SEN Support

Chapter 6 of the SEND Code of Practice describes the actions nurseries, schools and colleges should take when supporting children with SEND

Education providers should put additional support in place for children with SEN, this is called SEN support.

The nursery, school or college should record what they have identified your child’s needs to be, what outcomes your child is working towards and the support that is being put in place to help your child reach those outcomes.

We run online information sessions for parents all about SEN support, you can book through our website here

The Graduated Approach

This is the process school should follow when deciding what support is needed for a child with SEN. They should assess the needs, plan the support, do the work and then assess whether it has made a difference. This cycle should be repeated throughout the school year.

  • School should do some assessments to identify your child's needs. School may wish to involve external professionals, such as an educational psychologist or teaching staff within school may complete the assessments.

  • School should decide, in collaboration with you, what support will be provided, how often and who is responsible for it

  • The support plan is implemented

  • Schools should review your child's progress at least three times a year. This should be done in a SEN review meeting with yourself and the SENCo to discuss what support is in place and whether it is making a difference. If not, school should work to do further assessments and decide how they are going to amend the support.

The Sheffield Support Grid (SSG)

The SSG is a locally developed tool to ensure support is allocated fairly and consistently across the city. It outlines the kinds of support that children and young people should be receiving depending on their level of need.

The grid consists of four areas of need:

  • Communication and interaction

  • Cognition and learning

  • Social, emotional and mental health

  • Physical and sensory needs

Each category has five levels of need which describe the severity of the need: Level 1 is for children whose needs can be met with simple adjustments to support which is normally available in school. Level 5 describes the support children with the most complex needs might require.

For each category and level of need, the grid describes a package of provision. Schools are expected to use this as a guide for planning SEN support.

Learn more about the SSG

  • Yes! All support should be based on the individual child's needs, not a diagnosis

  • The best person to speak to is the SENCo who has oversight for SEN provision across the whole school.