Special educational needs
The Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme creates a new climate for the care of children and young people with special educational needs (SEN). There will be new emphases on integrating services better around children and young people, on early identification and effective support for children with additional needs and on participation by children and young people themselves. These will be underpinned by new working practices and tools, such as provision for pooling budgets and resources, and the Common Assessment Framework.
The consistency, structure and coherence provided when services work together to create packages of care that are truly centred on children and families are in themselves important in creating the conditions for all children and young people with additional needs to achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes.
The Change for Children programme reflects the strategy for raising standards of support for children with special educational needs set out in Removing Barriers to Achievement. As part of the development of their statutory children and young people's plans, children's trusts will need to review their policies on SEN and the support available to ensure:
- Effective delegation of resources to support early intervention and inclusion
- Reduced reliance on SEN statements
- Appropriate provision
- Better specialist advice and support to schools and information to parents
- A reduction in bureaucracy
They will also have to consider how best to work with other authorities and SEN regional partnerships in order to share ideas and plan support, in the context of the SEN national framework.
Documents
Removing
Barriers to Achievement: the Government's Strategy for SEN
Commissioning
Placements and Services for Looked After Children and Children with Special
Educational Needs and Disabilities in Residential Placements (note that
this document was revised in June 2005).
This page was last updated on 10 May 2005
