What exactly is a Statement of Special Educational Needs

A Statement of Special Educational Needs is a legal document which is drafted from the conclusion of an assessment by the Local Authority which then sets out the needs of the child, and how they should be met and where they should be met. The Statement is split into six parts with appendices. The sections are as follows.

PART 1
Contains the basic details of the child - name, address, telephone number, details of parents and any religious affiliation.

PART 2
Contains details of the child's specific special educational needs

PART 3
Contains details of the special educational provision to meet the special educational needs of that child. This also includes the objectives of the special educational provision and the monitoring arrangements made within the school.

PART 4
This will state the school or type of school or other institution at which the special educational needs will be met.

PART 5
Sets out any non-educational needs the child may have such as medical needs

PART 6
Sets out details of any non-educational provision

APPENDICES
This should include all the reports and information obtained as part of the statutory assessment, for example, Educational Psychologist, Speech and Language therapy report and Occupational therapy reports etc.

Where the Local Authority has received a request from a parent to undertake an assessment, it should make the decision whether to assess or not within six weeks. If a decision is made to assess the child, the LEA should normally complete that assessment within six weeks, but within ten weeks reach a decision as to whether or not to draft a Statement of Special Educational Needs or not to make a Statement.

Once it has made that decision, it should then within two weeks, issue either a proposed Statement or notify a parent of a decision not to make a Statement, ie. issue a notice in lieu. If a decision has been made to issue a proposed Statement, the Authority should finalise that Statement within eight weeks from the date of the proposed Statement.

If there are any decisions which a parent disagrees with, ie. a decision not to assess a child or a decision not to make a Statement etc., there is a right of appeal against that decision to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. However, it is important to bear in mind that any appeal to the Tribunal must be launched within two months of the date of a decision.