Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Making a Statutory Assessment of your child's needs

Information about Special Educational Needs

Making a Statutory Assessment of your child's needs

Who decides whether to assess or not?

In Solihull a Panel considers requests for Statutory Assessment of a child's special educational needs.

A Local Authority (LA) Officer chairs the Panel and it will include representation from mainstream and special school staff. Other Members might include staff from the Specialist inclusion Support Service and the Educational Psychology Service.

The Panel Members receive copies of the paperwork to study. The Chair of the Panel will then work through a list of criteria with the Panel Members, encouraging discussion in order to arrive at a decision for the LA to either proceed with a Statutory Assessment or refuse it.

The Panel looks at all the information it has received and matches it against criteria set out in the SEN Code of Practice before making a recommendation to the LA. The LA has a legal responsibility for deciding whether it needs to carry out a Statutory Assessment and to notify parents of this decision by letter.

Panel Members may not know the individual children for whom the assessments are being requested. Panel Members are not there to support individual requests or advocate on behalf of individual children.

All Panel Members are advised that this is a confidential process. This means that the Panel Members will not talk about the meeting outside the Panel.

What can you do if you do not agree with the Panel or LA decision?

If you do not agree with the decision of the Panel you can discuss your concerns. You can make your views known to the LA Officer that issued the decision. You can also use the Parent Partnership Service or a mediation service to support you in resolving the situation. You have a statutory right to appeal to the SEN & Disability Tribunal if you are unhappy with the decision.

All agencies that work with parents and carers of children with special educational needs are committed to helping you reach agreement and ensure that suitable provision is made for your child.

Conducting the Assessment

If Statutory Assessment is to be undertaken, the Inclusion and Access Team will gather information from you, your child and everyone who works with your child, for example, an educational psychologist, a speech therapist or doctor. A medical report will also be requested, you may be asked to take your child for a medical examination. Parents are vital members of the team and can provide information as part of that Assessment.

The completed Parental Advice form should be sent to:

Inclusion and Access Team
Education and Children's Services
PO Box 20
Council House
Solihull
B91 9QU
Telephone: 0121 704 6690

We will give you the name of the person in the LA who will be your point of contact (the Named Officer). If you would like further assistance at any stage you can seek independent advice and support from Parent Partnership Service.

The Assessment takes into account the child's educational, medical, nursing, social and other needs, and the information is carefully co-ordinated so that a decision can be made as to whether or not a Statement of Special Educational Needs or Note in Lieu should be issued.

What happens next?

Once the Assessment has started and the LA Officers have collected all of the advice about your child's educational needs, they will decide whether to make a Statement of Special Educational Needs or Note in Lieu for your child.

Note in Lieu

Sometimes following Statutory Assessment the LA may decide that the child's special educational needs can be met from within the school's own resources, with or without the intervention of professional support from outside the school. When the LA decides not to issue a Statement, they must write to the parents telling them of that decision and the reasons for it no later than two weeks after completing the Assessment. The LA must also tell the parents of their right of appeal to the SEN Tribunal against the decision.

Proposed Statement

If we have decided to write a Statement then, at this stage, you will be sent a 'Proposed Statement'. This is a draft Statement for you to give your views before it is finalised. It is also sent to the school for consideration and distributed to all the professionals involved in the Assessment. You will also be sent details of state mainstream and special schools in the area, and DCFS approved independent schools. You will be asked whether you agree with the Proposed Statement and where you would like your child to go to school.

When the LA send you a Proposed Statement you have fifteen days to comment on all parts of the Statement and to say which school you would like your child to attend.

Solihull Local Authority is committed to developing the effective inclusion of children and young people in mainstream schools. It believes that children and young people with special educational needs should be able to fully access social and academic life during their time in school. This is in accordance with the Government's recommendations on meeting special educational needs.

Most children with special educational needs can be supported in this way. They can enjoy school and succeed despite their learning difficulties.

Children and young people can only be educated in a special school if they have a Statement of Special Educational Needs. The Education Act places a general duty on the LA to educate a child or young person with a Statement in a mainstream school, unless it would be unsuited to either:

• The wishes of the parent, or
• The provision of efficient education for other children and young people.

This duty means that mainstream education cannot be refused because your child or the young person's needs cannot be provided for within the mainstream sector. It also does not give the parent a right to reject mainstream education for their child.

This policy of inclusion means that most children with special educational needs will be educated in mainstream schools, rather than special schools.

Parental preference has to be taken into account when arranging placements, but it must be noted that the LA only has a legal responsibility to provide appropriate educational placements for children and young people with special educational needs. There is no legal duty to provide the best education.

Once agreement has been reached, a Final Statement of Special Educational Needs is issued and the document will indicate the name of the school your child will attend. This process takes up to a further eight weeks from issuing the Proposed Statement.

The Statement and provision must be regularly assessed and changed if necessary. Carrying out an Annual Review does this.