SEN and disability: required school policies
Information on all statutory policies that schools must have can be found in the Department for Education's document ' Statutory Policies for Schools' which can be downloaded from:
DfE: Statutory policies for schools and academy trusts
The following are specific SEND statutory polices and documents required by legislation and apply to academies, Free schools, and maintained schools:
Special educational needs policy
Your SEN policy should include ……
Information about the school’s SEN provision
- objectives of the policy
- responsibility for co-ordination of SEN provision
- arrangements for co-ordinating SEN provision
- admission arrangements
- specialist SEN provision.
Information about identification and assessment procedures for pupils with SEN
- identification, assessment, monitoring and review of pupil needs and progress
- access to a broad and balanced curriculum curriculum, information and associated services
- inclusion arrangements for pupils with SEN or who are disabled
- how governors evaluate the success of provision
- complaints procedure
- facilities for pupils with SEN or who are disabled
- allocation of resources for vulnerable pupils, those with SEN or who are disabled.
Staffing policies and school partnerships
- staff training and professional development for SEND
- links to support services and school to school support for SEN
- working in partnership with parents
- transition
- links with other agencies, schools and voluntary organisations.
Accessibility plans
Accessibility plans need to include how a school plans to:
- increase access to the curriculum for disabled pupils
- improve the physical environment to increase access to education and associated services
- make improvements in the provision of information for disabled pupils
The following link is to archived Department of Education documents on the National Archives website made available for reference use but should not be considered to reflect current Government policy or guidance:
DfE: Accessible schools: planning to increase access to schools for disabled pupils (2002)
SEN information report ('School Offer')
All schools are required to develop and publish an SEN Information Report (paragraph 6.79 of the SEN Code of Practice refers).
DfE: Special educational needs (SEN) and disability information on school websites
The following documents provide more information: