Assessment of special educational needs
For a few children the support provided by Action and Action Plus may not be enough to meet their more complex and long term learning needs. If your child needs more support the school will meet with you and any support services already involved with your child, to discuss whether a statutory assessment should be carried out.
What is a statutory assessment?
It is a detailed investigation by the Children’s Services Authority to find out exactly what your child’s needs are and what special help would benefit your child.
A statutory assessment can be requested by:
- your child’s school
- a special educational needs professional working with your child, for example an educational psychologist
- you, if you feel your child is not making sufficient progress. You will need to request the assessment from the special educational needs (SEN) team.
What is involved in a statutory assessment?
Firstly, detailed consideration is given to whether an assessment is needed. We will tell you within six weeks of receiving the application whether we are going to carry out a statutory assessment.
If we decide to carry out an assessment we have a further 10 weeks to complete it. In this time we collect together detailed information about your child in order to get a clear picture of your child’s needs. We will ask you for additional information and we will contact a number of professionals including:
- your child’s school
- an educational psychologist
- a doctor
- children's services.
We will also include anyone else whose views you consider would be helpful.
You will be contacted if any assessments or examinations are arranged for your child. You have the right to be present at any medical, test or interview. However, in certain circumstances it is helpful for your child to be seen without you – for example where classroom observation is being carried out.
Once we have received all the information about your child’s needs we will consider whether to issue a statement of special educational needs. We will normally write and tell you whether we are going to issue a statement within 12 weeks of starting the assessment.
Forms
All statutory assessment forms can be downloaded from czone, the website for Children's Services professionals in East Sussex.
What happens next?
If we have decided to issue a statement we will send you a ‘proposed statement’. This is a draft of the statement and you will be able to comment on it if you wish.
We will usually send you the final statement, which will name the school in Part 4, within eight weeks of issuing the ‘proposed statement’. The statement comes into force on the day that it is issued. It is reviewed annually.
If we have decided not to issue a statement we will write to you and explain the reasons for this decision and we will tell you how we think your child’s needs can be met in school. We will ask the school to arrange a meeting with you, key school staff and an educational psychologist to discuss the future programme of support for your child. We will also give you information about who you can contact if you disagree with our decision and we will tell you about your right of appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.
To find out more about educational psychology, please go to our page on special educational needs – Educational Psychology Service.
What is a statement of special educational needs?
The statement describes your child’s educational needs and the help they need in order to make progress at school. The statement is in six parts:
Part 1 gives your own and your child’s name and address together with other personal details.
Part 2 gives details of all your child’s special educational needs which were identified during the assessment.
Part 3 sets out the special educational provision. It describes:
- the special help your child should get to meet the needs listed in part 2
- the long term educational aims for your child
- the arrangements for setting short-term goals, reviewing your child’s progress towards those goals and how your child’s progress is to be monitored.
Part 4 tells you about the school your child will attend to get the help set out in part 3 or any other arrangements for education other than in school.
Part 5 describes any relevant non-educational needs your child has such as medical needs.
Part 6 gives details of how your child will get the help outlined in part 5.
You will be sent copies of all the reports that we obtain as part of the assessment process.
The final statement will be issued within eight weeks of sending the ‘proposed statement’. It will be reviewed annually.
Leaflets and contact details
For more detailed information please see our leaflets to download – special educational needs (SEN) information for parents and carers.
Find out who to contact for further advice and support – see our page special educational needs (SEN) help for parents.
