The Special Educational Needs Team
(Statutory Assessment)
Children and Student Services
The Special Educational Needs Team manages the assessment of young peoples'
special educational needs under the Education Act 1996. This process is sometimes
referred to simply as 'statutory assessment'.
The statutory assessment process is the means by which the learning difficulties
of a child are assessed and the appropriate provision for that child determined.
It involves seeking advice from parents and the professionals who know the child.
Only a small number of children will have learning difficulties that are so significant
or complex that this process is necessary. The learning difficulties of the majority
of children can be dealt with directly by their schools in combination with the
borough's specialist advisors or staff from the Primary Care Trust.
Once the Special Educational Needs Team has received all the advice
the information is carefully considered. If the advice indicates
that a child's needs are such that special provision needs to be
made for that child then a statement of special educational needs
will be issued. This outlines the child's difficulties and
the special arrangements to meet them. If the advice indicates that
the child's needs can be met through the resources that are
readily available to the child's school then a note-in-lieu
of a statement will be issued. The note-in-lieu will explain what
the statutory assessment has revealed but will not indicate the
need for special resources to be made available to the child.
Sometimes people call the statutory assessment process "statementing".
This can be misleading since not all statutory assessments result
in a statement. Sometimes the outcome may be a note-in-lieu.
The progress of a child with a statement of special educational needs must
be reviewed formally at least once each year. This is called the annual review.
This review requires a meeting to be held involving the school, parents and any
relevant professionals. The review considers whether the child's needs are
still being met, whether any amendments are needed to the statement or whether
the statement is no longer required. The Special Educational Needs Team monitors
the review process and makes the formal proposals to the child's parents
about whether any changes to the statement are considered necessary.
At different points in the process of statutory assessment there can be disagreements
or conflicts between a child's parents and what the authority considers
appropriate for a child's special educational needs. In these cases the
Special Educational Needs Team will try to resolve the difficulty either through
direct negotiation or through the use of a disagreement resolution service. If
this does not solve the problem then a child's parents can have the points
at issue considered by an independent body called the Special Educational Needs
and Disability Tribunal. The Special Educational Needs Team will represent the
authority at the Tribunal hearing.
(All documents are PDFs - see our Help
page for
more information. They should not take more than three minutes to download over
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 Policy on Home to School Transport
SEN
A Guide for Parents and Carers (DCSF)
Identifying Children under five with Special Educational Needs (39KB)
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