SEND review: right support, right place, right time - guide for children and young people

SEND Review: Right support Right place Right time

A guide for children and young people to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision green paper

Department for Education SEND Review: children and young people’s version 2

What is a green paper?

A green paper is a document that sets out government’s ideas for improving the way things work. We call it a green paper because we want to ask a wide range of people what they think about our ideas before finalising them.

We want to hear from all children and young people, especially those who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who are in alternative provision, so we can understand what things are like at the moment and what we can do to make things better.

What is the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper?

We want all children and young people with SEND to lead happy and successful lives and get the right help as quickly and easily as possible. However, too many children and young people with SEND have told us that they do not always feel supported and they are frustrated about how long they have to wait to get help.

This needs to change – which is why we carried out a review of how children and young people with SEND are supported, especially in schools or alternative provision. We called this the SEND Review.

Department for Education SEND Review: children and young people’s version 3

What is alternative provision?

Alternative provision supports children and young people who need extra help to stay in and enjoy learning at their current school. It can also provide specialist places and support for those who would benefit from spending time away from their current school. Many children and young people in alternative provision have SEND.

The SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper is a document that sets out our ideas for how we can make sure all children and young people get the support they need, no matter where they live or go to school or college.

This document will help you to tell us what you think about our ideas. You can find out more about the review and share your views at sendreview.campaign.gov.uk.

In this guide we are going to:

• share what we have found about the problems children, young people and their families face

• explain the changes you might see happening in the future

• set out what this means for you

• let you know how you can send us your ideas about the possible changes

Department for Education SEND Review: children and young people’s version 4

What did we do?

We looked at what wasn’t working well with SEND services and support and alternative provision. We looked at the services provided by the government, local authorities, health services, nurseries, schools, alternative provision and colleges.

We listened to many of you about what you think would make things better. You said you wanted to be happy, healthy and able to get a job when you become an adult, but at the moment lots of you do not feel you are getting the support you need to do this.

What did we learn?

It is hard for children, families and schools to get the support they need when they need it.

Too many children and young people with SEND are falling behind at school and are not doing as well as they could. Alternative provision is not a good experience for many children and young people.

Lots of money is spent on helping children and young people with SEND, but we do not feel it is always used in the best way.

This means the experiences and outcomes of children and young people can be different depending on where they live.

This isn’t fair and needs to change.

What are the changes we would like to make?

We want to hear your views on the changes we are considering making, to make sure we get them right.

Department for Education SEND Review: children and young people’s version 5

Proposed change 1 – we want to make sure all children and young people can get the right support, where and when they need it, no matter where they live

National standards

We want every area of the country to work in the same way so you and your family know what type of support you should get and that you are involved in decisions about support.

We want to do this by creating national standards. This means every area of the country will work in the same way to decide the support you need, to provide that support and to involve you and your family in making decisions.

We want to hear from you!

Who should be involved in making decisions about help for children and young people with additional needs?

Department for Education SEND Review: children and young people’s version 6

Local inclusion plan

We want services in each local area to work together so you get the support you need. This would include:

• nurseries, schools and colleges

• health and care services (this could include a speech and language therapist or an occupational therapist)

• local authorities

As part of this, we think services in each local area should write a local inclusion plan explaining what support you can get in your local area and how services will make sure that support is good. You and your family should be involved in writing the plan.

This plan might include:

• support in mainstream schools

• support from alternative provision

• special services for children and young people with more complex needs

Education, Health and Care Plans

Some children and young people have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). These describe their needs and the type of help they should get. However, we have heard that they are quite complicated documents and not always easy to understand.

Department for Education SEND Review: children and young people’s version 7

If you have an EHCP, we want to make it digital so it is easy for everyone to use and update if your needs change. We want different areas of the country to use EHCPs that follow the same format.

When your EHCP is being prepared, we want your local authority to offer a list of schools that will give you the support to meet your needs. You and your parents or carers will be asked to say which of the schools on the list you would prefer to go to.

We want to hear from you!

Which are the most important parts of the EHCP to you?

What do you think those preparing the list of schools should think about when putting it together?

Dealing with problems quickly

Sometimes, families do not agree with decisions made by the local authority. They might not agree with the type of school that is being suggested or they might feel that the support isn’t quite right.

We want to set up ways of sorting out these disagreements easily and quickly. This includes making sure all families can meet the local authority if they don’t agree with decisions made about services and support. This will make it easier for you and your family to share your worries and deal with any problems quickly.

Department for Education SEND Review: children and young people’s version 8

Proposed change 2 – we want to make sure that all schools have excellent teachers who have the skills to understand how to support you and your needs

We are giving more money to schools to improve support so that more children and young people with SEND can go to their local school.

We want nurseries, schools and colleges to give you the support you need as soon as you need it. This is why we are giving teachers more training so they can support you better at school – this means understanding what you need and making sure you get it quickly and easily.

As part of this, we plan to introduce a new qualification for special educational needs coordinators (SENCos) who work in schools, so they have the skills to give you the best support.

There will be more money for new special schools for children and young people who need them. This will mean more children and young people who need a special school place can go to one nearer to where they live. We want schools to work together to give you the right support.

Department for Education SEND Review: children and young people’s version 9

We want to collect information to understand better the support that children and young people with SEND need from health services. This will help us to make plans for the right support to be available where it is needed.

When you leave school, we want to make it easier to get the support you need to go to college, university or to get a job. You will have a better understanding of what you could do next and get the support you need to do it straight away.

We want to hear from you!

What kinds of support are most important to help you prepare for adulthood?

An apprenticeship is a type of training where you learn skills while doing a job. We would like to know what you think would help you take part in an apprenticeship if you wanted to. For example, advice on what kinds of apprenticeships are available from your teachers, or information about events where you can ask questions about different apprenticeships.

We want to hear from you!

What might help you take part in an apprenticeship?

Department for Education SEND Review: children and young people’s version 10

Proposed change 3 – we want alternative provision and schools to work together to help children and young people to get the support they need

We want to change how alternative provision works so children and young people’s needs are identified and supported earlier. This will help many of you to enjoy, stay and do well in mainstream school.

We want to make sure that it is clear when a child or young person might need support from alternative provision. Sometimes, children and young people don’t get the right support to deal with issues that are getting in the way of learning. Where support is needed, we want alternative provision schools to provide good quality support, quickly, so that you are happy and can get your learning back on track.

We want to improve the quality of alternative provision and find out how well alternative provision schools are working for those who use them. This includes making sure education, health and social care work together.

We want to make sure that teachers, parents or carers and local authorities know when a child or young person is getting support from alternative provision and can check that this is the right support for them.

We want to hear from you!

If you have ever attended alternative provision, please tell us what support you think would have helped you stay at your main school instead.

Department for Education SEND Review: children and young people’s version 11

Proposed change 4 – we want everyone involved in supporting you to understand their role and work together, so you get the support you need at home and at school

We want everyone involved in supporting you to understand their role, so it is clear what support you need, from who, and when. This means the adults that help you will know how to do this in the best way, and you will get the support you need quickly.

We will work with schools and local authorities to make sure everyone is doing their job to support you properly.

We will collect information about how services are working so schools, health services, local authorities and government can check that SEND services are working in the right way. This will also make it easier for you and your family to find out whether a local area is providing excellent support for children and young people with SEND.

We want to make it clear how much we think different services to support children and young people with SEND should cost. This will mean that the money that is used to support children and young people with SEND is used in a fair way.

Department for Education SEND Review: children and young people’s version 12

What next?

We want to hear your views on our changes to make sure we get it right. We need to know what you think by Friday 22 July 2022.

Let us know what you think or ask your parents, carers or teachers to help you to tell us, so we can work together to make sure all children and young people with SEND fulfil their potential and lead happy, healthy lives.

You can find out more about the review and share your views at sendreview.campaign.gov.uk.

When we have head from everyone, we will publish a plan to explain what changes we are making and when.

To find out more about the SEND Review visit: sendreview.campaign.gov.uk

Why this page, not just a PDF? The original is a PDF - fine to read, but a poor fit for assistive technology: heading structure is often inconsistent or absent, text doesn't reflow for zoom or a narrow screen, and screen readers can struggle with multi-column layouts and scanned pages. This page is the same content rebuilt as plain, semantic HTML - real headings, text that reflows, nothing a screen reader or zoom tool trips over.

Republished from Department for Education under the Open Government Licence v3.0. View the original PDF.