A new education law comes into force in Wales on 1st September 2021.  The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 changes how children and young people aged 0-25 years with additional learning needs (ALN) will have their needs assessed, planned and monitored. These changes will be introduced gradually over the next 3 years. We will be updating our information resources in line with the new changes but for information on how this may affect your education or your child’s education in the meantime, please contact our Education Rights Helpline.

You can read more about the new Act here.

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Children with special educational needs (SEN) need extra or specific help in school or nursery. 
 
Here we talk about how children may get this help and how the school special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) can help.  
 
We also look at early years action and school action, early years action plus and school action plus, discussing your child’s progress and how to work with school and/or the local authority to resolve differences.

Find more information on extra help at school for children in Wales from the links below:

• Annual review
• Individual education plans
• Statement of special educational needs
• Statutory assessment
   

Special educational needs code of practice 

The Special educational needs code of practice was introduced in 2002. It recommends that children with SEN receive graduated support to help them learn more effectively.  

All local authority maintained schools and early education providers delivering partnership funded early education must pay regard to the code of practice. Independent schools can choose to follow its advice, but may use a different system of supporting and monitoring students with SEN. 

The code of practice describes two main levels of support, 'Action' and 'Action Plus'. These can be offered to children with SEN who haven't been assessed as needing a statement of special educational needs. 

In your child's classroom, all work should be differentiated (ie set at an appropriate level for each child). However, if an early education setting or school believes that a child has SEN, they will need to put in place extra support which is different from that needed by other children. This is called Early Years Action or School Action. 
 
Early Years Action Plus or School Action Plus involve a greater level of support and include the use of professional services from outside the early years setting or school (eg an educational psychologist, an autism outreach specialist and/or a speech and language therapist) who can give advice and provide more specialist assessments. 

For those children whose special educational needs are more significant and can't be met through Action or Action Plus, the local authority will need to make what is called a statutory assessment of their needs and may draw up a statement of special educational needs (often referred to simply as 'a statement') which must be reviewed annually   

Some children will be given support through Action and Action Plus before they are offered a statutory assessment. Others may be offered a statutory assessment without having received Action or Action Plus support, depending on their level of need.
 

Early years’ settings 

Early education is part of the foundation stage of education for children aged three to five years. All early education settings, as well as schools, must have regard to the code of practice, have a written SEN policy and nominate a member of staff to act as their special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO). 

Special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) 

The SENCO is the teacher in your child’s school or nursery with day-to-day responsibility for SEN. All nurseries, pre-schools, primary schools and secondary schools are required to have a SENCO. 

The SENCO is responsible for: 

• speaking to parents and professionals 
• helping the class or subject teacher to assess children’s strengths and weaknesses 
• making sure that any child with SEN has and individual education plan (IEP) 
• consulting with and keeping parents informed of action taken to help their child and the outcome of this action 
• managing learning support assistants (LSAs), sometimes known as teaching assistants (TAs), who work as support staff for teachers and pupils in the classroom and around the school 
• organising or contributing to in-service training of staff 
• overseeing the school’s SEN policy 
• ensuring that records of all pupils with SEN are kept up to date.  

In secondary schools, SENCOs manage the SEN teaching team. They must liaise with Careers Wales about the transition of a young person with SEN to adult life.
 

Early Years Action and School Action 

Your child may have been experiencing difficulties at school for some time, pointing to the need for a level of help above that which is generally available at school. In this case, make an appointment with the SENCO to discuss your child’s progress. 

You may find that your child has difficulties in the following areas:  

• difficulty with the curriculum  
• behavioural difficulties that affect their learning 
• communication difficulties that affect their learning 
• motor or sensory difficulties 
• bullying 
• non-attendance at school 
• the learning environment doesn’t meet their needs. 

Once your child is identified as having SEN, the nursery or school should intervene through either Early Years Action or School Action. They will need to get evidence that your child's current rate of progress is inadequate and that additional support is required so that they can learn more effectively.  

Some strategies that might be used at the Early Years Action or School Action stages are: 

• different learning materials 
• special equipment 
• extra individual or group support 
• staff training 
• access to local authority support services for advice. 

These strategies will probably be recorded in an IEP and include: 

• short-term targets set for your child 
• teaching strategies 
• provision and monitoring details. 

Where possible, your child should be actively involved in these discussions and in planning the IEP. The IEP ideally should be reviewed every term with you, your child and school staff being involved.
 

Early Years Action Plus and School Action Plus 

If your child makes little or no progress, the early education setting or school may consult with you and decide that they need to move on to Early Years Action Plus or School Action Plus. Your child's teacher(s) should speak to you, your child and the SENCO about the situation and collect any relevant information, such as IEPs or other records of progress. 
 
At this stage the SENCO will ask for help from one or more other professionals, such as: 

• an educational psychologist 
• a specialist teacher (eg an autism outreach teacher) 
• a health professional such as a speech and language therapist. 

Now the initial additional help given at the early year’s action or school action stage should become more specific, using targeted strategies and interventions that have been highlighted in reports from external professionals. 
 
A new IEP agreeing appropriate targets should be planned with strategies to be used to help your child recorded in it. This should include: 

• short-term targets set for your child 
• teaching strategies  
• provision and monitoring details. 

A date should also be set to review the IEP, and parents should be involved in the review.
 

Discussing your child's progress 

Remember, you know your child better than anyone. If you have any concerns about your child's education, talk to their school.  

When trying to get extra help to meet your child's special educational needs, you'll need to discuss your child's progress and experience of school with teachers, the SENCO and others. For example, you may be concerned that your child has learning difficulties or that their needs aren’t being met and progress is delayed.
 

Requesting a meeting 

If you'd like to discuss your concerns with staff at your child's school or nursery, it is best to write to request a meeting. You may find it helpful to ask if a friend or adviser can come to the meeting with you. This draft letter may help: 

Dear [insert head teacher's name], 

[Insert child's name and date of birth] 

I am concerned that [insert child's name] is not making adequate progress in school and may have special educational needs. In particular I am worried about: [list your concerns] 

eg, slow rate of progress in reading 
difficulty in relating to others 
possibility of being bullied 
poor communication skills 

I would like to meet with you to discuss my concerns and what the school can do to help. I would also like to bring my friend/advisor [insert their name]. The questions I would like to discuss are: [list questions] 

I would like a copy of my child's school records and a copy of the school's SEN policy. 

I hope that we can work in partnership, so that [child's name] can do as well as possible. 

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Yours sincerely, 

[Your name] 

It's a good idea to keep a copy of your letter to take with you to the meeting as a reminder of all the concerns you've listed. 

It's also useful to do some preparation before meeting staff. The following questions may help you: 

• What extra help has your child received and how effective has it been? 
• Do you know where your child is in the SEN process, for example are they on Action or Action Plus? 
• Does your child have an IEP and has it been reviewed regularly? Have you had the opportunity to comment on the IEP? 
• Have any professionals, such as an educational psychologist, seen your child and suggested ways to help? 
• Does your child have a confirmed autism diagnosis? If so, does the school have details of it? 
• Are your child's difficulties getting worse? 
• What changes would you like to see?
   

Statutory assessment 

If your child continues to have problems you can request a statutory assessment, whether they are in a pre-school setting, primary or secondary school.
 

Working with school and/or the local authority to resolve differences  

At times, getting your child extra support can be challenging and you may have to be their advocate and work with school to resolve differences.
 

Further help from our charity 

Further help for parents trying to obtain an appropriate education for their child is available from our Education Rights Service.