SEN support

Also called School support, SEN Support

Help arranged and paid for by the school itself, without an EHCP. This is where most supported children are.

What it is

SEN support is the extra or different help a school puts in place for a child with SEND, decided and funded by the school from its own budget and its notional SEN funding.

It is not a lesser version of an EHCP. For most children it is the right and sufficient answer.

Where it applies

Any pupil the school identifies as having SEND. No assessment by the council is needed and no diagnosis is required.

The school should tell you, and record it, when a child is placed on SEN support.

How it works

Through the graduated approach: assess, plan, do, review, in cycles, with parents involved each time. The school should be clear about what it is trying, why, and how it will know whether it worked.

Many schools record this in an IEP, a pupil passport or a provision map. None of those is legally required and none of them is enforceable — the duty is to use the graduated approach, not to produce a particular document.

What you can ask for

Ask for the cycle to be written down: what is being put in place, by whom, how often, and the date it will be reviewed. Vague support is unreviewable support.

Ask for a termly meeting. The Code expects schools to talk to parents at least three times a year about SEN support.

If two or three cycles have produced no progress, that is the point at which an EHC needs assessment becomes the reasonable next question — and you can request one yourself.

Where to get help

SENDIASS for free local advice. If the school is not doing what it says it does, the complaint route is the school first, then the governors.