff may be consulted from the start of the graduated response. At School Action plus it is likely that specialist staff will be directly involved with the pupil. (5:54/6:62 Code of Practice)
The terms School Action and School Action plus relate to the context of the school and the ability of the school to respond.
Some, but not all Oldham pupils at School Action Plus will have additional funds allocated through the Band 2 moderation process.
Some pupils at school action plus may have specialist teaching support allocated from centrally held services and, others may have support allocated from a school’s own resources that are additional to or different from resources routinely available to other pupils in the school.

Statutory Assessments and Statements of AEN are for pupils whose needs are:

severe
complex
persistent and
require the coordinated support of a variety of professionals

and exist to ensure such needs are:

identified early
all professionals who need to be are involved in good time
roles and responsibilities of professionals are clear

There is a clear expectation in the Code of Practice that improvement in the quality of provision at School Action and School Action Plus will reduce the need for statutory assessment and statements.

Moderation

Schools are required to follow the process guidelines set out in the Code before requesting statutory assessment. Evidence of the pupil’s learning difficulties, the reviewed intervention at School Action and School Action Plus and the impact the intervention has had is required before a request for statutory assessment can be made.

Categories of need described in the Code of Practice

Labels and categories of need may be useful in explaining a pupil’s functioning but do not by themselves provide evidence that statutory assessment is required.

Requests For Statutory Assessment

Requests are made to the Statutory Assessment panel which meets once a month. The panel is made up of representatives from the various Additional Educational Needs Services, SENCos, Headteachers and representatives from Health and Social Services.

The panel considers each application in turn and advises the chair: the Assistant Director for Inclusion who decides if Statutory Assessment is necessary.

The decision to proceed with statutory assessment is based on the pupil’s:

functional needs and
the impact of the difficulty on the pupil’s ability to access the curriculum

Resourcing AEN in schools

Pupils at School Action, School Action Plus and those with Statements that is; all pupils who benefit from the Graduated Response, are entitled to SENCo time, and a share of activity generated by the AEN element of the AWPU and money allocated through the AEN formula. AEN.

Some named pupils will be allocated IPI funding. IPI is a a set amount which is allocated to the most needy pupils annually for one year without recourse to Statutory Assessment

In addition centrally held resources are available for a range of additional activities to support pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities. These resources are over and above funding that is allocated through AWPU, AEN, and IPI.

This includes

Specialist teacher assessment and advice from the AEN Quality and Effectiveness Support Team for needs relating to Physical Disability, Specific Learning Difficulties, Moderate Learning Difficulties, Speech Language and Communication Difficulties, Autistic Spectrum Disorders and related syndromes and in some cases direct teaching support, from one of the two AEN Specialist Teaching Teams; the AEN Team for Hearing Impairment and the AEN Team for Visual Impairment.

Special School Partnership Projects designed to support schools in building capacity to meet severe and complex needs.

Special Circumstances Funding to meet medical, personal care and specialist equipment needs outside the Statutory Assessment Process.